A new comedy series from the acclaimed Australian team behind The Castle, The Dish and Frontline has been picked up by Netflix for release in the UK, US and Canada. The series was announced in 2014 as a new commission by Australian cable network Foxtel, which is yet to reveal a local airdate.
Proclaimed “Australia’s first prime time adult animation”, the first 13 episodes of Pacific Heat will land on Netflix UK, US and Canada on 2 December. Foxtel representatives have told Guardian Australia the series will still be premiering in Australia, and the airdate and series rollout will be announced soon.
Pacific Heat was created by Rob Sitch, Tom Gleisner and Santo Cilauro of Working Dog Productions, and follows three agents – voiced by the creators – from an undercover special unit.
According to Foxtel’s description of the series, the Pacific Heat squad have been tasked with exposing the “seedy underbelly” of the “glitzy, glamorous Gold Coast, a sun-drenched paradise where sun and surf meets soaring crime rates and underneath the coconut oil lays a hot-bed of crime”.
Sitch plays Special Agent Todd Sommerville, “a cop unconcerned with bending the rules”; Cilauro plays Special Agent Zac Valentic, “the tough man of the team”; and Gleisner plays The Chief: “tough, street-smart and still unhappy that his peptic ulcer doesn’t entitle him to a disabled parking spot”. Rebecca Massey and Lucia Mastrantone round out the cast.
“Unconventional, uncompromising and with an arrest rate second to none, the Pacific Heat team are not afraid to operate outside the law – provided at least one of them is wearing a fluorescent safety vest.”
Speaking with Variety, Sitch said that while the show was made with adults in mind, teenagers would enjoy it too. He listed South Park, The A-Team, Hawaii Five-0 and Charlie’s Angels as influences.
The team had initially envisaged three to five series, he said – “but funny enough, I was looking at the South Park guys at 20 [seasons] and I was sure they were going to stop at six. Animation can go for a long time.”
Working Dog Productions already has a relationship with Netflix, which is now streaming Utopia – its Logie award-winning satire of government bureaucracy – in Australia and beyond. (Utopia is titled Dreamland in Canada, the UK and the US).
A Foxtel representative said the Australian cable network would broadcast the series worldwide premiere at a date soon to be announced, but did not confirm if Pacific Heat would launch in full in Australia at the same time as on Netflix abroad.
“Foxtel commissioned Pacific Heat to support the local comedy television industry and back the production of Australia’s first adult animated comedy series,” Foxtel said.
“The series will not air on Netflix in Australia and its worldwide premiere will be exclusive to and first on Foxtel.”
