''Tomorrow When the War Began'' is an Australian drama television series based on the ''Tomorrow'' series by John Marsden, produced by Michael Boughen and Tony Winley and executive produced by Matthew Street and Kim Vecera. The series, which consisted of six one-hour episodes, premiered on

ABC3 ABC Me (stylised as ABC ME) is an Australian English language children's free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was officially launched by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 4 December 2009 as ABC3. Hist ...

on 23 April 2016, and covered roughly the events of the first novel, ''

Tomorrow, When the War Began ''Tomorrow, When the War Began'' is the first book in the ''Tomorrow'' series by John Marsden. It was published in 1993, and is a young adult invasion novel, detailing a high-intensity invasion and occupation of Australia by a foreign power. Th ...

''.

Premise

Based on the award-winning novels written by John Marsden, ''Tomorrow When the War Began'' follows a group of eight teenage friends who find themselves in the middle of an unexpected war in a small country town after returning from a remote camping trip. Cut off from the rest of the world and everyone they knew, they must find their way in the new world, where they are among only a few remaining free Australians, who must learn to defend themselves against the hostile invaders and save their detained families.

Cast

Main

Molly Daniels Molly Daniels is an Australian actress, director, and producer. She is best known for her roles in ''You're Skitting Me'', '' Tomorrow When the War Began'', '' Ronny Chieng: International Student'' and '' Very Small Business''. She has also writ ...

as Eleanor "Ellie" Linton * Narek Arman as Homer Yannos * Jon Prasida as Lee Takkam * Madeleine Clunies-Ross as Fiona "Fi" Maxwell *

Madeleine Madden Madeleine Madden (born 29 January 1997) is an Australian actress. She is best known for playing Egwene al'Vere in the Amazon Prime series ''The Wheel of Time''. Early life Madden grew up around Redfern, a Sydney inner city suburb, and attended ...

as Corrie Mackenzie * Andrew Creer as Kevin Holmes * Fantine Banulski as Robyn Mathers * Keith Purcell as Chris Maxwell

Recurring

Sibylla Budd Sibylla Budd (born c. 1976) is an Australian actress perhaps best known for her roles in the television series ''The Secret Life of Us'' and ''Winners & Losers''. Early life Budd grew up in Canberra, attended Canberra Girls' Grammar School and ...

as Rachel Maxwell *

Deborah Mailman Deborah Jane Mailman (born 14 July 1972) is an Australian television and film actress, and singer. Mailman played the character Kelly Lewis on the Australian television series ''The Secret Life of Us'' and Cherie Butterfield in the Australian c ...

as Kath Mackenzie * Alison Bell as Liz Linton * Richard Young as Jack Linton *

Spencer McLaren Spencer McLaren (born 28 February 1973, Sydney) is an Australian theatre actor and television actor. The 1999 NIDA graduate is most well known for his starring role on the Australian television drama, ''The Secret Life of Us'', as Richie Blake; ...

as Daniel Maxwell * Damien Fotiou as George Yannos * Alfred Nicdao as Umar Takkam *

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

as Colonel Lee

Episodes

Production

Filming

The series was shot from 14 September to 13 November 2015. Filming took place in and around

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, on the

Barwon Heads Bridge The Barwon Heads Bridge is a road bridge and a separate pedestrian bridge across the Barwon River between Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove, Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Austr ...

, and in

Clunes, Victoria Clunes is a town in Victoria, Australia, 36 kilometres north of Ballarat, in the Shire of Hepburn. At the 2016 census it had a population of 1,728. History Pre-colonial The Djadja Wurrung people were the first inhabitants of the region ...

Promotion

On 27 November 2015,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

released its official line-up of new television series to be broadcast in 2016, which included a short preview for ''Tomorrow When the War Began''. On 1 January 2016, the first full trailer was released for the series. Further teasers and trailers were released in March 2016.

Broadcast

''Tomorrow When the War Began'' is broadcast on

and distributed in Australia by

ABC Commercial ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. The series was distributed internationally by

Annapurna Pictures Annapurna Pictures is an independent American media company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011, that specializes in film production, live theatre production, television through its Annapurna Television division, and video game publishing through i ...

Ratings

Home media release

''Tomorrow When the War Began'' was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 1 June 2016 in Region 4/B.

References

External links

* * {{John Marsden 2016 Australian television series debuts 2016 Australian television series endings Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Australian drama television series English-language television shows Fiction about invasions Television shows set in Australia Tomorrow series Australian children's television series Television series about teenagers