Kostas Stephanidis arrived in Australia from Greece and settled in Melbourne. He opened a coffee house and named it the ‘Acropolis’ cafe. Now, 23 years later Kostas is going home to Greece for a long overdue holiday. He leaves his cafe in the hands of his son Jim and his friend Rick joins him to manage the finances. Jim soon turns the quiet cafe into a happening place for young people. If only Kostas could see his Acropolis now!
Acropolis Now was one of the most successful Australian television sitcom set of the early 1990s (for 63 episodes from 1989 to 1992 on the Seven Network) that held a mirror up to multicultural Australia.
It was created by Nick Giannopoulos, George Kapiniaris and Simon Palomares, who also starred in the series. They were already quite well known for their comedy stage show, Wogs out of Work. The title is a play on the film Apocalypse Now. Each episode was 20 minutes in length and filmed in front of a live audience.
Its brand of cross-cultural humor still resonates today in such shows as Pizza and Here Come The Habibs.
The show, loosely based on the trio’s successful stage production Wogs Out Of Work, was set in a fictional Greek cafe in Melbourne.
Nick’s character Jim tasked with running the Acropolis Cafe after his uncle moves back to Greece.
Starring
* Nick Giannopoulos – (Jimako) Dimitrius “Jim” Stefanidis
* George Kapiniaris – Agamemnon “Memo” Aristotele Hatzidimitropoulos
* Simon Palomares – Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez
* Tracey Callander – Elizabeth “Liz” Maloney
* Mary Coustas – (Efthimia) Francesca “Effie” Stefanidis
* Simon Thorpe – Gavin “Skip” Farrell