Their first on-screen romance came in 2019 feature Top End Wedding, and now Miranda Tapsell and Gwilym Lee are getting in the loving mood for a Prime Video Australia series.
The pair are reprising their roles from the local box office hit in Top End Bub, with Tapsell and Top End Wedding co-writer Joshua Tyler penning the scripts. Christian van Vuuren and Shari Sebbens are directing.
Top End Bub will revisit Lauren (Tapsell), a dynamic Indigenous lawyer ticking off life goals in Adelaide, and her baker husband Ned (Lee), who abandon city life for the Top End (where the outback meets the tropics) to raise Lauren’s recently-orphaned eight-year-old niece.
While Lauren and Ned juggle the responsibility of becoming unexpected parents and try to keep their marriage together, Lauren must come to terms with her responsibilities within her culture, as she transforms from an individualist to the linchpin of her family, the synopsis reads.
“We all love a happy ending, but what happens after happily ever after?” said Tapsell. Tyler said the show would include “a romantic setting full of funny characters who face heartbreaking challenges in heartwarming ways.”
Top End Wedding producer Goalpost Pictures returns to produce, with filming taking place in May in the Northern Territory and Adelaide. Screen Australia, Screen Territory, and South Australian Film Corporation are also attached, with Germany’s ZDF Studios taking international distribution rights. Tapsell, Tyler and Goalpost’s Rosemary Blight are the executive producers.
Tapsell’s on-screen credits include Love Child, The Sapphires and The Artful Dodger. Tapsell is represented by Sue Burnett & Associates and Burbridge Artists Entertainment. Lee has appeared in Bohemian Rhapsody, The Great and Midsomer Murders. He is represented by Gersh and Hamilton Hoddell in the UK.
Prime Video has ordered 29 original series or features in Australia since 2019, including three seasons of The Test, Last One Laughing Australia with Rebel Wilson and Back to the Rafters. Top End Bub will launch on the streamer in Australia and New Zealand.
“Prime Video are proud to be bringing back the beloved, hilarious and heart-warming characters of Top End Wedding with the television spin-off Top End Bub for Prime members in Australia and New Zealand,” said Sarah Christie, senior development executive at Amazon MGM Studios. “Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler have created a series that speaks straight to the heart, and celebrates the messiness and beauty of family, love, and community. We are thrilled to be working with them, along with producers Goalpost Pictures and directors Christian van Vuuren and Shari Sebbens, in capturing the stunning and uniquely Australian world of the Top End.”
“Top End Bub is an absolutely charming addition to our slate,” added Yi Qiao, Director of Drama, ZDF Studios. “Viewers will enjoy the sharp and funny observations of two city slickers woefully adjusting to life in the Outback, surrounded by Lauren’s vast family and a host of colourful characters.”
Top End Wedding premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019.
Lee is represented by