Outrageous Fortune (TV series)

For other meanings, see Outrageous Fortune.

Outrageous Fortune
File:Outrageous Fortune Season 5 Cast.jpg Current characters from left to right: Falani, Jethro, Ngaire, Ted, baby Jane, Hayden, Loretta, Judd, Cheryl, Pascalle, Nicky, Sheree, Van, Gerard, Kasey and Munter.
Created by	James Griffin Rachel Lang
Developed by	South Pacific Pictures
Starring	Robyn Malcolm Antony Starr Siobhan Marshall Antonia Prebble Frank Whitten Kirk Torrance Grant Bowler Tammy Davis Nicole Whippy Shane Cortese David Fane Craig Hall Elizabeth Hawthorne Charles Mesure
Opening theme	Gutter Black, Hello Sailor
Ending theme	Gutter Black, Hello Sailor
Country of origin	New Zealand
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	89 (Season 1 - Season 5 (including 2-hour movie)) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	James Griffin Rachel Lang Simon Bennett
Running time	42 mins. (approx)
Original release
Network	TV3
Release	July 12, 2005 – Present

Outrageous Fortune is a New Zealand comedy/drama television series, which was created by James Griffin and Rachel Lang and is produced by South Pacific Pictures. It began airing its fifth season in New Zealand starting on June 2, 2009, making it the longest-running drama made in New Zealand. Most recently, the fifth season finished on October 6, 2009.

The central plot is that a family of criminals decide to go straight after the patriarch is jailed. Like the show itself, episodes take their names from Shakespeare quotations. The main characters each walk a fine line between right and wrong according to their respective values - the law, the criminal code of honour, loyalty to family, and respectability.

Cast and characters

Current Main Cast & Characters

Actor	Character	Seasons	Notes
Robyn Malcolm	Cheryl West	1-	make a page for all the west characters as good as you made this page

|- | rowspan="2" | Antony Starr | Van West | 1- | make a page for all the west characters as good as you made this page |}

| Jethro West | 1- | Jethro is the twin brother of Van, and is in his early twenties. He is shown to be proud and doing well financially, having a string of notable one-night stands, and a longstanding respect for his father's criminal ways. He is the new owner of Hoochie Mama, after his mother Cheryl handed over the business to him. Jethro is an ex-lawyer, currently selling herbal pills, formerly legal but currently illegal, with his sister Loretta and business partner Hayden. Unknown to anyone but Van, he is also the biological father of Sheree Greegan's twins. |- | Siobhan Marshall | Pascalle West | 1- | Pascalle is the older daughter of Cheryl and Wolf. She was Hayden Peters' girlfriend, until they broke up and he started dating Loretta. She was previously engaged to a Pakistani doctor, Bruce Khan, and after that was married to millionaire Milt Delaney. Pascalle was engaged to Nicky Greegan, but after a bank robbery set up by him that led to Ted West being put in jail, they broke up. She was left $3 million by Milt Delaney, and used some of it to invent the 'best-bag-ever', until her dream died when Sheree left the country with her money, causing the company to go bankrupt and leaving her without any money. At current, she has taken Nicky back after he showed her that he was determined to pay her back for what Sheree had done, and turned himself in for the robbery so that Ted could go free. Her fate is left unknown at the end of season 5 as she is targeted by Gerard when he fires three shots in retaliation to Cheryl accidentally stabbing him in the neck with a broken bottle. |- | Antonia Prebble | Loretta West | 1- | Loretta is the youngest daughter of Cheryl and Wolf. Approximately 19 years old, and is largely motivated by money. Loretta has a daughter, Jane, whom she attempted to sell before conceding defeat and allowing Cheryl to be her adoptive parent. Formerly in the legal drug (party-pill) business with her brother and partner. She used to be in a relationship with ranger Graham, but is now married to Hayden Peters. In season 5, she finally formed a relationship with her daughter, and is currently seeking shared custody of her daughter with Hayden. |- | Frank Whitten | Ted West | 1- | Ted is Wolf's father, and is currently retired. He used to be a famous criminal, mostly known for cracking safes. He is between seventy and eighty years old. He is currently married to Ngaire Munroe, but was formerly married to Rita West before she died. Ted used to live with Ngaire, until season 5 where he ended up inside after a bank robbery gone wrong, thanks to Nicky. He has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, but didn't seem to buy that, and continues to have a rude but lively personality. Cheryl and Wayne's deceased baby was named after him. Nicky Greegan 'saved' him from going into jail, because he wanted to make a good impression for Pascalle and win her favour. |- | Kirk Torrance | Wayne Judd | 1- | Judd was initially a Detective Sergeant in the police force, who regularly investigated crimes in which the West family were suspected of involvement. He is in his forties. He fell in love with Cheryl in season 1, and ended up leaving the police force due to that. Currently, he owns and runs Judd Security, a private investigation firm. Ted and Judd seem to have bonded since Judd made his intentions clear to stay involved with their family in a positive way, and the West family (aside from Wolf) seem to respect him now. Cheryl gave birth to his baby in season 5, only to have it die at birth. |- | Stella King | Jane West | 4 - | Jane is Loretta's baby daughter with Hayden, who was adopted by Cheryl when Loretta chose not to look after her. |- | Grant Bowler | Wolfgang "Wolf" West | 1-2, 3-4, 5 | A career criminal, through and through. Wolf is in his forties, and is the ex-husband of Cheryl. Wolf has four kids with her; Jethro, Van, Pascalle, and Loretta. He also has an illegitimate teenage son, whom Pascalle slept with during her promiscuous years. Wolf walked out on his family halfway through season two due to Cheryl's affair with Judd, plus the fallout from the robbery of the Horseman, but he ended up coming back at the end of season three. At the end of season three and during season four he had a relationship with Sheree Greegan, but ended up dumping her by the end of the season. The current residence of Wolf is unknown as he left the show at the end of season four for failing Cheryl and their family. Wolf returned in season five as a figment of Cheryl's imagination, and after she escaped up to the beach after her son with Judd died. |}

Current Recurring Cast & Characters

Actor	Character	Seasons	Notes
Tammy Davis	Jared "Munter" Mason	1-	Van West's best friend, and the husband of Kasey. Munter has been considered as part of the West family since primary school. Most of the West children refer to him as their half-brother, while Cheryl considers him as one of her children. He is currently a Tool Guy with Van, and helped him to start up the business. He was thought to be infertile for a short period, but now it is suspected that Kasey is expecting their first child.
Nicole Whippy	Kasey Mason	1-	One of the original owners of the lingerie business, Hoochie Mama, and the wife of Munter. She briefly dated Dane Harris after Munter and her separated, due to the fact that they cheated on one another. However they are now back together and Kasey is expecting their first child together, even though Munter was previously thought to be infertile. Had a lesbian affair with an Inland Revenue inspector to try and keep her off Hoochie's case, after they staged a number of invisible parties to launder money through the business.
David Fane	Falani	1-	A Samoan man who claims to be Wolf's "blood brother". He continuously offers the West family cheap, "under the table" mechanic services. Always references 'Mrs Falani,' his tough as old boots wife, who never seems to give him a break in life. She reportedly hits people with jandals if she's mad.
Brian Sergent	Eric	1 - 2, 5 -	Long time friend of the West Family. Took over the "business" after Wolf went to prison, and Cheryl decided to go straight. He disappeared into hiding after season two, due to Monica Judd threatening him and spreading rumours that he fondled young boys. He returned in season five, and revealed that he had been hiding in Palmerston North, until he had come across Monica again there, who told him she had lied to get back at Wayne and the Wests. He is attracted to Angel because he does not know that she is a transsexual, and they "share" a kiss in the fifth season's finale.
Roz Turnbull	Rochelle Stephens	1-	Rochelle is Cheryl and Kasey's best friend, and the final original partner of Hoochie Mama. She has had a child with Lloyd.
Scott Harding	Lloyd Draper	2 -	A former bank manager, who recurred sporadically in seasons two through to three, before becoming a regular recurring guest in Season four whilst dating Rochelle. He made very little appearances in season five, most notably as the officiator of Loretta and Hayden's wedding.
Wesley Dowdell	Aaron Spiller	3-	Aaron went to school with Van, Jethro and Munter. He desperately wants to be Van's mate, and was hired by Loretta to be a Tool Guy with Van and Munter. Has an unhealthy obsession with Pascalle, and in season five tries his hardest to protect her from the cops.
John Leigh	Barry "Sparky" Gibbs	1-	Electrician, pyromaniac and associate of the West family, who sporadically turns up - usually to cause trouble. He is an old friend of Wolf's, and trusts him implicitly.
Shane Cortese	Hayden Peters	2-	Hayden previously dated Pascalle for a short period, before moving on to Loretta. The relationship with Loretta ended over the pornography movie they made together and Hayden moved to Australia, after she burned down his house. He returned towards the end of Season four to start being a father figure to his daughter Jane, whom Loretta gave birth to in the season three finale. He is currently in the party pill business with Jethro, and married Loretta in the season five finale, supposedly so that they could fairly fight for shared custody of Jane.
Elizabeth Hawthorne	Ngaire Munroe-West	3, 4-	First appeared in season three, as an old associate of Ted's. There was no love lost between them at that point, but in season four she returned back into Ted's life and the two fell in love, ending up getting married in the finale.
Craig Hall	Nicky Greegan	4-	Sheree's younger brother, who was first involved with Loretta with disastrous results. He then moved onto Pascalle to try and gain some of the fortune left to her by her deceased husband Milt. In the season four finale, following disastrous attempts from the rest of the West family to break them up, Pascalle coldly announced her engagement to Nicky, ending up making Sheree ecstatic. In season five, it is revealed that he is enemies with the new cop, Detective Sergeant Zane Gerard, and is seen as a danger by him. In the end, he turned himself in for the robbery, in order to stop Ted from going to jail. However, he is now engaged to Pascalle again but is now looking at serious jail time.
Charles Mesure	DS Zane Gerard	5-	Zane is the new cop in town. He has a history with the Greegans, in particular Nicky. He used to have a relationship with Pascalle. His fate is left unknown in the season five finale, as in self-defense of her daughter, Pascalle, Cheryl accidentally sliced Gerard's neck. Gerard responded by firing three shots towards the women; whether any of the three survive is not yet known, but it is quite likely Gerard passed away on the Wests property.
Dominique Crawford	Deleesha Judd	5	Deleesha is Judd's half sister, who lived with the Wests for a short period of time. Currently, she's in a relationship with Isaac Anesi.
Karl Willetts	The Gooch	3, 4, 5	Aaron Spiller's best mate, a fellow Tool Guy and the only one with any actual competence in the job.
Jon Brazier	Bilkey Van der Heever	4-	Old friend of Ted's. Was in the crime business back in the day, and is openly homosexual.
Hori Ahipene	Angel	5-	A transgender employee, formerly known as Garth Loader, Sheree's apparently dead husband. "She" had a sex change in order to escape the money fraud.
Barnie Duncan	Dane Harris	4, 5-	Went to school with Van and Munter. Dated Kasey in season four while Kasey and Munter weren't dating one another anymore. Currently in prison due to amateur robberies of dairies with a scraper. Was Ted's cellmate for a brief period of time. Dane is currently in prison.

Former recurring characters

Actor	Character	Seasons	Notes
Tyler-Jane Mitchel	Sheree Greegan	3-5	First seen at the end of season three, debuting as Wolf's girlfriend. However after many accounts of flirting and attempts of seduction, she and Van got together after Wolf dumped her. She became pregnant with Jethro's twins, and ended up living at the West's. Left town after stealing Pascalle's money, and sold the twins shortly after their birth.
Kate Louise Elliott	Monica Judd	1-4	Wayne's ex-wife. A detective who hates the West family, due to Wayne's involvement with Cheryl. Has now moved to Palmerston North.
Rohan Glynn	Glen Hickey	1-3	A detective who was obsessed with, and couldn't stop stalking, Pascalle.
Aaron Jeffery	Gary Savage	3	Wolfgang West's half-brother, a businessman and property developer who employed Jethro as his lawyer. Current whereabouts unknown, but is possibly in Asia or Australia. He offered Wolf a business contract for earth moving in diggers.
Claire Chitham	Aurora Bay	2-3	Fiancee of Van West who died in an motorcycle accident, shortly before their wedding.
Aidee Walker	Draska Doslic	1-3	Van's ex-fiancee. Faked a pregnancy to him in order to get him to stay with her.
Trevor Sai Louie	Mr. Hong	1-3	Van's employer, after Van robbed his house.
Michelle Ang	Tracy Hong	1-2	Love interest for both Van and Jethro West, and daughter of Mr. Hong. Bought into Hoochie Mama, then left town after seeing her boyfriend Jethro hit his mother Cheryl.
Josephine Davison	Suzy Hong	1-2	One of Van West's many lovers, she is also the mother of his daughter, Jasmine.
Katrina Browne	Caroline Darling	1-2	Schoolteacher with whom Jethro had a relationship. Loretta saw them having intercourse, and blackmailed them for years.
Sarah Owen	Nadine Kronk	5	Appeared in the early episodes of season five. Was previously Jethro's best friend at Shadbolt High School. Started the party pill business with Jethro, Loretta and Hayden. She has now gone into rehab.
Nick Kemplen	Graham	2, 5	Appeared in the Christmas Telemovie as Ranger Graham. Later returned in season five and became romantically involved with Loretta, whom he had slept with in season two. Recently Loretta has called it quits with him.
None	Tama O Taku Manawa Theodore Judd	5	Cheryl West and Wayne Judd's son. Was born in season five, episode sixteen, but died due to birth complications. In the seventeenth episode, Wayne named their son, while Cheryl disappeared to the beach in order to deal with her grief. Tama O Taku Manawa means Son of my Heart in Maori. Judd also named him partly after Ted West, in thanks for being a father-figure towards him.

Season synopses

Main article: List of Outrageous Fortune episodes

Season One (2005)

When career criminal Wolf West is jailed for four years for assorted criminal acts, his wife Cheryl makes the decision that the family will get honest employment, instead of continuing to embark on their life of crime. Wolf is not pleased about this, but there's not much he can do from jail. Cheryl is initially disillusioned by her attempts at earning a legal living, but she and a couple of her friends start a business called "Hoochie Mama" making and selling sexy underwear.

Cheryl and Wolf have four children. Jethro has already set himself up with an honest career: he's just graduated law school and has a job with a law firm, although he wasn't entirely upfront with his employers about his ethnic background (he claims he is half-Maori at the end of his job interview). His identical twin brother Van (who was trapped in a freezer as a child, and is somewhat slower than Jethro) severely offends the Hong family who might be linked to the Triads, and works as their pool boy to repay his debt. Both the mother and daughter (Tracy) of the Hong family had designs on Van. The mother becomes pregnant, and it is later revealed that the child is Van's and is a girl named Jasmine.

Pascalle, the eldest daughter, wants to become a model, and is trying to raise money to pay for the shots that an unscrupulous photographer has taken of her. At the opening of the series, she is forcibly removed from the offices of Work and Income New Zealand, after her attempt at applying for an advance on her unemployment benefit to finance further modelling shots was rejected. Male staff tried to copy the raunchy photos she presented in support of her application, and she reacted explosively.

Loretta is the younger daughter. She is bored by school and is blackmailing the deputy principal, who she caught having an affair with Jethro some years earlier when he was her student. Loretta has a significant entrepreneurial talent and shares her family's lack of respect for the law. She is interested in film and spends most of her time at a video shop, although she doesn't officially work there.

The final member of the family is Ted West, Wolf's father, who is suspected to have Alzheimer's disease (is later proven to be a Brain Tumor), resulting in significant lapses of lucidity. When he was young, he was a safe cracker, and had unconventional relationships with his late wife Rita (for whom he frequently mistakes Loretta), and others. He has a good heart but only Loretta can see it. Besides Wolf, Loretta is the only one in family that can relate to him.

Over the course of the season, Detective Sergeant Judd, who is responsible for Wolf's imprisonment, develops an attraction to Cheryl, who is torn between her determination to live the straight life and her love for her family and Wolf.

Season Two (2006)

In Season two, Wolf has been released on home detention. He has no intention of keeping to Cheryl's new rules on life. Judd is determined to tear him away from Cheryl, and attempts to entice Wolf to break his parole so that he is returned to prison.

Pascalle's dream of modelling has faded, and her plans revolve around the proposal that she is sure her boyfriend Hayden is just about to make. Hayden is the son of a former associate of Wolf's, and offers Wolf a job as a "future planner" in Hayden's company. Wolf's parole officer approves, but the enterprise may not be strictly legitimate.

Jethro has his own law practice. Tracy Hong has become Jethro's girlfriend and an investor in Hoochie Mama. Van is reunited with Aurora Bay; they were briefly together as teenagers before Aurora lost her virginity to Jethro in a case of mistaken identity (She thought he was Van). She now lives with a motorcycle gang, the Horsemen. Jethro is increasingly drawn into Wolf and Hayden's business, and represents many of Wolf's former associates. Van volunteers to help when he hears that the Horsemen are the target of their future plans.

After her blackmail fails, Loretta arranges to be expelled from school, but Wolf insists she attend a Catholic school. Loretta is paying someone else to attend as her.

As the season progresses, Judd and Cheryl rekindle their affair and Wolf goes missing after learning of the affair and robbing the Horsemen. Aurora convinces her boyfriend (the leader of the Horsemen) to let her go so she can be with Van and she moves in with the Wests. Pascalle and Hayden break up and Hayden goes after the true object of his desire, Loretta and the two begin a secret affair.

Pascalle eventually finds herself a new calling when she begins working at a retirement home. Much to everyone's surprise; she enjoys the experience, not to mention the attentions of the Retirement home's resident doctor, Bruce Khan. Only one problem remains: Bruce is a virgin so Pascalle lies and says that she is a virgin too in order so that Bruce won't be turned off by her past. Pascalle decides to get a Hymenorrhaphy but needs $5000 for the procedure.

The season ends with Judd resigning from the New Zealand Police and shortly after Wolf turns himself in but sets up Judd in the process. The final episode sees Judd finding a large bundle of cash on the seat of his car with the police turning up at the moment Judd picks up the cash, Judd is then arrested.

Outrageous Fortune: The Movie (2006 telemovie)

This one off two hour TV Movie followed on from season 2.

The family, Aurora, Eric and Munter go camping at Tutaekuri Bay, a magical place up north where they have gone camping every year at Christmas. Tutaekuri means "dog shit" in Māori.

We learn that Wolf and Cheryl stumbled upon the bay late one night after Cheryl had fought with her sister, and slept in their car. This sparked the tradition that the family now know and love.

However, as with all episodes of Outrageous Fortune, luck is not quite on their side. The Doslics have gone to Tutaekuri Bay as well! This was in no small part due to Van uttering the holiday location whilst in the shower with Draska, as seen by flashback.

Another unwelcome visitor appears as well. This is Cheryl's sister, Jeanette, who has been estranged from the family for many years she makes her entrance by flattening their letter box and parking the big green tractor on their front lawn. She has escaped from the Exclusive Brethren in the Wairarapa. Pascelle learns of a secret Cheryl had hidden from the family over all the years.

Loretta after torturing the Department of Conservation ranger Graeme over the years changes her mind about this year because she starts to feel herself attracted to him while her boyfriend Hayden is in Australia. She stands guard over an area of sand on the beach to protect the camouflage birds behind the red tape, in the hope that he will forgive her for the years of torture. He later finds her still guarding the stand and tells her how the birds had emigrated to the neighbouring bay and it was payback for the torture over the years. She asks whether anything was going to happen between them, he answers 'why break tradition?'. Later at the camp fire they change their mind and run off into the bushes to have sex.

Cheryl is hoping Judd will be released from jail in time to join them for Christmas.

Season Three (2007)

The third Season sees Cheryl still battling to keep her family on the straight and narrow. Both the men in her life are inside – Wolf after turning himself in to the cops as part of his master plan to frame Judd; Judd because he fell in love with the wrong woman - Wolf’s woman. She borrows money from Gary Savage pay for a lawyer for Judd, which results in his release but the debt causes a strain in their relationship.

Eric had skipped town after Judd's ex-wife made rumors that he fondled little boys. Falani had taken over the galleria and Eric had not been seen since the end of season 2 but returns in season 5.

As Cheryl ploughs on, balancing the needs of family with those of Hoochie Mama, her burgeoning naughty knicker business, her offspring are going their own merry ways. Van is still managing the Lucky Dollar Store and planning his dream wedding with Aurora. Jethro is branching out from defending the scum of the earth (and his family) to working for property developer Gary Savage. Pascalle is enthusiastically embracing both her new-found vocation in caring for the elderly and her new-found love for Dr. Bruce Khan – although this whole ‘I’m a virgin, let’s wait until we get married thing’ has some major drawbacks, especially for a girl like her. Loretta is happily ensconced with her older man, Hayden, and is gleefully plotting her movie debut as the director of the next great erotic film, especially for women.

Van, jealous of Aurora spending time with her ex-boyfriend, Tyson, tells the cops about his marijuana stash. Aurora, not wanting Tyson to go to jail, races over to grab the stash. Before the cops arrive, she speeds off on a motorbike but is hit by a bus and is taken to hospital where she later dies.

Van struggles with depression after Aurora's death. Munter tries to cheer him up by taking him out of Auckland and they go to the Coromandel to visit Munter's mum, a reformed alcoholic. After staying up with Munter's mum all night drinking they have sex. Munter discovers this and is furious with Van, not just for sleeping with his mum but also for re-introducing her to alcohol. Van tells Munter he's a loser. Munter leaves and then, after hearing what Van has called Munter she kicks him out of bed and yells 'No-one calls my son a loser'. Munter and Van later make up.

Upon his return Pascalle's fiancè dumps her after seeing the porn film in a hotel room while on a business trip. (Pascelle only did the porn film so that she could get surgery to make her a 'virgin' again for him.)

Lorretta breaks up with her boyfriend after he changed the film they had made together completely, but fails to notice that she is pregnant until 4 months down the track when Sparky talks about her 'condition' saying he could sense that she was pregnant in front of the family she didn't even know herself at that point she later tries to sell her baby (the baby was conceived at Aurora's wake Loretta was upset and wanted to be close to Hayden and told him not to stop to use a condom).

Hayden moves to Australia when Jethro calls and tells him that Loretta's pregnant he denies it's his. Not many days later Hayden is greeted in his driveway by Grandpa, Jethro and Falani who beat the crap out of him for not taking any responsibility.

Grandpa and Jethro find Wolf in Whakatane and tell him how Gary is getting very close to the family. Wolf returns at the end of the season with a skanky new girlfriend called Sheree in tow.

The finale involves the wedding of Munter and Kasey. When Van forgets the rings, he races back to the house and hears something odd. He finds Loretta in labour; she was attempting to take advantage of the fact that everyone was at the wedding to give birth alone. She is planning on leaving and selling her baby. Van calls Munter and says he can't make it to the wedding but wishes them luck. Munter understands and tells Cheryl that Loretta is having her baby.

Wolf jumps up and says 'WHAT?!' because he was unaware of the pregnancy. Cheryl starts to race off after wishing good luck to the bride and groom with Wolf right behind her; she tells him not to follow her. She races to Loretta and finds Van sitting in the hallway with a baby girl in his arms.

Wolf also reveals to Jethro and Grandpa that Gary Savage is Wolf's half brother. (Grandpa's late wife Rita had an affair while Grandpa was in prison, leading to Gary's conception and subsequent adoption). Cheryl later helps Loretta breastfeed her baby.

Series 3 ends with Munter and Kasey happily married, Wolf back in the picture with his girlfriend Sheree, Cheryl and Judd have parted (again), Grandpa struggling to take in the news of his deceased wife Rita's affair, Van still over the moon being the best man, Jethro being with Danielle, Pascalle again happy that she has been chosen to go overseas to shoot a film, Loretta finally giving birth to her baby. Another happy ending (sort of).

Season Four (2008)

A fourth season of the show was confirmed on the show's official site, with 18 episodes commissioned. TV3 began screening an advertisement in May 2008. The season premiered on Tuesday 17 June 2008 at 9:30pm on TV3.

The fourth series begins a few weeks after Loretta's pregnancy. She has been locked away in her room after she tried to give the baby away after the mandatory twelve day wait. Pascalle has returned from her trip to the United States with her new husband Milt, owner of the Sunset Channel. The entire family work hard to try and keep the baby, that is until Sheree enters Loretta's room, which gives Loretta a chance to escape. Loretta manages to get the baby to the Calhouns, but they refuse the baby as they have Karina Ballani's fifth child thanks to Pascalle.

Loretta signs away her baby to Cheryl on the condition Loretta gets to name her (after the rest of the Wests try out names Princess, Tiffany, Angelique, and many more). She names her Jane after a movie about "the loving relationship between two sisters" (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?). With Grandpa Ted's investigation into "the bastard who knocked up Rita" Grandpa is determined to kill whoever it was who fathered Gary Savage. They watch old home movies from the time when the Wests lived in Aztec Road (where the krugerrends were buried) and try to figure out it. To end it all, Judd tells Ted that it was Bert Thompson (who was already dead so Grandpa wouldn't kill anyone) knowing that it wasn't. Loretta discovers that it was Vern, from the City Council (Rochelle's stepfather who took her virginity on the commune) who lived next door at the time. She changes her whole look and (scarily) is the spitting image of Rita; she uses this to get favours out of Vern like condemning her second Video Hut to save her money on bankruptcy and condemning Wolf and Seree's new house for revenge. She also realises that Vern could well be Wolf's biological father since the affair went on for many years and uses the information to torture Wolf.

Jethro is forced out of town for most of the season after getting into trouble with business associates of Nicky Gregan, Sheree's brother. Wolf was holding a container of exercise equipment (filled with steroids) at Hoochie Mama (to Cheryl's annoyance) for Nicky when Jethro stole the container and held it for ransom. After Wolf was determined to take half of the house and Hoochie Mama in his and Cheryl's divorce, Jethro convinced him to sign the divorce papers with no settlement in return for the container. Jethro left it to be guarded by Van and Munter, who promptly opened it and discovered the concealed drugs. The two thought that it was someone trying to put Cheryl into trouble with the police and decided to trash it (driving over the small bottles in the Tool Guys van). When Jethro was unable to return the drugs, he was forced to skip town knowing he'd be killed. This also lead to him having to break up with his new girlfriend Danielle and her moving from Auckland too after she and her son were threatened.

Early it was discovered that Pascalle and Milt had not consummated their marriage due to the elderly American's blood pressure - "I could kill him with my body, Mum!" Under pressure from Wolf, Milt went with him to a strip club, who openly opposed the marriage. He returned and asked Pascalle to have sex with him, but not even a minute into their kiss he keeled over and died. Pascalle blamed Wolf for Milt's death and took a long time to forgive him. It is clear that Pascalle really did love Milt, as she had insisted (while Kasey and Rochelle insisted that she was a gold digger for marrying an older, less attractive rich man). For most of the season Pascalle remains committed to her new philosophy ("think beautiful") and tries to heal the family and keep them together, while looking after Loretta's baby. A few months after Milt's death she receives payment from his will, roughly around 2.7 million. This leads her to become the object of Nicky Gregan's desire.

Loretta initially seduces Nicky early in the season and the two work on a robbery of Lloyd's (now Rochelle's boyfriend) bank. They try to recruit Wolf but he shuts the plan down and points out the flaws. To get back at her father for his involvement in Jethro's forced run, not to mention stealing her entire stock of DVDs from the Video Hut (for the $40k he paid the Calhouns back with) and kicking her out of the West house, she sets him up for a lesson. She sends Van over to Wolf telling him that Loretta's gone ahead with the robbery and is panicking and needs his help; he rushes to the bank only to find it was a set up and is arrested. After Wolf is taken away, Nicky and Loretta rob the bank and walk away with $170k. Wolf is sent to jail, and while Van looks after Baby Jane for Wolf he meets a drunk Sheree (who had just been beaten up by Cheryl) and roots her (after her flirting with him all season). However it is revealed later than Van was actually Jethro, who snuck back to exact revenge on his father. Unknown at the time, Jethro accidentally impregnates Sheree (twins, ironically) who believes the father to be Van, who was stoned and drunk that night, assumed it was him and cannot remember it. During Wolf's lockup, her and Van begin a secret relationship.

Wolf had promised Cheryl that he was going straight the very night that he was set up. He realizes it was Loretta and Jethro, and tells Cheryl; she gives Loretta a good slapping and tells her that they are no longer a part of the family. Loretta and Jethro are hated by the rest of the family, who cannot believe they would betray their own father, however Loretta sticks to the fact that she did it because he deserved it and to get him out of their lives. She continues to manage the Tool Guy's business, who later includes "the Gooch" and Aaron Spiller (now kind of their mate). However Nicky dumps Loretta when he finds out about Pascalle's inheritance and how Loretta kicked his pregnant, broke and alone sister out of Jethro's house. Pascalle invites Sheree to live in Loretta's old room at the Wests.

Kasey and Munter broke up with he discovered she was sleeping with the lesbian IRD investiagtor (in order to get off the fraud charges Hoochie Mama faced for the "invisible" parties Gary organised). She was devastated and blamed herself until she found out that Munter rooted Imogen, a Tool Guys client. She punched him in the face and shacked up with Dane Harris, a P dealer, who forced her into buying P ingredients with Hoochie Mama cheques (for which Cheryl fired her). They stayed separated for most of the season despite the rest of their friends and family telling them to get over their pride since they loved each other. Munter lived with Judd for this time (provoking some man-jealousy from Van) and on her birthday tried to send her a text, however was too stoned and sent it to Falani accidentally. When he met with her to sort things out, she thought he was lying because she never received a text and walked away. Munter warned her that the police were onto her and Dane and she decided to move with him to Rotorua. Munter realised he still loved her and stopped her, and they got back together. This provoked Cheryl and Judd to get back together, realising they too were both too proud. Cheryl eventually became pregnant to him.

Grandpa Ted worked a robbery job for Ngaire Monroe, Lefty Monroe's widow whom the Wests all despise, and they fell in love. They got married in the season finale. Baby Jane is baptised when Hayden returns from Brisbane to look after her. He seems to want to be her father and looks after her from time to time.

Loretta tried to warn Pascalle against Nicky's intentions knowing that he was only after her money but was interfered with by Sheree. No-one believed Loretta after what she had done to Wolf and realised that she needed to make things right. She confessed to the police where the money was and Wolf was released; he forgave her for what she had done and they made a plan to break Pascalle and Nicky up. At the wedding Jethro returned and Wolf tipped off Nicky's friends of his return, who beat him badly. This was his payment for the set up and made things right with Wolf again. The three used this to prove to Pascalle what Nicky was capable of, but Nicky out b.s.'d the Wests. Earlier he torched his own car to frame Loretta and win Pascalle as the victim, so Nicky got Sheree to break his arm and beat him up - pretending it had been done by his friends as he stood up for Jethro. Loretta and Jethro were accepted back into the family. Pascalle sided with Nicky and gave him $100k to pay "his friends" off to keep Nicky and Jethro safe; she then proposed to him. The season ended with Pascalle coldly announcing her engagement to her family and walking off.

Season Five (2009)

New Zealand On Air allocated NZ$9,107,650 to produce Season Five of Outrageous Fortune, which ran for 19 episodes. Season Five premiered at 9.30pm on Tuesday 2 June 2009. A major new character features in the current season, Detective Sergeant Zane Gerard (Charles Mesure), who causes problems for the Wests.

Season 5 begins with Detective Sergeant Gerard and his officers breaking into the West home with a permit to search the place and finding Van and Sheree having sex in the basement. Wayne and Cheryl arrived fast enough to protect Van from getting arrested, but Gerard finds an amount of stolen goods with fake "sold" tape on the goods, Sheree had been taken to the Police Station but later let out after Gerard threats Van into becoming his man on the inside (nark). Gerard had told the Wests he has had history with the Greegans in particular Nicky.

Loretta is curious about what exactly Jethro is doing these days since he quit Law, after agreeing to go into business with Jethro, Hayden, and Jethro's high school friend Nadine. The business "Excellence" had been selling legal (but later classified as illegal) party drug with hallucinogenic side effects, and had made Loretta quit after it turned into an underworld drug business. Jethro had also taken over Hoochie Mama and turned it into "Hoochie Babe". Nadine had later gone into Rehab and had also brought Loretta and Hayden together with bonding with Jane.

Sheree had gotten tired of waiting to put scamming Pascalle into action and had decided to do it and had later drove her and Nicky apart where they also found out Van was a nark. Sheree had told Dane Harris that he went inside due to Van, and also got major revenge on the Wests including taking all of Pascalle's money, forcing Van into hiding, leaving him, and selling the twins.

Pascalle had put her "Best Bag Ever" idea to work, but had later on sadly failed when she went bankrupt for losing all her money to Sheree and had closed down. She had left Nicky due to this and later on started to date D.S (Zane) Gerard. Nicky had proven himself to her and she proposed to him (again) while he was inside, to Gerard's displease.

Van and Munter's friendship had reached a crisis levels after Munter found out that Van had been narking for Gerard and had narked on Munter.

Cheryl and Wayne got a scare when they were warned that their baby could pass away, and later on did so, where Cheryl went into a delusional state and had drove to Tutakaeri bay and thought she saw Wolf, she had later on returned to find Wayne in an angry state but had forgiven her and she returned for their deceased baby's funeral.

Van had made a business like friendship with Nicky including going to his gym, driving around Nicky's prostitution client "Angel" (also known as Garth, Sheree's fake husband for insurance fraud and is hiding from the cops by getting a sex change), doing a few jobs with him.

Ted had gone inside after he had robbed a Chinese business empire, but got caught cracking the safe. He had shared a cell and made a short friendship with "Dane Harris" and going in the same prison as Sparky. He had plead insanity to get out but had gotten out due to his age. This had also made The Wests despise Nicky Greegan (again), until he had turned himself in for the robbery at the end of the series and was again engaged to Pascalle.

Munter and Kasey had spent a lot of time planning to have a kid and near the end of the series had succeeded.

Deleesha (Wayne's half-sister) had stayed with the Wests before moving in with Jethro's friend Isaac. She had a one night stand with Jethro.

Gerard and Pascalle break up when she goes back to Nicky, who had revealed that Gerard had slept with Sheree when she was under aged so Sheree could get off on a charge.

The series ends with Hayden and Loretta marrying (possibly due to taking custody of Jane from Cheryl), but the happy ending came to an abrupt finish when Gerard, still harboring resentment towards Pascalle for dumping him for Nicky, and some other cops executed a false raid of the West home. The 'raid' quickly turned into a brawl with many of the West associates being hauled off. Gerard grabbed Pascalle and tried to drag her down the stairs, but was thwarted by Cheryl who hit him with a bottle, which then smashed against the wall. Gerard stumbled, and Cheryl punched him in the neck, forgetting she had the bottle, thus accidentally stabbing him with the remains of the bottle; severing an artery. As he fell to the ground, he drew his police-issue Glock 17 and fired three shots in the direction of Cheryl and Pascalle. The fate of the three characters is unknown until Season 6.

Season 6 (2010)

Season 6 is in production at the moment and is expected to air mid 2010. John Campbell will appear as a news reporter in a small cameo. The season is expected to be the last for the series and will reach it's hallmark 100th episode.

International broadcasts

Australia

• Outrageous Fortune is shown weekly on the Pay-TV channel ARENA.
• It was shown on the Nine Network during the summer non-ratings period.
• Season 5 is currently screening on Network Ten 21:30 Friday nights over the summer period.

Ireland

• TV3 Ireland showed the first series during 2006 and started showing the second series in March 2007 (22:00 Thursdays).

Canada

• Began airing in 2007 on Super Channel.

Italy

• Outrageous Fortune was aired on SKY TV in Italy in March 2008.

UK

• Shown on LivingTV in the United Kingdom starting on Tuesday March 6, 2007 at 10 PM.
• "Honest" is a UK remake for ITV by the independent production company Greenlit - the first episode airing on 9 January 2008.

US

• Good Behavior, was an ABC remake of Outrageous Fortune, titled for broadcast in 2009. Rob Thomas (whose writing credits include Veronica Mars and Dawson’s Creek) was developing the US version. But unfortunately it did not get picked up by any networks and was cancelled.
• A new remake was announced in January 2010 titled Scoundrels.

DVD releases

Outrageous Fortune: Series One
Set Details		Special Features
13 Episodes 3 Disc Set English 2.0		Behind the Scenes Cast and Crew Photo Slide Show
Release Dates
Region 4
NZ	AU
October 28, 2005	March 1, 2008

Outrageous Fortune: Series Two
Set Details		Special Features
17 Episodes 4 Disc Set English 2.0		Xmas Telemovie Blooper Outtakes Photo Gallery
Release Dates
Region 4
NZ	AU
October 16, 2006	May 3, 2008

Outrageous Fortune: Series Three
Set Details		Special Features
22 Episodes 4 Disc Set English 2.0		Loretta's Blog Photo Gallery
Release Dates
Region 4
NZ	AU
December 27, 2007	August 4, 2008

Outrageous Fortune: Series Four
Set Details		Special Features
18 Episodes 4 Disc Set English 2.0		Audio Commentaries Outtakes Photo Gallery
Release Dates
Region 4
NZ	AU
November 13, 2008	June 30, 2009

Outrageous Fortune: Series Five
Set Details		Special Features
19 Episodes 4 Disc Set English 2.0		Audio Commentaries Photo Gallery
Release Dates
Region 4
NZ	AU
November, 2009	?

Music

Main article: Outrageous Fortune Soundtracks

Two compilation soundtracks have been released for the show, and both draw on New Zealand music. The title track for the series is Hello Sailor's "Gutter Black".

Awards

• The show cleaned up at the New Zealand TV Awards for 2005 winning Best Drama, Best Actress : Robyn Malcom and Best Actor: Antony Starr, Best Director Mark Beesley, Best Script Rachel Lang & Best Editing Nicola Smith
• TV GUIDE Best on the box: Best Drama & Best Actress Robyn Malcolm
• Woman's Day Reader's Choice: Favourite Female Personality Robyn Malcolm
• Air NZ Screen Award 2006:Best Drama Series & Best Drama Programme for episode 4
• At the Air New Zealand Screen Awards for 2007, the series won six awards, including Best Drama Programme. Robyn Malcolm won Best Actress, Antony Starr won Best Actor, and Frank Whitten won Best Supporting Actor.
• The Show also cleaned up at the 2008 Qantas Film and Television Awards winning 8 awards including Performance by an Actress in General Television: Robyn Malcolm, Performance by an Actor in General Television: Antony Starr, Performance by a Supporting Actress in General Television: Antonia Prebble, Performance by a Supporting Actor in General Television: Tammy Davis, Best Script - Drama/Comedy Programme: Rachel Lang, Sony Achievement in Directing - Drama/Comedy Programme: Mark Beesley, Achievement in Editing - Drama/Comedy Programme: Bryan Shaw.

External links

• Network (TV3) Website
• Production Website
• South Pacific Pictures
• New Zealand Listener review
• Outrageous Fortune at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com