Airdate: The Wizards of Aus

SBS 2 will screen The Wizards of Aus, a three-part online comedy featuring Guy Pearce, Bruce Spence, Samuel Johnson, Mark Mitchell, Mark Samuel Bonanno and Menik Gooneratne.

As the lead role of Jack the Wizard, Michael Shanks (known globally for his You Tube channel – Timtimfed) also directed and co-wrote the series. He is also credited as music composer and co-visual effects specialist on the live-action comedy.

Earlier this year ‘The Wizards of Aus’ was one of seven recipients of Screen Australia’s Multiplatform Drama program’s grants and was originally slated for an online release prior to SBS 2’s commitment to broadcast the 3 x 30 minute series.

“When we initially dreamt up ‘The Wizards of Aus’ it was scheduled to release online as a 6 x 10-15 minute series so we are absolutely thrilled to have the support of a national prime-time broadcast with SBS 2. Combining the acting talents of Guy, Bruce and with Samuel Johnson as the voice of ‘Terry the Shark’ along with the directing, writing, acting and music composition prowess of Michael as well as epic in-house created visual effects, we hope the series will be enjoyed by audiences right across Australia” said Series Producer, Chris Hocking.

Fed up with the Magical Realm’s obsession with large-scale fantasy warfare, Jack the Wizard decides to migrate to the sanest place he can think of: Melbourne’s Western suburbs.

After accidentally causing a magical catastrophe, his existence (and that of his fellow magical immigrants) is revealed to the Australian public. Fearing a backlash against himself and his kind, Jack swears off using magic in a bid to better assimilate into human life.

But of course, fitting in was never going to be easy when people tend to get a bit ‘explode-y’ whenever you sneeze…

‘The Wizards of Aus’ was co-written by Nicholas Issell, Chris Hocking was the series producer, editor and co-visual effects specialist and produced by Nicholas Colla and Sumah Hurley.

Tuesday January 19 2016 at 8.30pm AEDT.