Acclaimed Psychological Thriller Safe Harbour To Make U.S. Debut On Hulu

NBCUniversal Television and New Media  Distribution and Hulu Team to Bring  Australian Drama to the U.S. as a Hulu Original Series

Hulu has boarded the critically acclaimed Australian series Safe Harbour for its U.S. debut as a Hulu Original Series. In a deal with NBCUniversal Television and New Media  Distribution, the four-part event drama is the latest internationally-produced series to join Hulu’s growing slate of thought-provoking original series, and will make its debut on August 24^th.

Safe Harbour will stream on Hulu alongside a growing list of successful international co-productions including the Peabody Award-winning National Treasure, as well as its relevant, provocative original dramas like the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning The Handmaid’s Tale and Emmy-nominated The Looming Tower. Since co-producing and launching series such as Hard Sun and Harlots, consumption of high-caliber international dramas on Hulu has tripled over the past year alone.

Safe Harbour tells the story of five Australians on a yachting holiday from Darwin to Indonesia, whose idyllic vacation takes a disastrous turn when they come across a broken-down fishing boat, full of desperate asylum seekers. The Australians decide to help, towing the refugees, but when they wake the next morning the fishing boat is gone. Five years later they meet some of the refugees again and learn the truth. Someone cut the rope between the two boats and, as a result, seven people died when the fishing boat sank. The revelation drives a wedge of mistrust between the Australians, as they grapple with protecting themselves and doing the right thing. The refugees struggle with their desire for justice and, possibly, revenge. As each group struggles to find the truth and old secrets come to light, one question hangs over it all – who cut the rope?

As each hour-long episode unfolds, Safe Harbour reveals how a single action can have a ripple effect – building to tsunami proportions – and begging the question: “what would you do in this situation?” The story sparks conversation and challenges the viewer to think about the contemporary issues around immigration today.

Safe Harbour stars an ensemble featuring Phoebe Tonkin (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, H2O Just Add Water), AACTA and Logie award-winner Joel Jackson (Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door, Deadline Gallipoli), award-winning actor Ewen Leslie (Rake, Janet King, Top of the Lake: China Girl), Leeanna Walsman (Seven Types of Ambiguity, Cleverman, Looking for Alibrandi), Jacqueline McKenzie (The 4400, The Water Diviner), Logie award-winner Hazem Shammas (Underbelly), Nicole Chamoun (Kick) and Robert Rabiah (Tomorrow When the War Began).

Safe Harbour is produced by NBCUniversal International Studios’ Matchbox Pictures (The Family Law, Secret City, Seven Types of Ambiguity, Wanted, Barracuda) with major production funding from Screen Australia, in association with Screen Queensland. SBS served as the original Australian broadcaster for the series. Stephen Corvini (Hyde & Seek, Secret City 2), Debbie Lee (The Heights, Mustangs FC), Sue Masters (The Family Law, Deep Water) and Belinda Chayko (Barracuda, Secret City) are Executive Producers. Belinda also serves as showrunner and writer,  alongside writers Matt Cameron (Sunshine, Secret City) and Phil Enchelmaier (Jar Dwellers). Glendyn Ivin (Seven Types of Ambiguity, Hunters) is director.  NBCUniversal is handling international sales.

About Hulu

Hulu is a leading premium streaming service that offers instant access to live and on demand channels, original series and films, and a premium library of TV and movies to more than 20 million subscribers in the U.S. Since its launch in 2008, Hulu has consistently been at the forefront of entertainment and technology. Hulu is the only streaming service that offers both ad-supported and commercial-free current season shows from the largest U.S. broadcast networks; libraries of hit TV series and films; and acclaimed Hulu Originals including Emmy® and Golden Globe Award-winning series The Handmaid’s Tale, The Looming Tower, Future Man, Marvel’s Runaways, The Path, Castle Rock, and Golden Globe nominated comedy Casual, as well as upcoming series The First, Catch-22 and Little Fires Everywhere. In 2017, Hulu added live news, entertainment and sports from 21st Century Fox, The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, CBS Corporation, The CW, Turner Networks, A+E Networks and Scripps Networks Interactive to its offerings – making it the only TV service that brings together live, on-demand, originals, and library content all in one place, across living room and mobile devices.

About NBCUniversal Television and New Media  Distribution
NBCUniversal Television and New Media Distribution is responsible for the sales and distribution of NBCUniversal product to all forms of television within the U.S. and Canada.  This includes current television and film product as well as content from NBCUniversal’s vast library (Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Universal Television, Universal Cable Productions, NBC Late Night properties, DreamWorks Animation, and more.) distributed in basic cable, pay cable and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) markets. The division is also responsible for the sales of NBCUniversal content to non-theatrical markets including airlines worldwide.