★★★★★ 0/5

Renewed: Cleverman

It's good news for the bold new drama from ABC & SundanceTV.

11
Leave a comment

2016-06-02_2256

ABC’s newest drama Cleverman has been jointly-renewed for a second season with SundanceTV in the US.

The ambitious series premiered overnight in Australia and yesterday in the US. Attracting positive reviews, it has also been sold to channels including BBC Three in the UK. Last night it was also trending on social media to much praise from viewers.

Sally Riley, Head of Scripted Production, ABC TV, says: “It’s rare that you get the green light for a second series of a show before the first season has even gone to air, so for me it’s a testament to the quality and audience appeal of Cleverman. It is also a testament to the unflinching support the show has from our funding partners Screen Australia and Screen NSW here in Oz, and our international partners Red Arrow and Sundance TV.”

Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV said, “The world that Ryan Griffen and the rest of the team behind Cleverman have created is a perfect blend of timeless mythology seen through the prism of a near future lens. This is a series that sophisticated genre fans will no doubt fall in love with. We are thrilled to be working with our incredible partners at ABC TV, Goalpost Pictures Australia, Red Arrow International and Pukeko Pictures to continue the West brothers‘ journey.”

Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason said: “Cleverman fully deserves the local and international accolades that it has received – it’s engrossing, challenging, entertaining and unique. Following this original concept from inception through to development and now seeing its resonance with audiences both overseas and at home is a proud moment for Screen Australia. Congratulations to all involved.”

Goalpost Pictures and New Zealand’s Pukeko Pictures will produce 6 more episodes with Weta Workshop again providing the creature design and physical effects manufacture.

Wayne Blair and Leah Purcell will both return to direct.

Cleverman is based on an original concept by Ryan Griffen. Series two writers are Stuart Page, Jane Allen, Jada Alberts, Justine Gillmer and Ryan Griffen. Producers are Rosemary Blight for Goalpost Pictures, Ryan Griffen, Jane Allen and, for Pukeko Pictures, Sharon Lark, with executive producers Sally Riley, Ben Grant, Kylie du Fresne, Wayne Blair, Angela Littlejohn, Lisa Chatfield, Adam Fratto, Jan David Frouman, Amelie Kienlin and Irena Ignatiew.

11 Responses

  1. Just watched episode 1. I thought it was dreadful, concepts have been done before and much better. Lucky to get half a star out of 10, suprised I did not switch of altogether, won’t be back.

  2. Good on Cleverman for taking some risks and thinking outside the square but first ep wasn’t as impressive as the hype has built it up to be.
    A stellar cast and interesting, controversial concepts but didn’t “grab me” first off.
    A bit too earnest and “trying too hard” to be controversial for me but will continue watching to see if next week’s episode appeals more.

  3. Not very original-a melange of ideas and visuals from many series and films including Mad Max and Dr Who-some scenes made no sense like the Fuzz raiding the flat and having no apparent knowledge or experience of the ‘haries’ great strength etc.

  4. I’ve only seen the first ep but I liked what I saw and think there’s comfortably room for another 6 eps. Thought Wayne Blair’s direction was really good and liked the style so I’m glad that he’ll be back.

  5. I say this not to be overly mean to Australian television production but just as a comment.

    The ABC promos department needs some work as all the irritating ads for this on iview have ensured that I will never watch this show, which seems to be attracting good buzz. If something is to be repeated before each video to be played careful thought needs to be put into how to minimise audience annoyance.

    1. Yes. If I’m going to watch iView I start it and then go and do something else while the same damn promo and the unnecessarily long announcement about the content’s classification plays.

      1. Is that just a PC thing, or does it happen on newer TVs / Freeview catch-up too? Haven’t seen anything like that on my old Samsung smart TV with its iView app, or the … um, ‘other way I watch iView programs’…

Leave a Reply