Feature interview with The PM’s Daughter star Cassandra Helmot

The PM’s Daughter is back for a second term, with Season 2 of the political comedy-drama premiering on ABC ME and iview this month.

Lead actor Cassandra Helmot joined us at the 2023 ACTF Parliament House showcase where she told us the second season was just as much fun to film as it is to watch.

Produced by Fremantle Media for the ABC, The PM’s Daughter tells the story of Catalina Parkes Pérez, a teenager who’s like any other, but with one difference: her mother is the Prime Minister of Australia.

In the second season of the critically acclaimed series, Cat has finally settled into life at The Lodge, but she quickly learns that the journey of the Prime Minister’s daughter is never smooth.

“Cat’s settled in to the role, so we get to see her owning it a bit more, which then immediately comes with trouble as her mum starts dating,” says Cassandra. “Cat's now got this whole new thing to deal with. And then we've got Cat’s internship, which I'm really excited about because that was so much fun to film. We get to see Cat embrace her competitive side again.”

In the first episode, Cat returns from holidays in Spain to reunite with her best friends Sadie (Natalie English) and Ollie (Jaga Yap) for a new school year. There’s strong chemistry between the trio, and Cassandra confirms they’re also great friends off screen.

“We have a group chat and we all stay in contact,” says Cassandra. “This is why I liked going back for Season 2 – because I got to see them all again.

“Anytime we all had a scene with just the three of us, it was a bit chaotic… it would be in a really confined space, so we'd all immediately get the giggles.” In Season 2, Ollie confesses that he has feelings for Cat – and Cassandra says that scene in particular was very fun to film. “We kept laughing because it was just so awkward. It reminded me so much of early high school when you would have those exact conversations… the awkwardness!”

Just like her character, who’s juggling school, a competitive internship and the chaos that comes with being the Prime Minister’s daughter, Cassandra was balancing another big responsibility during filming: studying for her Year 12 exams, which started a week after production wrapped.

“All through my final term of school I was filming, and then I got back and immediately got Covid for a week,” says Cassandra. “Then I went into my exams. Right after that, I just crashed. After my final exam, I was like, ‘phew, it's over’. It was a bit chaotic.”

But Cassandra took all the chaos in her stride. “Weirdly, Covid helped, because it set a precedent that it could be done remotely,” she says. “Teachers were already used to sending remote work and doing all that, so that helped. And I think the solidarity that I wasn't alone. Amelie [James Power, who plays Georgina] and Natalie were also doing their Year 12, and Bailey [Hayward, who plays Alex] and Jaga were doing their Year 11, so we were all suffering together, and that really helped. We could show up to set and be tired and dying inside, being like, ‘I have an assignment due tonight’, and everyone else would be like, ‘me too’.”

This week, Cassandra visited Australian Parliament House for the 2023 ACTF Parliament House Showcase, hosted by Minister for the Arts Tony Burke and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF). But despite playing the Prime Minister’s daughter for two seasons, Cassandra admits she’s spent much less time around the building than you’d think.

“I didn't go there until right at the end of Season 2,” says Cassandra. Due to Covid restrictions, most of the filming took place in Sydney. “It was not safe to fly an entire crew and cast to another state. We got to go up there for a tiny bit so that I could film around Canberra to prove that I was there. I got to actually see Parliament House and be like, ‘whoa, that's where I was meant to be in that scene.’ So that was cool. I got to see it right at the end of there. It was a fun little day trip.”

The inspiration for The PM’s Daughter came from writer/creator Tristram Baumber wanting to teach his children that they could change the world by creating a show with kids at the centre of a narrative about politics and power.

“While The PM’s Daughter is filled with fun, humour and some big-time Prime Ministerial glamour, it also speaks to the most important issues facing young people today,” says Tristram. “At a time when children and teens across the world demand answers of our politicians, we wanted to give them a show with characters that have the ability to deliver.” Climate change, corruption and artificial intelligence are among the storylines covered across both series – and Cassandra believes as well as being entertaining, the series makes the audience think.

“I know personally, none of it was on my radar,” she says. “Now they're aware of these subjects, they can do their own research and form their own opinions. I think it's good to be putting these ideas in their mind, that these things are happening in the world.”

The PM’s Daughter is Cassandra’s first lead television role and she says it’s been a fantastic experience.

“I know it's not a massive production, but to me it was like, ‘this is massive’,” says Cassandra. “People would give me coffee for free. That's a thing. Random strangers would show up with a coffee. You could just have things for free, like coffee and food, and you would get moved in little buses. It sounds really weird and specific, but that was the stuff that stuck in my brain the most.

“I was very lucky that I got to work with the specific cast and crew that I did because they were incredibly welcoming and kind, and pretty much every single person on set was like, ‘if you ever need help with anything, with anything to do with acting, just give me a call, give me an email. I'm happy to help.’ The whole team was wonderful and super easy to work with and very tolerant of me not knowing what was going on.”

You can see both seasons of The PM’s Daughter on ABC ME and iview.