Six-part anthology series Fires, about the experiences of everyday people at the frontline of the 2019-2020 bushfires, will premiere on Sunday, September 26, 8.40pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Filmed in Melbourne and regional Victoria earlier this year, the Tony Ayres Productions drama goes behind the images and the headlines to touch on the stories of people directly affected by the fires.
The series begins in Queensland in September 2019, at the start of the fire season, and continues as the fires make their deadly march south, burning out of control through NSW and Victoria until February 2020. Each episode is set in a different location as the fires spread and build to a terrifying onslaught across the country through Christmas and New Year.
As the fires grow in intensity and ferocity and threaten different communities, new characters appear, whose stories reflect the breadth of experience during Australia’s black summer.
Bringing those stories to life is the ensemble cast of Eliza Scanlen, Hunter Page-Lochard, Richard Roxburgh, Miranda Otto, Taylor Ferguson, Anna Torv, Mark Leonard Winter, Dan Spielman, Sam Worthington, Charlotte Best, Kate Box, Helana Sawires, Daniel Henshall, Sullivan Stapleton, Noni Hazlehurst and newcomers Ameshol Ajang and Stacy Clausen.
Fires is co-created by Belinda Chayko and Tony Ayres. Chayko was also showrunner and lead writer, alongside Jacquelin Perske, Mirrah Foulkes, Steven McGregor and Anya Beyersdorf. The series is produced by Elisa Argenzio, with executive producers Tony Ayres, Andrea Denholm, Liz Watts. Directors on the series are Michael Rymer, Ana Kokkinos and Kim Mordaunt.
Major production investment from Screen Australia in association with ABC, with support from Film Victoria through the Victorian Screen Incentive and Regional Location Assistance Fund. International distribution via NBCUniversal Global Distribution.