Happy New Year! 2024 brings the premieres of three new Aussie drama series to the US and beyond.
For updates about shows from Australia and New Zealand added to US linear TV and streaming channels throughout the month, see the Down Under TV Viewing Guide.
Programs and dates are subject to change without prior notice.
Videos below may contain content that is not suitable for everyone.
As an affiliate of Amazon & other cos, affiliate links on this blog allow us to earn income from qualifying actions (at no extra cost to you).
NATIONAL PREMIERES
Safe Home (AU)
This multi-layered, four-episode thriller stars AACTA Awards nominee Aisha Dee (Apple Cider Vinegar, Sissy, The Bold Type) as Phoebe Rook, a 28-year-old who leaves her PR job at a high-profile law firm for one at a family violence legal center, where legal services are provided free of charge to people escaping domestic violence.
One victim is Diana (Janet Andrewartha, Neighbours), a hardworking grandmother whose emotionally abusive husband, Jon (Mark Mitchinson, Dear Murderer), has been controlling every aspect of her life since he retired. Another is Ry (Tegan Stimson, Irreverent), a homeless runaway whose relationship with controlling coworker Xander (Nicholas Burton, (Barons) quickly turns ugly. There’s also Cherry Yeo (Katlyn Wong, Mystic), an Asian mother of two suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after her husband, Kelvin (Yuchen Wang, New Gold Mountain), tried to kill her.
With funding for the center in jeopardy, Phoebe scores a win at her new job by getting media coverage that results in funding being saved, thereby allowing the centre to stay open and continue helping vulnerable, frightened domestic violence victims. But a shadow is cast over Phoebe’s personal and professional life, with details coming to light during questioning of her by the police during a murder investigation…
Costars include Mabel Li (New Gold Mountain), Virginia Gay (All Saints), Thomas Cocquerel (The Gilded Age), and Antonia Prebble (Westside), with supporting cast Hal Cumpston (The Walking Dead), Chenoa Deemal (Troppo), and David Roberts (Total Control).
Safe Home premieres in the US on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, exclusively on Hulu.
Boy Swallows Universe (AU)
Set in 1980s Brisbane, this new mystery drama and epic coming-of-age story blends the magic and innocence of youth with the brutal reality of the adult world. Adapted from Trent Dalton’s best-selling, iconic Australian novel Boy Swallows Universe, named one of the best literary fiction titles of 2019 by Library Journal, it explores the crossroads where a boy becomes a man, good toys with evil, and the everyday meets the extraordinary.
The seven-episode series centers on Eli Bell (Felix Cameron, Penguin Bloom), whose father is lost, mum is a junkie, brother is mute, stepfather is a heroin dealer, and babysitter is a notorious criminal. While Eli is just trying to follow his heart and understand what it means to be a good man, fate keeps throwing obstacles in his way.
The cast includes Bryan Brown (Darby and Joan), Anthony LaPaglia (Halifax: Retribution), Deborah Mailman (Total Control), Simon Baker (The Mentalist), Travis Fimmel (Black Snow), Phoebe Tonkin (The Originals), Sophie Wilde (Everything Now), Lee Tiger Halley (Crazy Fun Park), and Zac Burgess (Totally Completely Fine).
Boy Swallows Universe, a Netflix Series, premieres globally on Thursday, January 11, 2024, exclusively on Netflix. (You can set a reminder for it now.)
The Claremont Murders (AU)
When three young women disappeared from Claremont, an affluent suburb of Perth, in the late 1990s, it became the biggest unsolved murder case in West Australian criminal history — until the Claremont killer was finally caught after eluding the police for 25 years. This true-crime drama series follows the complex investigation, focusing on the police who never let the case go, as well as the journalist who followed it from the day the first woman went missing.
The cast includes Ryan Johnson (The Heart Guy), Catherine Văn-Davies (Wolf Like Me), Aaron Glenane (Shantaram), Laura Gordon (Secret City), Andrea Demetriades (Reckoning), Craig Hall (A Place to Call Home), Jeremy Lindsay Taylor (Playing for Keeps), Tasma Walton (Mystery Road), Joel Jackson (Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries), Tom O’Sullivan (NCIS: Sydney), Erik Thomson (800 Words), and Kate Ritchie (Home and Away).
The Claremont Murders premieres in the US and Canada on Monday, January 29, 2024, exclusively on Acorn TV and its digital channels, including Acorn TV on Prime Channels.
NON-PREMIERE PROGRAMS BEING ADDED TO STREAMING SERVICES
Dead Lucky (AU)
Rachel Griffiths (Total Control) leads the cast of this four-part urban crime thriller as Grace Gibbs, a detective who, upon learning that the armed robber who murdered one of her junior officers is back in Sydney, becomes obsessed with catching them. She’s also the person that her new trainee, Charlie Fung (Yoson An, New Gold Mountain), blames for the death of his best friend.
Elsewhere in Sydney, a couple of convenience store owners resort to deadly measures to defend their business, cohabitating international students think they’ve found paradise here, and a violent fugitive is in hiding. Over the course of a week, their paths collide, leaving two people dead and one missing.
Dead Lucky begins streaming Monday, January 15, 2024, on Acorn TV and its digital channels, including Acorn TV on Prime Channels.
Deception: World War II (AU)
Through the use of archive footage and expert interviews, this four-part docuseries explores stories of subterfuge, covert operations, and countermeasures used to deadly effect by both sides of WWII — from propaganda disinformation campaigns and daring acts of espionage behind enemy lines, to the creation of fictional armies. Tracking six years of conflict, the program picks apart various wartime operations and looks at the men and women who managed to fool entire governments and armies. Deception: World War II begins streaming Monday, January 29, 2024, on Acorn TV and its digital channels, including Acorn TV on Prime Channels.
__________________
Did you miss any of the new shows from previous days, weeks, or months? Check the Down Under TV Viewing Guide and Archives to find out.
__________________
For details about the January 2024 premieres of shows from the UK, Canada, Ireland, and countries in Europe and elsewhere, visit The British TV Place, The Euro TV Place, and The Global TV Place.
__________________
