BINGE is doubling down on Australian television in 2027, combining the return of proven franchises with new originals and an expanding slate of international co-productions.
Across a clutch of announcements unveiled at a glamorous breakfast held at Sydney restaurant The Oriana, a clear strategy emerges from the streamer’s next phase: BINGE is betting that the way forward lies, at least partly, in Australian television audiences’ past.
“The Real Housewives of Melbourne” is coming back, with Gina Liano once again front and centre. “Wentworth” has been pulled from the television vault and rebuilt as “Wentworth: Halfway Home,” now with Rachel Griffiths joining returning favourites. Even “Selling Houses Australia,” one of Australian subscription television’s great survivors, is rolling into a 19th season. Sitting beside those known quantities is “Tough Love,” the new Australian comedy starring Miranda Otto and Rick Donald, while BINGE is also co-producing “The Ministry of Time” with the BBC and A24.
For Foxtel Group executive director, entertainment content, Daniel Monaghan, the broader picture is one of momentum. “I think this year we’ve really built some good momentum, and we’re growing every week, and we’re in a real purple patch, both with our international shows and our locals,” he told Mediaweek.
“We’re really putting good faces in front of our shows.”
The strategy isn’t especially complicated. BINGE wants Australian shows people recognise, new shows with enough star power to cut through, and international titles to keep the pipeline moving. More importantly, it wants those local shows to earn their keep.
“We may do four to six originals a year, and we want every one of them to resonate with the audience and grow the subscriber base, by the way, because they are Australian stories and Australian stories are not just there because anyone has to do them,” Monaghan continued.
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“We do them because people want them, and we do them because people want to come and subscribe for them.”
BINGE already has a handy example of the model working. “Colin from Accounts” has become one of the streamer’s standout Australian originals, and Monaghan said its latest run delivered one of BINGE’s biggest days of the year. “The service always booms when the locals and internationals work together,” he said.
“We’ve had ‘Colin from Accounts’ absolutely smashing it out of the park. It gave us one of our biggest days of the year when the episode dropped a couple of weeks ago.”
More local programming is coming before 2027 gets underway. “High Country” returns on September 14th, while “Apocalypse,” a new unscripted series narrated by Jonathan LaPaglia, is also on the way.
Then there’s Gina. “The Real Housewives of Melbourne” launched in 2014 and went on to become the most-watched reality series in Foxtel’s history. After years off air, season six will begin production in 2027.
For Monaghan, enough time had passed to make Melbourne feel fresh again. “Well, it’s been off air for a number of years now. The first series ended about 12 years ago. And look, we really value the Housewives franchise, and we’ve done a few iterations of Sydney in recent years,” he said. “So bringing Melbourne back just felt like the right time.”
But bringing Melbourne back without Gina Liano would have been a rather different proposition. “It’s so important for us to get her, and she was thrilled to sign across the line and really excited to come back,” Monaghan continued. “She feels like it’s the right moment.”
Liano is the first housewife confirmed, with more new and returning cast members to be announced. ITV Studios Australia and Universal Television Alternative Studio UK Productions will produce the series.
BINGE is taking a different approach with “Wentworth.” “Wentworth: Halfway Home” moves the story outside prison, following its former inmates as they attempt the considerably tricky business of staying out.
Katrina Milosevic returns as Boomer, Nicole da Silva as Franky Doyle and Kate Box as Lou Kelly. Rachel Griffiths has now joined the cast as Moira, a fraudster whose former life involved beauty therapy, high society, blackmail and loan sharking. Sophie Lowe will play Sam, a former stalker on parole.
Griffiths, Monaghan said, didn’t require much persuading. “It wasn’t difficult to convince her. She wanted to do it. She loved it,” he said. “She’s one of the most successful actors we’ve produced. So it’s amazing.”
The familiar “Wentworth” faces will be joined by a younger cast. “We’ve got all our returning cast members, and then we’ve got a whole host of other women who are rounding out the younger end of the cast, which is fantastic.”
There’s good reason for BINGE to keep “Wentworth” alive. The original ran for eight seasons and travelled to more than 170 territories. “Halfway Home” lets the streamer keep the name and characters audiences know, without simply sending everybody back behind bars.
Not everything comes with a back catalogue though. Production has started in Sydney on “Tough Love,” an eight-part comedy created and written by Rick Donald and starring Donald alongside Miranda Otto, Liz Kingsman, Hugo Johnston-Burt and Jay Ryan.
Otto plays Kerry Hart, a mother whose cancer diagnosis leaves her confronting an alarming thought: her three adult children may be completely incapable of managing without her. There is, however, a little “Colin from Accounts” pedigree behind the camera.
Trent O’Donnell and Madeleine Dyer, who directed the BINGE hit, will direct “Tough Love.” Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia is producing it, with principal production funding from Foxtel and Screen Australia, in association with Screen NSW.
For Monaghan, the brief for BINGE’s local originals is straightforward. “Binge’s focus for Australian content is to complement that and really lean into stars and Australian stories, things that you can only tell and that we have really good partners. We work with really good writers, and our job is to entertain.”
But local doesn’t necessarily mean staying local. “High Country” is heading to the BBC and Hulu, while “The Ministry of Time” brings BINGE together with the BBC and A24. The six-part series, based on Kaliane Bradley’s novel, has been adapted by “Normal People” writer Alice Birch and stars Aoife Hinds and Billy Howle.
BINGE says it is investing $130 million in Australian news, drama and entertainment. At the same time, the international slate remains a big part of the proposition. Canadian CBC series “Yaga,” starring Carrie-Anne Moss and Hudson Williams, arrives in October.
“’Yaga’ is a Canadian CBC series with Moss and Williams, who you all know from ‘Heated Rivalry,’” Monaghan said. “So it’s a really, really big show for us coming in October, which we will be shouting from the rooftops because of Hudson’s involvement, obviously. It kind of takes it to the next level.”
In 2027, Eddie Redmayne returns for season two of “The Day of the Jackal,” while Jennifer Garner will be back for the second season of “The Five Star Weekend.” Behind the “Housewives” heels, returning inmates and marquee names is the less glamorous business of keeping people subscribed.
Monaghan said Foxtel Group chief executive Patrick Delany backs the entertainment strategy. “Patrick is a really supportive CEO and has a real interest in entertainment,” he said. “He is heavily invested in good shows.”
But the more telling part of BINGE’s strategy is its approach to Australian originals. The streamer isn’t talking about local production as something it simply has to make. Monaghan’s measure is much more commercial: four to six originals a year, each expected to find an audience and help grow subscriptions.
BINGE has also secured a long-term extension of its partnership with NBCUniversal, with the new agreement taking effect from 2028. The deal will give BINGE and Foxtel subscribers exclusive Australian access to first-run scripted programming from Sky Studios, as well as Universal Studio Group-produced drama and comedy series for Peacock.
The agreement expands BINGE’s film and television library, including Pay-1 movie rights and franchises such as “Fast & Furious,” “Despicable Me,” “Jurassic Park” and “How to Train Your Dragon.” It will also deliver what the companies describe as the largest collection of seasons from the “Law & Order” franchise available in Australia, alongside titles including “The Office,” “Downton Abbey” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”
The partnership also covers NBCUniversal channels Universal TV and DreamWorks, plus the addition of Universal Crime. New seasons from reality franchises including “Below Deck” and “The Real Housewives of Orange County” are included, while Hayu will be integrated into Foxtel set-top boxes from 2028.
Delany described the extension as a “landmark moment for Australian entertainment lovers,” saying it confirmed DAZN’s commitment to BINGE and securing premium international content for Australian audiences.
NBCUniversal Managing Director, Asia Pacific, TV Distribution and International Networks & Direct-to-Consumer Chris Taylor said the agreement reflected the companies’ long-running relationship and would provide BINGE and Foxtel with “a foundation for continued growth long into the future.”
The shows in BINGE’s pipeline:
Australian and local titles:
“The Real Housewives of Melbourne” — returning for season six, with Gina Liano back
“Wentworth: Halfway Home” — new Wentworth spin-off
“Tough Love” — new Australian comedy starring Miranda Otto and Rick Donald
“Selling Houses Australia” — returning for season 19
“The Ministry of Time” — BINGE, BBC and A24 co-production
“Colin from Accounts” — current BINGE Original highlighted by Monaghan
“High Country” — returning September 14, with international distribution via BBC and Hulu
“Apocalypse” — new unscripted series narrated by Jonathan LaPaglia
“Deadliest Dinners” — BINGE Original starring Mario Kalpou
“The Other Bennet Sister” — returning with a three-part Christmas special
International titles:
“The Day of the Jackal” — returning for season two with Eddie Redmayne
“The Five Star Weekend” — returning for season two with Jennifer Garner
“Sweetpea” — returning for season two with Ella Purnell
“Ted: The Animated Series”
“The Rachel Incident”
“Meantime” — starring James McAvoy
“Maya” — starring Bella Ramsey and Tobias Menzies
“Up to No Good” — starring Glenn Close
“The Cadburys”
“Superfakes” — starring Lucy Liu
“Yaga” — CBC series starring Carrie-Anne Moss and Hudson Williams, which Monaghan said is coming in October
From Mediaweek