The BBC has acquired the UK rights to Australian drama ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North‘, a sweeping new adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel, from Curio Pictures and Sony Pictures Television.
The series is a five-part saga charting the life of Dorrigo Evans, played by Jacob Elordi (Euphoria, Saltburn) as a young man, with Ciarán Hinds (Kin, Belfast) as the older Dorrigo, through his passionate love affair with Amy Mulvaney, played by Odessa Young (Manodrome, The Stand), his time held captive in a WW2 POW camp, and his later years spent as a revered surgeon and reluctant war hero.
“The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a complex, beautiful, and heart-wrenching series which sensitively interweaves several stages in the life of surgeon Dorrigo Evans, from the passion of first love, to the unflinching depiction of life as a prisoner of war in occupied Burma,” said Sue Deeks, Head of BBC Programme Acquisition. “We are so very pleased to bring this truly exceptional adaptation to BBC viewers”.
The story is told over multiple time periods, as we journey from Evans’ childhood to his experience as a prisoner-of-war on the Thailand-Burma Railway as a young man, and later in life, as a respected surgeon and Australian war hero. ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ is a love story to sustain audiences through the darkest of times, an intimate character study illustrating the strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity, and an investigation into a marriage and an unforgettable love affair
“The Narrow Road to the Deep North is an epic tale of the sustaining power of love under the harshest of circumstances,” said Curio Pictures’ Jo Porter and Rachel Gardner, who both serve as executive producers. “Curio is honoured to help bring to this spectacular story to life with creators Shaun Grant and Justin Kurzel, novelist Richard Flanagan and our brilliant cast and crew. We can’t wait for audiences to see it.”
The five-episode drama is produced by Curio Pictures and distributed globally by Sony Pictures Television. The series is directed by Justin Kurzel and adapted by writer Shaun Grant from Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name.
Porter, Gardner, Kurzel, Grant and Flanagan are also executive producers, with Alexandra Taussig producing. Principal production funding is provided by Screen Australia, with assistance from the NSW Government through Screen NSW’s Made in NSW and PDV Funds.
‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North‘ does not yet have a premiere date but will air in 2025 in the UK on BBC One and iPlayer. The drama will stream on Prime Video in the USA. If you want to keep track of this or any of the shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when the next season gets a UK premiere date.
