One of the big strengths of the current streaming ecosystem is that it can put the best streaming services in position to spotlight shows and movies from countries that don't necessarily have the same clout as Hollywood. Whether that's the wave of hugely successful Korean shows on Netflix, or in this case, an Australian drama series that Apple TV just trailed.
Last Seen looks like a potentially fairly harrowing mystery story, centring around the disappearance of a young girl and the obsession that her father develops with finding her. It has a neat set of twists, from the look of the trailer, but we're also left with plenty still to learn.
Patrick Brammall stars as Ian Ridley, a father whose daughter Mags disappeared some years ago. Since then he's tried and failed to move on, including by taking a job as an emergency dispatcher to help people in bad situations. One night, though, he gets a call from a distressed young woman who seems confused as to whether her name is Sarah or Mags.
When he hears that second option, Ian becomes frantic, and is almost immediately convinced that his daughter is still alive, having been kidnapped and possibly brainwashed into believing she's part of someone else's family. He's clutching for proof, though, and it looks like he'll butt up against plenty of scepticism from the police who first investigated her disappearance.
In fact, it looks like possibly the most compelling part of Last Seen will be how it deals with the tension between parental concern and dangerous obsession – is Ian a righteous investigator who's right to doubt the authorities? Or is he a vigilante clutching at straws and harassing strangers with crackpot theories.
Obviously, there's probably going to be something to his ideas, but we'll have to wait for the actual show to find out more. It's premiering on 9 September, and we'll be really interested to see how it performs, and whether it could kick off an Aussie obsession for streaming fans.
