When the ABC announced during its 2023 Upfronts showcase that the 1980s sitcom Mother and Son was being remade for a new generation of viewers, no-one was more excited than actress and stand-up comic Denise Scott.

Scott, 68, who will play an ageing Maggie alongside comedian and radio host Matt Okine, 38, (who will play her son Arthur and is also re-creator and writer), took to Instagram to share the news.

“To be clear, I’m the mother. Matt is the son. I’m excited. Terrified. Honoured. Humbled.

“Will I get to go to the Logies?” she wrote at the time.

A regular on a raft of Ten shows including The Project and Have You Been Paying Attention, Scott might miss this year’s cut-off for nominations, but by all accounts, she is the star of the show.

ABC head of comedy Todd Abbott revealed at the time he thought Okine and the team “were joking when they suggested revisiting this classic series, but the more excited they got, the more it became clear we absolutely had to make it”.

“Australia has changed a lot in 40 years, and this cheeky, fired-up, laugh-out-loud series reflects that beautifully.

“And for anyone who needs any more convincing, I have two words: Denise Scott!” he wrote.

Denise Scott and Matt Okine. Photo: ABC

‘Huge shoes to fill’

The much-loved original series, starring Ruth Cracknell and Garry McDonald, ran for six seasons from 1984 to 1994.

Cracknell, who won a Silver Logie for the most popular comedy personality and for most outstanding actress two years running (1993-94), played an ageing mother whose memory was failing her.

Her younger son, Arthur, moves in to care for her, and therein lies the comedy masterclass of a forgetful, often cheekily manipulative mother and a son conflicted with his own work and personal life.

It received wide acclaim and was even made into a stage play at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne in 2014.

“The idea to re-create Mother and Son first came to me back in 2013 when I was touring Hong Kong alongside Denise,” Okine said late last year.

Mother and Son starred Ruth Cracknell, Garry MacDonald (left) and Henry Szeps. Cracknell died in 2002, aged 76. Photo: AAP

“It was a staple of the Okine family TV when I was growing up … a beautiful snapshot of 1980s Australian suburbia, made hilariously unforgettable by its co-stars Ruth Cracknell and Garry McDonald.

“Ten years in the making, it feels like a dream come true to have this idea brought back to life.

“Denise and I have huge shoes to fill but with my hairline going the way it is, I feel like I was born to play a 2023 version of Arthur,” Okine said.

The plotlines for the eight-part series are still a surprise, but we do know the first episodes deal with Arthur, recently single, moving back into the family home after Maggie sets fire to the kitchen.

“A former nurse, Maggie used to be a firebrand – a free-thinking renegade of the ‘60s. But since the death of her husband, Maggie has been … a little off,” a release at the time said.

Screen Australia, ABC and Screen NSW are involved in the reboot alongside the Wooden Horse Productions team of Jude Troy and Richard Finlayson.

They describe Mother and Son as “the perfect antidote to the doom and gloom of the last few years”.

“The pandemic forced many of us to reconnect with family and this series will resonate all the more as a result.

“A beautiful mix of comedy and pathos superbly crafted by Matt Okine, [and writers] Sarah Walker and Tristram Baumber, Mother and Son shines a timely lens on an ageing population and modern family life in a contemporary, multicultural Australia.

They said the show had the “blessing” of Mother and Son’s original creator Geoffrey Atherden, who also collaborated with Okine on this project.

Mother and Son premieres at 8.30pm on the ABC and ABC iview on August 23