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Renewed: Jack Irish, The Code

The Code lands a second season and Jack Irish will return as a six-part series.

2014-11-24_0031There is some goood news from ABC this week with two favourite dramas set to return: Jack Irish and The Code.

Jack Irish will expand to a six-part series, increasing on its telemovie run, again starring Guy Pearce and in-demand actress Marta Dusseldorp, set to resume filming on A Place to Call Home.

This season, Jack Irish is offered a scam that could cost him dearly, secrets surround an unexpected romance, and his mysterious new client goes missing before he meets her. As well as a major crime story arc, the familiar endearing characters of Jack’s world remain committed to complicating Jack’s life at every turn.

Based on the novels by Peter Temple, the series is written by Andrew Knight, Matt Cameron and Andrew Anastasios. Jeffrey Walker, Jonathan Teplitzky and Daniel Nettheim will direct the series. Series producers are Ian Collie and Andrew Knight. ABC Executive Producers are Christopher Gist and Carole Sklan. An Essential Media & Entertainment production for ABC TV in association with Screen Australia and Film Victoria.

“Jack’s back. And aren’t we better off for it!” said producer Ian Collie. “It’s great to be working with some old familiar faces again – Guy Pearce, Andrew Knight, Matt Cameron, Andrew Anastasios, and Jeffrey Walker.  Peter Temple’s Jack Irish is one of the great enduring and inspiring characters of Australian crime fiction and it is a privilege and a thrill to bring him back again in an extended series format for the ABC.”

Meanwhile thriller series The Code has won a second season, which sees Ned and Jesse Banks a little bruised by the events of a political storm but not escaping scott-free. Serious charges flung their way are just the coercive clout the Security Committee’s Nolan Daniels and his powerful allies need to conscript them into entrapping one of the most elusive players in the darknet. Jan Parke hosts an on-line bazaar of illegal weapons, drugs and dangerous ideas, and Jesse has the necessary skills to draw him out of deep hiding.

Created by Shelley Birse, the series is again directed by Shawn Seet, produced by Diane Haddon, Shelley Birse, David Maher and David Taylor, and written by Birse and Sean Cook. ABC Executive Producers are David Ogilvy, Greer Simpkin and Carole Sklan. A Playmaker production for ABC TV in association with Screen Australia and Screen Queensland.

Playmaker’s David Taylor said, “We’re excited at the opportunity to take Ned and Jesse’s story to another level, as they delve headfirst into the underbelly of the cyber world with consequences and discoveries which affect all Australians.”

ABC Head of ABC Fiction, Carole Sklan, said, “We are delighted to be partnering again with two extraordinarily talented, award-winning creative teams in Essential Media and Playmaker. Both Jack Irish and The Code are landmark dramas that deliver hugely intriguing and exciting stories in a distinctly Australian way.”

No dates have yet been announced.

10 Responses

  1. There is a sense with dramas like The Code that all they are able to do is try to follow the genre formula but have no authentic voice or grasp of good story telling. So they end up amidst all the good technical elements as plodding and dull. It is made particularly hard for local ABC drama when the same network broadcasts similar British dramas which are far superior. Happy Valley or Scott & Bailey are good recent examples. It seems that the same Australian writers just circulate across all the networks with a similar soapy/serials style and can’t progress much beyond this. I think Secret Squirrel is right to be a little ambivalent about Jack Irish which could push itself a lot more. But its strength is that it started with good source material, the Peter Temple novels.

  2. The Code was excellent and I am glad it is coming back, yes it lacked the zing of American crime dramas and that’s why it worked for me. It was properly paced like a good British scripted drama and didn’t fall in to the trap off adding quick thrill moments !

  3. Hm, I gave The Code a really good crack, 3 or 4 eps, but it was a bit of a mess. The writing was all over the place and stretched credulity considerably. The characters were mostly quite cartoonish and some of the dialogue would not have been out of place on Crownies (that is not a good thing).

    I’m ambivalent about Jack Irish. I didn’t mind the first miniseries but lasted only one ep of the second. I found it very formulaic. Perhaps 6 eps will give the writing more space to breathe.

    And yet they were thinking about not doing any more Miss Fisher… go figure.

  4. I still have the last Jack Irish on my PVR, so this is a good reminder. It will be good for the Summer non-ratings period to catch up.

    Not sure if The Code was good enough for another season. It would have to improve a lot.

  5. The code is currently still on my PVR yet to be watched as is the 3rd Jack Irish but in dvd. That is good news re Jack Irish and it now makes even more sense why Marta can’t do more Janet atm.

  6. Andrew Knight is a terrific writer and the Jack Irish moving into 6 parts is a great move by the ABC. But surprised The Code got a renewal. It was incomprehensible, poorly plotted and the audience dwindled week by week to very poor figures for the best spot in prime time. In the light of ABC cuts this is an investment of probably $3 plus million by ABC drama. The money would be better spent on something new.

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