Rebecca Gibney is embracing mid-life in her fab new TV series, Under The Vines

Rebecca Gibney makes her own luck. When roles were few and far between a decade or so ago, she set about rewriting the script, starting her own production company and creating a TV series that had her, a 40-something actor with three decades of experience under her belt, squarely front and centre. “I thought ‘well if no one else is going to give me a job, then I am going to make one myself,” says the 57-year-old, who is chatting with STM from the stunning coastal home in New Zealand’s Dunedin she shares with her husband of 20 years, Richard Bell, and their teen son, Zach. The show she is referring to is Wanted, which ran for three seasons on the Seven Network from 2016. It wasn’t her biggest role — she had already achieved household name status in the eighties starring opposite Peter O’Brien in the colossally popular drama, The Flying Doctors — but it’s the one that’s had the most impact. She starred as Lola, a no-nonsense “every woman” who unwittingly finds herself on the run from the law. It turned out to be something of a game changer for Gibney, re-invigorating her acting career — the show was nominated for an international Emmy — and kickstarting what has now become a successful side hustle turned main hustle, as producer and creator. She’s now based in NZ, though regularly returns to Australia to film projects she’s picked and chosen — in 2018 she reprised her iconic role of Jane Halifax in Halifax, and followed it up a year or so later with a return to play Julie Rafter in the Logie Award-winning Packed to the Rafters — and is now in the enviable position of being able to call the shots professionally. She can pick roles that intrigue her; choose to film closer to home, and on a time frame that suits her. In other words — she’s now firmly in the driving seat. “Here’s the thing — there is actually something really comforting about getting past 50, and going through menopause and then you come out the other end and go ‘oh, actually, I am back to what I was before’,” she says, reflecting on the past 10 years. “People don’t talk about that. Everyone talks about menopause as this big thing, and it’s like, ‘what? Are you going to die? No! It actually doesn’t work that way’. “Menopause goes away, the hot flushes stop and you just feel … normal again.” Normal for Gibney isn’t, perhaps, normal for the rest of us. Her life these days consists of long days on set, hours reading scripts, planning shooting schedules, chatting casting, logistics. Mid-last year she headed over to Australia, appearing on Celebrity Masterchef — you know, just for fun. Her latest project is Under the Vines, a series she developed with streaming service, Acorn. In it she stars as Daisy Monroe, an Australian-based socialite who discovers she’s inherited a vineyard in New Zealand’s Central Otago region. When she arrives to sign the paperwork, Daisy discovers she is not the “sole heir”, but the “soul heir”, and another man, a lawyer, named Louis Oakley, played with delicious stitched-uppedness by British actor Charles Edwards of The Crown and Downton Abbey fame, has inherited a joint share. It’s perfect rom-com fare, and for those of us missing travel, it’s lovely wanderlust-inspiring television — think Under the Tuscan Sun, meets Seachange, meets quirky 90s favourite, Northern Exposure. “We went to London to pitch it … and we met with Acorn and they just loved it,” Gibney explains. “They went ‘this is amazing’. “They kept talking about the show Northern Exposure, and we talked about that and said ‘well, that’s sort of the inspiration – Northern Exposure … but with wine!’ And they went ‘oh yeah, great!’” For Gibney, the project has been a wonderful opportunity to film in her home country. And to drink a lot of beautiful wine. “Yes, I might have done a little of that,” she laughs. “You know, you have to! Actually, (actor) Sam Neill literally lives about a five-minute drive to where we filmed (in NZ’s picturesque Central Otago wine region), so one weekend he invited us all to his vineyard. “We went to Two Paddocks and had a day there and he introduced us to the animals and we had a wine tasting, and lunch in his kitchen, and then we went out to dinner that night as well. “What a lifestyle!” Central Otago is a two and a half hour drive from her home, which meant Gibney was able to see her family frequently as well. “I didn’t get home as much as I would have liked to, so the boys just popped across and saw me on the weekend. We brought Charlie home for Easter, so he became part of the family,” Gibney says. After years spent going back and forth between Australia and New Zealand, she says it was great to be so close to home, especially during her only son’s final year of school. “Because of COVID, I didn’t want to get stuck in Australia and not be around my family,” she says of her insistence that this year’s project be NZ-based. “It’s been great. I made (my son) lunch today, and he has a major exam tomorrow.” Gibney had a “proud mum” moment this week — it seems her son, Zach, is following in her footsteps. “He has just been accepted into the premier drama course, called Toi Whakaari. They only take 20 students from around New Zealand every year,” she says, beaming across Zoom as we chat. If he has even a fraction of the success his mum has built up over the past three decades, he’ll be doing well. But don’t expect Gibney to hand him the baton quite so easily. “I plan on being Australia’s Betty White!” she says, referring to the iconic American actress, now aged an incredible 99 years. “That is going to be me,” she insists. And we don’t doubt it for a second. Under The Vines is streaming now on Acorn TV.