★★★★★ 0/5

ABC stacks on the streaming hits

Interview with the Vampire, Mayfair Witches, Kevin Can F*** Himself, The North Water, Ragdoll -all part of a killer streaming month on Free to Air TV.

7
Leave a comment

A swag of streaming hits which have screened on Prime Video, Foxtel, BritBox and AMC+ are set to have Free to Air broadcasts on ABC.

Interview with the Vampire, which stars Sam Reid (The Newsreader), Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones), Bailey Bas (Avatar) will screen on ABC in early May.

The 7-part reinvention of Rice’s revolutionary gothic novel is an epic story of love, blood, and the perils of immortality, as told to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). The series currently has a 99% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was praised for reinventing Louis, played by Brad Pitt in the 1994 movie, as a Black man in 1900s New Orleans.

It will be joined by another Anne Rice supernatural series, Mayfair Witches starring Alexandra Daddario (White Lotus) as Rowan Fielding – an intuitive young neurosurgeon, who discovers she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches. As she grapples with her newfound powers, she must contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations. It also stars Harry Hamlin (LA Law), Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) and Tongayi Chirisa (Crusoe).

The series was delayed for its Australian premiere on AMC+ in January but eventually launched last week.

Dark comedy Kevin Can F*** Himself, which screened on Prime Video, is also coming in May. The series starring Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek) centres around the prototypical Sitcom Wife, Allison McRoberts, married to her self-centered husband, Kevin. When Allison learns that the perfect future she envisioned is impossible, she makes a plan to take back control of her life. It has a 91% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Also coming is The North Water, produced by Australian / UK based See-Saw Films which screened on Foxtel, Binge. The 5 part series features Jack O’Connell, Colin Farrell and Stephen Graham in an epic adaptation of the acclaimed novel about a whaling expedition that becomes a struggle for survival. Set in Hull, England, and on the ice floes of the Arctic in the late 1850s, the drama was filmed primarily in the Arctic, shooting on the frozen seas north of the Svalbard Archipelago. The cast and production team sailed as far as 81 degrees north to film sequences in the pack ice, the furthest point north it is believed a drama series has ever filmed before.

It will be joined by UK serial killer drama Ragdoll from the producers of Killing Eve. The six-part series, described as darkly witty and imaginative, is based on the novel by Daniel Cole. It stars Henry Lloyd-Hughes (The Irregulars, Killing Eve), Thalissa Teixeira (Too Close, The Musketeers) and Lucy Hale (The Hating Game, Pretty Little Liars). The ensemble cast includes Douggie McMeekin (Chernobyl, The Crown), Ali Cook (Emmerdale), Lee Byford (Killers Anonymous), Perry Jaques (Blue Iguana), Phil Aizlewood and Rene Costa.

Finally for something lighter, is UK drama Sister Boniface Mysteries, which has screened at BritBox. The Father Brown spin-off stars Lorna Watson as s blessed sleuth. The 10 part series also features Miranda Raison (Spooks) and Ami Metcalf (Silent Witness).

Kevin Can F*** Himself Tuesday May 02 9:30pm on ABC TV Plus (all episodes available to binge on iview)
Mayfair Witches Friday 5 May at 9:15pm on ABC (all episodes available to binge on iview)
Interview with the Vampire Friday 5 May at 10:10pm on ABC (all episodes available to binge on iview)
Sister Boniface Mysteries Saturday May 13 7:30pm on ABC.
The North Water Saturday May 13 8:15pm on ABC
Ragdoll Saturday May 13 9:15pm on ABC

Updated

7 Responses

  1. The ABC has got some great acquisitions there.I’ve seen many of these shows on streaming services,but it’s great that they’re getting a run on free to air tv now.I just wonder how did they get Mayfair Witches,which is currently screening g on AMC+ so soon?That seems quite a coup for the ABC to get such a new show onto its service,

    1. So interesting. And although Kevin Can **** Himself premiered on Prime, it’s also an AMC show whose second season was exclusively on its streaming service. I hope we get S2 on ABC but I wonder if this is a strategy to direct people to its streaming home.

  2. Well, that’s … interesting. Seeing Jack O’Connell in “Rogue Heroes” last week, I was reminded that I never finished “that whaling show” he was on. Guess I won’t need to dig it out now. Thanks for this news, David.

    1. I agree. Free to air TV is a great place for streaming services to put their shows on. It would give the shows exposure to audiences who might not be streaming, and convince them to do so, thereby bringing in more dollars to the streaming services. It also benefits free to air TV services, by giving them something other than re-runs to air, while also attracting viewers, which, in turn, brings in dollars. Its a win-win-win!

  4. With all of these beginning within 3 weeks of each other and coming from separate streaming services, the obvious question to ask is: What has changed to cause this?

    1. Streaming services are looking to generate extra revenue from their shows, after all the subscribers who want to watch them have. It’s a tough business these days and FTA can get 100s of thousands of extra viewers for them, so are prepared to pay. The North Water and Sister Boniface are BBC, so after they have had their first run on BBC First and Britbox, they are available to the ABC under their BBC deal, which was recently renewed. Alibi has sold shows to the ABC before, like Annika.

Leave a Reply