Oz network orders Allen biopic

Australia’s Seven Network has commissioned a two-part biopic about the late Aussie entertainer Peter Allen.

Shine Australia will produce Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door, which chronicles the life of the flamboyant singer/composer who died from AIDS complications in 1992, aged 48.

Allen wrote or co-wrote hits such as I Honestly Love You, Don’t Cry Out Loud and I Go to Rio, and won an Oscar for Arthur’s Theme.

The miniseries will be produced by Shine’s Rory Callaghan and Kerrie Mainwaring and directed by Shawn Seet.

It will be Shine’s third major Australian drama. Shine produced INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, which was acquired by US cablenet Showtime, and Catching Milat, a two-part telemovie that recounts the investigation that led to the arrest of serial killer Ivan Milat, both for Seven.

The show will trace Allen’s teenage years in the New South Wales country town of Tenterfield, his discovery by Judy Garland, his marriage to Garland’s daughter Liza Minnelli, and his relationship with his partner Gregory Connell.

Allen’s story was chronicled in Peter Allen: The Boy from Oz, a 2006 documentary that featured archival footage and interviews with friends, family and colleagues such as Bernadette Peters, Bette Midler and Carole Bayer Sager.

The film inspired the stage musical The Boy from Oz, which played on Broadway and earned Hugh Jackman a Tony.