Desert Vet heads to Nine

Nine has picked up another vet series which previously aired on another network.

Desert Vet, which previously screened as a pilot on Seven, will film 4 new episodes for Nine.

The series, starring 2018 West Australian of the Year finalist Dr Rick Fenny, will shoot in WA’s Karratha, Port Hedland, Shark Bay, central WA, and Kalgoorlie over four weeks from mid-March.

Fenny, best known for being Red Dog’s vet, centres around the heartache and joy witnessed by veterinarians – including his daughter Louisa and marine biologist son Ed, who runs Ocean Park Aquarium in Shark Bay.

“It’s incredibly exciting to be getting back out on the road to shoot Desert Vet the series and know that we’re playing our part in building a narrative around what makes WA different and unique, and taking that to the world, as well as underscoring the vital role vets play, especially in the outback where animals are often a major part of the family or even someone’s closest companion,” said Dr Fenny.

“WA still remains a hidden secret to so many; I’ve been blessed to grow up and build a great career here and it’s fantastic to be able to give back to this great state.”

Executive producer Matty Roberts said “The feedback from the Desert Vet pilot episode, which was watched by more than 800,000 people last year, was that viewers wanted to see more of Rick’s family, and engage more deeply with some of the unique animal stories, so we’ll be looking to go over and above that episode via some really amazing new storylines and surprises.”

Nine Network Head of Programming Hamish Turner said: “It’s great to be partnering with Projucer on this production. We were drawn to the diverse characters and storytelling the outback delivers. It prints a very unique range of real-life Australian stories.”

Desert Vet is due to air on UKTV’s Eden and Nine’s main channel at primetime on Friday nights in the second half of the year.

Nine recently picked up a new-look Bondi Vet to screen later this year.

This week Adrian Swift, Nine’s Head of Content Production & Development, told delegates at the AIDC, “One of the things we really believe is the audience likes things they know. That’s one of the reasons why Bondi Vet was a good title for us.

“If you have a show with a title that people know and understand, there’s a million dollars of marketing before you even get up. We used to run a promo and 1.6m people would see it. We run a promo and we are lucky these days if 600,000 people see it.

“So you end up spending millions of dollars on buses. Frankly if you give people a show they know in the EPG or the paper… it’s a million dollars worth of marketing before you even start.”