The Newsreader

''The Newsreader'' is an Australian television drama series created by Michael Lucas, broadcast on ABC. The six-part series, exploring the personal and professional lives of journalists and crew within a 1980s Australian newsroom, premiered on 15 August 2021. It was ABC's most-watched drama programme of 2021, received positive reactions from critics, and achieved the most nominations of any show or film at the 11th AACTA Awards. In March 2022, it was renewed for a second series for broadcast in 2023.

Cast

Main

* Anna Torv as Helen Norville, the first female newsreader of the ratings-dominant ''News at Six''. Coming to the position in a time of misogyny and sexism sets up roadblocks in her career, especially as her fragile mental health begins to worsen, and charts a journey of recovery by leaping head-first into a relationship with junior reporter Dale.
* Robert Taylor as Geoff Walters, the long-time co-anchor of the ''News at Six'', who is critical of Helen's position, believing it to be a part of the news genre's move towards entertainment and glamour to retain viewers. As a result, he feels he is being pushed out, as part of the old guard, and lets his health suffer as he perseveres on, resolved to not let that happen.
* Sam Reid as Dale Jennings, a junior reporter for ''News at Six'' whose eagerness to helm a bulletin sees him become Helen's producer, and the two become romantically involved - to the receptive eyes of the media - as he becomes concerned over his private life, and his personal secrets, potentially leaking onto the screen.
* William McInnes as Lindsay Cunningham, the overbearing, easily irascible, casually bigoted, and ratings-obsessed head of the ''News at Six'' newsroom.
* Marg Downey as Evelyn Walters, Geoff's wife, who diligently manages his career off-screen, often to his irritation.
* Stephen Peacocke as Rob Rickards, the sports editor, and former VFL player, for ''News at Six'' who struggles when temporarily promoted to co-anchor/relief anchor. He often asks Noelene for help and is oblivious to the fact that this is unpaid and uncredited work. As he becomes attracted to her, he appreciates her more.
* Chai Hansen as Tim Ahern, one of the ''News at Six'' cameramen who develops a crush on Dale.
* Michelle Lim Davidson as Noelene Kim, the assiduous ''News at Six'' library researcher and autocue operator, determined to try and make her mark.
* Chum Ehelepola as Dennis Tibb, the meticulously-working and hot-headed head producer of the newsroom.

Supporting and notable guests

* Maude Davey as Val Jennings, Dale's attentive and doting mother, keen to see her son do well, aware of his past traumas.
* Caroline Lee as Jean, the newsroom secretary.
* Bert La Bonté as Gordon, ''News at Six'' director and camera operator.
* Maria Angelico as Cheryl Ricci, ''News at Six'' make-up artist.
* John Leary as Murray, ''News at Six'' operator.
* Jackson Tozer as Ross, co-cameraman to Tim.
* Dom Phelan as Brett, the other sports editor for ''News at Six''.
* Robert Grubb as Dr. McCormack, who has Helen as one of her patients and regularly re-fills her sleeping pill prescription despite her increasingly somewhat flimsy excuses.
* Tony Rickards as Dr. Shaw, Geoff's doctor, who meets resistance from both him and Evelyn about what changes Geoff must make to improve his health, his recommendations for a long while off-screen to recover are not well-received.
* Tim Draxl as Adam, a former schoolfriend of Dale's, who aims to apologise for a brutal event in their shared past.
* Edwina Wren as Cathy Norville, Helen's sister, who pleads with her to join the family in their father's dying days.

Episodes

Series 1 (2021)

Series 2 (2023)

Set across 1987 and 1988, the series will revolve around Dale and Helen "contending with rising public profiles, intensifying office politics, and a ruthless new CEO f the network" The series will premiere in 2023, and will consist of six episodes. News events covered in the series include the 1987 federal election, the stock market crash, the separation of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer, the heroin crisis, and the Hoddle Street shootings. A trailer was released on 24 November 2022.

Production

Series 1

The series was created by Michael Lucas and Joanna Werner and was directed by Emma Freeman. Filmed in Melbourne, the series was written by Michael Lucas, Jonathan Gavin, Niki Aken and Kim Ho. Joanna Werner and Stuart Menzies, along with Brett Sleigh and Sally Riley on behalf of the ABC, executive produced the series. The series was supported through "major investments" from Screen Australia and Film Victoria.

Initial development

The inception of what would become ''The Newsreader'' was worked on by Michael Lucas following his six-part series ''Party Tricks'' in 2014/2015 - and had a "long gestation" period. Initial writing for the series - which took place "immediately after" Lucas finished working on the fifth series of ''Offspring'' in 2015 - was not centred around a newsroom setting, and was simply based on a plan to "write a story with a male lead who felt like there was this particular version of masculinity that he was trying to fulfil, and it wasn't an actual fit but he was just desperate to live up to it," which Lucas describes as "a theme that was close to isheart," and "felt like a personal story" to him. This became the character of Dale, before Lucas realised he "needed to be matched with female character, who was possessed of those traditional masculine qualities: ambitious, risk-taking, volatile", as well as "uncompromising and determined, but she's punished for them, whereas he struggles to fit into that masculine ideal." Lucas talked of how he "liked that they occupied a slight flip on gender stereotypes", and was what he "found really compelling about them." Their relationship formed the basis of the series, with the additional layer of a 1980s setting decided upon due to the fact it would impose "more pressure on he charactersto fulfil certain roles". Lucas then embarked on a year-and-a-half development timeframe, considering what "image of masculinity" the character of Dale would "want oachieve", and chose newsreader for him - and a newsroom as the setting for the series - "a few drafts in", Lucas calling them "lions" and "voice-of-God men".

Over the course of 2015 and 2016, Lucas began researching newsrooms of the 1980s, interviewing those who worked in them at the time and hearing "eyepopping stories about the culture". Lucas claimed that the relatively nascent arrival of female newsreaders in the 1980s was something that "caught his attention" in his research; “it was just such an era of change. I was particularly obsessed with female newsreaders because they were a new development in the 80s, prior to that people just liked hearing the news read by very masculine voices of God. There was so much pressure on them. They had to find a way to define how a woman should look in a workplace, and they had such a strong, striking look."

Lucas noted the significance of most of his research into the culture of newsrooms of the time being conducted prior to the #MeToo movement, recollecting, in an interview in 2021, how "I started working on this prior to #MeToo. Then of course, when that happened, there was a part of me that felt like, 'will this be a profound change?', and all of the problems that are part of this world...will we have moved on and turned a corner by the time this show airs? Then of course we made it to this year when there's all these stories about the culture in Canberra, and you realise we might have progressed in some ways, but there's still a lot of structural problems and a culture of bullying and misogyny linked to that."

Lucas described the depth of research he undertook, potentially exaggerating as he mentioned that he "read nearly every newspaper from 1986" and emphasised the significance of "letters to the editor – they give you the full picture of what people were making of things hen"

Inclusion of real-life events

The first iteration of ''The Newsreader'' was written on spec, and a pilot was scripted, which Lucas approached ABC with, having worked with the network on sitcom ''Rosehaven'' and "wanted to gauge interest". Lucas also considered taking the series to Foxtel, but "felt the story was better for a non-commercial broadcaster"; ABC responded positively "really quickly", and "had the advantage of the expansive news library archive that could be used." Brett Sleigh at ABC - who would become an executive producer on the series - suggested using actual, "famous" events as the structure of the series, as it was previously just set around "generic stories" like the more expansive rollout of ATMs; Sleigh was enthusiastic about "making the most of ABC archives", and recommended Joanna Werner, to whom Lucas gave the draft pilot script and was "really connected with it", had "really clear vision about where it would go", was "really passionate about it". Lucas said he "instantly knew wanted to begin with the Challenger explosion" as that was the first major news event he remembered from childhood. Elsewhere, Lucas picked events "just by looking at the first half of 1986", explicating that covering Chernobyl was unavoidable, but also that the series also covers less "date-specific" stories such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

From this, the decision was made to "tightly stick to a real-life timeframe", with episodes taking place over the course of only a few days at most. The crew received "playouts of actual news bulletins on those days" in order to judge the importance and prioritisation of certain news stories on the days episodes take place on. Freeman "made the artistic choice to really use the dates and markers"; dates on which the episodes are set feature at the start of each. Lucas spoke of the challenges that came with weaving in real-life events into the series - being only experienced in writing "pure fiction" - that "the addition of following real events is what makes ''The Newsreader'' special", and " was a really fun puzzle to take those real life events and keep to the real dates, the real timeline," being aware of the "markers ouhave to hit", and at the same time weave fictional characters around them." Despite this "plotting puzzle", Lucas explained it was "a really fun, enjoyable, compelling challenge to see how I can take these real-life events that have their ebbs and flows that I can't change, and how that can provoke different relationships and turning points for the characters,", and how to link them to elements of characters' personalities. He said that this "engages both sides of your brain, although at times it is a bit maddening." He also claimed that the show does not entirely depend on those events being depicted as "if you remember those events or even if you don't, hopefully the show gives you a really interesting window into what those events were like and how newsrooms navigated them."

Discussing the process of writing the third episode, Lucas revealed that "at the plotting stage, e wouldgo into the ABC archives, and take footage of the dates e wanted, watching "'' The 7:30 Report'' or Mary Delahunty's news report, which would all feed back into the story." He also commented that he "took inspiration from James Cameron's ''Titanic'' as to how he placed his characters within the history of real events"; " en it comes to something like Lindy Chamberlain, they found the matinee jacket on this day, then on another day she was released from jail, then another she was back in Mt. Isa. So how do I manoeuvre my fictional characters around all of that to build a story? That was sort of the approach that I took." He explained that the lack of date specificity, relative to the other events depicted in the show, meant he had the "capacity" to place the (fifth) episode focusing on the AIDS crisis anywhere, and was "deliberately positioned" as such "to get maximum emotional impact for the characters". Writing the show meant dealing with the balance between how to convey facts and emotions; Lucas said that the news story could be "really prominent, a famous one" with set dates to operate in and around, and he "would have to think about what to do with the characters," whereas "other times e wouldwant to take characters to an emotional place".

Writing in general

Lucas wrote the series alone for "a long time" while it was on spec, until he was able to form a writers' room around 2017. When he did, he hired those he knew would provide valuable roles to develop the programme, such as Niki Aken - "from a research background", whose invitation came in the form of being asked "to join a brainstorm" for the series, for which she "wrote an outline"; Aken remarked that her contributions to the programme were impacted by the pandemic; she "wrote across the big yuk Melbourne lockdown, whilst holed away in hotel quarantine in Sydney". Lucas also carried on a practice he engaged with during his roles on various programmes as a script co-ordinator, in finding and hiring an emerging writer, Kim Ho; Lucas was impressed by his writing, Ho was asked to "script coordinate and note take", and the two co-wrote the fifth episode together. Debra Oswald also acted as script consultant for the series. The pandemic also afforded Lucas an extended period for development, with the start of pre-production delayed by four months, and spoke of him and production designer Melinda Doring taking advantage of that time for further collaboration; "an extra four months that we filled with Zoom meetings where we filled up Dropbox folders with inspiration," sourcing additional material - what Lucas called "absolute gems" - from museums and online forums, with Lucas in awe of her dedication to the work, lamenting that he "incorporated what ecould in the script". The delay also worked in Lucas' favour with his writing; his style is to "work intensely, go away and come back", attempting to "arrange tso ecan step away" and "pick it up fresh" after potentially "months away from it".

Lucas said the writing team were "bouncing back and forth", looking at the timeline and the characters, specifically where character arcs fit into the way in which the real-life events are depicted in the show. Before the writing of each episode, the research and archive footage "would be locked in", and only then would the writing progress onto working on the character arcs, so "that by the time a writer was assigned to write a particular episode, a comprehensive outline of the factual events involved would already be in place". Lucas spoke of how the "emotional arcs and storylines" were less set in stone in the run up to filming, and that they "tend dto evolve a lot even within the timeline structure we had set" and that "was always an ongoing discussion up to and including being on set, and then even to a certain extent in the edit suite", that they "were still honing those emotional beats and moments."

Lucas claimed that many of the negative aspects of newsrooms of the era "were pare back" in his writing, being told in his interviews by those who worked there at the time the extent to which " ey were pretty sexist, racist, homophobic workplaces itha lot of casual harassment", and that if he "had directly translated some of those stories, ... a contemporary audience would be like, 'Are you kidding?'". Lucas expanded on this, saying that "with these things, you walk the line of wanting to be frank about the reality of it, but at the same time you don't want to traumatise viewers" - for instance, depiction of racism was less explicit, choosing not to use racial epithets and "dramatis ngit without forging that pathway", using the example of the character of Noelene being assumed to know how to translate Japanese in spite of being Korean and that the other characters "have put in no effort to find out where her family have come from" - and concluding that " r attempt is to show the full spectrum of that world and to depict the parts that were loaded with bullying and misogyny, and the parts that were exhilarating."

Commission and filming

Securing international distribution for the series proved troublesome at first. While prospective distributors were "keen" when shown scripts for the series, the "Australian specificity" of the series, as well as the era chosen for the period setting, made them hesitant. As a result, Lucas "became conscious of picking stories that have some international resonance"; for example, the Azaria Chamberlain case - covered in the third episode - is a "quintessential Australian story, but means something overseas as well". Despite this, Werner spoke of how the accuracy with which they aimed to recreate the period setting was significant to "partners involved" in the series, describing how they took reference from movies in the late 1980s such as ''Tootsie'' and ''Working Girl'' to implement a neutral palette of "biege and browns" in the show - what she deemed a "grounded approach", in contrast to the brash and bold colours in many depictions of the 1980s, invoking MTV music videos as one example, as "we wanted to look like t wasmade in the '80s - not a show made about the '80s". To accentuate this, cameras for filming were fitted with vintage lenses.

The series' commission was announced in April 2020, entered pre-production by October, with the casting announced that November; six episodes were ordered by ABC, despite the series being originally developed for eight.

The series was filmed over 54 shoot days during late 2020 and early 2021, under COVID-19 restrictions. As a result, plans for expansive location filming could not take place, such as being unable to film in Darwin, in the Northern Territory, for the third episode, which is partly set there, and instead restricted to the state of Victoria. Scenes in the episode, where Dale and Helen, among other journalists, are camped outside a house they believe Lindy Chamberlain is staying at, were filmed in Mildura, with many local residents having been chosen to portray extras and offered up the exterior of their homes to use for filming, which took place in March 2021. The scenes in the episode where Dale, Helen, Tim, Ross, and other assorted journalists and cameramen, are waiting outside Berrimah Prison for Lindy Chamberlain's release were also filmed in Mildura, with stills during the filming shot by Adrian Chiarella, husband to Lucas. Scenes in the fourth episode depicting the Russell Street bombing were filmed at the site of the bombing itself, Lucas commenting that the filming "shut down an entire city block"; Niki Aken, writer of the fourth episode, played an extra during the scenes in the aftermath of the bombing. Creator Lucas himself cameoed during the second episode, portraying a DJ at Geoff's birthday party; scenes for that were shot over three days, and the experience of cameoing - of which Lucas commented "I swear the director pushed me into that" - allowed Lucas the chance to become more accustomed with the cast. Filming of the News at Six studio was done at the NEP Studios in Southbank, South Melbourne, with the newsroom offices set in a disused chemical warehouse/factory in Brooklyn, west of Melbourne.

Creator Lucas and director Freeman worked closely and collaboratively on- and off-set, with clear roles set out for the two; during the writing process, Freeman provides Lucas with notes on the script from cast and other crew, and during her directing, he acts as "a support" for her on set. Lucas described Freeman as the "prime storyteller" on set, his presence to "help with speedbumps with the script or to troubleshoot". He later said that, the way in which he engages in constant communication with other cast members, with their input, during the process of writing and filming, that the series was a "mutual creation".

Casting and characterisation

Actress Marg Downey reported " e won the role after submitting an audition tape from home", and that the first scene she shot was with William McInnes and filmed out-of-order, featuring early in the sixth episode. For Robert Taylor, a vocal coach "from the era" was hired, due to the need to "sharply define his vocal style, versus the more relaxed style ... he has". Chum Ehelopa claimed that when the show was pitched to him, he was unaware the show was "using actual events" and "just thought it was an '80s newsroom show".

Michelle Lim Davidson spoke of how the role of Noelene was adapted for her, and that she was hesitant to audition to play the part of a Korean woman due to concerns about whether Australian television was open to such representation; it was the first time she had auditioned to play the part of a Korean woman in her decade-long television career, and commented that she "never envisioned the day that hewould play the first Korean Aus ralianwoman in a major drama on Aus ralianTV". Lim Davidson spoke of the sense of '' jeong'' she felt on set of the family home of her character, Neolene, and that she had "an overwhelming sense that hehad arrived home", praising the "care and detailed accuracy of the Kim home" by the design, arts and props department - especially production designer Melinda Doring, and aided by writer/director and friend of hers, Undi Lee - and actress Hany Lee in helping her learn her Korean/Hangul dialogue. She said that " owing up in Australia and not being submerged in ercultural heritage eant she hadstruggled with erKorean identity," while lamenting how " r a long time it felt like hewas running away from ercultural identity" and she had long experienced an expectation that she "wouldn't be able to find a safe space to be erelf in the industry" and expressed her hopes her portrayal would lead to expanding Korean representation on television.

Anna Torv received the first two scripts of the series before she decided to take up the role, and was cast in early 2020. In an interview with ''Stuff'', it was revealed Torv "went to great lengths to make sure she truly represents female newsreaders of the time", saying that her character of Helen is "an amalgamation of a bunch of different people," and that she "grew up watching these people every night on the news but hedid do a deep dive into it and started to watch people (from the era)", having "put most of erenergy into what it was to be a newsreader"; including learning the significance of the autocue, and how it was "the best way to perfect her delivery", realising "how connected the autocue was with the intonation and all the rest of it. So we did all of the news stuff with the autocue – legit." She explained - in an interview with ''Guardian Australia'' - she became aware of this through taking part in "a couple of sessions with a beautiful person they'd brought in to teach the newsreading" and learned "that the phrasing, and all that kind of stuff, comes purely through the autocue. The way you speak as a newsreader is because you can't see the next word."

The process of "developing the texture of the character", according to Torv, "was everything you dream of, to be honest, as an actor", alongside working with creator Lucas - whom Torv praised as "one of those incredibly beautiful and confident writers, and also confident creators, who sits at the table and is open ... you feel like you're a part of the development," which "becomes invigorating ... I say that because it doesn't happen for actors all that often” - and producer Joanna Werner and director Emma Freeman (who Torv has worked with before) - saying that she "loved the collaboration" she was able to partake in with both, which was behind why she was "so keen to do ''The Newsreader''", acclaiming Freeman as "a brilliant director and she just creates such a fantastic environment for, like, play – honestly." Torv commented that " king ''The Newsreader'' was one of the most satisfying and joyous creative experiences that I've ever had". Torv also revealed that the ending of the series was not known from the beginning of production, and that the cast were only aware of the show's general direction for a time.

Historical accuracy

Some elements of the series have been observed to be lightly historically inaccurate. Lucas himself admitted "the only thing that maybe I'm slightly playing with is the first visibility of Halley's Comet, which is a little bit compressed," which was picked up on by the ABC in an article wherein Matt Neal noted "the unlikely but dramatically convenient feat of seeing a brilliant and highly visible Halley's Comet in the Melbourne sky on February 1, 1986", as " e optimal viewing time for Australia was in April," and citing the fever among the public surrounding the return of the comet being diluted at that time due to "the comet's distance from Earth and our planet's tilt meant it wasn't very bright, plus cloudy skies and light pollution meant city-dwellers' best chance to see the comet was with a telescope somewhere more rural." Neal also noted that a small claim in the first episode surrounding Melbourne Zoo's Butterfly House receiving its millionth visitor was "unlikely given the attraction only opened two months earlier in December 1985 and the zoo averages about 1.5 million visitors per year."

Neal and Flora Carr, from the UK's ''Radio Times'', also wrote that the decision to call the Chernobyl disaster "the worst nuclear disaster ever" in the sixth episode may have been overly premature, and the positioning of the announcement of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's engagement was also compressed, featuring during the opening to the fourth episode, which was set over a week after the news was actually made public in reality.

Series 2

On 30 March 2022, ABC confirmed that ''The Newsreader'' had been renewed for a second series, to be set in 1987.

Casting

Alongside the confirmation of the series' renewal, it was revealed Daniel Gillies and Philippa Northeast had joined the cast. In July 2022, creator Lucas advertised on Twitter and Instagram for potential extras for a gay bar scene set to shoot in Melbourne in late August. Another casting call was made in July, for First Nations extras "to help recreate the 1988 Bicentennial Protests that were based in Fremantle and Sydney", suggesting series 2 will cover events in 1988.

A trailer was released in late November 2022, which also revealed that Rory Fleck Byrne would guest-star this series, as a variety show host. There will also be a further expansion of the cast with an introduction to extended family members of the main ensemble.

Production and filming

In September 2021, before the first series was broadcast, when speaking about the prospect of a second series, Lucas claimed that he would like "to start writing from a point where e hadall the archival footage sourced first", and mentioned that the archives team within ABC had "already sent ima bunch of great stuff so e wassitting on a goldmine", and they were "brainstorming ideas o beready when the time comes". Lucas later revealed that development of the second series was commissioned by ABC prior to the broadcast of the first, which Lucas praised as allowing him to have "time to imagine what I wanted and what the team wanted without knowing how people were going to respond", something he was "grateful" for, and found "liberating" in the sense that "you know who you're writing for", and he had the "ensemble's voices in ishead".

Production and filming began in Melbourne in July 2022, as announced during the March 2022 announcement of the series 2 order. Filming for the second series lasted 56 days, over 11 weeks and ended in late September 2022.

The eighth week of filming involved the shooting of the newsdesk studio scenes, which were done back-to-back; the preference of director Freeman "to block hemas one sequence" like a play, with cast "perform ngfor six minutes at a time unbroken". Filming of such scenes means that the cast are "often shooting eight pages or more a day," with the scenes shot using "full cinematic cameras" alongside "old Betacam cameras" - a mix of vintage and new technology - so as to render the footage resembling television of the 1980s. Lucas said that it was essentially a "functional newsdesk set".

Release

On 12 July 2021, the first trailer was released for the series. The series was broadcast on ABC, premiering on 15 August 2021. Alongside, and in the run-up to, the series' launch, the ABC released videos on YouTube and across social media interviewing cast and crew about the specific news events that would be covered in the series.

Entertainment One acquired international distribution rights to ''The Newsreader'' in late 2020, and has sold broadcast or streaming rights to the series to Arte in France and Germany, the BBC
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