Within walking distance to my house is Little Ripper, a coffeehouse in L.A.’s Glassell Park neighborhood that last year morphed into a quaint, neighborhood wine bar. The owners hail from Australia but are now making a go of it here in the States, which is why I thought it would be the perfect place to meet up with “Colin From Accounts” creators and stars Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer.
Patty and Harri — I think I can call them that now — are doing just that with their careers. The Australian married couple call L.A. home, and you’ve already seen them in some shows here in the States. But what has really turned them into superstars globally is “Colin,” particularly in the U.K., where it airs on BBC Two. In the U.S., the CBS Studios show runs on Paramount+, where it’s a bit hidden, unfortunately.
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I’ve made it my mission this year to get the word out about this unlikely relationship comedy, including via this feature I wrote back in November. The show is starting to make its mark, winning the Gotham TV Awards prize this week for breakthrough comedy series, while Dyer also won for outstanding performance in a comedy series.
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Brammall plays Gordon, who works at the Echo Park Brewery, and Dyer is Ashley, a younger single, who, on a whim, flashes Gordon while walking past him. But he’s driving a car, gets distracted and hits a stray dog. The strangers take the pooch to the vet and decide to co parent him — even though they initially can’t stand each other. The dog’s tongue-in-cheek name? You guessed it, “Colin From Accounts.”
The will-they-or-won’t-they of Season 1 is complicated by the characters’ age difference, career struggles and the ghosts of previous relationships. It’s smart and funny, with scenarios that make you wince at times and completely relate to at others.
“Colin from Accounts” is set in Australia, but Patty and Harri made sure to keep things universal. In one early episode, they even go to Costco. See, relatable!
Arriving at Little Ripper — I somehow convinced Patty and Harri to hire a babysitter for their young daughter and join me for a little wine tasting — they order vegemite toast, which is delicious (although,
the couple admits, not enough vegemite). Patty also asks the waiter what a “scallop” is, whichleads Harri to quip that her husband is new to restaurants.
The duo is just back from Australia, shooting Season 2 of “Colin,” which is very much a passion project for them. They admit that the show is always top of mind, even after hours. “We don’t have very good boundaries — we can talk about the show anytime,” Dyer says.
On “Colin,” Gordon and Ashley become a couple by the end of Season 1, which means Season 2 is about “now that they have, should they have?” Brammall says. “The dust has settled. And now they’re looking at each other going, ‘I don’t really know you.’ How do they actually fit together now? Do they need the dog in order to be together?”
“Colin” has given the couple the opportunity to write at home, which has come in handy as parents. But it’s still all-encompassing. (They brought their daughter to Australia to make sure they were all still together while shooting the show.) Beyond “Colin,” they’re also both still auditioning for other projects that don’t involve each other. “We genuinely want the other person to get cool shit,” Dyer says.
The duo says they originally created “Colin” because they thought it might open doors to more acting roles. Instead, they’re amused to find that it’s now sparked much more interest in them as writers.
“That wasn’t our intention,” Dyer says. “People want us to make them money! It is a good thing … but we are also still just actors pumped to do other people’s stuff as well. Like, what do you need that will be less of a strain on our home?”
Speaking of which, the couple has to get back to their child, while I’m excited to tell a few more people at Little Ripper which TV show they should be watching next. Over a nice glass of wine, of course.
Here’s a sampling of what we ordered at Little Ripper:
Seafood pairing
Bread Service (Bub & Grandma’s with carmelized onion and vegemite)
Smoked Trout Dip (whipped smoke trout, creme fraiche, dill, potato chips)
Tomato salad
Boniato Sweet Potato (labneh, coriander, citrus and aleppo)
Beetroot aguachile (hamachi, serrano, citrus, beetroot juice)