Narrated by Richard Roxburgh, The Pool is a two-part documentary series exploring Australian identity through our love affair with these cobalt-blue bodies of water.
Episode one features the pool as our hedonistic playground, while episode two plunges beneath the surface, focusing on the pool as our battleground, a place of protest and progress for race, sexuality and gender.
We are the world capital of pools – Australia boasts more than 100 ocean pools, more than 1000 public pools and more than one million backyard pools – per capita, we boast the highest number of backyard pools on Earth.
The pool is where we splash around as kids, chase Olympic-sized dreams as teens, keep fit as adults and gather as a multicultural community of equals.
Stripped to our budgie smugglers or boardies, bikinis or burqinis, we all have nostalgic memories of the pool – relief from the blistering heat, the sting of chlorine, the terror of the school swim carnival, poolside fashion, bellyflops, bombs and dives.
The pool is also a coveted public space where communities have fought for access and acceptance – from the 1965 Freedom Ride to Moree to the fight to keep public pools open, unlike any other country our pools play a pivotal part in our lives.
Featuring a diverse cast including Tim Ross, Myf Warhurst, Tim Flannery, Peter FitzSimons, Benjamin Law, Clare Wright, Hannah and Eliza Reilly, among many others, this series tells the surprising and untold story of the swimming pool in Australian culture and identity.
The Pool is a Mint Pictures production for ABC, with principal production investment from Screen Australia and the ABC in association with Create NSW.
It was directed by Sally Aitken, series produced by Dan Goldberg, executive produced by Adam Kay, edited by Mark Middis and written by Christos Tsiolkas, Sally Aitken and Paul Clarke. ABC’s commissioning editor was Jo Chichester and ABC executive producer was Natasha Negrea.
The Pool aired on Sunday September 22 and 29 on ABC.
