Foxtel has held an event overnight to launch Fox Showcase – a rebrand of its showcase drama channel . The new channel will be the home for FX Originals, HBO and Foxtel originals.
Fox Showcase will launch as a linear channel and a streaming package with over 100 complete series available on demand, giving viewers the option to stream as many dramas as they want, whenever they want, at no extra cost to the drama pack.
The new channel and streaming options come after Foxtel signed a new deal with Fox International, securing content that previously flowed to the TEN network.
As the new home of FX originals, Fox Showcase becomes Australia’s exclusive destination for FX’s original programming, including the currently airing American Horror Story, Mayans M.C., Pose and Snowfall, all new seasons of returning series such as American Crime Story, Better Things and Legion as well as upcoming FX Originals and FX’s extensive library content.
Upcoming FX Originals include the six-part Australian drama Mr Inbetween, premiering Monday October 1 at 8.30pm. Created by and starring Scott Ryan and directed by Nash Edgerton, the series is inspired by the critically acclaimed feature film The Magician, and delves into the very funny and very dark world of hitman Ray Shoesmith. The series also stars Brooke Satchwell.
On October 7 the FX original Trust will premiere. Inspired by actual events, the series delves into the trials and triumphs of one of America’s wealthiest and unhappiest families, the Gettys. Created by Simon Beaufoy and directed by Academy Award-winning Danny Boyle, Trust stars an impressive cast led by Donald Sutherland, Hilary Swank, Harris Dickinson, Michael Esper and Brendan Fraser.
Currently in production for FX is What We Do In The Shadows, a television adaptation of the cult New Zealand feature film by the same name. The half-hour comedy series is co-created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, and set to premiere in 2019. The series follows three vampires living in New York who have been roommates for hundreds of years and are struggling with the challenges of modern life.
Fox Showcase is also Australia’s home of HBO featuring must-see programming including Game of Thrones, Westworld, The Deuce, Divorce, Veep, Ballers and Big Little Lies along with an extensive catalogue including Sex & The City, The Sopranos, The Leftovers, Boardwalk Empire and The Wire, available to stream on demand.
In 2019, viewers will finally experience the epic ending of Game of Thrones. The series will screen and stream on Fox Showcase at the same time as the US, and all episodes of previous seasons are currently available to stream on demand.
Next year Fox Showcase will also premiere the third season of the Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning True Detective. Starring Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, the eight-part series follows the story of a detective investigating a macabre crime involving two missing children in the heart of the Ozarks, Arkansas.
HBO’s huge hit series Big Little Lies will return for a second season and will be seen Express from the US on Fox Showcase. Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman will again star and executive produce the Emmy Award-winning limited series, with three-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep joining the cast.
Fox Showcase is also the exclusive home to Foxtel’s own award-winning original dramas, which continue to break new ground and win local and international praise.
On October 28, Fighting Season, a six-part event drama about Australian soldiers returning from Afghanistan, will premiere at 8.30pm on Fox Showcase. Helmed by the award-winning director Kate Woods and starring Jay Ryan, Ewen Leslie and Kate Mulvany, the series is a compelling mystery regarding a possible cover-up, where the lines between killer and family man, between hero and victim, between truth and imagination, are constantly shifting.
In 2019, TV Week Logie Award and AACTA Award-winning Australian drama Wentworth will return to Fox Showcase for a seventh season, along with the highly anticipated second season of Secret City: Under the Eagle.
Currently in post-production, new event drama Lambs of God stars Emmy-winning Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Essie Davis (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries). The four-part series is an evocative drama about three nuns, each a generation apart, living in an isolated convent by the coast, when an unwelcome visitor enters their lives and changes their world forever.
Lambs of God also features Jessica Barden, Sam Reid, Damon Herriman, Sigrid Thornton, Kate Mulvany and John Bell.
Foxtel also announced the commission of new drama series The End that will commence filming in Queensland next week, a joint production with Sky UK and produced by See-Saw.
The End stars internationally acclaimed actresses Frances O’Connor (The Missing) and Harriet Walter (Patrick Melrose). The 10-part half-hour series is about three generations of women with separate but intersecting obsessions – trying to figure out how to die with dignity, live with none and make it count. The cast will also feature Noni Hazlehurst, Robyn Nevin, Luke Arnold, John Waters and Alex Dimitriades.
Production is also about to roll on Upright, a landmark new series starring musician, actor and writer Tim Minchin. Written by Minchin and The Chaser’s Chris Taylor, and produced by Lingo Pictures, Upright is the story of two misfits, thrown together by chance in the middle of the Australian desert, who forge the unlikeliest of bonds in their quest to get a precious piano from one side of the country to the other.
Patrick Delany, Foxtel CEO, said, “Foxtel sets the bar as the gold standard in home entertainment in Australia. Our recent launch of Fox Flicks brought an unrivalled movies experience to our subscribers with thousands of movies to stream on demand.
“Today, we’re raising that bar even higher by unveiling Fox Showcase, which promises a massive lineup of edgy, thought-provoking and inspiring drama from overseas power houses including FX and HBO, alongside our award-winning Foxtel original dramas to stream when you want, where you want and as often as you want.
“Fox Showcase provides extra value for subscribers included in the drama pack along with five premium drama channels. The showcase channel will be re-branded as Fox Showcase and will continue to be the linear home of drama premieres complementing the Fox Showcase on demand service.”
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Sadly the new Fox Showcase has already lost me – I was horrified last Monday to see the nasty intrusive new watermark featuring on programs now. I’ll be going elsewhere for my favourite Showcase programs.