Binge banks on its new Colin From Accounts replacement, as it unveils 2027 line-up

A wild black family comedy starring Miranda Otto leads Binge’s slate of new local originals, as the streamer seeks to find a replacement for their hit Colin From Accounts.

Created, written and starring Rick Donald, and directed by the team behind Colin From Accounts – Trent O’Donnell and Madeleine Dyer – Tough Love is about a hopeless 39-year-old who still lives at home with his mum, but whose life is upended when his mum is diagnosed with cancer. She, meanwhile, is stricken by the fact her three adult children are unprepared for life without her.

“It’s a tragic comedy about family and chaos and how that can be incredibly funny, but also incredibly sad,” said the bushy-bearded Donald, who is now filming Tough Love in the leafy Sydney suburb of Roseville Chase, largely while wearing footy shorts, a singlet and a dirty apron. “It [came from] knowing a lot of older kids that failed to leave the nest and how common that is. And that can be for many different reasons, in our case it’s because my role, Shane, he’s just a manchild that’s lazy and just stunted – intelligence-wise and emotionally.

“But for some people, they don’t leave because it’s so incredibly hard to buy, and they have to stay with their parents, so there are a lot of reasons why people are staying home, and they’re failing to leave.”

The comedy was unveiled by the streamer on Thursday morning at its upfronts event, which revealed a starry 2027 line-up that also includes the return of its hit reality franchise The Real Housewives of Melbourne, starring returning housewife Gina Liano, and the Wentworth spin-off series Wentworth: Halfway Home, featuring new cast member Rachel Griffiths, as well as fan favourites Katrina Milosevic, Nicole da Silva and Kate Box. Also launching is the adaptation of Kaliane Bradley’s bestselling sci-fi romance The Ministry of Time.

“What we strive for – and Colin [From Accounts] is the North Star of that – is authenticity to an Australian audience,” said Daniel Monaghan, Foxtel’s executive director, entertainment content. “A show that does not shy away from being Australian in the way it’s written, in the way it’s performed, in the language they use, all of it. So that’s why we’ve chased down Tough Love, to fit in that comedy space.”

The streamer also revealed a strong line-up of international titles, including Amy Poehler’s Greek archeological comedy Dig, as it continues to rebuild its library after it lost its drawcard HBO Max titles last year.

Other new international titles include the witchy thriller Yaga, starring Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams; the Scottish crime thriller Meantime, starring James McAvoy; Daisy Haggard’s new thriller Maya, starring The Last of Us’s Bella Ramsey and a period drama about the Cadbury family. Oscar winner Glenn Close, meanwhile, will star as a killer in Up to No Good, while Lucy Lui’s new crime drama Superfakes, about a luxury counterfeit dealer in Chinatown, is produced by hot indie studio A24.

Returning international shows include a three-part Christmas special of The Other Bennet Sister, season two of the Jennifer Garner drama The Five-Star Weekend, as well as season two of The Day of the Jackal, starring Eddie Redmayne, and the second season of the dark comic thriller Sweetpea, starring Ella Purnell.

“One of the things that people will see, with both our aquisition slate and our commissioning, is that we’re very star-led,” said Monaghan, who pointed to the success of season one of Five-Star Weekend and the Sarah Snook thriller All Her Fault as prime examples of their strategy.

Monaghan said the streamer had also recovered from the loss of high-profile HBO Max titles, such as The White Lotus, The Last of Us and Game of Thrones, to which they lost access when the US streamer set up shop locally in March last year.

“It’s in the rearview mirror, it’s its own service now,” said Monaghan of HBO Max, adding that Binge had “grown all year”, in large part due to its content deal with US network NBC.

“It’s on an upwards trajectory,” he said. “And that is because of All Her Fault. We also have Outlander from Sony, which did phenomenally well. We had a real big surprise with The Other Bennet Sister, which will end the year as one of our top two or three shows, which is wild.

“We are building, those shows are doing HBO-level numbers. The biggest day for Colin [episode five from season three, “Druggy Druggy Sex Party”] that was our biggest [audience] day since one of the HBO shows, I’m going to say season two of The White Lotus … I think we’ll end the year in a far better position than people probably anticipated when HBO went away.”

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Louise Rugendyke is the National TV editor and a senior culture writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement