Retrograde is an Australian narrative comedy series which first screened on the ABC in July 2020. It follows the lives of a group of thirty-something friends as they drown their sorrows at a virtual bar during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.^[1]

Cast

• Pallavi Sharda as Maddie
• Ilai Swindells as Ramsay
• Maria Angelico as Isabel
• Esther Hannaford as Sophie
• Nicholas Boshier as Dylan
• Max Brown as Rob

Guest cast

• Ronny Chieng as Glen
• Shapoor Batliwalla as Dad
• Julian Haig as Hot Alan
• Luxy Mu as Maya

Production

Retrograde is a six part series created by Mark O'Toole & Meg O'Connell and is directed by Natalie Bailey. The executive producer is Kurt Royan and producers are Meg O'Connell, Dan Lake, and Jackson Lapsley Scott. It is an Unless Pictures & Orange Entertainment Co production for the ABC.

The series was conceived of in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, when O'Connell helped organise a virtual bar similar to the one featured in the show. She and Scott then pitched the idea to Que Minh Luu less than a week later, and the show began production.^[2]

The show was shot remotely via a series of Zoom calls between the producers, crew, and actors.^[2] Filming started in mid-June, just three weeks before its 8 July debut.^[3]