Australia’s SBS preps remake of BBC’s Guilt

Australia’s SBS has started production on an adaptation of the BBC’s 2019 drama Guilt, to be known locally as Reckless.

The show is from BBC Studios Productions Australia and is filming in and around Fremantle, with Tasma Walton (Mystery Road) and Hunter Page-Lochard (The Newsreader) attached to lead. Federation Studios is distributing globally.

The story follows the two feuding siblings who are forced to work together to get away with an accidental hit and run death that spirals wildly out of control in their hometown of Fremantle.

Exec producer and writer, Kodie Bedford (Return to Paradise), is attached to make the four-part series, which has Jessica De Gouw (The Survivors), Clarence Ryan (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), and Jane Harber (Offspring) among extended cast.

Stuart Page (Cleverman) is also attached to write, while Wentworth’s Beck Cole is directing, Deadloch’s Andy Walker is producing, and BBC Studios exec Kylie Washington also exec produces.

SBS, along with regional network National Indigenous Television (NITV), are the broadcasters, with the production benefitting from Screen Australia and Screenwest funding support.

Bedford said: “From day one, I wanted to make a bold show with audacious characters that felt unapologetically Western Australian.

“I’m so bloody happy to be home telling this yarn with a team of creatives who have all shared the vision and taken it somewhere even wilder than I ever imagined.”

Dena Curtis, NITV’s head of Indigenous commissioning and production, described the show as “a tense and darkly funny thriller packed with sharp twists and unforgettable characters.”

Reckless is based on Neil Forsyth’s Scottish drama Guilt, which was produced by Expectation and Happy Tramp North. The Aussie remake has been slated to premiere on NITV, SBS and SBS on Demand later this year.