And We’re Rolling – Season 2, Episode with Alison Bell
Interview Transcript
Steph Hunt:
Alison, I’m totally geeking out here. This is huge. I’m a massive fan of your work.
I know you’ve heard this a million times, but I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old, and I swear each episode of The Letdown was talking to me. I felt so seen.
I had the full hot-mess, lactation-lobotomy vibe going, and each episode I was laughing and crying.
So firstly — thank you.
Alison Bell:
Thank you so much.
My absolute pleasure to have brought you that show — and to have reflected your experience.
I’m sorry that was your experience, but I’m very pleased we reflected it.
Steph Hunt:
I felt seen.
Now, we’ll chat about more than just The Letdown, but it’s such a great place to start.
I was reading that you were writing the pilot when you had a newborn son yourself.
Motherhood is such a ripe topic — and mothers’ groups are just brimming with brilliant things to explore.
Where did the idea come from, and is it based on reality?
Alison Bell:
A lot of articles say I wrote the pilot with my newborn, but actually I started before I had him.
My mate Sarah Scheller and I came together on it.
I’d been watching my sister — a lawyer with three kids, this incredibly accomplished woman — turn into something else.
And I’d never seen that on screen.
At the same time, as an actor reading countless scripts, I was frustrated by what I was seeing in terms of female representation.
Then Sarah said, “I’d really like to do a comedy about a mother’s group.”
And I was like: bingo bango.
That’s how it started.
At that time I didn’t have a kid, so I was the observer and researcher, and Sarah was bringing the experience.
Then we got the call from Australian Broadcasting Corporation saying they wanted to develop the pilot further.
I got that call when I was eight months pregnant.
So then my poor little boy was born into chaos because I was writing a TV show with him on my lap.
Steph Hunt:
That’s nuts.
I was thinking about writing after having my first child.
I’d completely lose words.
I’d be like, “The… the… the…” trying to remember toaster.
Did you find writing challenging in that state?
Alison Bell:
It helped that I was writing what I was living.
If I’d been asked to write a period drama about the Queen of England, I would not have coped.
But I could use dialogue from real life.
The weird advice people give you.
The absurd moments.
And I became very good at using time.
He’d go down for a nap and I’d write like the wind.
Late at night, weird pockets of time — that’s when it happened.
My partner’s an actor too, and we have very shared parenting, which gave me a little more space.
Not more sleep — but more space.
On Memorable Scenes
Steph Hunt:
There are so many standout moments.
The pram up the stairs.
The restaurant disaster.
And then Audrey on the bus crying with Stevie.
And Ambrose, played by Noni Hazlehurst, saying:
“You’re still you.”
It’s brilliant writing.
Alison Bell:
That bus scene is actually one of my favourites.
We shot it on the final night of the pilot.
We shot the whole pilot in six days.
No budget.
We pretty much costumed it ourselves.
The dresses in the dinner scene? Ours.
The bus scene was the very last thing.
I was genuinely so sleep-deprived and emotionally wrung out that there was no acting required.
That release in that scene was real.
Whenever I watch it, I remember that moment — the gratitude, relief, exhaustion, all of it.
On Celeste Barber
Steph Hunt:
Celeste Barber — what was she like to work with?
She’s impossible not to laugh at.
Alison Bell:
She’s ridiculous.
So funny.
She’d started rising when she joined us, but there was a huge jump between seasons one and two.
She was wonderful on set.
We had to squeeze all her season two scenes into one week because her schedule was exploding.
We couldn’t lose Barb.
On Tackling Darker Topics
Steph Hunt:
You tackled fertility, abortion, alcohol dependence.
Were you nervous?
Alison Bell:
Some things made me nervous.
But Sarah and I didn’t want to sanitise motherhood any further.
If we were going to do it, we had to do it properly.
I genuinely believe nothing should be off-limits in comedy.
Comedy relies on surprise.
And often darkness creates the biggest surprise when it becomes funny.
We researched deeply, talked to lots of women, drew from lived experiences.
We wanted compassion, truth, and humour.
That’s life.
Even in really dark moments, there’s often something absurdly funny.
On Perfectionism and Parenting
Steph Hunt:
I love how the show throws perfectionism out the window.
Alison Bell:
That comes from me having absolutely no answers.
People assume if you’ve made a parenting show you know something.
I know nothing.
We just wanted to show different kinds of mothers all going through similar struggles.
And yes, I’m still learning to stop striving for impossible perfection.
Seven years on, I’m slowly becoming more “that’ll do.”
Especially after COVID.
A lot of Paw Patrol happened.
A lot.
On Working Motherhood
Steph Hunt:
I find it hard to switch between creative flow and parenting.
And then I feel guilty either way.
Alison Bell:
Completely.
COVID actually helped me.
I had to work to support my family.
That made the guilt easier because I knew why I was doing it.
And I’m lucky — my partner is an incredible parent.
There’s real equity in our home.
I shouldn’t feel lucky for that.
But I do.
And my son gets to grow up seeing his dad care in a really active way.
That matters.
On Netflix Success
Steph Hunt:
Did you have to awkwardly pitch to Netflix?
Like full Curb Your Enthusiasm cringe?
Alison Bell:
Not exactly.
Because we already had the pilot.
They’d seen proof of concept.
So it was more conversations than pitching from scratch.
We were lucky.
And honestly, I was happy not to be in the room.
The weirdest part was later being recognised overseas.
I was in LA and a woman from South Korea recognised me and said:
“The Letdown!”
That blew my mind.
On Season Three
Steph Hunt:
Is there a season three coming?
Surely there’s a COVID Letdown.
Alison Bell:
Probably not.
We covered so much ground in those 13 episodes.
And now there are many more stories about motherhood being told, which is fantastic.
Also, creatively, I wanted to move into other worlds.
We achieved more than we ever imagined.
It felt complete.
On Stage Fright
Steph Hunt:
Do you have any tips for stage fright?
Alison Bell:
A teacher once told me:
Excitement and nerves create almost identical physical responses.
So reframe nerves as excitement.
That’s helped me enormously.
And breath.
Breath changes your state faster than anything.
That’s what drama school gave me.
If I have something scary — a meeting, performance, anything — breath is everything.
Closing
Steph Hunt:
Alison, thank you so much.
This has been such a joy.
Thank you for making us all feel seen.
Alison Bell:
That means so much.
Thank you.
Steph Hunt:
Thank you for listening to And We’re Rolling, hosted by me, Steph Hunt, produced by Stephanie Hunt Media and Habari Productions.
