James Stewart, Kate Jenkinson, Lincoln Younes and Olivia DeJonge will play a family that’s forced to enter a witness protection program in Hiding, an eight-part drama for the ABC.
Created and written by Matt Ford, the Playmaker Media series starts shooting in Sydney on Monday and will later location on the Gold Coast.
Hiding was developed through Screen Australia’s Scribe showrunner development initiative and is backed by Screen Australia, Screen NSW and Screen Queensland.
Playmaker Media’s David Taylor told IF the Scribe program has been so successful, helping to spawn House Husbands (Drew Proffitt), The Code (Shelly Birse) and Love Child (Sarah Lambert), the company will continue to run Scribe sessions, with another to be held later this year.
While the premise of a family forced to move to a strange city is similar to the US series The Riches, Taylor said Ford got the idea from conservations he’d had with the cops while working on earlier shows.
“Matt wanted to explore the angle of a family who is forced into hiding and has no one else to turn to except each other,” said Taylor, who is producing with his Playmaker Media partner David Maher and Diane Haddon and Ford.
“We spoke to all the networks and the ABC jumped on it. They loved the idea of a new take on a contemporary family drama.”
Stewart (Packed to the Rafters) portrays Troy Quigg, a mid-level Gold Coast criminal who makes a deal to go into witness protection to save his family. Kate Jenkinson (The Time of Our Lives, Offspring, House Husbands) plays his wife and Lincoln Younes (Love Child 2, Home and Away, Tangle) and Olivia DeJonge are their teenage offspring.
The supporting cast includes Stephen Curry as the cop who runs the witness protection program, Nathan Page as Jenkinson’s brother, Jodi Gordon, Kim Gyngell and Jacqueline McKenzie.
Shawn Seet (The Code, Love Child) is the set-up director and will direct two episodes. Tori Garrett (The Time of Our Lives, Wonderland) and Grant Brown (Janet King, House Husbands, Love Child 2) will each direct two.
Ford’s writing credits include Love Child, House Husbands, SLiDE, Satisfaction, Stingers and Wildside.
Taylor and Maher said, “Matt Ford has created a funny, warm, high stakes drama about a family on the run given a second chance to stay together. Hiding has a ton of heart meshed with Matt's unique brand of dark humour, and we're proud to be producing it for the ABC.”
ABC TV head of fiction Carole Sklan said, “Hiding places an emotionally complex family drama at the heart of a gripping crime thriller. Playmaker and Matt Ford have brought a highly original voice to a story of how resilient, even joyful, ordinary people can be when faced with an unimaginable threat.”
ITV Studios Global Entertainment is the international distributor. Playmaker Media has opted to work with several distributors after the end of its first-look deal with FremantleMedia Enterprises.
DCD Rights reps The Code, All3 Media International has Love Child and ZDF Enterprises distributes House Husbands.