It’s been another cracking year for Australian television, but not one big on belly laughs. Maybe international unrest, wars of words over the Voice to Parliament and pricey groceries seeped into the national psyche – heralding this crop of dark, introspective, but still sublime, broadcast gems.
Expect even more – hopefully cheerier – fare next year when new federal legislation kicks in that’ll force the major streamers to invest in more local content. Whatever they do, it’ll be more inspiring than the returns of Top Gear Australia, Deal Or No Deal and Gladiators on free-to-air. In the meantime, here are the best shows of the year to watch – or catch up on.
10. Ten Pound Poms
Season: One
Streaming on: Stan
A forlorn rabble of English migrants are lured to these shores in 1950 with promises of paradise, but end up squashed into a makeshift internment camp digging ditches for a living. Their pitiful existence isn’t eased by the sweary, pissed-up locals who treat them – and their Aboriginal neighbours – with contempt.
It’s an eye-opener on just how unforgiving life was for the shiploads of Europeans seeking a better life, but probably won’t be endorsed by Tourism Australia any time soon.
Biggest fans: Sadistic nostalgia nuts harking back to a time when imported Brits were fair game for a kicking.
9. Year Of
Season: One
Streaming on: Stan
An enjoyable spin-off from the (superior) 2021 Sydney high school drama Bump, also set at Jubilee High and following the troubled lives of a bunch of Year 11 kids. It’s still several cuts above most teen melodramas, however, with likable characters, believable dialogue and some authentically crafted sub-plots.
In truth, there are too many sub-plots, especially as each of them contains several sub-sub-plots. Hopefully the next series will either give them all a bit more room to breathe, or cull half the cast. Still well worth a look.
Biggest fans: Heartbreak High tragics traumatised by the long wait for season 2.
8. Class Of ‘07
Season: One
Streaming on: Prime Video
A girls’ school reunion is marred ever so slightly when an uninvited tidal wave smashes its way into the hall, cuts the whole campus off from the mainland and maroons the 28-year-olds on their own island.
Soon the bitchy banter is replaced by latrine digging, murder accusations, cannibalism and – eek – dead mobile phone batteries. Oh, and the possibility that they’re the only people left on Earth.
A strong cast and witty dialogue make this apocalyptic take on Lord of the Flies an entertaining binge with plenty to say about mateship and loyalty.
Biggest fans: Year Of tragics traumatised by the long wait for season 2.
7. Last King Of The Cross
Season: One
Streaming on: Paramount+
Ever since the first series of Underbelly, Australia’s seedy gangsters and organised crime families have been glorified to the point where some ‘identities’ have become celebrities.
This stylised biopic follows Kings Cross’ most famous inhabitant, John Ibrahim (Lincoln Younes), through his traumatic childhood to the days when he was a feared enforcer, nightclub owner and bestie of Kyle Sandilands. ‘Teflon John’, who’s never been convicted of a crime, is drawn into Sydney’s shady underworld wars by a not-so-Goodfella (Tim Roth) and much unedifying violence ensues.
Biggest fans: Anyone suffering withdrawal symptoms from the demise of Animal Kingdom or Peaky Blinders.
6. North Shore
Season: One
Streaming on: Paramount+
The latest in run of UK/Australia co-productions on Channel 10 that include Riptide, Heat and Lie To Me, this is an amiable riff on the Scandi noir thriller The Bridge, with a detective from each country thrown together in Sydney to investigate the death of a British minister’s daughter.
Game of Thrones’ John Bradley continues to mine a seam of naïve, heart-of-gold innocents as the UK representative, while Kirsty Sturgess is the more street-smart local detective.
A twisty-turny six-parter written by Cold Feet creator Mike Bullen that delivers the intrigue, red herrings and comedy in spades.
Biggest fans: Broadchurch or Deadloch aficionados and amateur sleuths.
5. Safe Home
Season: Limited
Streaming on: SBS On Demand
Australia’s family violence epidemic hasn’t had nearly enough mainstream TV exposure. The statistics remain a horrifying indictment of an ingrained culture of toxic masculinity, inadequate support and paralysing ambivalence. This skilfully scripted four-parter uses the lens of a legal centre to tell stories that are all the more painful and confronting because they’re being played out in every community every day.
Aisha Dee is the new communications manager whose early naivete is brought into sharp focus as she realises that the real world doesn’t play by the rules she’s been taught. A captivating and thoroughly chilling drama.
Biggest fans: Everyone, ideally – all the better to understand one of our most pressing social crises.
4. Koala Man
Season: One
Streaming on: Disney+
At last, a decent Australian adult animation, albeit one that merrily rips the piss out of us and our sceptred isle 28 years after “Bart vs. Australia” used a flushing outback dunny and kicking prime minister to do exactly the same.
Hugh Jackman voices a hapless wannabe hero who bumbles every attempted act of do-goodery until a monster emerges from the primeval slime of, er, Dapto near Wollongong and he suddenly has to save some actual people.
It’s uneven, and not every attempt at larrikin satire lands, but it’s still a glorious national roast and season 2 will hopefully take the bogan bashing to a higher plane.
Biggest fans: Bingers of Rick and Morty, BoJack Horseman and Bob’s Burgers.
3. The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart
Season: Limited
Streaming on: Prime Video
After she accidentally blows up her parents, young Alice goes to live with grouchy gran Sigourney Weaver in a luscious adaptation of Holly Ringland’s iconic novel. After a dour, slow-moving first couple of episodes, it gradually morphs into a sweeping melodrama that worms its way under your skin, largely through Weaver’s cynical, unsympathetic approach to grandparenting duties and a heartbreaking performance by Asher Keddie.
Good to see that Amazon’s local investment has resonated worldwide and become its most watched Aussie drama, gaining top three status in 42 countries.
Biggest fans: Anyone who thought The Handmaid’s Tale was a bit too cheery.
2. Bad Behaviour
Season: Limited
Streaming on: Stan
Australia gets its own (very) Mean Girls in a brutal, unforgiving adaptation of Rebecca Starford’s memoir of boarding school sadism at a year-long wilderness camp.
It’s not an easy watch, but that’s what makes it so watchable: The febrile tension never lets up so every scene is as teeth-grindingly unnerving as anything Tarantino has unleashed, with characters that make his big screen psychopaths look like dozing koalas.
Extremes of cruelty are aplenty, but ultimately they serve to show how survival comes from camaraderie and resilience. A mesmerising masterpiece in four episodes.
Biggest fans: Masochists seeking a guilty pleasure.
1. The Clearing
Season: Limited
Streaming on: Disney+
‘The Family’ was one of Australia’s most notorious cults, with its yoga guru leader and self-proclaimed reincarnation of Jesus, Anne Hamilton-Byrne, snaring followers into its compound a few kilometres east of Melbourne for two decades until a police raid in 1987 uncovered child abuse and fraud.
This cautionary tale is loosely based on the events, with Miranda Otto spellbinding as mercurial matriarch Adrienne and a muted Guy Pearce oozing a malevolent charm playing the cult’s sinister doctor.
Kidnapped young girls are casually brainwashed, tortured and given a suffocating group identity with the same peroxide-white hair and dehumanising rituals to shape them into the unquestioning ‘children’ of the increasingly deranged leader.
A creepy and gripping exposition of the life-long effects of crushing the human spirit and the dark power of manipulation.
Biggest fans: Devotees of Waco and Scientology docos and HBO’s The Idol.