The Set Up to adapt Lisa Wilkinson’s Titanic Story of Evelyn

The Set Up, the recently television venture from Bruna Papandrea’s Sydney-based Made Up Stories and Alison Hurbert-Burns, is developing a series adaptation of Lisa Wilkinson’s bestselling historical non-fiction book The Titanic Story of Evelyn.

L-R: Steve Hutensky, Alison Hurbert-Burns and Bruna Papandrea

Published in April 2026, the book tells the true story of Evelyn Marsden, the only Australian-born survivor of the Titanic, and her relationship with ship’s doctor William Abel James.

The story spans Marsden’s life from rural South Australia and her work as a stewardess on ocean liners through the Titanic disaster, the First World War and Great Depression, before she and James settle in Sydney.

Papandrea, Hurbert-Burns and Steve Hutensky will produce for The Set Up alongside Wilkinson, Nick Fordham and agent-producer Lee-Anne Higgins.

The announcement comes around six weeks after Made Up Stories and former Foxtel content chief Hurbert-Burns officially launched The Set Up.

Papandrea and Steve Hutensky are co-founders of the new label, with Hurbert-Burns serving as CEO. In August, The Set Up said it would source projects from third-party Australian producers and creatives, with a “ready-to-go” pipeline for production beginning in 2027.

During her time at Foxtel, Hurbert-Burns commissioned series including The Twelve and Colin From Accounts, while Made Up Stories is behind shows such as Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.

Papandrea, Hutensky and Hurbert-Burns said the project shows “the Titanic as we’ve never seen it, told through Evelyn’s eyes and those of the many extraordinary women on that ship, with a beautiful love story at its heart.”