You probably don't remember Laid. Or maybe you do, and that's why you're here, scratching your head about where everyone went. It was this bizarre, darkly comedic Australian gem that aired on ABC back in 2011 and 2012. The premise was simple but absolutely unhinged: Roo McVie discovers that her ex-boyfriends are dying in increasingly strange ways. It wasn't exactly Friends. It was more like a morbid, existential crisis wrapped in a sitcom wrapper. But the cast of Laid—that specific group of actors—is what really made the show's pitch-black humor actually land without feeling too mean-spirited.
Honestly, looking back at it now, the show was ahead of its time. It tackled dating anxiety and the "ghosts" of our past relationships literally. It’s the kind of thing that would probably be a massive hit on a streaming service today. But back then? It was a cult hit that vanished after two seasons.
The Core Players: Where Are They Now?
Alison Bell was the heart of the show as Roo. She didn't just play a girl whose exes were dropping like flies; she played the neurosis behind it. Bell has this specific energy—kinda frantic but deeply relatable. If you’ve watched Australian TV in the last decade, you’ve definitely seen her. She eventually co-created and starred in The Letdown, which blew up on Netflix. It's funny because The Letdown feels like a spiritual successor to Laid in terms of its "brutally honest" vibe, just swapping dead boyfriends for the horrors of early motherhood.
Then there’s Celia Pacquola. She played EJ, Roo's best friend. In the show, EJ was the anchor. Since then, Pacquola has basically become Australian comedy royalty. She’s everywhere. You’ve seen her on Rosehaven, she’s won a bunch of awards for her stand-up, and she even won Dancing with the Stars in Australia. It’s wild to see her go from this niche dark comedy to being a household name.
The cast of Laid also featured some heavy hitters in the "ex-boyfriend" department. Toby Truslove, who played AJ, has stayed incredibly busy in the Aussie scene. He’s one of those actors who pops up in everything from Utopia to Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries. He has this very specific "affable but slightly off" quality that worked so well for a guy who might be cursed.
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The Weirdness of the Supporting Roles
It wasn't just the leads. The guest stars were a revolving door of "Oh, I know that guy!"
Abe Forsythe played one of the ill-fated exes. If that name sounds familiar, it's probably because he’s moved heavily into directing. He did Little Monsters (the zombie flick with Lupita Nyong'o) and the series Wolf Like Me. It’s a recurring theme with this cast; they weren't just actors, they were creators. They were the "smart" wing of the Australian industry.
Damon Herriman also showed up. Yes, that Damon Herriman. The guy who eventually played Charles Manson in both Mindhunter and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Seeing him in a quirky 2011 comedy after seeing him as a cult leader is a trip.
Why the Show Still Hits Different
Most people get it wrong when they talk about Laid. They think it’s a horror show. It’s not. It’s a show about the weight of our history. Every time an ex-boyfriend died, Roo had to confront who she was when she was with them. It was a metaphor that literally killed people.
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The writing was sharp. Marieke Hardy and Kirsty Fisher created something that didn't follow the "rules" of television. One week it was a slapstick comedy about a guy dying in a freak vacuum cleaner accident, and the next it was a genuine meditation on grief.
The Industry Impact
When you look at the cast of Laid, you're looking at the blueprint for modern Australian dramedy.
- Alison Bell: Proved that female leads could be unlikable, messy, and still beloved.
- Celia Pacquola: Transitioned from niche character actor to a legitimate star.
- The Creators: Went on to influence the tone of shows like Please Like Me and Bump.
The Legacy of the "Cursed" Cast
It’s actually kinda ironic. For a show about people dying, the careers of the people involved have been incredibly long-lived.
There's no reboot in sight. Honestly, there shouldn't be. The two seasons we got were perfect in their own messy way. But if you're looking to track down the cast of Laid, you're better off looking at the credits of the biggest shows in Australia and the UK right now. They’ve dispersed into the DNA of modern television.
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A lot of the show's DNA ended up in The Letdown. If you haven't seen that, it's on Netflix and it’s basically "Roo McVie grows up and has a baby." The humor is just as dry, the stakes feel just as high (though slightly less lethal), and Alison Bell is still the master of the "everything is fine while the world burns" facial expression.
Final Verdict on the Cast of Laid
The show was a moment in time. It captured a specific 2010s Melbourne aesthetic—lots of cardigans, awkward silences, and suburban dread.
If you're trying to find the show today, it's notoriously hard to stream in some regions. It’s a bit of a "lost" media situation, which only adds to its cult status. But the careers of Bell, Pacquola, and Truslove are the real evidence that the show was something special. They didn't just move on; they took that specific, dark sensibility with them.
What to do next if you're a fan:
First, go find The Letdown. It’s the closest you’ll get to a third season. Second, look up Celia Pacquola’s stand-up specials; her timing is even better now than it was in 2011. Finally, if you can actually find a DVD copy of Laid at a thrift store, buy it. It’s a piece of television history that explains why so much of today’s comedy feels the way it does. You’ll start seeing the influence of this tiny show everywhere, from the way "sad-coms" are shot to the specific pacing of dialogue in modern indies. It was a incubator for talent that defined a decade.
Check out the IMDB pages for Marieke Hardy and Kirsty Fisher to see their more recent writing projects, as they've continued to shape the "weird" side of Australian fiction and non-fiction.