ABC drama visits Sydney underworld

Australian pubcaster the ABC has commissioned a drama centred around a colourful figure who inhabited Sydney’s underworld in the 1980s.

Rebel Wilson

Roadshow Rough Diamond will produce Les Norton (10×60’), which will star Rebel Wilson, David Wenham and Alexander Bertrand as the title character.

Based on the novels by Robert G Barrett, the drama will follow the exploits of Norton, who lands a job as a bouncer at a notorious illegal casino in Kings Cross. Although he is desperate to return home to outback Queensland, he is soon seduced by the city’s illicit charms and dragged into a web of criminality.

Wenham (Romper Stomper, Top of the Lake) will play the casino boss with Wilson (Isn’t It Romantic, Pitch Perfect) as a brothel madam.

It will be the third production from Roadshow Rough Diamond’s John Edwards and Dan Edwards following Romper Stomper (commissioned by Oz streamer Stan) and Australian Gangster, which features Bertrand and will premiere on the Seven Network in 2019.

Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker, Seven’s Wanted), Fadia Abboud (Australian Gangster), David Caesar (Dead Lucky, Underbelly) and Morgan O’Neill (Drift, Solo) will direct. Shooting is due to start in March.

The scripts are by O’Neill, Christopher Lee (Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo), Samantha Winston (Wentworth), Shanti Gudgeon (Wolf Creek), Malcolm Knox (Romper Stomper) and Jessica Tuckwell.

John Edwards said: “Les and his reprobate mates are caught up in a Sydney that was at its most debauched in the 80s, and the show is blackly hilarious as a consequence.”

Screen Australia and state agency Create NSW are supporting the production, with Sonar Entertainment handling international distribution.

Sally Caplan, head of content at Screen Australia, said: “What excites me about this TV adaptation is that the creative team have included a slew of new female roles to go head-on with the male characters established in the books.”