Behind the Reviews – Edition #2 (Amazing Grace)
Amazing Grace premiered on 3 March 2021 on the Nine Network. The 2021 TV Week Previews Edition described Amazing Grace as a “promising drama” which focused on “St Brigid’s Birthing Centre, which is attached to a Sydney hospital, with her mother, Diane, who is an obstetrician at the hospital. Grace’s ex-husband, Jim, works as a paramedic, so she will be constantly running into him.” The Previews Edition also stated that a “young mum-to-be walks into the Birthing Centre in the first episode who will change Grace’s life forever.”
The young mum-to-be is Sophia, who is revealed to be the daughter Grace gave up for adoption.
Amazing Grace was based on what I call a “limited premise”. A limited premise, my definition of it at least, is a show that is based on a premise that can only go so far and once that premise is met, generally speaking, there is really nowhere else for the show to go.
Amazing Grace managed to cover all aspects of birth from single and multiple births, to home and stillbirths. While the writers could tell birth stories in many different ways, there would come a time where they would run out of ideas.
In terms of Grace reuniting with Sophia when the latter is pregnant with her own child and contemplating adoption, once Sophia gives birth and makes up her mind the arc is over, and there’s nowhere to go. Because of this, I wasn’t surprised that the Nine Network decided to cancel the show in September 2021.
Despite its limited premise and eventual cancellation, I did enjoy Amazing Grace. I appreciated that the writers portrayed childbirth in a realistic but not too-graphic way as it is a fictional drama not a documentary, I also appreciated that Grace and Sophia met with Sophia revealing who she was in the pilot rather than building up to a dramatic reveal, as I feel that the latter is cliché. I also appreciated that the writers had Grace’s choice reflected back at her through Sophia’s pregnancy and desire to put her own baby up for adoption.
Behind the Reviews – Edition #3 will be released next week and will focus on Bad Mothers.
Loveday Writing 