ABC goes straight-to-series with Secrets & Lies remake

An upcoming Australian crime drama is being remade for US broadcast net ABC, which has made a 10-part, straight-to-series order.

Secrets & Lies comes from Oz prodco Hoodlum and is set to begin broadcasting on Network Ten in 2014, and is now being remade by ABC Studios and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment. Hoodlum is also attached, with its chiefs, Tracey Robertson and Nathan Mayfield, executive producing with Kaplan.

The series, first reported by Deadline, doesn’t yet have leads or a showrunner attached. It follows a man who discovers the body of a young boy and finds himself as the prime suspect in the case.

Another Hoodlum-produced drama, Strange Calls, which is bound for the ABC in Australia is also in development at ABC in the US. Kaplan is also attached to that show.

ABC’s straight-to-series order comes after a spate of similar deals US broadcast networks are increasingly inclined to make as they try to keep down the costs of expensive pilot season format. CBS has given the greenlight to Stephen Spielberg’s Extant and Vince Gilligan’s Battle Creek, while Fox okayed drama Hieroglyph, a Tina Fey comedy and Commissioner Gordon-Batman prequel Gotham.