Winter Watchlist Warmers - The Clearing - Miniseries

The Clearing is an eight-part thriller, the first Australian series produced for Disney+.

Inspired by the dark story of a real-life cult Australian New Age group The Family. Based on the book In the Clearing by J. P. Pomare

The series premiered late May, concluding last week.

Starring an all star Australian cast. Miranda Otto, Teresa Palmer, Guy Pearce, Kate Mulvany, Xavier Samuel, Mark Coles Smith, Claudia Karvan and Gary Sweet.

While also having appearances by Doris Younane and Matt Okine. Miranda Otto did completely shine in this role as Adrienne, who is based on the charismatic leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne. 

Sadly this aired weekly alongside the brilliant 5 Star Deadloch. Otherwise this would be purely outstanding Australian entertainment. Gosh I hope Disney+ continues to create more Australian content.

However The Clearing, the miniseries was exceptional Australian television. It's worrying times for local content makers like the ABC having some serious competition now from the likes of Disney+ and Prime giving us top notch Aussie content. As much as I didn't like his political party, he is right. Trent Zimmerman from North Sydney wrote a good piece last week that the Liberal Party and the ABC need to gain a younger audience.

Shows like The Clearing and Deadloch are premium dramas, young viewers will flock to. Sadly yet another Marta Dusseldorp drama is not going to make young viewers sign up for a free iView account.

I am quick to judge this new ABC drama. However a mystery in Tasmania. Kinda, been there done that recently. Also The Messenger just looked awful. I can't bring myself to watch that one. A bit like Savage River last year.

Thats said this isn't about Australian dramas, more about The Clearing. This is now an excellent binge living on Disney+. Eight episodes, beautifully shot in Victoria with a haunting look into a kooky ass cult. We thought we saw it all with Hillsong recently, right?