This year our TV screens have been happily flooded with a hell of a lot of good TV.
While most of these prime offerings have come from across the seas and can be watched in Australia via streaming platforms such as Netflix and Stan, it’s also important to note that here on our own shores, Australian storytellers are also doing some pretty exciting things.
From the swell of Australian TV shows that have dropped this year, there are three offerings that stand-out from the rest.
Three Aussie TV shows that break new ground in dramatic storytelling, that embrace wickedly dark humour and that use their platforms to comment on current events and social issues.
And when you look closely at these three TV shows, you’ll also discover that they all have one delightful thing in common.
They all, in different ways, feature women’s stories told by women.
Whether it’s through writing, direction, acting or producing, these shows are going a long way towards correcting a worrying trend 0f male dominated stories featuring prominently our screens.
The best Australian TV shows for 2018 (so far)
Safe Harbour
Safe Harbour is a four-part drama series that broke new ground for Australian storytelling.
The story kicks off with five Australians enjoying themselves on a sailing holiday aboard a yacht to Indonesia, when they come across a fishing boat with a broken motor packed full of hungry, ill and desperate asylum seekers.
Top Comments
Glad to see, but we can all expect these projects to be critically acclaimed and well rewarded, but sadly, compared to the reality TV rubbish on the commercial networks, these three will probably rate far far lower then they deserve.
I remember watching Picnic at Hanging Rock for high school history. I distinctly remember not sleeping for a week.
High school history?? Why did they show you a fictional movie as a part of your history lesson?
We watched Indochine, Raise the Red Lantern, All Quiet on the Western Front, Gallipoli and probably some other fictional movies during history in high school. It's not that strange an idea. The characters were fictional but the stories were based on how people lived during those times and in those circumstances. It can be a good way to engage students in the subject matter.
I don't know about Picnic At Hanging Rock specifically. It's possible it was relevant to what guest's class was studying but I'd have to know what that was and probably have seen the film a bit more recently to say for sure.