Aussie indie Prospero lands double order from UKTV

Australian indie Prospero Productions is behind two new Australia-set series for UKTV channels U&W and U&Yesterday. 

Brit Cops Down Under is an 8 x 60-minute docuseries for U&W following a group of seven British police officers as they move down under to become cops in Western Australia, the largest, most remote and sparsely populated police district in the world.  

The new recruits will undergo three months of training, including handling tasers and firearms and they must pass all units before starting a three-month probation period on the beat.  

The series was commissioned Helen Nightingale, head of factual and fact ent commissioning at UKTV. It was ordered for U&W by Adam Collings, director of programming, factual and fact ent, and Hilary Rosen, director of commissioning. Julia Redwood serves as exec producer with Meredith Watson Jeffrey series producing. DCD Rights will handle distribution outside of the UK. 

It is currently in post-production and will TX in February 2025. 

Docuseries The Legend of Outback Gold (w/t) follows Jeff Harris and Brendan Elliot, amateur treasure hunters and lifelong friends, who embark on an adventure to fulfill a childhood pact to track down a storied cache of gold. 

The pair are following clues left in the diary of prospector Harold Lasseter, who claimed to have seen the deposit of gold in the Australian Outback. But when he returned in 1930 to re-discover it, Lasseter perished in the hostile environment. 

Harris and Elliott will traverse the outback, joined by experts such as a geologist and historian, in a last-ditch effort to find the treasure that could change their lives forever.  

The series was commissioned by Tracy-Jean, commissioning executive, with Nightingale and ordered for U&Yesterday by Collings and Rosen. Redwood also serves as exec producer alongside Jules Fortune, with Eliot Buchan directing. BossaNova will handle global sales outside of the UK.   

It is currently in production and is expected to air in early 2026. Both it and Brit Cops Down Under will also be available on UKTV’s streaming platform U.  

Nightingale said: “Brit Cops Down Under follows people making a massive life change, and the series really captures the emotional upheavals that come with that, they are balancing doing what’s best for their families, while also starting an exciting, essential and challenging new job. And The Legend of Outback Gold promises to have plenty of twists and turns as the team use all manner of skills and ingenuity on the search for the legendary loot. Both series are very different, but both bring the best of British and Australian characters and values to the screen in a way I hope our viewers will really appreciate.” 

Redwood said: “This is not only a wonderful opportunity for us to continue to broaden our partnerships in the UK, but also to demonstrate how Australian and UK stories can combine to create entertaining, engaging programming that I hope will appeal to a wide audience.”