In Colour to Get Australian Adaptation

U.K.-based Arrow Media’s In Colour format has been commissioned for a local version in Australia.

Australian broadcaster SBS has ordered the In Colour adaptation, which will be made by Sydney’s Stranger Than Fiction Films in association with Arrow Media. The commission of Australia in Colour follows the launch of America in Color on Smithsonian Channel in the U.S. The series has sold across the world, with Arrow licensing it to France Télévisions, NHK in Japan, YLE in Finland, A&E in Latin America and several others.

Marshall Heald, SBS’s director of TV and online content, said: “With Australia in Colour, SBS presents a special TV moment for all Australians—we don’t experience life in black and white and this series allows the viewer to relate to old footage in a whole new way. By turning the monochrome past into glorious color, this series creates an intimate and deeper connection with our history and urges us all to re-evaluate what we think we know about ourselves.”

Nick Metcalfe, executive producer at Arrow Media, added: “We are extremely proud of what we have achieved with In Colour. The combination of rare and never-before-seen archive footage, brought alive through painstaking research and accurate colorization, has proved a real hit with audiences across the world, including playing well with younger audiences. It’s the ability of this format to make forgotten history both accessible and compelling, which is where its real success lies. We are delighted to be bringing In Colour to Australian audiences.”

Jo-anne McGowan, producer at Stranger Than Fiction, commented: “We have uncovered the jewels of Australia’s film archives at a time when technology allows us to bring them to life in glorious color. Australia in Colour illustrates our collective memories through archives of major events as well as through touching home movies. It tracks how Australia grew up to be an independent nation—where people from many different backgrounds came and got a chance to reinvent themselves.”