Nine ready for Rumble in Oz

Australia’s Nine Network has commissioned a spin-off from hit home renovation reality show The Block for its 2015 slate, along with a second run of an observational documentary set in an Australian Embassy and a factual series about the 1990s.

Renovation Rumble will feature two entire houses being transformed each week, produced by The Block’s creators Julian Cress and David Barbour.

Meanwhile the 10th series of The Block, The Block Triple Threat, will follow nine couples – a mixture of newcomers and returning contestants – taking on a renovation challenge each week. After four eliminations, one familiar Block couple will be pitted against the combined strength of three new couples.

The second run of The Embassy will again follow members of Australia’s consular team in Bangkok as they strive to keep Aussie tourists safe and out of strife.

Created by Fredbird Entertainment’s Craig Graham and Southern Pictures’ Laurie Critchley, the first series aired at 18.30 Sundays and drew an average audience of more than 867,000.

All3Media International is selling the show outside Australia, with the producers and Nine retaining format rights.

Graham told C21: “Our core story lines are universal and the content appeals to all territories. It’s a high-end observational documentary full of the human drama, tears, laughter and crisis that the Embassy sees every day.”

Graham said the producers are in early stage discussions with government agencies in the UK and the US with a view to producing versions on these territories.

Another new show for the network’s slate is The Amazing 90s, a factual series that will recap on developments in pop culture, sport and politics in Australia and internationally in the 1990s.

Produced in-house, The Amazing 90s will examine the decade’s highlights and lowlights in TV, movies, music, sport and politics including the death of Princess Diana, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania and the Thredbo alpine disaster.

Among the fresh US acquisitions are CBS’ suspense-thriller Stalker, ABC’s medical drama Forever and NBC’s Mysteries of Laura.

The 2015 line-up also includes four previously announced Australian dramas: Endemol Australia’s Gallipoli; Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder’s House of Hancock; season 2 of Playmaker Media’s Love Child; and the fourth series of Playmaker’s House Husbands.

Among the new reality offerings are a local, in-house version of Danish format Married at First Sight (originally announced as a 2014 show) and a new season of Shine Australia’s The Voice.