BINGE Upfront: The streaming giant goes back to the future as local icons lead its 2027 play

The Real Housewives of Melbourne is coming back, with Gina Liano once again front and centre. Wentworth has been pulled from the television vault and rebuilt as Wentworth: Halfway Home, now with Rachel Griffiths joining returning favourites. Even Selling Houses Australia, one of Australian subscription television’s great survivors, is rolling into a 19th season. 

Sitting beside those known quantities is Tough Love, the new Australian comedy starring Miranda Otto and Rick Donald, while BINGE is also co-producing The Ministry of Time with the BBC and A24.

For Foxtel Group executive director, entertainment content, Daniel Monaghan, the broader picture is one of momentum.

“I think this year we've really built some good momentum, and we're growing every week, and we're in a real purple patch, both with our international shows and our locals,” he told Mediaweek.

“We're really putting good faces in front of our shows.”

The strategy isn't especially complicated. BINGE wants Australian shows people recognise, new shows with enough star power to cut through, and international titles to keep the pipeline moving.

More importantly, it wants those local shows to earn their keep.

“We may do four to six originals a year, and we want every one of them to resonate with the audience and grow the subscriber base, by the way, because they are Australian stories and Australian stories are not just there because anyone has to do them.

“We do them because people want them, and we do them because people want to come and subscribe for them.”

When local and international collide

BINGE already has a handy example of the model working.

Colin from Accounts has become one of the streamer’s standout Australian originals, and Monaghan said its latest run delivered one of BINGE’s biggest days of the year.

“The service always booms when the locals and internationals work together,” he said.

“We've had Colin from Accounts absolutely smashing it out of the park. It gave us one of our biggest days of the year when the episode dropped a couple of weeks ago.”

More local programming is coming before 2027 gets underway.

High Country returns on September 14, while Apocalypse, a new unscripted series narrated by Jonathan LaPaglia, is also on the way.

“High Country comes out on September 14th, and then it will also go international on BBC and Hulu,” Monaghan said.

“Apocalypse is a big unscripted show for us that's really dystopian and exciting. It's brilliant.”

The Housewives head back to Melbourne

Then there’s Gina.

The Real Housewives of Melbourne launched in 2014 and went on to become the most-watched reality series in Foxtel’s history. After years off air, season six will begin production in 2027.

For Monaghan, enough time had passed to make Melbourne feel fresh again.

“Well, it's been off air for a number of years now. The first series ended about 12 years ago. And look, we really value the Housewives franchise, and we've done a few iterations of Sydney in recent years.

“So bringing Melbourne back just felt like the right time.”

But bringing Melbourne back without Gina Liano would have been a rather different proposition.

“It's so important for us to get her, and she was thrilled to sign across the line and really excited to come back,” Monaghan said.

“She feels like it's the right moment.”

Liano is the first Housewife confirmed, with more new and returning cast members to be announced. ITV Studios Australia and Universal Television Alternative Studio UK Productions will produce the series.

Wentworth gets new blood

BINGE is taking a different approach with Wentworth

Wentworth: Halfway Home moves the story outside prison, following its former inmates as they attempt the considerably tricky business of staying out.

Katrina Milosevic returns as Boomer, Nicole da Silva as Franky Doyle and Kate Box as Lou Kelly. Rachel Griffiths has now joined the cast as Moira, a fraudster whose former life involved beauty therapy, high society, blackmail and loan sharking. Sophie Lowe will play Sam, a former stalker on parole.

Griffiths, Monaghan said, didn't require much persuading.

“It wasn't difficult to convince her. She wanted to do it. She loved it,” he said.

“She's one of the most successful actors we've produced. So it's amazing.”

The familiar Wentworth faces will be joined by a younger cast.

“We've got all our returning cast members, and then we've got a whole host of other women who are rounding out the younger end of the cast, which is fantastic.”

There’s good reason for BINGE to keep Wentworth alive. The original ran for eight seasons and travelled to more than 170 territories.

Halfway Home lets the streamer keep the name and characters audiences know, without simply sending everybody back behind bars.

Miranda Otto leads the new guard

Not everything comes with a back catalogue.

Production has started in Sydney on Tough Love, an eight-part comedy created and written by Rick Donald and starring Donald alongside Miranda Otto, Liz Kingsman, Hugo Johnston-Burt and Jay Ryan.

Otto plays Kerry Hart, a mother whose cancer diagnosis leaves her confronting an alarming thought: her three adult children may be completely incapable of managing without her.

There is, however, a little Colin from Accounts pedigree behind the camera.

Trent O'Donnell and Madeleine Dyer, who directed the BINGE hit, will direct Tough Love. Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia is producing it, with principal production funding from Foxtel and Screen Australia, in association with Screen NSW.

For Monaghan, the brief for BINGE’s local originals is straightforward.

“Binge's focus for Australian content is to complement that and really lean into stars and Australian stories, things that you can only tell and that we have really good partners.

“We work with really good writers, and our job is to entertain.”

Australian stories with passports

Local doesn't necessarily mean staying local.

High Country is heading to the BBC and Hulu, while The Ministry of Time brings BINGE together with the BBC and A24. The six-part series, based on Kaliane Bradley’s novel, has been adapted by Normal People writer Alice Birch and stars Aoife Hinds and Billy Howle.

BINGE says it is investing $130 million in Australian news, drama and entertainment.

At the same time, the international slate remains a big part of the proposition.

Canadian CBC series Yaga, starring Carrie-Anne Moss and Hudson Williams, arrives in October.

“Yaga, which is a Canadian CBC series with Moss and Williams, who you all know from Hated Rivalry,” Monaghan said.

“So it’s a really, really big show for us coming in October, which we will be shouting from the rooftops because of Hudson's involvement, obviously. It kind of takes it to the next level.”

In 2027, Eddie Redmayne returns for season two of The Day of the Jackal, while Jennifer Garner will be back for the second season of The Five Star Weekend.

The subscriber test

Behind the Housewives heels, returning inmates and marquee names is the less glamorous business of keeping people subscribed.

Monaghan said Foxtel Group chief executive Patrick Delany backs the entertainment strategy.

“Patrick is a really supportive CEO and has a real interest in entertainment,” he said. “He is heavily invested in good shows.”

But the more telling part of BINGE's strategy is its approach to Australian originals.

The streamer isn't talking about local production as something it simply has to make. Monaghan's measure is much more commercial: four to six originals a year, each expected to find an audience and help grow subscriptions.

NBCUniversal deal locks in BINGE content from 2028

BINGE has also secured a long-term extension of its partnership with NBCUniversal, with the new agreement taking effect from 2028. The deal will give BINGE and Foxtel subscribers exclusive Australian access to first-run scripted programming from Sky Studios, as well as Universal Studio Group-produced drama and comedy series for Peacock.

The agreement expands BINGE’s film and television library, including Pay-1 movie rights and franchises such as Fast & Furious, Despicable Me, Jurassic Park and How to Train Your Dragon. It will also deliver what the companies describe as the largest collection of seasons from the Law & Order franchise available in Australia, alongside titles including The Office, Downton Abbey and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

The partnership also covers NBCUniversal channels Universal TV and DreamWorks, plus the addition of Universal Crime. New seasons from reality franchises including Below Deck and The Real Housewives of Orange County are included, while Hayu will be integrated into Foxtel set-top boxes from 2028.

Foxtel Group Chief Executive Officer Patrick Delany described the extension as a “landmark moment for Australian entertainment lovers”, saying it confirmed DAZN’s commitment to BINGE and securing premium international content for Australian audiences.

NBCUniversal Managing Director, Asia Pacific, TV Distribution and International Networks & Direct-to-Consumer Chris Taylor said the agreement reflected the companies’ long-running relationship and would provide BINGE and Foxtel with “a foundation for continued growth long into the future”.