Australia’s ABC acquires local Prime Video comedy drama Top End Bub

Top End Bub is produced by Sydney-based Goalpost Pictures

Australia’s ABC has acquired Amazon-owned Prime Video’s recently launched comedy series Top End Bub, produced by Sydney-based Goalpost Pictures, alongside forthcoming Kiwi and British comedies.

The eight-part series, filmed in the Northen Territory and developed as a television series follow up to the 2019 film Top End Wedding, was released on Prime Video in Australia and New Zealand in September.

The series was created, written and executive produced by Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler with Tapsell also starring. The series was directed by Christian Van Vuuren and Shari Sebbens and received funding support from Screen Territory, the SAFC, Screen Australia with international distribution handled by ZDF Studios.

ABC has also picked up Sky New Zealand original comedy series Small Town Scandal, ahead of its launch in New Zealand this week.

Adapted from lead Tom Sainsbury’s true-crime parody podcast delving into the eccentricities of rural life and obsessions with true crime, the series was developed with the support of NZ On Air and the New Zealand Government’s Screen Production Rebate.

The series is distributed by BBC Studios and will premiere in Australia later on in 2026.

As part of its new international comedy acquisitions the ABC has also picked up BBC satire Twenty Twenty Six, starring Hugh Bonneville, produced by Expectation, created by John Morton and is also distributed by BBC Studios.

A thematic successor to W1A and Twenty Twelve, it follows Bonneville’s character Ian Fletcher, a former fictional head of values at the BBC, as he navigates the challenges of organising this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico.

The ABC also announced that vintage comedy series Kath & Kim, which premiered on the ABC in 2002, was back on the network after the rights had been held by Netflix in recent year.

Additionally, it has picked up the CBS series Young Sheldon, which had previously aired in Australia on the Nine Network.