Pick of the 2021 Upfronts

Upfronts season late last year may not have been the most exciting showcase the industry has unveiled, but with production impacted by the pandemic perhaps it’s understandable.

Seven, Nine & 10 continue to focus on stripped Reality shows, and a hefty dose of sport and news to drive live viewership.

That leaves ABC & SBS with bigger slates and shorter run titles.

Amongst the brand new titles coming this year, here’s a few on my radar.

ABC:

The Newsreader
6×60
In the maelstrom of a commercial television newsroom in 1986, Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) is a diligent young reporter, desperate to become a newsreader. Helen Norville (Anna Torv) is a notoriously ‘difficult’ star newsreader determined to build credibility. Paired together over three months, Dale and Helen will cover an extraordinary chain of news events— from the shock of the Challenger explosion, to the hype of Halley’s Comet, to the complexities of the AIDS crisis. From messy beginnings, a deep bond is formed that will upend their lives and transform the very fabric of the nightly news bulletin. This is a story of a grand, unconventional relationship in a world on the cusp of change.
A Werner Films Production for the ABC. Major production investment from Screen Australia and the ABC, in association with Film Victoria. Distributed by eOne. Created by Michael Lucas. Directed by Emma Freeman. Produced by Lucas and Joanna Werner. Executive Producers Werner and Stuart Menzies. ABC Executive Producers Sally Riley and Brett Sleigh.

Wakefield
8×60
The compelling eight-part drama series Wakefield explores the fine line between sanity and madness. Set in a hospital in the spectacular Blue Mountains outside Sydney, the show tackles the taboo subject of mental illness head on. It does so through an engaging ensemble of unique characters, each with their own compelling story. At its centre is a psychological mystery: Nik Katira (Rudi Dharmalingam), a gifted psychiatric nurse, is the most stable person in what tends to be a pretty crazy place. But right now his grip on his own sanity is slipping. The question is … why? With both humour and heart, Wakefield is a powerful and highly original series that will be compulsory television viewing.
Also stars Mandy McElhinney, Geraldine Hakewill, Ryan Corr, Harriet Dyer, Wayne Blair.
Wakefield is a Jungle Entertainment production in partnership with BBC Studios for the ABC. Major production investment from Screen Australia in association with the ABC. Financed with support from Screen NSW. Executive Producers Kristen Dunphy, Chloe Rickard and Jason Burrows. Co-Executive Producer Sam Meikle. Series Producers Shay Spencer and Ally Henville. ABC Executive Producers Que Minh Luu and Sally Riley. Writers Kristen Dunphy, Sam Meikle, Joan Sauers and Cathy Strickland. Directors Jocelyn Moorhouse and Kim Mordaunt.

Fisk
6×30
Writer, co-director and star Kitty Flanagan brings her singular and hilarious voice to this highly relatable, fast-paced comedy about high-end contracts solicitor Helen Tudor-Fisk, who is forced to take a job at a shabby, suburban law firm following a humiliating marriage breakdown and a professional fall from grace. Overnight Fisk finds herself in the low rent world of wills and probate, where she deals with highly emotional and irrational clients. Bereaved relatives, long standing family feuds and petty squabbles over money and inheritance make this job as much about being a therapist as a lawyer.
A Porchlight Films production for the ABC. With major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria. Written by Kitty Flanagan and Penny Flanagan. Co-directed by Kitty Flanagan and Tom Peterson. Produced by Vincent Sheehan. Executive Producers Greg Sitch, Liz Watts, Anita Sheehan. ABC Executive Producers Todd Abbott and Brett Sleigh.

Seven:

Holey Moley
It’s mini golf, but not as you know it! A US No.1 hit two years in a row, Holey Moley is extreme family fun. Teeing off in 2021, mini golf lovers from around Australia will compete head-to-head on an unparalleled, larger-than-life obstacle mini golf course (aka a mini golfer’s wonderland). They’ll face out- of-this-world make or break putts, insane physical challenges and unimaginable distractions while they attempt to complete the course to reach the daunting final hole. Aussie golfing legend Greg Norman will serve as the Resident Golf Pro of the epic Holey Moley course with American actor/comedian Rob Riggle (Saturday Night Live, The Hangover, Step Brothers, The Other Guy) sharing commentating honours with 7NEWS sports anchor Matt Shirvington. In between ducking golf balls, host Sonia Kruger will attempt to keep everyone on course. Who will take home the $100,000, and the coveted Holey Moley plaid jacket? Holey Moley is created and produced by Eureka Productions for the Seven Network.

RFDS
Aussie drama hits a new high with RFDS. A gripping new Australian action-drama on a grand scale starring Logie Award-winning actor Stephen Peacocke (Home and Away, Wanted), Logie Award- winning star of stage and screen Rob Collins (Mystery Road S2, Total Control), and acclaimed actresses Emma Hamilton (Mr Selfridge, The Tudors), Justine Clarke (Tangle, Rake, The Time Of Our Lives) and Ash Ricardo (Offspring, Bite Club). Filmed on location in and around Broken Hill and based on remarkable real-life stories, RFDS portrays the modern-day heroes of the Royal Flying Doctor Service who navigate private lives as turbulent and profound as the heart stopping emergencies they attend. RFDS is an Endemol Shine Banks production for the Seven Network. Major production investment from Seven Network in association with Screen Australia. Financed with support from Screen NSW through the Made in NSW Fund and the Regional Filming Fund.

Around The World In 80 Days
Multi award-winning actor David Tennant (Broadchurch, Jessica Jones, Doctor Who) stars in this highly anticipated adaptation of Jules Verne’s beloved classic, Around the World in 80 Days. Tennant plays explorer Phileas Fogg, who, following an outrageous bet, takes on a challenge to circumnavigate the globe in just 80 days. He’s joined on the journey by his valet, Passepartout, played by rising French star Ibrahim Koma and the aspiring journalist Abigail Fix, played by The Crown’s Leonie Benesch. This truly international drama is adapted by a team of renowned writers led by Ashley Pharoah (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, The Living and the Dead) and Caleb Ranson (Child of Mine, Heartless). Around The World In 80 Days is a Slim Film + Television and Federation co-production.

Nine:

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, Nine’s new drama series about life’s most surprising and precious moments, features a stellar cast including Kate Jenkinson (Doctor Doctor, Wentworth, Offspring), Sigrid Thornton (Seachange, Wentworth), Catherine Van Davies (Hungry Ghosts, The Letdown, True Story with Hamish & Andy), Alexandra Jensen (Frayed, My Life is Murder, The Letdown) and Kat Hoyos (Here Come the Habibs!). Amazing Grace is centred on midwife Grace (Kate Jenkinson) and her passionate colleagues at an unconventional birth centre attached to a major city hospital. A fierce advocate for her pregnant mothers-to-be, Grace’s dubious work/life balance is about to get even more chaotic when a new arrival at the birth centre changes her life forever.
Produced by Playmaker Media for Nine, the creative team for Amazing Grace includes writers Jonathan Gavin (Offspring), Ainslie Clouston (Playing For Keeps), writer and executive producer Sarah Smith (Love Child), set-up director and co-executive producer Shawn Seet (Love Child, Reckoning, Hungry Ghosts), producer Diane Haddon (The Commons, Reckoning, The Code) and executive producers David Maher and David Taylor (Love Child, Bloom, The Commons), plus Nine’s Head of Drama Andy Ryan. With major production funding from Screen Australia in association with Screen NSW, Amazing Grace commences filming soon in Sydney with further cast to be announced.

10:

The First Inventors
And in an exciting new Australian show called The First Inventors, a co-commission currently in development with National Indigenous Television (NITV), we’ll take you on a journey back through time – somewhere between 70,000 and 120,000 years ago – to a community in the midst of developing sophisticated stone tools, art, agriculture, irrigation and much more. In this incredible story of knowledge, resilience and invention, presenter Rob Collins will meet and collaborate with First Nations authorities whose frontline fieldwork is giving us an exciting new insight into ancient Indigenous innovations and discoveries.

The Gilded Age
This US project by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) begins in 1882 and centres on young Marian Brook, the orphaned daughter of a Southern general, who moves into the home of her rigidly conventional aunts in New York City. Accompanied by the mysterious Peggy Scott, an African-American woman masquerading as her maid, Marian gets caught up in the dazzling lives of her stupendously rich neighbours, led by a ruthless railroad tycoon and his ambitious wife struggling for acceptance by the Astor and Vanderbilt set.

SBS:

 

New Gold Mountain 
TX: 2021 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 4 x 1hr
Bendigo Goldfields, 1855. The charismatic headman of the Chinese mining camp suddenly finds himself struggling to maintain the fragile harmony between Chinese and European diggers and authorities when a murdered European woman is discovered to have links with the Chinese community. Mulan and Dead Lucky’s Yoson An stars alongside Vikings’ Alyssa Sutherland, Christopher James Baker from True Detective, acclaimed actor Dan Spielman (The Code), and local breakout talent Mabel Li (The Tailings). The series is directed by Corrie Chen and produced by Kylie du Fresne. A Goalpost Television production for SBS. Major production investment from Screen Australia in association with SBS. Financed with support from Film Victoria with Screen NSW. all3media International is the global partner on the show.

See What You Made Me Do
On average, one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner in Australia*. Shockingly, that number is growing. This is an epidemic with no signs of slowing. Hosted by Australian journalist Jess Hill and based on her critically acclaimed book of the same name, See What You Made Me Do is a landmark documentary series that will ignite a crucial conversation about domestic abuse. A Northern Pictures production for SBS. Principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with SBS. Financed with support from Screen NSW.

Foxtel:

Us – BBC First
Full of humour and heartbreak, this miniseries stars Tom Hollander (Baptiste), Saskia Reeves (Luther) and Sofie Gråbøl (The Killing). Connie and Douglas are set for a grand tour of Europe. It’s one last family holiday before their only son Albie leaves for university. But just days before departure, Connie announces she wants a divorce. They nonetheless continue with the trip in some of the world’s most beautiful cities – from Amsterdam and Paris, to Venice and Barcelona. Douglas sees this as a make-or-break chance to win Connie back and restore his troubled relationship with their teenage son. As love takes a detour, will Douglas get his marriage back on track? 

The End – FOX Showcase
Kate Brennan (Frances O’Connor) is a British doctor specialising in Palliative Care on the Gold Coast. Back in the UK, her recently widowed mother, Edie (Dame Harriet Walter), tries to kill herself and fails spectacularly. Kate realises, with no small horror, she’s going to have to move Edie out to Australia. The only person more appalled by this is Edie, particularly when Kate dumps her in a nearby retirement village. The End is about Kate and Edie’s fractious journey as they find their way back to a relationship. It’s a story about the right to die and what makes life worth living.