Harriet ‘Harry’ Wylde is about to learn that grief doesn’t play by the rules. Soon, neither will she.
Harry is one hot mess – which we can forgive her for, as she loses both her terminally ill parents in the one week. An unpredictable fun park of grief follows in SBS Digital Originals short form dark comedy, A Beginner’s Guide to Grief.
The story is based on writer and creator Anna Lindner’s personal experience. Lindner also plays Harry in this series that looks beyond the flowers and cards, and dares to lean into the terrifyingly messy but transformative experience that is grief.
Harry (Lindner) is on the way to living her dream – taking up an arts scholarship in New York – when her father Reggie (Glynn Nicholas,The Big Gig, The Glynn Nicholas Show) is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Soon after that, her mother Diane (Caitlin McDougall, The Alice, Always Greener) receives the same diagnosis.
A Beginner’s Guide to Grief “is about giving a voice to an experience that is totally unique to me, yet simultaneously universal,” says Anna Lindner. “An experience that is undeniably precious, sacred and can be positively life-changing, but only if we allow ourselves the time, compassion and permission to be present with it. I want people to know that grief and joy don’t just co-exist, but they belong together.”
Losing both parents in the space of a week isn’t helped by Reggie’s death-bed confession that, far from the devout Lutheran Revivalist he purported to be, he never believed in God and wants to be cremated. But in their tiny South Australian township, Harry is surrounded by a strict Christian community who are determined to give her parents a full-blown, Holy Spirit-certified burial.
Harry’s Aunt Barb (Georgina Naidu) and cousin Isaiah (Carlo Ritchie). Source: SBS
Fortunately, her mother left her the worst gift ever: an old Walkman and some vintage cassette tapes about grief, offering little comfort other than an excuse to block out the world (Brett Goldstein ofTed Lasso provides the voice of the grief expert we hear on the tapes).
With an entire village all up in her business, Harry has no time to acknowledge her grief. First, there’s the chance encounter with her dysfunctional childhood foster-sister, Daisy ‘Fireball’ Jin (Cassandra Sorrell,Bump, Eden), a pyromaniac who is fresh out of prison, her overbearing Aunt Barb (Georgina Naidu, Seachange, Fisk), her socially awkward and outright peculiar cousin Isaiah (Carlo Ritchie of comedy duo The Bear Pack, Prank You Very Much, Celebrity Letters & Numbers), her Uncle Trev (Rory Walker, The Hunting, Escape from Pretoria, Hotel Mumbai) with the full force of God on his side, and an entire Christian community firmly against cremation.
While the rest of the town follow God’s will, Harry is hell-bent to follow her own… even if that means giving the entire community a transcendental high so intense, only heaven could compare.
Daisy and Harry. Source: SBS
“I want people to know that grief and joy don’t just co-exist, but they belong together.” Anna Lindner
A Beginner’s Guide to Grief is directed by Renée Mao (The Last Line, The Sound of Drowning), whose work is rooted in powerful, narrative-driven storytelling, and often tackles intimate, sensitive subject matter. The producing team from KOJO Studios is executive producer/creative producer Linda Ujuk and producer Kate Butler, together with producer Julie Byrne.
“I’m extremely proud of the cracking female-led key creative team memorialising a deeply personal story of grief with all its messy absurdity and beauty,” KOJO Studios’ Linda Ujuk said. “I’m thrilled an audience finally gets to experience the dark comedic brilliance of Anna Lindner, a powerful new voice whose sharp honesty and humour will loudly resonate with anyone who’s experienced the loss of a loved one.” 
Also featuring in the cast is Yazeed Daher (The Hunting, Safe Harbour) as JW Nathaniel, Danny Ball as Seth, Lori Bell as Senior Constable Peta, Zoe Min O’Callaghan as Young Daisy, Daisy Kennettas Young Harry, and Leela Varghese as Kamille.
Isaiah and other relatives in ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Grief’. Source: SBS
SBS Commissioning Editor, Scripted, Loani Arman said: “A Beginner’s Guide to Grief not only explores the uncomfortable and confronting nature of grief, but also how surprising and transformative the experience can be. We’re proud to continue the success of our Digital Originals initiative with this story and offer even more pathways to underrepresented creatives.”
A Beginner’s Guide to Grief will be subtitled on SBS On Demand in five different languages: Arabic, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Vietnamese.
A Beginner’s Guide to Grief premiered Sunday 4 September on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand and is :
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