News

Watch out, Yellowstone! There's a new Western family in town thanks to the Oct. 24 release of Territory on Netflix. The Australian drama series centers on the Lawson family and their Marianne Station cattle station and the various rivals looking to swoop in and pounce on the dynasty's plans for succession in the midst of a personal family tragedy.

The action-packed drama series has all the makings of a new binge-watch obsession for viewers who can't get enough of shows like the aforementioned Yellowstone, Succession, Dynasty, and various series about taut family businesses and the social politics that define their past, present, and future. Before the series becomes the next Netflix hit, learn who's who in the show.

Here's the full Territory cast list:

Anna Torv as Emily LawsonMichael Dorman as Graham LawsonRobert Taylor as Colin LawsonSam Corlett as Marshall LawsonSara Wiseman as Sandra KirbyDan Wyllie as Hank HodgeClarence Ryan as...

Cheng Pei-pei, the Chinese-born action film icon who starred in Ang Lee’s Oscar-nominated “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and King Hu’s seminal wuxia feature “Come Drink With Me,” has died. She was 78.

Cheng, considered a pioneer of martial arts roles for female actors, died in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday. She had long suffered from a degenerative brain disease and has donated her brain to medical research.

Born in Shanghai on Jan. 6, 1946, Cheng moved to Hong Kong in 1962. With her ballet and dance training, she was soon working with the iconic Shaw Brothers studio. While her feature debut was drama film “Lovers’ Rock,” she became a major star in martial arts, action and swordplay movies following her breakout role in 1966’s “Come Drink With Me,” directed by King Hu. The film set the tone for a sequel (“Golden Swallow” in 1968), an unrealized remake by Quentin Tarantino and...

Exclusive: Here’s your first look at Stan’s upcoming mega-church drama Prosper.

The Lionsgate family drama stars Richard Roxburgh (Rake, Elvis, Stan Original Series Bali 2002) as Cal Quinn, the founder and global pastor of one of the fastest growing megachurches in the world, and Rebecca Gibney, as his wife Abi Quinn.

Stan says the show, which we first revealed in March, takes a “provocative peek behind the curtain of power and privilege.”

The ensemble cast includes Ewen Leslie (Stan Original Series Bali 2002, The Stranger), Ming-Zhu Hii (La Brea, Peter Rabbit), Jacob Collins-Levy (Stan Original Film True History of the Kelly Gang, The Witcher: Blood Origin), Hayley McCarthy, Jordi Webber (Nomad, Deadlands, Power Ranger) Jacek Koman (Moulin Rouge!, Children of Men, Rake), Andrea Solonge (Class of ’07, Privileged), Brigid Zengeni (Stan Original Series Totally Completely Fine, The Secret She Keeps), Alex Fitzalan (The Wilds, Slender Man) and Alexander D’Souza.

Ugly Betty was a charming family and work comedy series inspired by a telenovela that endeared fans for four glorious seasons.

And thanks to the series hitting Netflix, new generations have been introduced to the magic of this series as it finds a brand-new audience. Of course, it also triggers nostalgia in original viewers.

Whether you're just now bingeing Ugly Betty or you've experienced it all before, you may be wondering what the cast is up to currently.

Ugly Betty bolstered an impressive cast who have truly left their mark and went on to do incredible projects. So, let's get into what the cast has been up to since.

Daniel Eric Gold - Matt Hartley

Gold's character, Matt Hartley, was introduced during Ugly Betty Season 3 as Betty's love interest, with the theater and film actor making his television debut.

The two characters endured a lot of ups and downs in their relationship,...

Richard Roxburgh and Rebecca Gibney star in Prosper, a Lionsgate-Stan series about a family with huge wealth that builds a powerful mega-church. Production has now started in Sydney, Australia.

First announced in September last year, “Prosper” follows the founding family of an Australian church as it is poised to break into the U.S. and harvest yet more wealth and power. But, while preaching a message of faith, love and acceptance to their followers, behind closed doors the Quinn the family is protecting shameful secrets.

Roxburgh portrays Cal Quinn, founder and global pastor at U Star. Gibney plays as Abi Quinn, his wife and worship leader. In his breakthrough role, Alexander D’Souza plays Moses, the adopted son of Cal and Abi.

Prosper is produced by Lingo Pictures, part of ITV Studios, with major production investment from Screen Australia with the assistance of the New South Wales government via Screen Nsw...

Australian streaming service Stan has struck a television development alliance with Hollywood mini-studio Lionsgate. The deal is in addition to the content supply agreement that the pair hatched last year.

Stan and Lionsgate announced the megachurch family drama series “Prosper,” drama series “The Geography of Friendship” and outback comedy crime series “Population: 11” as the first three titles to flow from their development deal.

Separately, Stan announced an expansion of its originals-production activity with other partners and suppliers in Australia. The company says that the new slates put it “on track to deliver 30% of its premium first-run slate from original productions.”

The local slate includes: drama series “Black Snow,” a cold case mystery series set in Far North Queensland; “Last Light,” starring Matthew Fox and Joanne Froggatt; and “The Jump,” a series about the power of friendship and the ways our sadness can unite us.

Also announced is the absurdist comedy feature film “Nude Tuesday,...

The Act Government is taking steps to attract more productions to the nation’s capital, announcing more than $800,000 for a new sound stage and virtual production studio in Canberra.

Delivered in conjunction with the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, the facility will be retrofitted onto an existing structure at a location to be determined.

It comes after the government committed $500,000 in the 2020-21 budget to establish the Canberra Screen Attraction Fund pilot scheme, offering location incentives of up to 10 per cent for productions that spend more than $2 million in the Act.

Screen Canberra CEO Monica Penders told If the studio space would allow the city to build on the success of productions, such as Secret City, Blacklight, and Total Control.

“There are three things we are aiming for,” she said.

“If I had my way, there would be much more Canberran IP up on screens and that is something we are working toward.

With recent reports suggesting that HBO have been spending Game of Thrones amounts of money on video game based series The Last of Us, there has been no shortage of on-set leaks and the latest set of images and videos have some courtesy of an unlikely source - a fan who managed to just walk onto the set of the show and have a good look around. While there were no cast members in sight, which was terribly unfortunate, there is no doubting that the images are taken on the set and they give a good look at what can be expected when the series arrives.

The The Last of Us set photos and video give a great view of what has been done to Fort Macleod in Canada, where filming has been underway for a little while, in order to transform it into Austin, Texas. While they don't confirm...

Fringe alum Anna Torv has joined the cast of HBO’s The Last of Us in a recurring role opposite Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. The series, based on the widely popular 2014 PlayStation game of the same name, hails from Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin and The Last Of Us creator Neil Druckmann.

Based on Naughty Dog’s award-winning video game, The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed by a deadly virus. Joel (Pascal), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone to the Fireflies, a cure-searching organization. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.

Torv will recur as Tess, a smuggler and hardened survivor in a post-pandemic world. In the original video game...

Leading producers Tony Ayres and Belinda Chayko have assembled an extraordinary Australian cast for Fires, a drama series that presents personal tales from the front lines of the country’s recent catastrophic fire season.

The series, which is now shooting in Victoria state is produced by NBCUniversal -backed Tony Ayres Productions and Matchbox Pictures. Australian Broadcasting Corporation is on board as local broadcaster. International rights are handled by NBCUniversal Global Distribution.

The project is helmed by three leading film directors: Michael Rymer, Ana Kokkinos and Kim Mordaunt.

The ensemble cast includes: Eliza Scanlen, Sam Worthington, Richard Roxburgh, Sullivan Stapleton, Miranda Otto (“Homeland”), Hunter Page-Lochard, Anna Torv, Kate Box, Helana Sawires, Daniel Henshall and Noni Hazlehurst.

They are joined by newcomers Ameshol Ajang, Stacy Clausen and Nyawuda Chuol.

Fires” is structured as an anthology that weaves character studies inspired by true stories into a narrative about the Australian bushfires of 2019-...

As Fremantle gears up for a busy year ahead, it has made three new appointments to its development teams across Sydney and Melbourne: Warren Clarke, Monique Keller and Nikki Tran.

Clarke will be the head of development, scripted, reporting directly to Fremantle Asia Pacific CEO Chris Oliver-Taylor.

Co-creator of ABC’s The Heights, Clarke joins Fremantle from Matchbox, where he also helped to develop projects such as Secret City, Wanted and Hyde and Seek. He was also script producer for Oddlands, and wrote for Mustangs Fc.

Clarke said: “Fremantle has long been a creative powerhouse both domestically and internationally and I’m delighted to be joining their highly talented scripted team. I’m looking forward to collaborating with the industry’s leading writers and emerging creative talent and utilising Fremantle’s vast international network to take brilliantly crafted Australian stories to the global television landscape.”

Reporting to Clarke will be Tran,...

Female-led caper mini-series “The Unusual Suspects” has begin filming in Sydney this week. The four-part series, which also highlights Australia’s ethnic diversity, is being produced for publicly-funded broadcaster Sbs.

Set in the upmarket eastern suburbs of Sydney, the story features the theft of a multi-million-dollar necklace and the women from different walks of life who come together to ensure that justice is served.

The cast is headlined by Miranda Otto as well as Filipina-American actress Aina Dumlao, and Michelle Vergara Moore.

The series is written by Jessica Redenbach, Roger Monk and Vonne Patiag, with Margarett Cortez as script consultant. It is directed by Emmy Award-winning Natalie Bailey and Melvin Montalban.

“Suspects” is produced by award-winning filmmaking duo Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford. Vonne Patiag (“Halal Gurls”) is associate producer, while executive production credit goes to Sbs’s acting head of scripted, Amanda Duthie.

It has major production investment from...

Exclusive: Jeanie Bradley, Head of Current Programming at Ucp, is retiring after decades in the TV business and stints as head of current at two major TV studios. In light of her departure, which had been in the works for months, Dana Gotlieb-Carter has been promoted to succeed her as SVP, Head of Current Programming, Ucp.

“Jeanie has been a beacon of positivity since she joined the team here at Ucp. Her pioneering spirit, can-do attitude, and drive to tell the best stories have made her a legend in the business and a valued member of our community. But most importantly, she has proven that the good guys can finish first. I will miss Jeanie, and all she brought to our studio, so very much. She leaves behind a lovely mark on our shows and our souls,” said Dawn Olmstead, President, Ucp, a division of Universal Studio Group. “We are...

(L-r) Jason Lee, an unidentified extra and Frank Lotito on the set of ‘Growing Up Smith.’

Actor Robert Rabiah is frustrated with the lack of on-screen representation of Australia’s diverse communities despite some recent TV shows and movies that are more reflective of race, gender, class and colour.

That prompted Rabiah to create AussieWood, a TV comedy which follows the daily life of casting agent Steve “Aussie” Wood, a high-achieving, slightly neurotic and affable rogue who is trying to do the best he can in a pandemic-ridden world.

Rabiah pitched his idea to director/producer Frank Lotito, who wholeheartedly agreed and will helm a half-hour pilot with a top name cast.

“I wanted to challenge all that mythologising about who can carry a show or who can lead a film or who can play which role and why,” the actor whose credits include Below, Secret City, Safe Harbour and Ali’s Wedding tells If.

Sophie Hyde, pictured here on the set of ‘Animals’, has been nominated for two Adg Awards.

First-time feature directors Thomas Wright (Acute Misfortune), John Sheedy (H is for Happiness), Ben Lawrence (Hearts and Bones) and Natalie Erika James (Relic) will vie for the Australian Directors’ Guild (Adg) Award for Best Direction in a Feature Film ($1 million or over) against Sophie Hyde (Animals) and Wayne Blair (Top End Wedding).

Up in the $1 million or under category are Josephine Mackerras for Alice, Imogen Thomas for Emu Runner, Lucy Colman for Hot Mess, Luke Sullivan for Reflections In The Dust and Samuel Van Grinsven for Sequin In A Blue Room.

The Adg announced nominees for its annual awards today, with winners to be announced in Sydney at a ceremony October 19. A record 202 entries were received this year, up from 117 in 2019.

“At these challenging times, it is more important than ever that we come...

‘Wentworth.’

Arguably the most stressed players in the broadcasting sector, Foxtel, the Seven and Nine Networks and Network 10 are calling for the scrapping of local content quota obligations.

In its submission to the government’s ‘Supporting Australian Stories on Our Screens’ options paper review, Foxtel advocates option 4, which would result in platform-neutral deregulation and revising the existing incentives for Australian content.

The pay TV platform wants to abolish the requirement to invest at least 10 per cent of its total program expenditure on new Australian drama, arguing that would provide more flexibility to invest across a variety of genres.

“Removing regulation provides an equal playing field, offering traditional broadcasters the opportunity to further innovate and modernise in order to compete with international content providers,” Foxtel said.

Free TV Australia, which reps metropolitan and regional broadcaster, favours deregulation of quota obligations, with the exception of the overall 55 per cent Australian transmission quota,...

‘Secret City: Under the Eagle’, shot in Canberra.

Screen Canberra has launched a $250,000 special purpose fund to support the local sector through the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Made In Cbr fund, formulated with industry feedback, will support the development of projects that have market potential and the development of Act-based screen professionals. It covers feature film, television and creative interactive screen entertainment/cross platform projects.

The funding is in the form of a loan; it is not a grant. It is intended by Screen Canberra to be one part of a project’s overall finance strategy. The application and administration fees will be waived for this initiative.

“Screen industry professionals often have limited resources and time for development of projects. Many do have time right now with productions shut down and we are working to turn adversity into a benefit. Screen Canberra will support writers and producers to help keep their...

‘Hotel Mumbai’.

Nick Matthews was named Australian cinematographer of the year for his work on director Anthony Maras’ Hotel Mumbai at the annual Australian Cinematographers Society (Acs) National Awards on Saturday night.

In addition, he collected the Gold Tripod for features budgeted above $2 million with Denson Baker receiving an award of distinction in that category for Claire McCarthy’s Ophelia.

In the awards presented online, Dion Beebe, Roger Lanser and John Wheeler were inducted into the Hall of Fame and the Ron Windon Award went to Robb Shaw-Velzen.

For features budgeted below $2 million Joshua Flavell received the Gold Tripod for David Barker’s Pimped and Chris Bland got the award of distinction for Heath Davis’ Locusts.

Among the other honorees, Zoe White won the drama series or telefeatures prize for The Handmaid’s Tale and Katie Milwright took the dramatised documentaries gong for Matthew Sleeth’s Guilty, which chronicles the final...

Antonio Sabato Jr and Robert Rabiah.

Antonio Sabato Jr. was one of the few American actors who supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election and soon found he was virtually blacklisted in Hollywood.

His agents and manager deserted him and work dried up so after a 30-year-career he decided to move to Florida and get a job in construction.

Now he plans a comeback, producing, co-writing, directing and starring in Trail Blazers, a Western about a band of brothers who were once outlaws and decide to turn their back on their old ways to fulfill their father’s dying wish.

Safe Harbour and Secret City star Robert Rabiah, who has been a mate of Sabato since they worked in Crawford Productions’ Queensland-shot series Tribe in 1999, will play Gabriel, his younger brother.

The brothers take refuge near a small town in Utah and quickly lock horns with the local Sheriff and his deputies.

Brian Walsh.

The Covid-19 crisis and loss of live sport have taken a heavy toll on Foxtel, resulting in mass redundancies and stand-downs – but Brian Walsh sees several positives for the platform.

Foxtel’s executive director of TV believes the additional time writers are devoting to development will result in even higher quality drama.

He’s confident its low-cost entertainment streaming service, a sibling to Kayo Sports, which is due to launch in four or five weeks, will appeal to the 70 per cent of the population that doesn’t subscribe to Foxtel or who aren’t willing to pay for its premium product.

And he hopes that giving Fox Sports’ customers free access to the drama, movies and lifestyle tiers will reinforce to sports fans the value of the platform’s scripted and non-scripted content.

In addition, with most of the population in lockdown, Foxtel has seen a 105 per cent...

Ben Lawrence, Meg O’Connell and Mithila Gupta.

Screen Australia has selected 11 creatives to travel to New York in April as part of the Talent USA: New York delegation, where they will attend the Australian International Screen Forum.

The program is designed give Australian creators an opportunity to learn on the ground in the Us, and provides networking and professional opportunities.

Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason said: “To achieve success in this global industry it is imperative we help Australian talent establish and foster creative and business relationships in the Us – the largest English speaking market for screen content. This group were chosen because they are at the point in their careers where they can really take advantage of the opportunity and leverage these connections for their upcoming projects.”

Australian International Screen Forum co-founder and executive director Michael Kelleher said, “We are excited to showcase the 2020 Talent USA delegation to a New York industry audience.

Exclusive: Abraham Lim (The Catch), Jessica Collins (Revolution), Ian Meadows (Dead Lucky), Daniel Henshall (Okja), Motell Foster (Foxhole), Jaylin Fletcher (Snowpiercer) and Camaron Engels (Malibu Rescue) have joined the cast of Clickbait, Netflix’s eight-episode character-based thriller series from Tony Ayres (The Slap), David Heyman, NBCUniversal International Studios and Australian-based Matchbox Pictures. Principal photography is underway in Melbourne, Australia.

Co-written by Ayres and Christian White, Clickbait explores the ways in which our most dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled in the age of social media and reveals the ever widening fractures we find between our virtual and real-life personas.

Lim will play Ben Park, a ruthlessly ambitious junior news producer who lives for clicks, likes, and views. Ben is willing to wade into ethically murky waters if it means getting what he wants.

Collins will portray Emma Beesley, a seemingly successful...

Carly Heaton.

Carly Heaton has resigned from Foxtel to join Fremantle in the newly created role of creative director, scripted content.

At Fremantle she reports to director of scripted Jo Porter, who tells If: “During Carly’s time at Foxtel she has built an enviable reputation as someone who is ambitious for excellence, a fabulous collaborator and a champion of unique and compelling stories.

“Carly is going to be a brilliant addition to our passionate and clever scripted team.”

Heaton was the executive in charge of drama production at Foxtel, latterly working as a consultant, after being promoted from drama development executive.

Most recently she served as an Ep of Lingo Pictures’ Upright and on See-Saw Films’ upcoming The End.

Previously she was an Ep on Goalpost Pictures’ Fighting Season and both editions of Matchbox Pictures’ Secret City.

Foxtel director of content Ross Crowley continues to oversee drama while...

Tim Minchin and Milly Alcock in ‘Upright’ (Photo credit: Mark Rogers).

Dispelling the notion that Foxtel has cut back on its commitment to Australian drama, the pay TV platform is in the hunt for shows that would not appear anywhere else on Australian screens and for a returning series to fill the gap left by A Place to Call Home.

Foxtel has four dramas in development including Lawyer X: The story of Informer 3838, based on the true story of Nicola Gobbo, the criminal barrister who was a police informant from 1995 until 2009 during Melbourne’s gangland wars.

“A Place to Call Home was so loved by older audiences, who are under-served in this market, it would be great to find something that hits that mark,” Carly Heaton, Foxtel executive in charge of drama production, tells If. “There are a few interesting projects floating around but we haven’t yet got one where we say,...

International TV production group Fremantle and Indonesia’s Wahana Kreator Nusantara have agreed a partnership for scripted projects. The first is an Asian horror anthology “The Sacred Riana: Bedtime Stories,” starring Indonesian magician and illusionist The Sacred Riana.

“Bedtime Stories” is an English-language series set around the continent and inspired by folklore and urban legends. Each self-contained, stand-alone episode has a unique cast and storyline, and is aimed at a worldwide audience. The show will also feature magic and illusions by The Sacred Riana, who debuted internationally on “Asia’s Got Talent,” before transitioning to “America’s Got Talent.”

The two companies are also developing the episodic drama, “Ex Addicts,” based on the Klub Kecanduan Mantan podcast, which was recently released on the Joox music streaming platform. The series will be a romantic comedy series centered around the lives of a group of quirky people with an inability to get over their former partners.

Netflix is teaming with The Slap and Glitch’s Tony Ayres and super-producer David Heyman on thriller Clickbait. The eight-episode series is created by Ayres and is an NBCUniversal International Studios production. Shooting will take place in Melbourne.

Ayres will also showrun and executive produce the character-based drama via his Tony Ayres Productions, which is backed by Oz’s Matchbox Pictures (of which Ayres is co-founder) and NBCU International Studios. Matchbox and Tap are producing with Heyman’s Heyday Television for Netflix.

Clickbait explores the ways in which our most dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled in the age of social media, and reveals the ever widening fractures we find between our virtual and real life personas.

Christian White is co-creator, co-producer and writer. Brad Anderson (The Sinner) is lead director.

Heyman, whose Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood is currently enjoying hot August nights at the global box office,...

Rose Riley (L) and Emma Harvie in ‘Diary of an Uber Driver.’

Rose Riley is getting ready to have her first crack at Hollywood amid the most successful year of her career since graduating from Waapa in 2013.

This week the actor is heading to the Us for the first time for meetings with producers, casting directors and other players set up by her Us agent, Authentic Talent & Literary Management’s Jessica Morgulis.

Rose met Morgulis when the agent visited Sydney, arranged by her Oz rep United Management, before she started work in Stateless, the six-part ABC drama about four strangers in an immigration detention centre in the Australian desert, co-created by Cate Blanchett, Tony Ayres and Elise McCredie.

“I will always be very passionate about Australian stories and Australian cinema, TV and theatre but working overseas would be a total dream; ideally I will find a balance,” she tells If.

Jacki Weaver.

Jacki Weaver is starring alongside Naomi Watts and The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln in Penguin Bloom, the adaptation of Bradley Trevor Greive and Cameron Bloom’s novel directed by Glendyn Ivin.

Lincoln plays Cameron Bloom, the husband of Watt’s Sam Bloom in the drama based on the true story of a young Sydney family who struggle to come to terms with a near-fatal accident that left their mother paralyzed.

An unlikely ally enters their lives in the form of an injured Magpie chick, which the family dubbed ‘Penguin’ due to her black and white plumage.

Weaver portrays Jan, Sam’s mother. Newcomers Griffin Murray-Johnston, Felix Cameron and Abe Clifford-Barr, who were discovered in a nationwide search by casting directors Kirsty McGregor and Stevie Ray, play the Bloom’s children.

Rounding out the cast are Rachel House as Sam’s Kiwi kayak coach Gaye Hatfield, Leeanna Walsman...

Kate Mulvany as Frankie in ‘Lambs of God’ (Photo: Mark Rogers).

Kate Mulvany has a stellar CV as a playwright, screenwriter and stage, film and TV actor – but several years ago she was afraid that screen roles were drying up.

Happily that changed when she was cast as an Army captain who suspects the death of her husband in Afghanistan was covered up in the Foxtel/Goalpost Pictures’ drama Fighting Season.

Now she is on screen in Foxtel/Lingo Pictures’ miniseries Lambs of God as Frankie, the sister of Father Ignatius (Sam Reid), who is kidnapped by nuns played by Ann Dowd, Jessica Barden and Essie Davis.

Her acting career continues to flourish as she makes her Us TV series debut in Amazon’s The Hunt, which follows a group of Nazi-hunters living in New York City in 1977.

“I thought roles might dry up for actors who are over...

Matt Cameron.

For years as a screenwriter Matt Cameron had to get accustomed to a common response from some producers when he handed in scripts.

“Thanks for the script,” he was often told. “Bye-bye, we will let you know when it’s on air.”

That has changed significantly in the past few years as writers are increasingly employed as showrunners or producers, actively involved through to completion.

“The change has been quite swift and profound,” he tells If. “There are still some old school producers who are really hanging on to the past because the old structure suited them well. They liked going to Mipcom each year and not have writers in the room for key meetings.

“The best producers we have in this country, and there’s lots, have really embraced the international approach, which is that it makes no sense not to have the writer in the room...

Chris Oliver-Taylor and Liz Doran.

Fremantle, Micanical Media and 2Jons are teaming up for Barons, an international surfing drama for the ABC.

Created by Micanical’s Michael Lawrence and 2Jons’ John Molloy, the eight-part series is set in the 1970s and follows two surfers who become fierce rivals as they create billion-dollar empires, winning and losing themselves along the way.

Liz Doran leads the writing team which includes Matt Cameron and Marieke Hardy.

The project, which has clear parallels to the Billabong and Quiksilver sagas, is in advanced development and the producers aim to start pre-production by the end of the year and shoot in Australia, the Us and Indonesia in April-May.

Lawrence and Molloy secured a development deal with the ABC and partnered with Fremantle. “It will be a highly polished, bold, big budget drama,” Fremantle Asia Pacific CEO and executive producer Chris Oliver-Taylor tells If.

“It’s an...

Duncan Fellows and Alison Bell.

Fans of ABC TV’s The Letdown who enjoy watching Duncan Fellows as Jeremy, partner and foil of Alison Bell’s oft-stressed Audrey, can look forward to his next series Fam Time.

Fellows is playing John, aka ‘Handy Andy’, second husband of Michala Banas’ Belinda Box, matriarch of a dysfunctional blended family in the Seven Studios’ narrative comedy.

Created by Michael Horrocks and scripted by Erica Harrison and Jack Yabsley, the sitcom features Benson Jack Anthony as Belinda’s son Rylan, Karina Banno as her step-daughter Tahnee, Chloe De Los Santos as her adopted half-Filipino daughter Cherry, Rhonda Burchmore as grandma Viv and Tainui Tukiwaho as handyman Bill.

While everyone else in the family is obsessed with the online world, Handy Andy prefers fixing and inventing things, although he’s not very good at either.

There are some similarities between the two characters. “Neither is...

Damon Herriman in ‘Perpetual Grace, Ltd.’

After portraying a succession of killers, psychotics and all-round bad dudes for the best part of 10 years, Damon Herriman is striving to play more upstanding characters.

With mixed success, it must be said. The actor cheerfully acknowledges his career has been in a purple patch for the last few years but says: “I have been in this business long enough to know it may not last. I had a 10-year run playing bad guys so now I am trying to steer clear of playing psychopaths and violent pigs.”

Not that he would turn down a juicy role as a villain.

Recently he wrapped shooting the second season of FX/Foxtel’s Mr Inbetween, which stars the creator Scott Ryan as professional hitman Ray Shoesmith. Nash Edgerton continues as the director of the comedy/action drama produced by Michele Bennett for Jungle Entertainment and Blue-Tongue Films.

Huw Higginson.

Huw Higginson often plays admirable, upstanding characters but sometimes he gets more of a kick out of tackling villains.

In the past year the English-born actor has portrayed a brutish magistrate in Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale and a serial killer truck driver in Playmaker Media’s Mandarin series Chosen directed by Tony Tilse.

He played more nuanced characters including the abandoned husband and father of Miranda Tapsell’s bride-to-be in Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding; a lawyer who represents the family of a missing priest (Sam Reid) in Lingo Pictures/Foxtel’s drama Lambs of God; and a wealthy gentleman who sends his ward to boarding school in Fremantle/Foxtel’s Picnic at Hanging Rock.

“Unpleasant characters are often more interesting to play,” says the actor who played the well-meaning Constable George Garfield in The Bill for 10 years. “You have to try to find something to...

Doris Younane in ‘Five Bedrooms’

After years of fighting against being typecast as Lebanese or other Middle Eastern characters, actor Doris Younane is in a very happy place in her career.

She’s played a variety of characters, most of no specific ethnicity, in the past five years with recurring roles in Five Bedrooms, The Wrong Girl and Party Tricks plus guest appearances in Secret City, Harrow and Janet King.

“I just want to be seen as an actor in Australia,” she tells If. “I no longer want to be a pin-up for multiculturalism; I have passed that baton on to others. I’ve been really lucky. I think I am a good, solid actor and that’s what has got me through.”

Currently Younane is winning plaudits for her performance as the firebrand Heather in Five Bedrooms, Hoodlum Entertainment’s eight-part comedy-drama for Network 10 created by Christine Bartlett and Michael Lucas.

Yvonne Strahovski, Cate Blanchett and Jai Courtney.

Cate Blanchett co-created, co-produces and will play a key supporting role in Stateless, a six-part drama about four strangers in an immigration detention centre in the Australian desert commissioned by the ABC.

Yvonne Strahovski, Jai Courtney, Fayssal Bazzi and Asher Keddie will play the leads in the series scripted by showrunner Elise McCredie and Belinda Chayko, to be directed by Emma Freeman and Jocelyn Moorhouse.

Strahovski is cast as an airline hostess who is escaping a cult-like self-improvement group, with Bazzi as an Afghan refugee fleeing persecution. Courtney is a young Australian father escaping a dead-end job and Keddie is a bureaucrat who is caught up in a national scandal.

When their lives intersect they are pushed to the brink of sanity, yet unlikely and profound emotional connections are made within the group.

In her first Australian TV role since Rake in 2014, Cate...

Kaarin Fairfax and Chris Haywood in ‘Skewwhiff.’

Chris Haywood is so committed to making a thriller based on the Australian novel The Crossing he has agreed to produce as well as star in the feature film.

First-time feature director James Khehtie sent the novel by B. Michael Radburn to the actor, who loved the premise: Taylor Bridges flees from Victoria to an isolated Tasmanian town to work as a park ranger after his daughter disappeared, triggering the breakdown of his marriage.

When a young girl who was the same age as his daughter vanishes, Bridges, a chronic sleepwalker, begins to wonder what happens when he sleepwalks.

“I did not want to produce but James insisted,” Haywood tells If, recalling that he has served as a producer only once before, on writer-director Peter Watkins’ 1991 feature doc The Media Project, which critiqued Australian media coverage of the first Gulf war.

Radburn has...

Kate Mulvany (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Kate Mulvany is making her Us TV series debut in The Hunt, which follows a group of Nazi hunters living in New York City in 1977 and is inspired by real events.

Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Sonar Entertainment are producing the 10-part thriller created by David Weil for Amazon Prime Video.

The Fighting Season, Secret City and The Great Gatsby star is playing Sister Harriet, one of the members of The Hunters who set out on a bloody quest to prevent hundreds of high-ranking Nazi officials from creating a Fourth Reich in the Us.

Logan Lerman plays Jonah Heidelbaum, whose grandmother is killed by a mysterious intruder in their apartment. As he tries to track down the killer he becomes swept up with The Hunters. In his TV series debut Al Pacino plays the Nazi hunter who mentors Jonah.

The cast includes Lena Olin,...

As the Oscars buzz officially dies down, it’s finally time to turn our heads to other shows and movies that may no longer be on the big-screen but are now available to stream from the comfort of our homes. This March, Netflix is offering viewers new seasons of binge-worthy favorites and new original series.

“Queer Eye” is making a return with its third season, which will take its five lovable leads, Antoni, Tan, Karamo, Bobby and Jonathan, to Missouri rather than its usual home base of Atlanta. But there will also a wide variety of new shows to start binging this month, like Netflix’s original animated series “Love, Death, & Robots” which, as its name suggests and its trailer confirms, will certainly involve a lot of sex and robots. Anime lovers have a lot to be excited about as the streaming service will be releasing the first three seasons...

Netflix has confirmed that 59 new original series, movies and specials will be debuting on the streaming service in March, including Jc Chandor‘s thriller “Triple Frontier,” which he co-wrote with Oscar winner Mark Boal (“The Hurt Locker”). Ben Affleck and Oscar Issac star as ex-Army officers who reunite with their unit to pull off a heist. Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor pulls triple duty as writer, director and star of “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” which tells the true story of a student who saved his Malawi village from a famine.

On the TV side, the long-awaited second half of season 5 of the Emmy-winning comedy series “Arrested Development” starts to stream as does season 3 of the Drew Barrymore/Timothy Olyphant laffer “Santa Clarita Diet.” And among a slew of comedy specials are ones featuring Amy Schumer and British funnyman Jimmy Carr.

Below is the full schedule of everything that is...

Netflix has released its monthly list of what will be available to stream on the platform, with March additions including the Idris Elba comedy “Turn Up Charlie,” the second season of the Ya dramedy “On My Block” and the third season of “Queer Eye.”

“Turn Up Charlie,” an eight-episode series starring Elba as a struggling DJ and eternal bachelor who reluctantly becomes a ‘manny’ to his famous best friend’s problem-child daughter, is set to debut on Friday, March 15. Other Netflix originals premiering throughout the month include new seasons of “Patriot Act,” “Terrace House” and “Arrested Development” and “Santa Clarita Diet.” Amy Schumer will also debut her second Netflix stand-up special “Growing” on March 15.

As for non-Netflix exclusives, subscribers can catch “Apollo 13,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Winter’s Bone” beginning March 1, as well as Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh” follow-up “Christopher Robin,” Cate Blanchett’s “Blue Jasmine” and...

Alastair McKinnon.

A generational change is sweeping through Matchbox Pictures as the NBCUniversal-owned production company develops a raft of projects with emerging writers and producers.

“Talent development has always been a priority for Matchbox,” says Alastair McKinnon, who started as MD last December after three years with the ABC, most recently as head of content investment and planning,

McKinnon signed on just as the company founded by Penny Chapman, Tony Ayres, Helen Bowden, Michael McMahon and Helen Panckhurst was celebrating its 10th anniversary. “That was the perfect time to reflect and think about what Matchbox has done incredibly successfully over that time as the leading drama production company in Australia,” he tells If in his first interview since taking charge.

“But the industry has transformed in that 10 years and is unrecognisable if you think about the sorts of shows, how they are financed and the distribution models of drama.

Robert Rabiah in ‘Safe Harbour’

After a self-imposed exile, Robert Rabiah is returning to the screen early next year in Maziar Lahooti’s Below, an action-drama set in a refugee detention centre.

The actor decided he needed a break after playing Bilal in Matchbox Pictures’ Sbs miniseries Safe Harbour directed by Glendyn Ivin.

Bilal’s brother Ismail (Hazem Shammas) and sister-in-law Zahra (Nicole Chamoun), Iraqi asylum seekers, were struck by tragedy when their nine-year-old daughter died after their vessel sank.

Rabiah tells If: “Bilal was such a draining character to play. Even though a lot of scenes didn’t make the cut, feeling my stomach turn every morning was intense and I just needed to travel for a while.”

Produced by Nick Batzias of Good Thing Productions, Veronica Gleeson and Kate Neylon and due to shoot in Wa in January, Below stars Ryan Corr as Dougie, a directionless dreamer who...

How far would you go to fight for who you were meant to be?

Join Cal McTeer as she navigates a world filled with drugs, sex, and power…searching for who she is and what she’s meant to be.

Tidelands launches globally on Netflix December 14, 2018

Series Synopsis:

Tidelands follows Cal McTeer, played by Charlotte Best, a young woman who returns home to the small fishing village of Orphelin Bay after ten years in juvenile detention then jail.

However, Orphelin Bay is shrouded in mysteries.

When the body of a local fisherman washes ashore, the town’s clandestine relationship with drug smuggling is suddenly on public display. Cal must uncover the town’s well-hidden secrets, while investigating a commune of outcasts who live in a hidden pocket of the bay – a group of beautiful and dangerous half-Siren / half-human “Tidelanders.” Elsa Pataky (Fast and the Furious) stars as the mysterious and alluring Adrielle Cuthbert,...

Damon Herriman accepting his Australians in Film award (Photo credit: Mac1Photography).

These are heady times for Damon Herriman, who has just scored his fifth Aacta nomination after winning the Qantas Orry-Kelly Award from Australians in Film and wrapping a film with Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie.

Not bad for an actor who doubted when he first went to Hollywood in 2000 that he would ever get a job there but didn’t want to live with the regret of not having a crack.

Herriman is typically modest about the latest accolades. Referring to the previous recipients of the Orry-Kelly Award – Tim Minchin, film executive Greg Basser, producer Bruna Papandrea, Baz Luhrmann, John Polson and filmmaking collective Blue-Tongue Films – he tells If: “I am in incredibly good company.”

He earned a nomination for best lead actor in a TV drama for his performance as gay activist Lance...

‘Mr Inbetween’ (Photo: Mark Rogers).

Foxtel today launched Fox Showcase, a rebrand of the showcase drama channel, designated as the streaming home of the best drama from Australia and around the world.

One pillar of the new channel will be Foxtel Originals starting with Goalpost Pictures’ Fighting Season, which premieres at 8.30 pm on October 28, plus the seventh season of FremantleMedia Australia’s Wentworth and the second series of Matchbox Pictures’ Secret City: Under the Eagle.

Currently in post-production, Lingo Pictures’ four-part Lambs of God follows three nuns, each a generation apart, living in an isolated convent who are interrupted by an unwelcome visitor, a priest. Directed by Jeffrey Walker and written by Sarah Lambert, the show stars Anne Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale), Essie Davis (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries), Jessica Barden, Sam Reid, Damon Herriman, Sigrid Thornton, Kate Mulvany and John Bell.

Lingo Pictures will soon start shooting Upright,...

Critically praised Australian series Safe Harbour is set to make its U.S. debut on Hulu. As part of a deal with NBCUniversal Television and New Media Distribution, the four-part event drama will debut August 24 on Hulu.

Safe Harbour tells the story of five Australians on a yachting holiday from Darwin to Indonesia, whose idyllic vacation takes a disastrous turn when they come across a broken-down fishing boat, full of desperate asylum seekers. The Australians decide to help, towing the refugees, but when they wake the next morning the fishing boat is gone. Five years later they meet some of the refugees again and learn the truth. Someone cut the rope between the two boats and, as a result, seven people died when the fishing boat sank. The revelation drives a wedge of mistrust between the Australians, as they grapple with protecting themselves and doing the right thing. The refugees...

Mike Cecchini Joseph Baxter May 23, 2019

Make it so! Patrick Stewart is returning to the world of Star Trek for a brand new series simply titled "Picard."

CBS All-Access has much more Star Trek on the way, including a new series you might not have expected. Star Trek: Picard will continue the adventures of one of the most beloved captains in the entire Starfleet.

#StarTrek: Picard will stream exclusively on @CBSAllAccess in the United States, on Amazon #PrimeVideo in more than 200 countries and territories and in Canada on Bell Media%u2019s @SpaceChannel and Ott service @CraveCanada. @StarTrekCBS @primevideouk https://t.co/f3mVPY449M pic.twitter.com/iDrmtDiQLg

— Star Trek (@StarTrek) May 15, 2019

As you've probably heard, the new series starring Patrick Stewart will "tell the next chapter in Picard's life." The announcement was made simultaneously on official Trek and Patrick Stewart social media channels, as well as at the massive Star Trek Vegas convention,...

Tony Sokol Joseph Baxter Apr 11, 2019

Jordan Peele goes on The Hunt for Nazis with a vengeance in upcoming series for Amazon Studios.

Get Out director Jordan Peele is emerging from the sunken place to hunt for Nazis. Peele will executive produce The Hunt. The “vengeance-driven Nazi hunting series” was recently greenlit by Amazon Studios, which put in an direct-to-series order for 10 episodes. The Hunt was created by David Weil (Moonfall) who will also write the series and be an Executive Producer.

"When David Weil first shared The Hunt with me, I immediately knew that we had to be involved. Its cathartic,” Peele said in a statement. “Its noir. It’s frighteningly relevant. It’s exactly what I want to see on television. I am thrilled to be working with Amazon in bringing this incredible vision to the world.”

further reading: Jordan Peele's Next Horror Movie Us

The Hunt, which is...

Universal Cable Productions has tapped former Sony TV head of current Jeanie Bradley as SVP Current Programming. She will shepherd the studio’s slate of current scripted series including Mr. Robot, Colony, Suits, Falling Water and Playing House on USA; 12 Monkeys and The Magicians on Syfy; Girlfriends’ Guide To Divorce on Bravo; The Arrangement and The Royals at E!; Difficult People on Hulu; Umbrella Academy on Netflix; and Homecoming on Amazon. She will report to Jeff Wachtel, Chief Content Officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, and President, Universal Cable Productions & Wilshire Studios.

In June, UCP announced that Stephanie Groves would be replacing Richard Rothstein as head of current. I hear the two parties subsequently decided not to proceed with the appointment and Groves never started at UCP.

Bradley comes from NBCUniversal International Studios, where she was VP Current Programming. There, she focused on finding and developing American procedurals for the foreign marketplace,...