Bro'Town

Production

Characters

The Boys

• Vale Pepelo - Brother of Valea Pepelo. He has a strong social conscience. Contrary to his given name, Vale is considered the intelligent one of the group, frequently seen carrying a literary classic.
• Valea Pepelo - Brother of Vale Pepelo. He is more interested in girls than Vale. Whenever he sees an attractive girl, he does a rendition of the 'schwing!' gesture Valea's name is an apt description. Valea has a description of "the pasher" after noting in a Bro' Town annual his goal in life is to "pash hot chicks" and his dream is for "hot chicks" that like to be "pashed". Although loosely translated to Dumber, Valea is known to be only slightly behind in the National Standards. Jeff da Maori is more likely to fail exams, and, if under correct conditions Valea is amazingly intelligent.
• Sione Tapili - From A Samoan Descent, his mother is known as a Sheman and is also Katera and Valea's best friend. He considers himself as a ladies' man, while he constantly looking for ways to impress the girl of his dreams, sixth former Mila Jizovich. He is also the "bro" likely to have dream sequences e.g. posing as a super hero and starring in famous movies.
• Jeff da Māori - Jeff Da Māori lives with his mother and eight dads in a car shell outside the house. He was brought up in the country by his aunt Queenie but then moved to the city for better TV reception and "because the thieving colonialist stole our land". He is often portrayed with a horribly runny nose. He is known for his catchphrase 'Not Even Ow!'. He is also known to call many people his cousin, and claims "everyone's my cousin, except Winston Peters he's a 'dick' ow". He is known to be actual cousins with famous actress Keisha Castle-Hughes and famous actor Cliff Curtis.
• Rodney David Damascus McCorkenstein-Taifule aka Mack - Mack rounds out the group as a heavyset boy with an effeminate demeanor and a knack for talking his way out of things. Although he does stand behind his word eventually. Mack is considered a tough guy by the group, claiming to have been raised in the streets. He actually lives in a high class mansion with a loving mother and father. Mack's homosexual tendencies and feminine behaviour are more and more obvious as the show develops, but his friends seem to choose to ignore it. He is also known to be a snob at school, probably excelling at most subjects, and noted to be reading Memoirs of a Geisha.

  Other characters of Morningside

• Pepelo Pepelo - Vale and Valea's dad is a benefit abusing, occasional fork-lift driver with a love of beer, pornography and gambling. His catchphrase is "I'm going to the pub... I may be some time". Pepelo's wife died when the boys were young and they were entrusted to his care. However, his method of child rearing was ignoring them to fend for themselves. The closest he inadvertently gets to parenting is occasionally telling the boys a relevant and touching story from his own life. He is known to discriminate against other ethnic minorities in Morningside, have frequent drunk-driving accidents and blame his dysfunctions on the war in Vietnam.
• Wong - Initially a Chinese exchange student from Hong Kong. After a rocky start he quickly became mates with the boys by sharing his wealth and letting them ride in his car. He once helped the Boys by joining in the St. Sylvester's rugby team in Get Rucked and bet a million dollars on Honky the Wonderhorse. Wong has a brother named White, who exists only to facilitate a racist pun about being unable to tell White from Wong.
• Constable "Bobby" Bababiba - A cynical and unsympathetic policeman who, being the only police officer to appear on the show, has been involved with many of the boys' mishaps as he tries to restore order in Morningside. His image and name are based on actor Robbie Magasiva.
• Rakeesh Maadkraklikka - A disgruntled Indo-Fijian dairy store owner. He is eager to shoot and zap any potential troublemaker or thief in his store. Pepelo owes a massive debt to Rakeesh's store due to his indulgence and improper spending. He is married to the beautiful Satisha.
• Satisha Maadkraklikka - Rakeesh's spouse. She is not as brash as her husband, but Satisha is just as tough. However, she shows a sympathetic side as well: on two occasions Satisha helped The Boys with their problems and issues.
• Reverend Minister - Stereotypical minister who heads a Samoan flock in Morningside. He frequently preaches about the local issues in very vivid and exaggerated ways. He is also quick to drive his flock on mindless angry mob sprees. As a sideline for his church he also sells 'authentic' holy items at high prices. There seems to be an intimate relationship between him and Agnes. Agnes' youngest child has an uncanny resemblance to the minister, including his hairdo - for that matter, so do most of the very young children of his congregation. He is very similar to the Minister character in the recurring sketch Milburn Place, part of the Skitz comedy series in which several Naked Samoans were involved.
• Mahari Stevens - A Social worker from CYPFS -Children and Young Person's Family Services. She appeared in the first episode when Pepelo disappeared for four days, responding to a ten-year-old complaint about his terrible parenting, and made the Pepelo brothers "Wards of the State". She also later interrogated Mack and inadvertently manipulated him into accusing Brother Ken of child molestation, and threatened to take him away from his parents when he revealed it was in fact false.

  Tapili family

• Agnes Esmeralda Beatrice fasi fufuTapili - Sione's mother and the Pepelos' neighbour. She is deeply religious and physically aggressive, especially to Sione. Despite this, she seems to have intimate relations with the local minister. She serves as a caricature of the overbearing Polynesian mother who will not hesitate to humiliate her children. Willing for a husband, she is shown to have phone sex with Pepelo Pepelo, even though she is shown to hate him.
• Sina Tapili - - Sione's big sister and Mila's friend. Sina does not think kindly of her brother and the boys, except for one time when Mack was crying. She attends St Cardinal's College for girls, known to the boys of neighbouring St. Sylvester's as 'Carnal Knowledge.'
• Timothy "Motorcycle Boy" Tapili - Agnes' eldest son. He is a delinquent who is a regular in the local delinquent centre and jail. His real name and nature were exposed in the episode "Go and ask Agnes", where it is revealed that his criminal record is not very impressive and he behaves more like a pretentious bully than the "hardcore" criminal he claims to be. He is shown to be a role model to Sione and Sione states he wants a bike like him.
• Samson - Agnes' youngest son. He is the presumed son of the minister, though Agnes refers to him as "A miracle by Jesus".

  School folk and students

• Brother Ken - St. Sylvester's Fa’afafine principal. He is a personal friend of many famous New Zealanders, including actress Lucy Lawless and Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark. Brother Ken is a caring and reasonable principal, and once helped a then-young Mack to become friends with the boys.
• Rex Ruka - Rex is a typical sort of jock or alpha male in St. Sylvester's. He is regularly seen mocking the boys due to their supposed inferiority with Joost by his side. Rex is Sione's rival for Mila's hand.
• Joost van der Van Van - A South African immigrant whose father Hansje manages the local zoo. As is expected, he acts as Rex's partner, providing appreciation for his many putdowns. However, it was revealed in "A Chicken Roll at My Table" that Joost's racism was an act and he only did it because he was discouraged by his grandfather from making friends with coloured people. His name is a nonsense parody of Dutch surnames and means 'of the of.' Although unknown, it has been suggested that his name may have been derived from Springbok player Joost van der Westhuizen.
• Mila Jizovich - A Croatian student of St. Cardinal's, best friends with Sina Tapili and the girl of Sione's dreams. She is best known for helping Lucy Lawless with the birth control presentation in "Sionerella". Her name appears to be a combination of tribute to the actress Milla Jovovich and a somewhat unsavoury joke.
• Abo - An Aboriginal Australian who studies in St. Sylvester's. His nickname is either derived from his ethnicity or his real name, Abercrombie. Abo is known to celebrate every occasion with a traditional song or dance. He is often seen riding an emu. Though Abo has made political comments regarding Indigenous native title, the satirical point of this character is unclear as very few Aboriginal Australians live in New Zealand. As such, he is more surreal than satirical.
• Ms. Lynn Grey - A teacher who manages The Boys' class at St. Sylvester's. She seems to have an affection for Māori men. A parody of well-meaning liberal Anglo-Saxon, she will carefully use Māori vocabulary but immediately follow it with a slightly patronising English explanation. Her name is a reference to the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn.

  Figures in Heaven

• God - As the creator of the universe, God can choose to be anything he wants. Thus he is satirically portrayed as a well-built Pacific Islander in a lavalava. He appears mellow and easy-going, rather than strict and wrathful. God starts each episode in Heaven as if it were a fairy-tale, usually telling it to Jesus Christ and other famous, deceased notable figures.
• Jesus - The Lord's only son. Unlike the past serious and solemn renditions of the Christian divinity, Bro'Town portrays him as young and naive. He generally seems like a somewhat wimpish teenager, who often needs to be gently taught a lesson by his Father.

Guest stars

Books

• bro'Town Annual - A hardback book with character profiles, map of Morningside, puzzles etc. It also has an episode story-board from the first season.
• bro'Town Annual 2 - The sequel to the first book, which has more profiles.
• bro'Town Annual 3 - Focuses on the 3rd season.

  DVD releases