Seven returns to The Killing Field

Australia’s Seven Network has ordered a series spin-off of the telemovie The Killing Field, which stars Rebecca Gibney as the leader of a task force sent to a country town to investigate the case of a missing teenage girl, only to uncover a serial killer.

The network commissioned an unspecified number of episodes before the feature premiered on Sunday night when it won its 20.40 slot, drawing 1.16 million viewers in the five mainland capitals and 1.85 million nationally.

An in-house production, the telemovie was written by Sarah Smith and Michaeley O’Brien, directed by Samantha Lang and produced by Bill Hughes, with Gibney as coproducer. Seven’s head of drama Julie McGauran is the executive producer.

The telemovie co-starred Peter O’Brien as a fellow detective and former lover of Gibney’s character Detective Sergeant Eve Winter.

Seven’s director of network production Brad Lyons said: “Rebecca and the team on The Killing Field have delivered a wonderful programme. It made the decision to commission a series very straight forward. Rebecca will continue her role as Eve Winter and will also produce the series.”