Cameras roll on ABC comedy Preppers

Filming is underway in Sydney on the upcoming ABC comedy, Preppers starring Nakkiah Lui.

The six-part series follows Charlie (Lui), a young Aboriginal woman whose world crumbles around her after experiencing a personal, cataclysmic event. Escaping the fallout, Charlie finds herself at the centre of a hilariously mismatched community of doomsday preppers. With climate change, economic catastrophe, terrorism, pandemics, meteor strikes, hostile AI, nuclear proliferation, alien invasion it looks almost certain that the end is nigh. So, when the end comes—no matter how it happens— maybe the craziest thing is to NOT be prepared?

Written by Lui and Gabriel Dowrick, a top-notch cast includes Ursula Yovich (Mystery Road), Chum Ehelepola (The Newsreader), Meyne Wyatt (Mystery Road), Aaron McGrath (Glitch), Eryn Jean Norvill (STC’s The Picture of Dorian Gray), Jack Charles (Cleverman), Grant Denyer (Family Feud), Christine Anu (Black Comedy), Miranda Tapsell (Top End Wedding), Brooke Satchwell (Mr Inbetween), Luke Carroll (Total Control) and singer Kate Miller-Heidke. It is directed by Steven McGregor (Black Comedy).

Nakkiah Lui and Gabe Dowrick said, “It’s very exciting for us to see the comedic world we’ve created come to life with such a great cast and crew, and we are also particularly pleased that Preppers is being made (and will hopefully be seen) before the eventual apocalyptic event(s) that wipe out humanity…”

Sally Riley, ABC Head of Drama, Entertainment and Indigenous said, “It has been a real joy watching Nakkiah go from strength to strength, from her first writing and performing roles in Black Comedy, to short form in Kiki & Kitty and now her first half hour series, with Preppers.”

Penny Smallacombe, Head of First Nations Department at Screen Australia said, “Nakkiah Lui has a track record of creating boundary-pushing comedy and we’re proud to support her and the rest of the talented creative team in bringing this hilarious and clever series to life. Who doesn’t need a few lessons in Prepping!”

Producers Liz Watts and Sylvia Warmer said: “We’re thrilled to be partnering again with Nakkiah Lui, as well as Gabe Dowrick, on Preppers, along with a brilliant cast and crew. We can’t imagine a more blackly comic and pertinent series for our time. Preppers will be smart, relatable and very, very funny. It also might make you shed a tear.”

It will screen later this year.

Production Credit: A Porchlight Films production in association with Spirit Pictures. Preppers was funded through Screen Australia’s First Nations Department, with major production investment from the ABC, in association with Screen NSW. International sales are managed by About Premium Content. Director: Steven McGregor. Series Producer: Sylvia Warmer. Executive Producer: Liz Watts. ABC Executive Producer: Margaret Ross.