At the Foxtel 2026 upfronts event, streaming service BINGE revealed its 2026 content lineup, showcasing a broad mix of Australian originals and international titles spanning drama, comedy, reality, and true crime.
The upcoming slate, presented today, includes new local commissions such as Run, The Postcard Bandit, and Tough Love, alongside returning hits like Colin From Accounts and High Country.
Director of Scripted Originals at The Foxtel Group Lana Greenhalgh spoke to Mediaweek about the line-up, expressing enthusiasm around the slate, but particularly Run, which is a scripted drama inspired by the story of bank robber Brenden Abbott:”The drama series is based on the five years that he was on the run and really sets up this amazing premise of cat and mouse as he’s on the run from the cops and the relationships that are there to both torment him and support him through that process. It’s starring George Mason, with this amazing cast around him.
“I’m very, very, very excited about this show because it’s unlike anything we’ve really commissioned before. I’m really hoping it attracts a whole new demographic to the platform. I’m very excited for Run.”
New Warner Bros Television series Tough Love is another show that has Greenhalgh speaking animatedly. It’s a comedy about a woman diagnosed with breast cancer who starts teaching her adult kids tough love (it’s right there in the title) because she’s concerned the dysfunctional siblings will not survive without her.
While the show isn’t rhythmically the same as hit BINGE show Colin From Accounts, Greenhalgh thinks it’ll pair nicely with the show.
“In terms of our commissioning strategy, both shows do fall into that comedy area and I’m really proud that there’s similarities between them, because given the success of Colin from Accounts, why would we not explore more comedies in that vein? But they could sit alongside each other on the slate and not sort of be too similar,” she said.
And speaking of Colin From Accounts, with the series leads and co-creators in-demand in Hollywood, what is the likelihood of ever seeing more of the show past this third season?
“Globally, it’s very rare to see shows go beyond two or three seasons. In saying that, Colin, I believe it will be three and done based on not only the characters’ trajectories across the three-season arc, but also Paddy and Harry wanting to spread their wings as well. And they should do that.
“They might bring us another hit immediately after, which would be amazing. But in saying that, if there’s an appetite after the end of season three, not only from audiences, but from Paddy and Harry as well, it would be remiss of us not to seriously consider that. And we’d always be open to that conversation.
“So the door’s never completely closed. And it is one of our most successful shows to date. And I’d be very proud if we continued it,” she said.
Howard Myers-Rifai is Head of Unscripted Originals and is very focused on documentary series The Postcard Bandit. It is also based on bank robber Brenden Abbott and is the first time Foxtel has commissioned a scripted series and unscripted documentary about the same subject.
“The scripted show kind of came first, but as we started to dig into the story, we realised there was so much more to tell and that it would make an amazing two-part documentary,” Myers-Rifai explained. “Because the scripted version follows just a small portion of Brenden Abbott’s life on the run, the Postcard Bandit is the full documentary of his life from young teenage years right through literally to the present day where we’re waiting to hear whether he’ll get his early release.”
Foxtel has also joined Channel 4 in the UK on reality format Apocalypse. Myers-Rifai said that he was attracted to the accessibility of the premise: “It’s a question we all ask ourselves. What would you do? The way I talk about it is, if something happened right now, where are you sitting? Your apartment block, the houses, the office building you’re in, the supermarket… the 10 people or more around you – they could be anybody. It could be the hairdresser who lives below me, the nurse who lives in the apartment next door, or the mechanic across the road.
Those are the people you’re going to end up with and have to survive. Are you going to get on with them? What skills are they going to bring? What skills do you have? And I think it’s a really fascinating question.”
Myers-Rifai is pretty certain he’d fare very well in the apocalypse.
“I actually am quite a renaissance man. Not only do I have a dream in film television drama, but I am a qualified carpenter. I’m a musician. I used to gig. I’ve been a magician,” he revealed.
Mediaweek understands that Myers-Rifai did not pull any rabbits out of his hat during the upfronts, but there’s always 2027.
New Australian commissions
Four original local series will premiere in 2026:
• Run, a crime drama based on Brenden Abbott’s life, stars George Mason, Robyn Malcolm, Keiynan Lonsdale, and Ashleigh Cummings
• The Postcard Bandit, a companion documentary series produced with WBITVP Australia, delves deeper into Abbott’s real-life exploits
• Apocalypse, a social experiment reality format developed with Channel 4 in the UK, challenges participants to survive a simulated end-of-the-world scenario
• Tough Love, a dark comedy about adult siblings dealing with loss, is another WBITVP Australia collaboration
Returning favourites
Several successful local titles will return:
• Colin From Accounts season three, with Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer back as creators and stars
• High Country season two, with Leah Purcell reprising her role as Sergeant Andie Whitford in the Curio Pictures series
• Billion Dollar Playground, from Ronde Media, also returns
• Selling Houses Australia enters its 18th season, with Andrew Winter, Wendy Moore, and Dennis Scott also featuring in spin-off Inside Selling Houses Australia: New Beginnings
• The Great Australian Bake Off returns for its ninth season with Rachel Khoo, Darren Purchese, Tom Walker, and Natalie Tran
International premieres
BINGE will also debut several high-profile global shows:
• DMV, a workplace comedy starring Harriet Dyer.
• All Her Fault, a thriller with Sarah Snook, Jake Lacy, and Dakota Fanning.
• Film Club, a romcom featuring Aimee Lou Wood and Suranne Jones.
• Amadeus, starring Will Sharpe and Paul Bettany, shines a light on the legacy of Wolfgang ‘Amadeus’ Mozart.
• The Five-Star Weekend with Jennifer Garner, Regina Hall, Gemma Chan, Chloë Sevigny, D’Arcy Carden, and Harlow Jane.
• The Death of Bunny Munro with Matt Smith based on the novel of the same name by Nick Cave
• The Lady, starring Natalie Dormer
• The Burbs, a new series adaptation of the 1989 Tom Hanks film of the same name with Keke Palmer
• Ponies featuring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson
• Dear England, starring Joseph Fiennes
• The Other Bennet Sister with Ella Bruccoleri
• The Copenhagen Test starring Simu Liu
Returning global hits
BINGE will also stream new seasons of:
• Marquee titles including Outlander (final season), Ted (season two), Taskmaster, Grand Designs UK, The Great British Bake Off, and Next Level Chef.
• Ongoing reality franchises like The Real Housewives (Orange County and Beverly Hills) and Below Deck Mediterranean.
• Other returning favourites include Sweetpea, Saturday Night Live, Chicago P.D., Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Amanda and Alan’s Greek Job, The Great British Sewing Bee, Animal Control, and I Love a Mama’s Boy.