The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell

THE HOPES & DREAMS OF GAZZA SNELL is a coming of age drama with a difference: it's the father who does the growing up.

In equal measures charming and infuriating, Gazza Snell (William McInnes) is mad about karting – as are his teenage boys Marc and Ed, played by talented newcomers Josh and William McKenzie, who are brothers in real life.

Gazza is obsessive to the point of tunnel vision about his boys making the big time in the world of motorsport. Both boys are talented kart drivers and a lucrative career in Formula One is a real possibility.

Gazza has borrowed big money, is on the verge of securing a job with a local Chinese businessman and is hopeful the next race will get Marc a spot with an elite Italian training team.

It's a passion reluctantly accepted by their mother, Gail (Robyn Malcolm). She loves Gazza and the boys, but often feels like an outsider in her own family. She finds herself relying on family friend Ron (Joel Tobeck) for things like keeping her rundown old car on the road. Then the boys collide on the track. Marc is unhurt but Ed is in a coma. Gazza's life is turned upside down, Gail's worst nightmare has come true and Marc believes it was all his fault.

And so begins a journey that will tear the family apart and change Gazza's life forever.