Dave Lawson loves dressing up in a suit, sitting down at a desk and pretending to search for staples for hours on end.
The Utopia actor will return to screens for the show's fifth season next month, portraying the well-meaning but markedly hopeless Scott Byrnes, an assistant to chief executive officer Tony Woodford (played by Rob Sitch) at the fictional government agency, the Nation Building Authority.
It's a job in which Lawson gets to play out a fantasy he's never realised: working in an office.
"The Utopia office, it is the floor of an office building in Melbourne," he says.
"So when you walk in, it doesn't look like a set, it looks like an office. So it's very easy to pretend you're going to work for the day."
"My desk is right next to Tony's desk ... so often I've just got to sit there pretending to work in the background of most scenes.
"So even if I don't have any dialogue that day, I'm generally sitting outside Tony's office, pretending I'm doing my pretend work."
Lawson has come to understand life in an office well.
"I make up my own side storyline which no one will ever know about," he says, of those moments.
"Once I was trying to find the staples for the whole episode in the background, for my stapler, and that just kept me busy Googling staples."
The next instalment of the hit show, written by Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner and Rob Sitch, will return four years after the fourth season aired, with more of the satirical delivery on the workings of bureaucracy that has simultaneously pained and awed viewers.
Across eight episodes, the cast at the fictional government agency will explore more billion-dollar announcements, shifting geopolitical priorities, problematic statues, cyberattacks and an awkward UNESCO report.
And a TikTok account.
"There is a TikTok episode but I think shortly after we filmed it TikTok might have actually been banned," Lawson says, referring to a ban announced on work devices, which APS staff will know well.
'It's been fascinating'
Lawson returns to the show alongside a cast of Sitch, Celia Pacquola, Dilruk Jayasinha, Kitty Flanagan, Anthony Lehmann, Emma-Louise Wilson, Nina Oyama, Jamie Robertson, Mike McLeish and Rebecca Massey.
His character will be delivering more of the same shenanigans, he says, "just four years older and still in the same position, has not been promoted".
"I kind of hoped turning up he might have his own office this time, but no, he's still doing exactly the same thing," he adds.
Utopia quickly reached critical and popular success when it first aired in 2014, speaking to a viewership beyond the public service, on the trials and tribulations of everyday life in an office.
"I never really knew what went on behind those doors, and so it's been fascinating to play a fictionalised version," Lawson says.
"Although I hear a lot of people who work in similar areas find it very hard to watch because they say it's actually pretty close to the bone, what happens in Utopia.
"So I've heard more from people saying, 'I can't watch it'," he laughs.
- Utopia season five will air on June 7 at 8pm on ABC TV and iview. The show is delivered by Working Dog production, the partnership behind shows including Have You Been Paying Attention, The Hollowmen, Thank God You're Here, All Aussie Adventures, The Panel and Frontline.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
