Savage River (TV series)

Savage River is a six-part Australian crime drama, produced by Aquarius Films, which premiered on ABC TV and iview on 4 September 2022. Set in country Victoria, the series is led by director Jocelyn Moorhouse and cinematographer Don McAlpine, and stars Katherine Langford, Virginia Gay, Jacqueline McKenzie.

Synopsis
Miki Anderson returns to her hometown in rural Victoria after ten years in prison, intending to get on with her life. However a murder is committed in the town, and the townspeople suspect Miki, and she sets out to prove her innocence.

Cast

 * Katherine Langford as Miki Anderson
 * Mark Coles Smith as Joel Thorpe
 * Robert Grubb as Senior Sgt Bill Kirby
 * Cooper Van Grootel as Terry Anderson
 * Nadine Garner as Lynne Anderson
 * Jacqueline McKenzie as Colleen Lang
 * Jack Kenny as Adam Lang
 * Daniel Henshall as Kevin Pattison
 * Bernard Curry as Connor Kirby
 * James Mackay as Simon Englert
 * Richard Piper as Max Englert
 * Andrew Gilbert as Hugh Lang
 * Leah Vandenberg as Deborah Cochrane
 * Amesh Edireweera as Ranil Perera
 * Osamah Sami as Salim Bayati
 * Maia Abbas as Jamila Bayati
 * Miranda Anwar as Chandra Pattison
 * Rajan Velu as Sujan Nadesan
 * Julian Weeks as Nick Healey
 * Molly Grace as Jasmine Lang
 * Ayesha Gibson as Taylah Russell
 * Hattie Hook as Ivy Pattison
 * Sally-Anne Upton as Dale O'Neil
 * Benjamin Moore as Wayan Pattison
 * Bev Killick as Brenda May
 * Virginia Gay as Detective Sergeant Rachel Kennedy
 * Hannah Bickerton as Ocean Anderson

Production
The six-part series was directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and is co-created by writers Belinda Bradley, Franz Docherty and lead writer Giula Sandler.

It was filmed in Melbourne, Warburton in the Yarra Valley, and in Bright and Myrtleford in the High Country of Victoria. Cinematography was by Don McAlpine.

It was produced by Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford of Aquarius Films for ABC Television. Funding was provided by Screen Australia with support from VicScreen through production investment and the Regional Location Assistance Fund.

Release
Savage River premiered on ABC TV and iview on 4 September 2022.

Critical response
Travis Johnson, writing on Flicks, found the series too long to sustain interest. Emma Maguire found it a gripping example of the "Australian Gothic" genre: "When Miki gets a job at the abattoir we see a brutal reality: Savage River is a town built on blood and slaughter, a truth that references the colonial violence at the foundation of modern Australia".