0/5

Crownies spin-off to go ahead for ABC

Exclusive: "We will be making a spin-off, and it will be coming back in a slightly different form that's less soapy," says ABC1's Brendan Dahill.

EXCLUSIVE: ABC legal drama Crownies will be getting a spin-off series.

The ambitious 22 part drama, starring Todd Lasance, Marta Dusseldorp and Lewis Fitz-Gerald, had a modest launch last year but while its ratings were disappointing it developed positive word of mouth as the series progressed.

Late last year ABC1 Channel Controller Brendan Dahill told TV Tonight he was weighing up a possible spin-off.

This week he confirmed a future for the show, by focussing on the legal aspects and not the personal lives of the young attorneys.

“We will be making a spin-off, and it will be coming back in a slightly different form that’s less soapy,” he said.

“We’ll be honing in on a much more solid narrative. We’ve taken on board some of the criticism we got from the first series about it being a bit unable to make up its mind if it was This Life or The Good Wife.”

Dahill says the series is also part of an evolution of ABC Drama and that audiences were not expecting a series of its style.

“I loved it and I loved the characters but maybe we were sending mixed signals to our audience, so we need to be more certain about the driving force behind the narrative,” he says.

“So it will become more about the cases and less about the people. That doesn’t mean we’re going to dropping entirely any reference to their back stories. You need to understand the back stories to understand the judgements that they make.”

Last year Producers Screentime issued a rare public statement on the series after some media reports questioned the new drama’s switch to a later timeslot in order to make room for The Slap. It noted the show had been created with the specific intention of appealing to a younger demographic.

At this stage it isn’t clear which characters will be featured or whether it will make it to screen in 2012.

“It’s still early days but I’m hoping we’ll have something more to say in the next couple of months,” he said.

“It won’t be the big 22 parter, but the characters in Crownies will be returning.”

33 Responses

  1. I have started watching the series on Blu-Ray and think they got the mix between the personal and professional lives right. I don’t think I would bother watching this if it focuses entirely on the legal aspect.
    I think that is one of the reasons I lost internest in New Tricks, I remember there was more about their personal lives earlier on.

  2. I loved every minute of Crownies and am eagerly awaiting the return. Would love to see the original cast return as their lives (both personal and professional) interacted so well with each other. I also thoroughly enjoyed The Slap and Rake.

  3. I’m a baby boomer and I absolutely loved Crownies – my Gen Y daughter and I didn’t miss an episode. I think it is great to see Australian actors given the opportunity to be a part of a series such as this. I just hope the spin-off is as good. Maybe the ABC needs to look at how it promotes the series – I only found out about Crownies through my daughter.

  4. Great to hear about the return of Crownies, I’m baby boomer and loved the show, also loved The Slap, really appreciate any show that illustrates aspects of our culture!

  5. This gets another series…. there is no justice. Total dumbed down junk. Why are they rewarding this failure?

    They should adapt more books instead of doing “Crownies the more formulaic version”.

    Whats happening about Rake? It was twice as good.

Leave a Reply