Glancing at iPlayer these days, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve wandered on to the wrong streaming service. The BBC site is teeming with Australian drama and comedy. Log on right now and you’ll be greeted with shows as diverse as 80s-set newsroom drama The Newsreader, glowering cold-case saga Black Snow, mystery box thriller High Country, teen haunted fun fair comedy Crazy Fun Park and plenty of shows that we don’t have the space to get into here. Oh, and there’s also the small matter of the glorious Colin From Accounts, the global smash-hit comedy whose second series arrives on iPlayer next week.
If this deluge of Aussie content is striking, its presence on UK screens isn’t exactly surprising – or new. For much of UK TV history, Australia has been serving up all manner of series – from soaps and reality TV, to murky crime drama – and we’ve been scarfing them down. It’s a reflection not only of Britain’s escapist longing for sun-dappled vistas and bronzed bodies, but also of Australia’s skill for selling itself to the world.
