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Offspring is an Australian comedy-drama show that first aired on Channel Ten in August 2010. It centres around a Melbourne obstetrician, as she deals with her family, and her love life.

Characters include:

  • Nina Proudman: The protagonist of the series, an obstetrician who was newly single at the beginning of the show.
  • Billie Proudman: Nina's older sister, a real estate agent who works in the family business.
  • Jimmy Proudman: The youngest of the Proudman children, and also the one without any sense of where he's going.
  • Darcy Proudman: Father to Nina, Billie, Jimmy and Ray. A real estate agent and serial The Casanova.
  • Geraldine Proudman: Mother to Nina, Billie and Jimmy. A teacher, ostensibly separated from Darcy (but it can depend on the episode).
  • Cherie Butterfield: A nurse Nina works with at the hospital. She gives birth to Ray in the pilot episode and it is revealed that Darcy is the father.
  • Mick Holland: Billie's ex, a sometime musician/composer and landscape gardener. He and Billie get back together and marry at the end of season 2.
  • Patrick Reid: An anaesthetist initially thought to be an abusive husband. Comes in at the start of season 2. Dies towards the end of season 4.
  • Some characters at the hospital include Kim Akerholt, Martin Clegg, and Zara Perkich.

Originally it was planned to be a telemovie but television executives were surprised but the quality of it, leading it to be spun off into a 13 episode series. Series 5 aired in 2014.


Tropes:

  • Above the Influence: Averted.
  • All Lesbians Want Kids: Made for a strange yet amusing subplot between Kim and her partner that climaxes in the final episode in Season 1.
  • Amicable Exes: Geraldine and Darcy. Patrick and his ex-wife Jodie also qualify.
    • Nina achieves this with her ex-husband Brett in series 5.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Cherie makes one for Martin when she's leaving for a trip around Australia.
  • Animal Motif: Nina has a strange obsession with Owls. She carries this over to her daughter Zoe, who is shown to have an owl mobile above her crib.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Billie and Mick, as well as Darcy and Geraldine
  • The Bartender: Jimmy.
  • Babies Make Everything Better: This show normally portrays it, given Nina's job.
  • The Big Damn Kiss: Hilariously subverted when Martin kisses Cherie after proposing marriage to her.
  • Break the Cutie:
    • Poor Nina.
    • Exaggerated in the season 3 opener: after seemingly earning her happy ending with Patrick at the end of season 2, in one night her apartment goes up in flames and she finds out that Darcy isn't her biological father.
    • Billie in season 4. After failing to conceive, she throws herself into work and convinces Darcy to let her take over their real estate business. However, after several bad business decisions, she is forced to sell the business to Darcy's old business rival. Unable to find another job and feeling increasingly isolated from Mick (whose musical career is taking off), she cheats on him in a drunken one night stand that ends their marriage.
  • Born in an Elevator: Averted, just. Nina gives birth on the reception area floor instead.
  • The Cameo: Shaun Micallef appears one episode as a energetic Real Estate Agent rival. That Billie wants to work for.
    • Malaysian-Australian singer/entertainer Kamahl appears in a season 4 episode as an obstetrician Nina and Patrick are considering for their pre and post-natal care.
  • Caught with Your Pants Down: Patrick overhears unwanted houseguest Martin crying and goes to investigate....only to find he's also pleasuring himself.
  • The Charmer: Darcy, Jimmy
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander:
    • Zara.
    • Martin Clegg.
  • Cool Big Sis: Nina to Billie and Jimmy
  • Dance Party Ending: The series 3 finale, with everyone celebrating Nina's birthday.
  • Daydream Surprise: Frequently from Nina's perspective.
  • Dead Person Conversation: Despite being Killed Off for Real at the end of series 4, Patrick is still very much part of Nina's life in series 5.
  • Delicate and Sickly: Jimmy and Zara finds out their son's liver is failing and only a donor transplant will save his life. They spend most of the episode frantically calling around relatives and acquaintances to find a donor match. Nina is a match but knows the risks and is hesitant. Though she eventually does decide to be the donor after being begged by Jimmy, Geraldine steps in and volunteers her liver.
  • Doctor Jerk: Nina and Fraser regard Patrick this way at first.
  • Domestic Abuse: A minor plot arc in series two, when a pregnant woman who Nina and the nurses have previously seen with Patrick shows up to a hospital appointment with facial bruising. Nina and the nurses suspect Patrick is her abusive partner at first, but it is soon revealed that Patrick is her older brother, and he's been looking after her since she left her abusive ex.
  • Drunken Montage: After she breaks up with Patrick, Nina goes on a bender with the nurses. Leads to a What Did I Do Last Night? in the next episode when she wakes up in a stranger's bed on the morning after.
  • Erotic Dream: Nina is understandably disturbed when she starts having these about the couples therapist she's been seeing with Patrick.
  • Everyone Meets Everyone: Season 1 Finale, a BBQ to say goodbye to Nina who is leaving to go work in Baltimore and basically gathers the main cast and the supporting characters.
    • The series 3 finale also features the main cast and recurring characters gathering together, this time to celebrate Nina's birthday.
  • First Boy Wins: Subverted with the Chris/Nina/Patrick storyline.
  • Genki Girl: Tammy, the girl Jimmy brings home with him after his journey to find himself .
  • Hospital Hottie: Most of the characters who work at the hospital. Series two introduces two new male doctors and gives both shirtless scenes.
  • In a World…: The trailer for "A Little Touch of Nina"- starts with "Meet Nina", and includes other standard trailer elements (and a dramatic Skyward Scream from Patrick).
  • Incompatible Orientation: Nina thinks Eloise has a crush on Patrick. It turns out that it's Nina that she has a crush on.
  • Killed Off for Real: Patrick, after a concussion from being hit by a car.
  • The Lad-ette: Billie is borderline, but her pregnant friend definitely is.
  • Lady Drunk: Geraldine borders on this, and is often seen drinking a glass of wine. Both Nina and Phillip have called her out on her drinking.
  • Law of Inverse Fertility: Billie is desperately trying for a baby without any success, while Nina's pregnancy was unplanned and happened after one night of unprotected sex with her then-ex, Patrick.
  • Love Triangle:
    • In season one: Nina <> Chris < Zara
    • In season 2: Patrick <> Nina <> Chris
  • Luke, I Am Your Father:
    • At the end of the telemovie it is revealed that Darcy is Ray's father.
    • Another is subverted, at the very end of season 2, with Dr. Clegg and Cherie finding out that Darcy is not Nina's father.
    • Continued in series 3 with a Luke, You Are My Father when Nina meets with Phillip Noonan to tell him he's her father.
  • Manchild:
    • Jimmy bounces between various jobs and money-making schemes and tests the patience of his entire family. He eventually is called out on this by Mick, after he manages to botch an expensive landscaping job that was going to provide Mick's payment on the house he bought with Billie.
    • Zara also calls him this after revealing she's pregnant.
  • Missing Mom: Chris' wife Chris had gotten word of her whereabouts, she was up north. She eventually came back to Melbourne to see her daughter.
  • No Periods, Period: Subverted. Nina suspects she's pregnant after realising she's late and experiencing possible symptoms, but later finds herself bleeding in the shower and thinks it's her period after all. The subversion comes when Philip later gets the test results and informs Nina that she is in fact pregnant, and the bleeding was another symptom.
  • Old Flame: Philip Noonan for Geraldine.
  • Operation: Jealousy
  • Present Day
  • Psycho Ex Boyfriend Nina's ex husband, shows his love to her by blowing her favourite chair up
  • Put on a Bus: Upon her return from the US, Nina discovers that Chris has moved back to Brisbane with Alice and Lucy. It remains to be seen if/when he'll return.
    • He comes back in Season 2, but is put on the bus again after Nina chooses Patrick over him.
    • Darcy, Cherie and Ray are put on a campervan in series 4 for a trip around Australia.
    • The first episode of series 5 reveals that Eloise has gone to work in a clinic in Botswana.
    • Kate Reid is revealed to be on the bus in season 5 as well, having moved to the US with her boyfriend and daughter.
  • Random Events Plot
  • Runaway Bride: Tammy
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Mick and Billie, respectively.
  • Self-Proclaimed Liar: Jimmy.
  • Sex Changes Everything: Oooh boy does it ever... Especially when its with your sisters ex.
  • Sex with the Ex: Nina and Patrick have unprotected sex after their break-up. The consequences of this follow them for the rest of series 3.
  • "Shut Up" Kiss:
    • Nina and Chris
    • Another in Season 2 between Nina and Patrick
  • Someone to Remember Him By: In the series four finale, Nina gives birth to Patrick's daughter.
  • Straight Gay: Andrew, Mick's brother
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Both Chris and Patrick qualify.
  • Teen Pregnancy: Billie reveals to Mick how she got two abortions in those years.
  • Token Lesbian: Kim, arguably.
    • Averted as of series 4, with the introduction of Eloise.
  • Tonight, Someone Dies: Used in the promos for episode 12 of season 4. It's Patrick.
  • Tsundere: Billie
  • Wacky Cravings: Kim during her pregnancy, displayed in the Webisodes.
  • Wacky Marriage Proposal: Jimmy's proposal to Zara involves a Mariachi band covering the Rockmelons' song "That Word (L-O-V-E)" and breakdancing.
  • Written-In Absence: Billie disappears off to New Zealand for a conference in series 3 and gets stuck there when a volcanic ash cloud causes her flight to be cancelled. Billie appears briefly via phonecalls or on Skype. This was done to cover up Kat Stewart's pregnancy.
    • At the beginning of season 5, Mick is on tour with his musical act in the UK.
  • Woman Scorned: In season one, Billie.
  • You Know What You Did: Billie constantly berates Nina when she finds out she slept with Mick.

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