The bumper year for Aussie drama continues with two new dramas beginning shooting outside Sydney this week.

One is Ten’s murder mystery The Falls starring Georgie Parker, Geoff Morrell, Vince Colosimo, Rhys Muldoon and Andrew McFarlane. It’s set in the Blue Mountains and centres around Parker’s character running a B&B. They’ve named her character ‘Joni Ferguson’ which will be pretty amusing to any Prisoner fans….

The other is the ABC’s East of Everything starring Richard Roxburgh, Susie Porter, tom Long and Gia Carides. Roxburgh plays the son of a hippie who returns to Byron Bay to unravel his past.

Press Releases:

Network Ten has announced that filming of its telemovie The Falls will commence in Sydney this week.

Boasting a stellar Australian cast led by Georgie Parker (The Society Murders, Irresistible, All Saints) with Catherine McClements (Mary Bryant, After the Deluge, The Secret Life of Us), The Falls is a murder mystery set in the Blue Mountains.

When JONI FERGUSON (Georgie Parker) buys a run down bed and breakfast in the Blue Mountains, she and her teenage son ZAC (Tom Green) have no idea that The Falls is a place where secrets will be unearthed, skeletons rattled and murder is in the air.

The ensemble cast also features Geoff Morrell (Marking Time, Grass Roots), Oliver Ackland (Jessica, Always Greener, Pirate Island), Ella Scott Lynch (Monkey Puzzle, The Silence, Charlotte’s Web), Vince Colosimo (Lantana, BlackJack), Rhys Muldoon (BlackJack, The Secret Life of Us, Big Sky), Heather Mitchell (Jessica, The Society Murders), Leon Ford (Stepfather of the Bride, Go Big) and Andrew McFarlane (Playschool, Through My Eyes).

The Falls is written and produced by Tim Pye (BlackJack, Stupid Stupid Man, Small Claims) and Cathy Strickland (McLeod’s Daughters, Something in the Air). It will be directed by Peter Andrikidis (Mary Bryant, Jessica, BlackJack) and executive produced by Ron Saunders (Spellbinder).

“We’re incredibly excited that The Falls is now in production” said Tim Pye and Cathy Strickland. “We’ve got a wonderful cast, a great crew and the opportunity to tell a story which is distinctly Australian. None of this would have been possible without the unfailing support of Network Ten.”

Head of Drama, Network Ten and Executive Producer Sue Masters said: “From the outset – we’ve loved this project (which we always envisaged with Georgie Parker as JONI). Tim and Cathy have created a wonderfully fresh spin on the mystery genre. And at TEN, we’re delighted that such a fantastic cast have been attracted to such warm hearted and strong storytelling”.

The Falls is a joint venture between Pacific & Beyond and Spider Ink for Network Ten produced with the assistance of the Film Finance Corporation Australia and the New South Wales Film and Television Office. All3Media will distribute the film internationally.

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Richard Roxburgh (Blue Murder) and Logie-award winning Susie Porter (RAN) will head a stellar cast in the new ABC TV drama series East of Everything which begins filming in Byron Bay on June 4.

Richard and Susie will be joined by Tom Long (SeaChange, Heroes’ Mountain) and Gia Carides (My Big Fat Greek Wedding).

East of Everything, a 6 x 1 hour series, has been created by writers Deb Cox and Roger Monk. Deb was the co-creator and writer of the enormously successful Australian series Seachange, Simone de Beauvoir’s Babies and After the Deluge; Roger Monk wrote and co-produced the award-winning feature film Walking on Water, and was a writer on The Secret Life of Us.

Melbourne producer, Fiona Eagger (CrashBurn, Mallboy and the top-rating telemovie The Society Murders) has been their long-term collaborator and championed their vision to bring this regional series to fruition.

Series directors are Stuart McDonald, whose credits include The Secret Life of Us, SeaChange, MDA and Two Twisted, and Matthew Saville, director of the acclaimed new feature film Noise and the television series We Can be Heroes, The Surgeon and The Secret Life of Us.

Producer, Fiona Eagger, said: “When Deb and Roger came to me with the idea for East of Everything I jumped at the opportunity to work with them to create something really special for Australian television audiences. It is wonderful to have such a fantastic creative collaboration.”

ABC TV Head of Drama, Miranda Dear, said: “It’s terrific that Deb is working with ABC TV again. It’s an absolute testament to the strength of the team and story that such an outstanding cast has been attracted to the series.”

The central character in East of Everything is Art Watkins, a man who has
spent most of his professional life as a travel writer, wandering the globe in search of paradise. But when his mother dies, Art is summonsed back to the town of Broken Bay and the neglected resort he grew up in with his ‘hippie’ parents at the eastern-most point of the Australian continent. Once more, Art is forced to decide whether to deal with all of life’s glorious complications – or to flee – and as he attempts to unravel the mess of his past, he comes to the ironic realisation that his best hope of happiness is to resurrect the ‘paradise lost’ he left behind.

East of Everything will be produced in association with the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation, Film Finance Corporation Australia, in association with the New South Wales Film & Television Office.