Mark your calendars for a brand new Australian TV series and the return of other Down Under TV favorites, including the sixth and final season of A Place to Call Home.

A Place To Call Home on Acorn TV
A Place To Call Home: (L-R) Brett Climo as George Bligh, Marta Dusseldorp as Sarah Adams Bligh, Craig Hall as Jack Duncan, and Sara Wiseman as Carolyn Bligh Duncan — Photo courtesy of Acorn TV

Acorn TV is bringing six (count ’em!) exclusive Down Under TV series to the US between August and the end of the year, so if you haven’t watched the earlier seasons of the five returning shows, you have time to catch up.

800 Words: Season 3, Part 2 (New Zealand/Australia)

Renewed for a fourth season, 800 Words might be one of the best shows you haven’t seen. A hugely popular series Down Under and a sleeper hit on this side of the Equator, the award-winning family dramedy follows widowed newspaper columnist George Turner (Erik Thomson, Packed to the Rafters, The Code, All Saints), who up and moves his teen-aged daughter and son from Sydney to Weld, a New Zealand coastal town full of quirky locals.

In the first half of Season 3, a search and rescue operation for Ike (Alex Tarrant, Tatau), Zac (Rob Kipa-Williams, Nothing Trivial), and Steve (Mark Ferguson, The Blue Rose) is launched after their empty boat is found capsized. George contemplates 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.

What will the second half bring? You have to tune in to find out.

800 Words: Season 3, Part 2 premieres in the US and Canada on Wednesday, August 15, just one day after its world premiere in Australia. (One new episode will debut each week.)

Mystery Road (Australia)

ABC Australia’s hit new drama series stars Oscar® nominee and multiple Emmy®, BAFTA, and Golden Globe awards winner Judy Davis (My Brilliant Career, Husbands and Wives, The Starter Wife) and Australian Film Critics Association and Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards winner Aaron Pedersen (Mystery Road films, Jack Irish, A Place to Call Home) as detectives investigating the mysterious disappearance of two young men in a remote outback town.

For further details, read this article.

The six-episode Mystery Road premieres in the US and Canada on Monday, August 20.

A Place to Call Home: Season 6 (Final) (Australia)

Say it isn’t so! But alas, it is true. The sixth season of A Place to Call Home, the utterly addictive Aussie period drama, is the final one, bringing to a close the family saga that has gripped fans since it debuted Down Under in 2013 and in North America the following year.

Starring Marta Dusseldorp (Jack Irish, Janet King) and Noni Hazlehurst (Little Fish, City Homicide) and set against the backdrop of post-World War II Australia, A Place to Call Home follows Sarah Adams (Dusseldorp), a nurse who becomes involved in the affairs of the wealthy Bligh family, and tackles themes of social issues ranging from anti-Semitism and sexuality to social class.

A Place to Call Home: Season 6 premieres in the US on Monday, September 3 (Labor Day). (One new episode will debut each week.)

Jack Irish: Season 2 (Australia)

Primetime Emmy® winner Guy Pearce (The Innocents, Memento, Mildred Pierce) returns as the eponymous antihero created by the late Australian crime fiction author Peter Temple.

In the new six-part thriller, Jack stumbles into the world of manipulative pharmaceutical companies, corrupt educational institutions aimed at international students, and fatal clinical trials. The apparent suicide of a foreign student triggers a chain of events that will see Jack risking his life to uncover the truth.

Costarring returning cast members Marta Dusseldorp (A Place to Call Home, Janet King), Roy Billing (Underbelly, All Saints), and Aaron Pedersen (Mystery Road, City Homicide), Jack Irish: Season 2 premieres in the US and Canada on Monday, September 10.

The Heart Guy: Series 3 (Australia)

Hot diggity! Rodger Corser (Glitch, The Doctor Blake Mysteries) returns as Dr. Hugh Knight in the third season of the hit Aussie medical dramedy The Heart Guy.

If you haven’t tuned in yet to this humorous, Doc Martin-esque series, it follows Hugh, a charming and genius big city heart surgeon who is forced to do professional penance for his partying ways by serving as a GP in a small town — none other than his hometown of Whyhope, where his family and ex-fiancée still live.

As Hugh deals with family dramas and medical emergencies and literally counts down the days until he can return to Sydney, he falls for Penny Cartwright (Hayley McElhinney, The Babadook), the doctor who heads up the Whyhope’s cottage hospital. But then someone from Hugh’s past turns up in Whyhope (in Season 2) and throws his life into even more chaos.

I can’t wait to see what happens in Season 3!

The ten-episode The Heart Guy: Series 3 premieres in the US and Canada this November. Stay tuned for updates about the new season’s debut date.

The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 5 (New Zealand)

How much do we love The Brokenwood Mysteries? THIS MUCH. So we’re thrilled that a new season of this binge-worthy Midsomer Murders-esque mystery-crime drama is returning with a new season.

Set in the the rural New Zealand town of Brokenwood, the series revolves around the murder investigations conducted by the country music-loving Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea, Go Girls, Legend of the Seeker), the bad coffee-making Detective Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland, The Almighty Johnsons), and the put-upon Detective Constable Sam Breen (Nic Sampson, Go Girls).

As with the previous binge-worthy seasons, the fifth consists of four standalone, feature-length mysteries with compelling storylines and characters and lots of dry humor.

Fingers crossed that Cristina Serban Ionda (Filthy Rich) will return as Dr. Gina Kadinsky, the Russian medical examiner with an odd sense of humor and seemingly the only woman in Brokenwood who fancies Mike.

Brokenwood Mysteries S4
The Brokenwood Mysteries: Neill Rea as Mike Shepherd, Nic Sampson as Sam Breen, and Fern Sutherland as Kristin Sims — Photo courtesy of Acorn TV

The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 5 premieres in the US and Canada in November or December. Stay tuned for updates about the new season’s debut date.

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Final Season of A Place to Call Home + More Down Under TV News