The Commons (TV series)

The Commons is an Australian television drama series on Stan about climate change and biotechnology set in the future. The eight-part, character-driven thriller looks at ethical boundaries and the place of humanity in saving the planet.^[3]

The Commons
Genre	Drama Dystopia
Created by	Shelley Birse
Written by	Shelley Birse[1] Matt Ford[1] Michael Miller[1] Matt Cameron[1]
Directed by	Jeffrey Walker[1] Rowan Woods[1] Jennifer Leacey[1]
Composer	Roger Mason[1]
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Shelley Birse[2] Graham Yost[2] Fred Golan[2] Michael Dinner[2] David Maher[1] David Taylor[1]
Producer	Diane Haddon[1]
Cinematography	Earle Dresner[1]
Running time	50mins[1]
Production company	Playmaker Media[1]
Original release
Network	Stan
Release	December 25, 2019 (2019-12-25)

Premise

Eadie, a radical and gifted neuropsychologist, is desperate for a child. In that quest, she faces intellectual property theft, disaster capitalism and eugenics.

Cast

• Joanne Froggatt as Eadie Boulay
• David Lyons as Lloyd
• Ryan Corr as Shay
• Rupert Penry-Jones
• Damon Herriman as Ben Childers
• John Waters as Herman
• Fayssal Bazzi as Abel
• Simone McAullay as Francesca Boulay
• Andrea Demetriades as Karina
• Felix Williamson as Carl Anderson
• Inez Currò
• Dominic Ona-Ariki
• Zara Michales
• Sara West as Zoe
• Anthony Brandon Wong as Harlow
• Carma Sharon as Nurse Mumford
• Finn Curran
• Alex Chard
• Susan Prior as Lena Gordon

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Episode 1"	Jeffrey Walker	Shelley Birse	December 25, 2019 (2019-12-25)
2	"Episode 2"	Jeffrey Walker	Shelley Birse	December 25, 2019 (2019-12-25)
3	"Episode 3"	Rowan Woods	Shelley Birse	December 25, 2019 (2019-12-25)
4	"Episode 4"	Rowan Woods	Matt Ford	December 25, 2019 (2019-12-25)
5	"Episode 5"	Jennifer Leacey	Michael Miller	December 25, 2019 (2019-12-25)
6	"Episode 6"	Jennifer Leacey	Matt Cameron	December 25, 2019 (2019-12-25)
7	"Episode 7"	Jeffrey Walker	Michael Miller	December 25, 2019 (2019-12-25)
8	"Episode 8"	Jeffrey Walker	Shelley Birse	December 25, 2019 (2019-12-25)

Production

The Commons was written by Shelley Birse with Matt Ford, Michael Miller and Matt Cameron. It is produced by Diane Haddon for Playmaker in association with Sony Pictures Television. Jeffrey Walker is the director with Rowan Woods and Jen Leacey.^[2][4]

The series aired on Sundance Now in the United States in 2020.^[5]

Awards

Birse won the 2020 John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction Writing at the AWGIE Awards for The Commons.^[6][7]