The start of summer in Down Under TV land features comedy, drama, and documentary series on four stateside streaming services and public TV stations.
For updates about shows from Australia and New Zealand added to US channels and streaming services throughout the month, see the Down Under TV Viewing Guide.
NATIONAL PREMIERES
800 Words: Series 3, Part 1 (NZ/AU)
The new season of this award-winning family dramedy picks up where the Season 2 finale left off — with a search and rescue operation for Ike (Alex Tarrant, Tatau), Zac (Rob Kipa-Williams, Nothing Trivial), and Steve (Mark Ferguson, The Blue Rose) after their empty boat is found capsized. George (Erik Thomson, Packed to the Rafters, The Code) contemplates possible fatherhood while comforting his daughter Shay (Melina Vidler, Rake). And Jan (Bridie Carter, McLeod’s Daughters) gives birth to twins, but there are more than paternity complications.
(Trailer is from Series 2)
800 Words: Series 3, Part 1 premieres in North America on Friday, June 1, exclusively on Acorn TV and the Acorn TV channel on Amazon.
All or Nothing: New Zealand All Blacks (NZ)
This documentary series gives viewers an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the players and coaches of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team on and off the field throughout 2017.
For the first time ever, the New Zealand All Blacks, known as the winningest team in global sports history, allows cameras into their super secretive world to witness one of their most difficult seasons yet. Over four months, they face the demands of the most physically grueling team sport on the planet to uphold a legacy of excellence and dominance that goes back well over a century.
All or Nothing: New Zealand All Blacks premieres in the US on Friday, June 1, exclusively on Prime Video.
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (AU)
Australian comic Hannah Gadsby rejects standard stand-up by pairing punchlines with personal revelations on gender, sexuality, and childhood turmoil.
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette, a Netflix Original comedy special, premieres in the US on Tuesday, June 19, exclusively on Netflix.
The Other Guy (AU)
Written by and starring comedian Matt Okine (This Is Littleton, The Future Machine), this comedy series follows successful radio host AJ Amon (Okine), who finds himself back on the dating scene in a decade after discovering his longtime girlfriend Olivia (Valene Kane, The Fall, Thirteen) has been having an affair with his best friend.
Costarring Harriet Dyer (No Activity, Janet King), The Other Guy premieres in the US on Friday, June 22, exclusively on Hulu.
Bed of Roses: Series 2 (AU)
The second season of this Logie Awards-nominated comedy-drama series finds Louisa (Kerry Armstrong, MDA, SeaChange, Skyways) and her daughter Holly (Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Containment, Spartacus: War of the Damned) back in Rainbow’s End after their holiday in Europe. Louisa is determined to make some changes in her life, but her plans don’t go the way she hoped.
Elsewhere in town, Louisa’s mum Minna (Julia Blake, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Prisoner: Cell Block H) protests the closing of the Rainbow Echo newspaper and convinces Louisa to buy it, and Gavin (Andrew S. Gilbert, Please Like Me) opens his Big Nugget monument. Neither of these goes off without a hitch, either.
(Trailer is from Series 1)
Costarring Caroline Gillmer (Neighbours), Jay Laga’aia (Home and Away), Kaarin Fairfax (Picnic at Hanging Rock), Haiha Le (Neighbours), Frank Magree (Romper Stomper), and Susie Dee (Lowdown), Bed of Roses: Series 2 premieres in the US on Monday, June 25, exclusively on Acorn TV and the Acorn TV channel on Amazon.
Secret City (AU)
This award-winning, six-part mystery-thriller miniseries is based on the novels The Marmalade Files and The Mandarin Code, the first two titles in the “Secret City” book series by political journalists Chris Uhlmann and Steve Lewis.
Set in Canberra, the narrative follows Harriet Dunkley (Anna Torv, Mindhunter, Fringe), a senior political journalist who risks her career and her life, as well as the lives of innocent people, to expose interconnected conspiracies within the Australian government and intelligence agencies.
Costarring Jacki Weaver (Blunt Talk), Marcus Graham (Picnic at Hanging Rock), Sacha Horler (Sando), and Justin Smith (The Other Guy), Secret City, a Netflix Original series, premieres in the US on Tuesday, June 26, exclusively on Netflix.
(A second season, titled Secret City: Under the Eagle, began filming in February 2018.)
LOCAL/REGIONAL PREMIERES
Dreamland: Seasons 1 & 2 (aka Utopia) (AU)
Akin to the UK’s Twenty Twelve and W1A, this multiple award-winning satirical comedy series follows the staff of the Nation Building Authority (NBA), the newly-created (fictional) Australian government organization responsible for overseeing major infrastructure projects — from new roads and rail lines, to airports and high-rise urban developments — and one of the most dysfunctional workplaces in the country, if not the continent.
The tight-knit NBA team in charge of guiding these grand schemes from announcement to unveiling includes boss Tony (Rob Sitch, Breaking News), his second in charge Nat (Celia Pacquola, Rosehaven), Tony’s personal assistant Katie (Emma-Louise Wilson, Pacific Heat), Nat’s personal assistant Hugh (Luke McGregor, Rosehaven), government liaison Jim (Anthony Lehmann, Please Like Me), media manager Rhonda (Kitty Flanagan, Full Frontal), media and marketing consultant Karsten (Toby Truslove, Laid), office receptionist Amy (Michelle Lim Davidson, Top of the Lake), and project manager Scott (Dave Lawson, Newton’s Law).
Dreamland: Seasons 1 & 2 begins premiering on public TV stations starting Saturday, June 30. Broadcast dates and times vary by market, so check your local listings or contact the station that serves your area for details. If you’d like to see the series but your station isn’t listed below, contact your station’s Viewer Services department or American Public Television.
Stations confirmed for airing the series include those in the Louisiana and Wisconsin regional public television networks, KERA (Dallas), KSPS (Spokane), KTCA (St. Paul), WETA (Washington, DC), WSKG (Binghamton), and WXXI (Rochester).
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Did you miss any of the new shows from previous months? Check the Down Under TV Viewing Guide to find out.
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For details about the June premieres of shows from the UK, Canada, and Ireland, visit The British TV Place. For those about the debuts of original-language, English-subtitled programs from Europe, visit The Euro TV Place.
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