Starting a Rom-Com Sitcom with a Nipple Flash and a Dog on Wheels: Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall Talk 'Colin From Accounts'

It's likely safe to say that no one IRL has met their significant other via the unique combination of a flashed nipple, a dog on the street, then strangers coming together not only to ensure that an injured pooch gets the medical treatment that it needs, but to care for the cute pup together from that instant forwards. It's the type of situation that screenwriters conjure up. In this case, writers and actors Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall have done just that. But one of the charms of Colin From Accounts from its first scenes back when its initial season arrived at the end of 2022 is the fact that it takes an only-on-TV (or in the movies) kind of meet-cute and makes everything about it, and also all that's followed between its protagonists, feel authentic.

The charisma between Dyer and Brammall was always going to radiate a genuine vibe. They're married. They're also no strangers to working together on an Aussie comedy series where sparks fly between their characters. The now-American Auto and Evil stars, respectively, also teamed up on the two homegrown seasons of No Activity across 2015–16 (they each appeared in the show's US remake as well, which ran for four seasons across 2017–21, and preceded both versions of the show with A Moody Christmas and Ruben Guthrie). To watch, even playing folks who wouldn't have any awareness of each other if it wasn't for an impossible-to-predict series of events as in Colin From Accounts, their shared presence couldn't be more comfortable.

There's an ease to Colin From Accounts that spans far beyond its on- and off-screen driving forces, though, and a relatability. Even the sequence that gets Ashley and Gordon, aka Dyer's medical student and Brammall's microbrewery owner, crossing paths unfurls with a sense that each step along the way isn't out of the question. In fact, it all begins as everyone watching has experienced themselves: with two people not knowing what to do when they literally cross each other's path in the street. Kicking off as you mean to go on — with amusing and insightful comedy that manages not to seem too far from reality when it's at its most heightened, with a new couple and their adorable pet, and with a winning sense of humour — is firmly Dyer and Brammall's approach with Colin From Accounts.facc

Accordingly, it's been no wonder that the Binge series has proved a viewer favourite at home and overseas, and earned renewal for a second season. It wasn't a surprise, either, when it started collecting a swag of awards — AACTAs and Logies in Australia, also gongs from the nation's writers' and casting guilds, plus the Breakthrough Comedy Series accolade alongside the Outstanding Performance in a Comedy Series prize for Dyer at the first-ever Gotham TV Awards in the US. Speaking with Concrete Playground about season two, which is streaming for Aussie audiences via Binge, Dyer and Brammall give the series the sheen of a miracle, however, thanks to sharing a simple fact: that Colin From Accounts began as a fun thing for the pair to write for themselves, including to act in, but without thinking that anything more would come of it.

For most, that'll be the least-relatable thing about the hit series: that something this delightful can spring from merely "bouncing an idea around", as Brammall describes it, without having confidence that it'd find its way to the screen. With the pair's resumes — Dyer's also includes Down Under, Killing Ground, Love Child, The Other Guy, The Invisible Man and Wakefield, while Brammall's sports Home and Away, Griff the Invisible, The Moodys, Offspring, Upper Middle Bogan, Glitch, Overlord and Lodge 49, to name just a few other credits for both —  the least-believable aspect might be that there was ever any question that the project would, could and should make it to fruition.

Season two of Colin From Accounts doesn't dare feel like an easy repeat of the first. Ashley and Gordon are past the will-they-won't-they stage, but now they have the next question to ponder: should've they? The season picks up with them still regretting giving Colin away, so much so that they're desperate to get him back to the point of popping up in the park where he's playing with his new owners, becoming a big part of Colin's new humans' lives — much to the latter's chagrin — and doing whatever it takes to bring their dog back home. But that's just the opening storyline, and something to distract a no-longer-new duo from whether they really are right for each other. From there, the season digs into their romantic histories, approaches to self-pleasure and miscommunication, then what happens when meeting the parents doesn't quite gel and how they might want different things for the future.

In addition to the show's original idea and sliding-door moment, we also chatted with Dyer and Brammall about their starting point for the second season, plans for Ashley and Gordon across the series' latest eight instalments, and veering down a new route in its fifth episode. If you've ever wondered how difficult it is to come up with a name that'll work for both a dog and a TV show, we plunged into that as well, then explored the naturalism of Colin From Accounts' dialogue — another factor that makes it feel so authentic — including both when it's scripted and improvised.

On the Original Idea for Colin From Accounts Springing From a Nipple Flash, a Dog and Strangers Committing to Take Care of a Cute Injured Pooch Together

Harriet: "We just made it up."

Patrick: "We were just bouncing an idea around, really. I mean, we didn't think it would get made. It was just like 'hey, this would be fun to write something for us to act in because we're actors'."

Harriet: "We wanted two people that only had chemistry. They didn't know each other, they didn't have ..."

Patrick: "Anything in common."

Harriet: "They were not expecting to see each other beyond that moment. It could have been a sliding-door situation where the postman didn't let the dog out, and she just flashes her nipple and he keeps driving and goes 'who was that woman?', and tells his friends at work and that's it."

Patrick: "Yeah, that's right."

Harriet: "But because the man didn't close the gate properly, then you've got a dog. And that's the kind of magical bit."

On the Deliberation That Went Giving a Dog That Name That Also Doubled as the Moniker for a TV Series

Harriet: "It's interesting. I never actually loved the name Colin From Accounts as a TV show. I didn't know what else to call it, but I thought it sounded a bit broad, but it's working. It's worked. I can't note it now."

Patrick: "Are you kidding? I loved it always."

Harriet: "You did."

Patrick: "Yes."

Harriet: "Yes."

Patrick: "We did talk — Binge at one point were like 'hey, do we love the title? Do we think it should be something else?'. And we had a think and the best we could come up with was Dog with Wheels."

Harriet: "Dog with Wheels is a different kind of broad."

Patrick: "Yeah, yeah. No, not good."

Harriet: "It's neither better nor worse, though."

Patrick: "Colin From Accounts, I love it cause it's a good misdirect."

Harriet: "People think it's about Patty."

Patrick: "Yeah, and that my name's Colin. But it comes from real life because we, a few years ago, fostered a dog for a short time, and he had a name we didn't like. It was Minshu. Like, well done, but we just didn't he looked like a Minshu. And so we literally that conversation we have in episode one season one, pretty much verbatim ..."

Harriet: "Airlifted, yeah."

Patrick: "... a conversation that we had in life. 'What does he look like? He looks like a Colin. He looks like Colin from accounts'. And we did that, and it amused us to call a dog Colin From Accounts.

And so because these two characters, they meet on the same frequency. That's what turns each other on about the other. So that made sense to make that the name of the show, because that's a weird thing when they meet."

On the Starting Point for Season Two as Writers, and Diving Further Into Ashley and Gordon's Lives and Relationship

Harriet: "We knew that we had to get the dog back, otherwise no one would forgive us. But we knew that it couldn't be that simple —we had to give them obstacles. They couldn't just be like 'oh, here you go'.

And so it did feel a little hijinks-y trying to give them — they try, it's blocked, they try, it's blocked, but ultimately, they got him.

We just had to get him back. And then once we solved that — we wanted to solve that nicely by the end of the first episode, because we didn't want to spend a lot of time on what felt pretty obvious — but then it was like 'okay, so we got him'. We also talked about do we work without him? We opened the curtain of that, and then we got him back.

So that kind of curtain is still a little open, because well, now we've got him, but should we still stay together?"

Patrick: "That's right, because just before that moment happens in episode one, Gordon's like 'you know, let's just see what we're like without him, just us'."

Harriet: "And then: knock, knock, knock."

Patrick: "And then: knock, knock, knock — and things take over. But really, what we knew we wanted to explore in this season was the baggage that people bring to a relationship. And it's a little bit more Gordon's baggage because he's been a single pants man for so many years. He's in his 40s, and he's just never had a long, meaningful relationship."

Harriet: "And he's less front-footed about his stuff. I think Ashley wears her heart and all her BS on her sleeve, whereas he's kind of tucking it away into weird corners.

And trying to present this clean guy. And then she finds that box of beers and is like 'what? Just be open about whatever you are'."

Patrick: "That's right. So we knew we wanted to open doors in each of them. Now that they're together, what does that mean? So that's what we did.

And then we just thought about what do we want the other characters to do?. And we thought of some setpieces in episode four — at the start of episode four, there's a funny kind of moment in our new relationship, which we thought was funny, a bit sexy, and also a bit cringy and real.

And we thought that's not only funny, it could be a great conversation-starter for people in relationships to talk about their sexuality."

Harriet: "And what their sexuality means to them, and what does it look like when they're by themselves, and habits and all that kind of stuff."

Patrick: "And in episode five, we changed the format of the show a little bit, just to play with something, a particular idea. And the idea we had for that is something that happens to Ashley, and that dictated the form of that show. It's quite different to the other episodes."

Harriet: "Yeah, five is a bit different."

Patrick: "And then we wanted to meet Gordon's family. And so these things kind of presented themselves, and we placed them around the season where we felt it was appropriate for them to come up."

Harriet: "Yep."

Patrick: "And then before you know it, you've got a season, you've got eight shows."

On Ensuring That the Show's Dialogue Sounds Authentic — Both as Writers and as Actors

Harriet: "Because we wrote it, we have a healthy disrespect for it. Learning lines is very easy when you or he wrote it. And also, it's funny, our script supervisor, they're the ones that come over and go 'it's actually and not but' — and we had to pretty quickly go 'we're probably not going to say what we wrote'.

But sometimes we have to because we're hitting points. And also sometimes the joke is written so well that you do have to learn exactly the rhythm of it."

Patrick: "Yeah."

Harriet: "But there's definitely moments that ad-lib happened, and we just always left space for that. And our director Trent O'Donnell [who also directed No Activity] was so good at that. He'd give you a bit to riff on — like that whole bit with the unicycle that was so kind of iconic in season one, 'was this yours? How long have you been single?', that was a bit that he just called out from behind the camera because the props and art department put a unicycle there.

That wasn't in the script, but then it ended up in the trailer. So the show is just the sum of its parts like that. Because Patty said ' hey, I want Gordy's house to be filled with half-completed hobbies'. So they had there like herbs, a punching bag ..."

Patrick: "A drum kit."

Harriet: "Drums, the unicycle. And it was just like this man has so many hobbies and he's not seeing any of them through."

Patrick: "That's right, because it speaks to character."

Harriet: "And so that realism that you're talking about, every department delivers on that, and then we just play with all the world."

Patrick: "And we always, we're never too strict about the script. As Harry just said, we leave about ten percent for play, because you might find some magic there."

Harriet: "And if you've got time, we go 'let's do a fun run', and that's all the characters. Just say your favourite bits of the script, but if there's something else that's popping into your head, say that."

Patrick: "Or if the line isn't working for an actor, we'll just go 'don't worry about that. What do you want to say instead?'."

Harriet: "But sometimes if the pitch doesn't feel right — especially some day players, they'll have an idea of what Colin From Account is, and so they'll pitch a joke that's just not it. And we'll be like 'oh my god, it's so good, but not that'. But also 'have a go, let's do that, and then we'll just do one as a script because we need it for the big guys upstairs, they're asking for it'."

Patrick: "But equally, some people are great at improvising in that way. But the thing to make it feel like 'oh, this does not feel like this is the scripted bit and this is the improvised bit'. It's all got to feel real."

Harriet: "Yes, yes."

Patrick: "And when we're writing, that's very much one of our primary things is to make it feel like something that humans would actually say, rather than a bit of exposition."

Harriet: "That's right. So some of the stuff that is definitely scripted feels improv because it's just a bit throwaway — it's not overly worked."

Colin From Accounts streams via Binge, with both season one and season two available now. Read our reviews of season one and season two. 

Top image: Joel Pratley.