A two-part adaptation of Kenneth Cook’s classic Australian novel, Wake in Fright, will be coming to television in 2017, Network Ten announced on Thursday.
Produced by Lingo Pictures in association with Endemol Shine Australia, the series is the second screen adaptation of the outback thriller, following the 1971 film directed by Ted Kotcheff which has since become a cult classic.
The story follows young school teacher John Grant who becomes stranded in the outback mining town of Bundanyabba, or “the Yabba” – scorchingly hot, eerily desolate and drowning in alcohol, sex and secrets.
The cast for the Network Ten series has not been announced, but the production team includes producers Helen Bowden (The Slap) and Kristian Moliere (The Babadook), director Kriv Stenders (Red Dog, A Place To Call Home), and writer Stephen M Irwin (Secrets and Lies).
The network’s head of drama, Rick Maier, said it would be a privilege to broadcast the “provocative, morally complex and brilliantly realised” story.
“There are few Australian stories as original or compelling as Wake in Fright,” he said.
The news follows Foxtel’s Tuesday announcement of a six-part Picnic at Hanging Rock series, based on Joan Lindsay’s 1967 seminal Australian novel.
