Food app delivery drivers whizz by us on the street every day, but they remain, for most of us, an anonymous presence. We don’t get to hear their stories. That all changes with darkly comic thriller Appetite, which draws on interviews with several riders.
Showrunner Mohini Herse was inspired to create this short-form whodunnit during Sydney’s lockdown, when many residents turned to comfort eating, often relying on apps like Uber Eats. “The premise we always come back to is, ‘What is the cost of convenience culture?’” Herse says of penning the show with co-writers and fellow filmmakers Neilesh Verma and Grace Tan.
During lockdown, news broke that . Further exacerbating the anonymity of these workers so many of us rely on, many are international students, who were classed as essential workers during the pandemic but couldn’t access government support.
'Appetite' dives into the lives of city delivery riders. Source: Appetite Show / Felipe Neves
Appetite, a miniseries of six short episodes, set in Sydney and revolving around the rider community, draws on this dilemma. “It was never intended to be finger-pointing,” Herse says. “We’re all drawn to genre-mashing comedy that also hits you in the feels, with the satirical approach of shows like , Fargo and Search Party.”
When I speak to the trio, they’re on their way south from Paris to the Côte d’Azur to as the only Australian show invited to compete in the short-form competition. “We’ve seen so many delivery drivers here,” Tan says. “This story exists all over the world.”
Appetite’s riders are played by Chinese-born, Sydney-based Shirong Wu, who impressed in award-winning stage show White Pearl, Gabriel Alvarado, of Chilean descent, and Delhi-born Kabir Singh, who popped up in hit show The Tourist, starring Jamie Dornan and . When a rider is killed in a hit-and-run accident, the search for answers unravels a shocking conspiracy behind delivery app Appetite, as voiced by none other than . “We did a rough cut with my voice, sent it to her in Tasmania and she absolutely loved it,” Herse reveals. “Two days later, I was doing a Zoom session with her and she just nailed it. She doesn’t need to do Appetite. As a team, it shows that we’ve got something interesting to say when someone of her calibre wants to help.”
The riders share a flat sublet by hilariously skeevy Zal (Raj Labade), who is drawn into the mystery. The team asked Labade to perm his hair and dye it blond to get the vibe right. “We were like, ‘Raj you have to destroy your hair for this part’,” Herse chuckles.
Former stand-up comedian Verma adds that Zal was his favourite character to write. “He’s an amalgam of all the worst people I know. So he’s just so much fun to write, and Raj cracks me up.”
Herse’s co-director Neil Sharma (Heartbreak High), Tan and Verma all had a say in the casting, conducted over Zoom during lockdown, as were the writers’ room sessions. Tan says the actors were able to convey a shared chemistry regardless. “We could just feel it,” she says, with Verma adding, “It’s nice to hear lines you write when an actor just brings so much extra to them and you’re like, ‘Wow, you surprised me, you got the gig’.”
Raj Labade (Zal), Gabriel Alvarado (Bastian), Shirong Wu (Tessa) and Kabir Singh (Raj). Source: Appetite Show / Felipe Neves
Tan notes that they had to nail the casting to walk the tonal tightrope between laughing along with these characters and not losing sight of the real-life tragedies underpinning Appetite. “It was definitely a balance, trying to navigate the truth of what delivery riders go through versus what our characters are trying to battle in the story,” Tan says. “Mining genre conventions allowed us to play a little bit more. The research was a foundation, but when we found the truth of what they were going through, that element of humanity and relatability, we could use the characters as our emotional throughlines.”
Interviewing several gig economy delivery riders to get their voice right, the team found that, despite the tough conditions they face, their witty insights informed much of the show’s comedy. “They were funny people, so we definitely had to implant a lot of that into the show to do them justice,” Verma says. “Darkly funny is my vibe, and comedy is a great vehicle for issues. It breaks the ice and you’re able to talk about things more when you can also laugh at them.”
Grace Tan, Neilesh Verma and Mohini Herse on set during filming. Source: Appetite Show / Felipe Neves
One of the funniest moments in the show involves Zal, but it’s not one of his trademark zingers like, “What the Narnia is this bullshit?” Instead, it’s a deceptively simple back-and-forth between Tessa and Bastian when the trio head to Zal’s surprisingly swanky family home. Bastian’s more shocked that Zal’s mum is white than Tessa is because he’s apparently rich.
“Zal’s kind of based off my own experience,” Herse says. “My dad’s white, and it was always a shock to my friends.” When she introduced her parents at the Appetite cast and crew screening, pretty much the exact same comic exchange occurred in real life. “People were like, ‘Who the fuck is this guy?’ It’s that identity clash. There’s so many different ways to approach identity and to see someone, and you never really know what the backstory is. But here’s a fun little fact. Those are actually Raj’s parents in the show, and it was so fun on set to film them. They got incredibly nervous, but they absolutely killed it.”
The contributing riders also attended the screening. “They are part of our crew,” Herse says. “They were story consultants reading scripts all the way through. At the end of the day, we can get into Canneseries, but the reactions of those riders is something that I think for the three of us is the most rewarding part, to have helped tell that story in a way that they feel seen.”
Appetite premiered on SBS Viceland as a 60-minute compilation on Saturday, 22 April. All six episodes are now streaming at . Start here:
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