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Filming underway on The Newsreader S3

In season three, a cynical network move sees two former newsroom lovers pitted in direct competition.

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Top L to R: Anna Torv, Michael Lucas, Joanna Werner.
Bottom: Emma Freeman

Filming is already underway in Melbourne on the third season of The Newsreader, starring Anna Torv and Sam Reid -now set in 1989.

Produced by Werner Film Productions, the series sees William McInnes, Marg Downey, Chum Ehelepola, Stephen Peacocke, Michelle Lim Davidson, Chai Hansen, Phillipa Northeast all return. They are joined for S3 by Daniel Henshall.

ABC Head of Scripted, Rachel Okine says, “We’re thrilled to be working again alongside the talented team at Werner Films Production. The Newsreader is an enduring audience and critical favourite and we can’t wait to showcase the next instalment of this world-class Australian drama on ABC.”

Screen Australia’s Director of Content Grainne Brunsdon says, “The Newsreader has been considered one of the most innovative and compelling dramas on TV since its debut in 2021. With 15 AACTA Award nominations up its sleeve for 2024, this quintessentially Australian drama continues to go from strength to strength, putting our incredibly talented actors and filmmakers on the world stage. We can’t wait to see what this next chapter has in store.”

VicScreen CEO, Caroline Pitcher says, “The Newsreader is a prime example of the exceptional drama made by Victorian talent, both behind and in front of the camera. We can’t wait for the third season of this trailblazing show to be back on our screens – and looking at the series’ whopping 15 AACTA nominations, we are not the only ones.”

Indeed, TV Tonight readers recently voted the series their favourite Aussie drama of 2023.

Emma Freeman will once again direct all six episodes, with the series to screen later in 2024.

We first met Dale Jennings (Reid) and Helen Norville (Torv) in 1986 when a fledgling Dale was desperate to be a star newsreader, and Helen was fighting to be taken seriously as a journalist. Now Dale and Helen have finally achieved both these long held dreams. Dale is News At Six’s ‘King of News’, and Helen’s fearless international reporting has won her great acclaim. But when a cynical network move sees the two former lovers pitted in direct competition, their kinship will be tested as never before. Over the course of 1989, Helen and Dale will compete to cover a cascade of historical events, from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, to the Tiananmen Square massacre, the boycotts of South Africa’s Apartheid, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Production credit: A Werner Films Production for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Major production investment from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Screen Australia in association with VicScreen. Created by Michael Lucas. Written by Michael Lucas, Christine Bartlett, Adrian Russell Wills and Niki Aken. Directed by Emma Freeman. Produced by Joanna Werner and Michael Lucas. Executive Producers Joanna Werner, Stuart Menzies and Emma Freeman. ABC Executive Producer Brett Sleigh. ABC Head of Scripted Rachel Okine. Worldwide distribution is managed by Entertainment One (eOne).

5 Responses

    1. … maybe they’ll buy the newsroom a BASYS news computer system and jettison the typewriters like actual commercial newsrooms did from 1986 !!! (and the Marconi Mk VIII tube cameras are getting a bit long in the tooth as well, maybe some Sony CCDs would be in order?) …

        1. … I’ll take that as a compliment … but not a “critique” as such, I’m just often amused how millennials seem to get their decades confused … overnight ratings is another one that The Newsreader gets wrong, not to mention that in that era it was entertainers and broadcasters like Brians Naylor and Henderson, Roger Climpson and even the ABC’s Richard Morecroft who were the leading newsreaders, not journalists … the first series was still entertaining though, the second series lost me after the second episode when it turned into the Women’s Weekly version and was dumped on to iView, so I probably won’t be back for the third …

          1. CJ…Production of The Newsreader spent 3 years doing interviews with newsreaders and people who worked at news stations.
            How is this wrong?
            If you weren’t one of those contacted, I’m sorry… but the series can’t disclose who they were.
            As the producer and creator The Newsreader said in speech when he won AACTA in 2021
            I will never reveal their names…but their stories will be told

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