Channel Seven makes a decision on the future of medical drama RFDS
Channel Seven makes a decision about the future of medical drama RFDS as fans demand a new season
Channel Seven has announced that production has begun on the next season of their outback drama RFDS.
The show, about the lives of those serving in the Royal Flying Doctor Service, will hit the screen later this year TV week.
Filming has already begun in Broken Hill, with handsome star Steve Peacocke back in the lead role.
Fans can look forward to a new character this season with Emma Havie from the ABC comedy-drama Frayed playing a mental health nurse.
Meanwhile, Emma Hamilton, Justine Clarke and Ash Ricardo will reprise their roles alongside returning cast members Jack Scott, Rodney Afif and Ash Hodgkinson from Heartbreak High.
Channel Seven has announced production has begun on the next season of their outback drama RFDS starring Steve Peacocke (pictured) who returns as Nurse Pete Emerson
The show, about the lives of those serving in the Royal Flying Doctor Service, will hit the screen later this year
It comes a year after Seven executives hinted that the acclaimed show would likely be renewed for a second season.
This is despite the fact that after the first series, airing in 2021, it failed to deliver any blockbuster ratings for the network.
Despite this, Brook Hall, the network’s director of content planning, said at a recent industry conference last April that the show was a “success.”
Hall said that RFDS was in fact Seven’s second highest rated locally made drama that season after Home and Away.
It was also sold to six major territories before debuting in August 2021.
RFDS premiered to a decent 604,000 viewers on the subway, but this figure dropped to 417,000 for the finale, which is not considered a sustainable audience for a drama series.
Filming for the new season is already underway in Broken Hill, New South Wales
RFDS was sold to six major territories before its August 2021 debut
At the time, Hall said the average weekly audience for RFDS was one million viewers when subway ratings were combined with viewers in regional areas, as well as fans catching the show on BVOD.
Hall said Channel Seven was looking for ways to keep local premium drama alive on free-to-air television.
Filmed in remote Broken Hill, RFDS was produced by Endemol Shine Australia and has been purchased by PBS in the United States and Channel 4 in the UK.
It has also been sold to New Zealand’s TVNZ, TV4 in Sweden, Belgium’s SBS and Talpa in the Netherlands.