(L-R) Jessica Marais, Mandy McElhinney, Shalom Brune-Franklin and Jessica Tovey.
The Nine Network has commissioned Bad Mothers, an eight-part comedy/drama from Jungle Entertainment and New Zealand-based Filthy Productions.
Created by Filthy Productions’ Rachel Lang and Gavin Strawhan, the plot revolves around four very different women whose children attend the same primary school. Outsiders, they form a sisterhood amid an atmosphere of suspicion and danger.
The show is about mothers in all forms – single, partnered, LGBTQI, good and bad – with a murder element that provides more twists and turns.
Jessica Marais (Love Child, Wrong Girl), Mandy McElhinney (Love Child, Hyde & Seek), Shalom Brune-Franklin (Doctor Doctor, Our Girl) and Jessica Tovey (Wolf Creek, Wonderland) will play the leads.
Shooting starts in Melbourne in October with Geoff Bennett as the set-up director alongside Sian Davies and another director yet to be named.
The scripts are by Lang, Strawhan, Sarah Walker and Phil Lloyd. Screen Australia and Create NSW are supporting the series, the first Australian co-production for Strawhan and Lang, who created Hyde & Seek and produced a raft of Kiwi shows including Dirty Laundry, Filthy Rich and Outrageous Fortune.
Jungle Entertainment COO Chloe Rickard said: “We couldn’t have found a better partner in Filthy Productions, who are some of the best and most prolific TV creators in NZ. Bad Mothers marks Jungle’s first step into one-hour drama, which we look forward to following up soon with our slate of dramas in development.”
Andy Ryan and Jo Rooney, Nine’s co-heads of drama said: “When the going gets tough, our Bad Mothers will stick together. Whether they’re juggling the highs and lows of parenthood, careers, love and even murder, Australia’s new best friends lead the way with charm, smarts, and a shameless bad attitude.”
Screen Australia’s head of production Sally Caplan added: “It’s fantastic to see some of Australia’s strongest TV writers coming on board for this female-led ensemble piece. Rachel Lang, Sarah Walker, Gavin Strawhan and Phil Lloyd have created a genuine and relatable script about the challenges of modern parenthood, with humour and heart.
“We’re particularly excited to see production company Jungle carry out their first one-hour format series, and with the track record of the writers and producers working on this project, we have no doubt Bad Mothers will be one of 2019’s must see new series.”