Ladies in Black - the second television series to be funded under the Malinauskas Labor Government’s $5.2 million investment in our local screen sector - has been announced by the ABC today.
The six-part drama is the second series to be funded through the ABC SAFC (South Australian Film Corporation) Content Pipeline Fund delivered by the State Government to drive screen production in South Australia, create jobs and strengthen the state’s screen industry.
It follows popular children’s series Beep and Mort from Adelaide’s Windmill Pictures, which wrapped filming its second season earlier this year at Adelaide Studios.
Ladies in Black stars renowned American actor Debi Mazar (Younger, Entourage), Miranda Otto (The Clearing, Talk To Me) and Jessica De Gouw (The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, The Secrets She Keeps).
Directed by Gracie Otto (The Arftul Dodger, The Clearing, Heartbreak High), Ladies in Black has an ensemble cast of talented Australian actors including Kate Box (Deadloch, Wentworth), 2022 NIDA graduate Clare Hughes, Azizi Donnelly (Secret Society of Lies), Julian Maroun (Aftertaste), Carlos Sanson Jr (Bump), Tom Wilson (Heartbreak High), Sacha Horler (The Letdown), Huw Higginson (Total Control), Russell Dykstra (Rake), Thom Green (Of an Age), Hamish Michael (The Twelve), Krew Boylan (Simply Red), Ngali Shaw (The Twelve), Hazem Shammas (The Clearing), Peter O’Brien (Tidelands), Gemma Ward (While The Men Are Away) and Todd McKenney (Significant Others).
Following on from the 2018 film of the same name, and drawing inspiration from the 1993 novel, Ladies in Black is set six months after the events of the original story and sees the women from Goodes Department Store fling open their shop doors to the fabulous 1960s. Amidst a backdrop of major societal shifts, the women are embracing more freedom and independence while being forced to confront personal choices and challenges which cast shadows over their once cherished dreams.
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Attributable to Andrea Michaels
It is incredibly exciting to secure Ladies in Black for South Australia.
We want to tell Australian stories to the world, and we are achieving this through our $5.2 million partnership between the South Australian Film Corporation and the ABC, with this being the second series to be supported through the Content Pipeline Fund.
Along with the significant cultural benefits of supporting our stories to reach Australian and global audiences, our investment is creating hundreds of jobs for our local screen sector, and driving high quality production outcomes which showcase South Australia’s world-class film and television production capability around the world.
South Australia is truly the home of Australian stories on screen, and the Malinauskas Government will continue to invest in this important sector for the future.
Attributable to South Australian Film Corporation CEO Kate Croser
We are thrilled to support Ladies in Black to be made in South Australia under the new ABC SAFC Content Pipeline Fund. As the second production to come out of the fund, this fabulous, quintessentially Australian series will really showcase the diverse capability of our Adelaide Studios production facility and South Australia’s screen industry workforce.
Attributable to ABC Head of Scripted Rachel Okine
Ladies in Black is a celebration of beauty, ambition and friendships forged against a backdrop of high fashion in the 1960s. We anticipate audiences both here and abroad are going to love losing themselves in this glamorous world and are delighted to be bringing it to the screen in 2024.
