"Thank God we make each other laugh"

A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:

- TIFFANY DUNK

At the start of every week on the Sydney set of Colin from Accounts there’s a sense of anticipation in the air. And it’s not down to the excitement of catching up with colleagues to share any weekend adventures.

“We have Hidden Money Monday, where we take $50 or $100 and hide it somewhere on set,” Harriet Dyer – co-creator and star, alongside husband Patrick Brammall – says of a tradition they began to inject some fun into the start of the week. “We’ve hidden it in so many nooks and crannies – the brewery, the kitchen at Gordon’s house, under knick-knacks or a pot plant.”

“The crew still have to do their job and not ruin the set,” adds Patrick, who plays Gordon. “But we really do take pains to make sure everybody is having a good time at work.”

This is just one small example of the joviality they bring each day to the Aussie comedy series that is giving Bluey a run for its money when it comes to garnering international fans. When the duo attended the BAFTA Awards in the UK recently, Imelda Staunton, Jason Isaacs and David Tennant were just a few of the famous guests who beelined to them to profess their love for the series, which centres on two flawed yet deeply funny single strangers whose lives become entangled after a car hits a runaway dog.

The idea for the series was spawned in Los Angeles, where the couple (who met in 2015, went public with their romance two years later and married in 2021) now live. Harriet was in a dry acting patch and bashed out an early script in a matter of days. Patrick was instantly hooked. But when the time came to make the show they were determined to do it Down Under and keep it intrinsically Australian.

“At some point, someone did point out in the script, should we change ‘arvo’ to ‘afternoon’ because Americans don’t understand it?” Harriet recalls. “But we were like, ‘no’. We’ve been watching American stuff for ages, just accepting that it’s snowing on Christmas Day.”