Prime Video, Goalpost Pictures, ZDF Studios, Screen Australia, Screen Territory and the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) have announced that production will start next month on new series Top End Bub.

A TV spin-off of hit 2019 Australian film Top End Wedding, the eight-part romantic comedy will film in Darwin (also known as the Top End) and in Adelaide, including at the SAFC’s Adelaide Studios production facilities, marking the first Prime Video scripted series to be made in South Australia.

Post-production will also be done in South Australia by KOJO Studios, supported by the SA Post-Production, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) Rebate, which offers a 10% rebate on PDV work undertaken in the state.

Starring Miranda Tapsell (The Dry, The Sapphires) and Gwilym Lee (Bohemian Rhapsody, The Great), Top End Bub is created, written and executive produced by Tapsell and South Australian creative Joshua Tyler, who also created and wrote Top End Wedding, which was the highest grossing Australian film of 2019. The series is produced by Goalpost Pictures, with Rosemary Blight serving as Executive Producer alongside Tyler and Tapsell, and will be directed by Christiaan Van Vuuren and Shari Sebbens.

Top End Bub picks up with Lauren, a dynamic Indigenous lawyer ticking off life goals in Adelaide. She’s married to Ned, a handsome husband who makes fresh croissants – what else could a person need? 

After Lauren’s eight-year-old niece becomes an orphan, the show follows the couple reluctantly abandoning their big city goals and moving to the Top End to raise the child. While Lauren and Ned juggle the responsibility of becoming unexpected parents and try to keep their marriage together, Lauren must come to terms with her responsibilities within her culture as she transforms from an individualist to a linchpin of her family.

Top End Bub is the latest in a series of major screen productions made across South Australia and the Northern Territory with the collaborative support of both the SAFC and Screen Territory, with recent titles including Netflix’s Desert King and Stan Original series Thou Shalt Not Steal.

Screen Territory Director Jennie Hughes said: “Over the past 18 months the Northern Territory has seen a significant increase in high-end global productions filming in the Territory which is largely due to the recent introduction of the Production Attraction Incentive Program (PAIP). Top End Bub is the latest production to film in the NT with support from Screen Territory which marks Screen Territory’s and Tourism NT’s second collaboration with Prime Video and our first with ZDF Studios.”

“We have a remarkable depth of screen creatives in the NT and we are thrilled to see the return of talented Territorian Miranda Tapsell who is choosing once again to film in her home town of Darwin. It’s great to be working again with screen agencies Screen Australia and the South Australian Film Corporation. The collaboration and co-financing of productions with the SAFC in particular has been very productive with Top End Bub being our third co-investment with the agency. This collaboration works very well and benefits productions that suit filming and post-producing across both jurisdictions providing the opportunity to access potential funding incentives from both Screen Territory and the SAFC.”

Jennie Hughes, Screen Territory Director

SAFC CEO Kate Croser said: “We are thrilled to welcome Miranda Tapsell, producer Rosemary Blight and Goalpost back to Adelaide to once again team with SA writer and producer Joshua Tyler on the television spin-off of their SAFC supported smash hit film Top End Wedding. 

“We are also delighted to welcome Prime Video to South Australia with their first scripted series to be produced in the state, and which marks the latest exciting project to come from the valuable screen production alliance between South Australia and the Northern Territory.”

Kate Croser, SAFC CEO

Co-creator, co-writer and star Miranda Tapsell said: “Words can’t describe how excited I am to bring Lauren, Ned and the Top End back to your screens! We all love a happy ending but what happens after happily ever after? We can’t wait for you to find out!”

SA co-creator and co-writer Joshua Tyler said: “It has been fun to dive back into the world of Top End Wedding, a world that means so much to us and to our audience. A romantic setting full of funny characters who face heartbreaking challenges in heart-warming ways. I am thrilled to be collaborating with such an incredible team.”

Senior Development Executive at Amazon MGM Studios Sarah Christie said: “Prime Video are proud to be bringing back the beloved, hilarious and heart-warming characters of Top End Wedding with the television spin-off Top End Bub for Prime members in Australia and New Zealand. Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler have created a series that speaks straight to the heart, and celebrates the messiness and beauty of family, love, and community. We are thrilled to be working with them, along with producers Goalpost Pictures and directors Christian van Vuuren and Shari Sebbens, in capturing the stunning and uniquely Australian world of the Top End.”