Secrets & Lies


Netflix takes on Stan with first Aussie original

Netflix has commissioned its first original series out of Australia, placing it head-to-head with SVOD rival Stan. Production will start next year in Queensland on Tidelands, marking Netflix’s move into original programming in Australia. Nine Network-backed Stan is already commissioning high-end original series, most notably through its series reboot of Australian horror movie Wolf Creek. […]

ABC Oz lands ABC Studios Int’l’s first series

US broadcaster ABC’s London-based international arm has landed its first series, a crime drama for Australian pubcaster the ABC. Disney-owned ABC Studios International is working with Australian drama and digital firm Hoodlum Entertainment (Secrets & Lies), the ABC and Screen Queensland on Harrow. ABC’s former group head of casting, Keli Lee (pictured), has been running […]

France Télévisions buys into Cineflix’s Secrets & Lies

French pubcaster France Télévisions has acquired Australian drama series Secrets & Lies from Cineflix Rights. The six-part one-hour drama will air on the France 2 channel. A psychological thriller, the series follows a family man who finds himself accused of the murder of a young boy. It was originally produced for free-to-air channel Network Ten […]

CBC buys Honourable Woman, Aussie dramas

Canadian pubcaster CBC has acquired a trio of international dramas for its new season. Among the deals the broadcaster has bought BBC Worldwide’s 9x50mins drama The Honourable Woman, which was for BBC2 in the UK and SundanceTV and comes from Eight Rooks Productions and Drama Republic. The spy thriller stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as the daughter […]

Channel 5 buys another Aussie drama

UK broadcaster Channel 5 has acquired Australian drama Secrets & Lies from distributor Cineflix Rights. The network has already found success with the FremantleMedia-distributed, Foxtel produced scripted series Wentworth and will hope to recreate that with the 6x60mins Secrets & Lies. The show revolves around a family man whose life is thrown into turmoil when […]

Australia and NZ take a seat at the drama table

Producers in Australia and New Zealand are creating a new wave of international-friendly scripted series for their distribution partners to take to market, but the popularity and lower cost of formats and reality shows poses a threat to the sector, report Dan Barrett and Stewart Clarke. Expectation. Its shadow carries considerable weight across Australia and […]

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 […]

Cineflix Rights makes first drama move

Cineflix Rights is moving into drama and has made it first acquisition, upcoming Australian crime mystery Secrets & Lies. The six-part series is being made by Australian indie Hoodlum and has just entered production. It tells the story of Ben, an innocent man who becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a four-year-old boy. […]