This article is updated regularly with the most recent, well-reviewed Australian drama series at the top. Last updated 26 September 2024.
Here’s our selection of the best Australian drama series of 2024 according to ScreenHub critics, and where you can stream them. Enjoy and stay tuned for more as the year progresses.
Best Australian series 2024
Return to Paradise, ABC – cosy crime cracker
Premiered 8 September 2024.
UK murder mystery series Death in Paradise puts the time-worn genre in sunny holiday locations. It’s been a huge success over the last decade and the six-part Australian version sees DI Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) coming home to small-town Dolphin Cove in Australia – just as the body of a local real estate magnate is dragged onshore during a surf carnival.
In his four star review for ScreenHub, Anthony Morris wrote: ‘Sun, sand, and someone with a kitchen knife in their back: who could ask for anything more?’
Morris said: ‘Return to Paradise provides many of the familiar pleasures of the Paradise franchise. Dolphin Cove is extremely scenic, and the cast of police characters strike the right mix of competency without being hard-boiled or unlikable. But the original series is a murder mystery first, a lightweight drama a distant second: aside from the occasional opening scene, usually the only time we get any focus on the detective’s personal life is when they’re about to move on. Based on the first episode at least, Clarke has a lot more going on in her life than just solving crime.’
Read the full review or watch Return to Paradise on ABC iview.
Last King of the Cross, Season 2, Paramount+
Premiered 30 August 2024.
Very loosely based on a true story, the first season of crime drama Last King of the Cross ended with nightclub boss John Ibrahim (Lincoln Younes) getting out of the business. In Season 2, he’s back to rebuild and reclaim his territory.
In a four-star review of King of the Cross Season 2, Anthony Morris praised the commitment to detail of the sets, along with the compelling performances of both Younes and Claude Jabbour, who plays Ibrahim’s brother, Sam.
‘It’s Jabbour who stands out as a brutal thug who still wants to do right by his mates, a man who feels like life has backed him into a corner,’ wrote Morris. ‘For him violence is the only way out, and the brief glimpses of humanity he lets through go a long way even as he’s recruiting a gang of hoodlums and goons.’
Morris wrote that, ‘Often this kind of crime series can be so in love with its badass criminals that it forgets to have them actually be criminals. With Sam, that’s no problem: he’s always threatening, even when he’s trying to play nice for the parole board.’
Read the full review or watch Last King of the Cross Season 2 on Paramount+
Critical Incident, Stan – Sydney crime drama leads the pack
Premiered 12 August 2024.
Propulsive storytelling, top performances and authentically lived-in settings lift this smart and gripping six-part series set in the grimier parts of Sydney. ScreenHub critic Anthony Morris gave it four and a half stars, and said: ‘Australia’s had a good run of smart and gripping crime dramas of late. Critical Incident is at the head of the pack.’
Morris wrote: ‘Creator and writer Sarah Bassiuoni (House of Gods, Ladies in Black) was a juvenile justice lawyer, and there’s a refreshing scepticism towards some aspects of the police here. It may be a tough job dealing with a community that lacks respect, but the police are also the front-facing aspect of a system that often couldn’t care less about the troubled and at-risk teens they’re dealing with.’
Read the full review or watch Critical Incident on Stan.
The Twelve, Season 2, Binge – silky smooth
Premiered 11 July 2024.
Sam Neill returns in the second season of soapy legal drama The Twelve, though the series has relocated from Sydney to a small country town in WA (it was filmed in York). This series focuses on Bernice Price (Kris McQuade) who was found dead on her property, with her daughter Sasha and farmhand Patrick on trial and the tight-knit community trying to find out if they are guilty of her murder.
In his four star review, ScreenHub critic Stephen Russell praised the show’s soapy pleasures: ‘With Sarah Walker and Anchuli Felicia King back in the writing room, joined by Anna Barnes and Anya Beyersdorf, there’s plenty of punch in this fired-up return. Director Stevie-Cruz Martin (Safe Home) ably corrals a vast cast with many moving parts in a swift-cutting start that augurs well for the rest of the show… Even if the formula feels a little stretched already, there’s no faulting the players and I’m already hooked, your honour.’
Read the full review or watch The Twelve Season 2 on Binge.
Troppo Season 2, ABC iview & Prime: crime-time viewing
Premiered on ABC iview on 5 July and Prime Video on 25 July 2024.
Damaged private investigators American ex-pat Ted Conkaffey (Thomas Jane) and Amanda Pharrell (Nicole Chamoun) make their suspenseful return in Season 2 of the eight-part Australian drama set in Far North Queensland and created by Yolande Ramke (Cargo).
In his four star review for ScreenHub, Anthony Morris praised the satisfying interplay of the lead characters along with the pacing. He wrote: ‘Small-town murder is a thriving genre on Australian television. Unlike a lot of recent examples, Troppo is a mystery rather than a character drama; twists abound, red herrings are common, and the story ends up a long way from where it started.’
Read the full review or watch both seasons of Troppo on ABC iview or Prime.
Fake, Paramount+ has lies and love
Premiered 4 July on Paramount+.
Asher Keddie and David Wenham star in this love scam thriller inspired by Stephanie Wood’s memoir. A tale of lies, love and unsettling dynamics, the eight-part Australian drama series follows Birdie (Keddie) a woman looking for love. When she meets suave farmer Burt (Wenham), he reveals himself to be too good to be true.
In his four and a half star review for ScreenHub, Anthony Morris wrote: ‘Here Wenham is more like a parody of charm, a man selling an act he’s too arrogant to fully maintain or convincingly sell. You can see why someone would fall for it at first; why someone would keep coming back is a much bigger mystery.
‘Which is what makes Fake more interesting than your typical “I fell in love with a liar” drama. Birdie is clearly smart enough to see the signs, and while Burt is smooth (he doesn’t come home with her after an early date where she clearly wants him to) he’s also going on about his “crazy ex” who neglects their children, forcing him to step up and vanish on Birdie at inopportune times. And for a farmer, he has awfully smooth hands; does he wear gloves, or is the lanolin in wool that keeps them so callous-free?’
Read the full review or watch Fake on Paramount+.
Exposure, Stan – powerful arthouse TV
Premiered on 20 June.
Exposure is a six-part Australian mystery thriller that follows photographer Jacs Gould (Alice Englert) who, following the death of her best friend, returns to her hometown to discover the hidden secrets of their relationship and the truth behind her tragedy.
In her four star review for ScreenHub, Mel Campbell said: ‘This feels like arthouse TV – uncompromisingly marshalling the medium’s vocabulary to express ambivalent ideas and sensations, rather than to engross the viewer in escapist storytelling and moral pageantry. It’s beautifully made on every level – writing, mise-en-scène, performances, pacing and editing. So it’s fitting that Exposure had its recent premiere at the Sydney Film Festival. it was an uncompromising TV series that fully marshalls the medium’s vocabulary.’
Read the full review or watch Exposure on Stan.
Ladies in Black, ABC iview – stunning sartorial tension
Premiered 16 June 2024.
Following on from the 2018 film of the same name and drawing inspiration from the much-loved 1993 novel, the six-part Ladies in Black series is directed by Gracie Otto and stars Debi Mazar, Miranda Otto, Jessica De Gouw. The series sees the beloved women from Goodes Department Store fling open their shop doors to the fabulous 1960s.
In her four star review for ScreenHub, Mel Campbell praised the show’s style, design and art direction, and also its ability to keep a light and entertaining tone while addressing serious matters and realities of the period.
‘…Ladies in Black is no grimy noir. It doesn’t ignore structural inequalities such as racism, sexism and classism, but nor does it truly entrap its characters within them. Appropriately for its sartorial theme, this is a story about code-switching: to pursue their dreams, almost everyone here must know how, and to whom, to perform a different self.’
Read the full review or watch Ladies in Black on ABC iview.
Colin From Accounts Season 2, Binge – there’s more to the story
Premiered 30 May 2024.
The second series of the hit romantic comedy about flawed, funny people choosing each other and embracing the all-too-relatable chaos of modern life, created by and starring Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer.
In his four star review of the second series, Anthony Morris praised the credibly annoying urban Australian characters, and the genuine tension between the leads, with the very real question of whether they’ll stay together.
Morris writes: ‘There are plenty of dramedies where we’re expected to find the leads lovable despite all the evidence to the contrary. To this show’s credit, it’s clear that Ash and Gordon really are the kind of people who often do rub others the wrong way. Ash’s hospital job usually involves annoying her supervisor; Gordon’s not quite a doormat at the brewery he co-owns, but he does seem to be the kind of guy that lets other people step on him so he can complain about it.’
Read the full review or watch both seasons of Colin from Accounts on Binge.
White Fever, ABC iview – more than ‘maybe I need to bang Asian dudes’
Premiered 10 April
This 6×30 minute drama series with a comedic slant follows Jane Thomas, an Asian Australian woman who knows what she wants: hairy white men. When her friends call her out for having a white man fetish, she sets out to reprogram her libido, reigniting a connection with her childhood friend Yu.
Writing for ScreenHub, Anthony Morris gave White Fever four stars. He says: ‘It all makes for entertaining, engaging viewing. Jane is a likeable protagonist on a journey that’s a lot more complex and thoughtful than the initial ‘maybe I need to bang Asian dudes’ premise. It’s a story told with warmth and insight, featuring a range of characters that are treated with depth and empathy.’
‘Questions about race, identity and belonging are front and centre here: once past the initial concept, this is a series that’s fully invested in treating Jane’s search seriously. Which isn’t surprising, as in some ways it mirrors [creator and lead actor] Ra Chapman’s own personal journey exploring her identity as a Korean adopted by white parents.’
Read the full review or watch White Fever on ABC iview.
High Country, Binge – dark and potent crime drama
Premiered 19 March 2024.
This eight-part Victorian-shot mystery thriller series stars Leah Purcell as Andie Whitford, a city detective hoping for safety and a change of pace when she takes on a job in Broken Ridge in Victoria’s high country. Instead, she’s thrust into a baffling mystery of five missing persons who have vanished into the wilderness. Through an edge-of-your-seat investigation, Andie uncovers a complex web involving murder, deceit and revenge. Also starring internationally acclaimed actor Ian McElhinney and celebrated actors Sara Wiseman and Aaron Pedersen.
Writing for ScreenHub, Anthony Morris says: ‘What makes this series really stand out from the increasingly crowded rural murder pack is the sense of place. Broken Ridge quickly feels authentically shady, with a plausible mix of upright locals and stuck-in-their-ways cops keeping the lid on a rotten underbelly. Around that there’s the high country itself; Andie’s newcomer status provides more than one opportunity for her to just stand in front of a majestic view and just take it all in.
Read the full review, or watch on Binge.
Population 11, Stan – a comedy-mystery winner
Premiered on 14 March 2024.
Stan’s new 12-part, WA-shot series is beautifully paced and extremely bingeable.
In her ScreenHub review, Mel Campbell wrote: ‘… rather than lampooning rural Australians as ocker caricatures, Population: 11 seems primarily interested in roasting the Yanks. Indeed, it leans in to stereotypes about outback serial killers and deadly fauna – Andy survives a kangaroo, a dingo, a venomous snake and a saltwater crocodile in just the first few episodes …
‘Rather than pulling against each other, the comedy and the mystery push the show forward… It helps that the show is beautifully paced and very bingeable. Each episode is only half an hour long and always ends on a key revelation; the next episode picks straight up afterwards. Luckily, Stan is releasing all episodes at once – this is definitely a show you could tear through over a weekend.’
Read the full review or watch Population 11 on Stan.
Triple Oh!, SBS On Demand – short and sweet and wryly funny
Premiered on 8 February 2024.
Episodes in this new Australian comedy show about ambulance paramedics are short and punchy – and when the jokes appear they’re worth the wait.
Our critic, Anthony Morris, wrote: ‘It’s smartly written (by Erica Harrison) and engagingly directed (by Poppy Stockwell), but perhaps its most obvious strength is that there’s a lot packed into each episode.
‘There’s the ongoing – sometimes charming, sometimes awkward – relationship between Tayls (Brooke Satchwell) and Cate (Tahlee Fereday), plus the medical emergency that sometimes turns out to be a real emergency, plus some deftly sketched supporting characters (the angsty firefighters were a personal favourite). Not bad for seven-to-eight minutes.’
Read the full review or watch Triple Oh! on SBS On Demand.
Prosper, Stan – a brew of blackmail and betrayal
Premiered on 18 January 2024.
The family behind an Australian evangelical megachurch has its faith put to the test in this fast-paced thriller.
In his ScreenHub review, Anthony Morris wrote: ‘The big hook with Stan’s new eight-part series Prosper isn’t that it’s a look at a dynasty that might be crumbling before the next generation can even take the reins. It’s that the dynasty bears more than a passing resemblance to Australia’s own controversial Hillsong church, the religious powerhouse that’s had troubles of its own in recent years …
‘Roxburgh is always completely convincing as a charming salesman who’s bought his own product. His public persona is of a man completely convinced he’s doing good, and that conviction convinces those around him. Which is why the rest of the Quinn family are increasingly nervous when he starts to show signs of doubt (or worse, believing a little too much) …’
Read the full review or watch on Stan.
Total Control, Season 3, ABC iview – dynamite
Premiered on 14 January 2024.
Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths excel in the political thriller’s final run.
As ScreenHub’s Stephen Russell wrote: ‘… in the third and final season of the ABC’s engrossing political drama Total Control, ferociously honest politician Alex Irving has learned a thing or two about popping the games played within the Canberra bubble.
‘Personal sacrifices have to be made to get things done. They cut deep, especially within the fatally compromised two-party system that favours nothing but entrenched power and the self-centred interests of the big money it backs up. And yet Alex must, because she refuses to lose sight of the bigger picture, fighting for First Nations peoples’ rights, above all, and the good of her constituents/ all Australians.’
Read the full review or watch all three seasons of Total Control on ABC iview.
The Tourist, Season 2, Stan – a riveting return
Premiered on 1 January 2024.
Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald head to Ireland in search of answers, cranking up the tension and chills.
As Stephen Russell wrote for ScreenHub: ‘So is The Tourist worth another spin? While it’s not quite as sharply plotted as the original outing, it still adeptly balances its cranking muscular tonal shifts between exasperated wryness to actual violent chills and back.
‘Macdonald and Dornan are spot on again and though they might not share much screentime in the opening eps, directed by Fergus O’Brien, they still spark, both together and apart.’
Read the full review or watch both seasons of The Tourist on Stan.
