SBS has today announced a stellar, award-winning ensemble cast to star in the new Matchbox Pictures produced drama series, Safe Harbour.
Safe Harbour is a bold psychological thriller set in Brisbane about a group of friends whose sailing holiday of a lifetime to Indonesia alters their lives forever after they cross paths with a fishing boat overloaded with asylum seekers enroute to Australia.
The four-part drama will feature Australian actress making waves internationally Phoebe Tonkin (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, H2O Just Add Water), AACTA and Logie award-winner Joel Jackson (Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door, Deadline Gallipoli) award-winning actor Ewen Leslie (Rake, Janet King, the upcoming second season of Top of the Lake), acclaimed actress Leeanna Walsman (Seven Types of Ambiguity, Cleverman, Looking for Alibrandi) and award winner Jacqueline McKenzie (The 4400, The Water Diviner). Other members of this superb ensemble cast include Hazem Shammas (Underbelly), Nicole Chamoun (Kick), Robert Rabiah (Tomorrow When the War Began) and more.
The series will be filmed on location in Brisbane, directed by Glendyn Ivin (Seven Types of Ambiguity, The Beautiful Lie) and produced for SBS by award-winning production company Matchbox Pictures (The Family Law, Secret City, Seven Types of Ambiguity, Wanted, Barracuda).
Showrunner & writer Belinda Chayko (Barracuda, Secret City), heads a strong writing team that includes Matt Cameron (Sunshine, Secret City) and Phil Enchelmaier (Jar Dwellers).
Safe Harbour is executive produced by SBS’s Sue Masters (The Principal, Deep Water, The Family Law) and produced by Matchbox Pictures’ Debbie Lee (Glitch, Hyde & Seek) & Stephen Corvini (Better Man, Hyde & Seek).
SBS Director of Television and Online Content, Marshall Heald said: “Safe Harbour continues SBS’s run of making bold and thought-provoking drama, following The Principal, Deep Water and the recently announced Sunshine. This is a series with heart and purpose, that only SBS could make – a psychological thriller that will both captivate audiences and get them talking about issues that impact all of us.
“We are excited to be working with the enormously talented Matchbox Pictures team and a brilliant young ensemble cast who bring the story to life in beautiful Brisbane.”
Head of Production at Screen Australia, Sally Caplan:
“SBS consistently delivers high quality Australian dramas that have the ability to start national conversations, as we saw with other Screen Australia supported titles Deep Water and The Principal. Safe Harbour will undoubtedly continue in this tradition. Phil Enchelmaier, Belinda Chayko and Matt Cameron’s script is as compelling as it is timely, and we commend the Matchbox team on assembling such a diverse and talented ensemble of actors to bring it to life.”
CEO of Screen Queensland Tracey Vieira, said:
“Screen Queensland is immensely proud to be a key partner in Safe Harbour which originated from Queensland creatives Simon Kennedy and Phil Enchelmaier. Through Matchbox and SBS, this bold compelling series has been developed into a drama that will impact the hearts of Australians as brought to life by this stellar cast of actors.”
Matchbox Pictures Producer Stephen Corvini said:
“Matchbox Pictures is proud to be making Safe Harbour for SBS with the support of Screen Australia and Screen Queensland. We’ve assembled a brilliant cast that is set to entertain and enthral an audience with a view of some of the timeliest and urgent discussions going on in our world right now.”
The four-part series is a Matchbox Pictures production for SBS, and is produced with major production funding from Screen Australia in association with Screen Queensland with NBC Universal handling international sales.
