Romantic comedy series “Top End Bub” will begin production next month in Australia as a sequel to hit 2019 feature film “Top End Wedding.” Stars Miranda Tapsell (“The Sapphires”) and Gwilym Lee (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) will reprise their roles.
The series is created, executive produced and written by “Top End Wedding” writers Joshua Tyler and Tapsell and produced by Goalpost Pictures. The series will launch on Prime Video in Australia and New Zealand and be distributed internationally by Germany’s ZDF Studios.
Where the 2019 Wayne Blair-directed film saw an engaged couple chase around the remote far north of Australia in search of the bride’s AWOL mother in time for their wedding, the eight-part series sees the married couple abandon their comfortable city life and move to the Top End (where the outback meets the tropics) to raise their recently orphaned niece. Tapsell’s character, Lauren, a dynamic Indigenous lawyer, must come to terms with her responsibilities within her culture as she transforms from an individualist to the linchpin of her family.
Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight is executive producer, and the series will be directed by Christian Van Vuuren and Shari Sebbens. The series will be filmed from May in Adelaide (South Australia) and Northern Territory. It has support from Screen Australia, Screen Territory and the South Australian Film Corporation.
“Prime Video is proud to be bringing back the beloved, hilarious and heart-warming characters of ‘Top End Wedding’ with the television spin-off ‘Top End Bub’ for Prime members in Australia and New Zealand,” said Sarah Christie, senior development executive at Amazon MGM Studios.
“Viewers will enjoy the sharp and funny observations of two city slickers woefully adjusting to life in the outback, surrounded by Lauren’s vast family and a host of colorful characters,” said Yi Qiao, director of drama at ZDF Studios.
While Prime Video recently announced that it was cutting back on production of original shows in Southeast Asia, it plans to continue production in Australia. Since 2019, Prime Video has commissioned 29 Australian original series and features in Australia.
