Throng

Tuesday 7 July, 8.30pm

New Zealand-born Rebecca Gibney and Kiwi actor Erik Thomson lead the cast of the new Australian comedy Packed To The Rafters, about a couple who just can’t get time to themselves (tonight at 8.30pm on TV ONE).

Julie and Dave Rafter are about to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary - hard on the heels of celebrating the departure of their last child living at home.

After raising three kids, the couple are now free. While Julie's (Gibney) a little emotional to see the last of her babies move on, Dave (Thomson) couldn't be happier. A future of unbridled sex in the privacy of their uncluttered home sounds great to him.

But just 48 hours later, not only have their three offspring moved back home, but they are closely followed by Julie's recently bereaved father. Once empty-nesters, on the brink of freedom for the briefest of time, Julie and Dave find their house is once more 'packed to the rafters'.

Gibney says Packed To The Rafters focuses on issues of love and loss, mixed in with some funny moments: "Rafters comes from a place of love which, as a human being ultimately motivates people in everyday life and that is what is most real to people."

Playing the mother of three 20-something children enlightening for Gibney, who says she has found herself in Packed To The Rafters: "It's the closest character to me that I've every played. We're both jeans and t-shirts kind of girls."

She says having her son gave her a new self-confidence and she is happy in her own skin: "Probably in my mid-30s I got a lot more confident with who I am and got to 40 and thought 'I don't have to try anymore'. I don't mind the wrinkles and I don't mind playing the mother of a 25-year-old."

Packed To The Rafters starts Tuesday 7 July at 8.30pm on TV ONE.