Acting royalty Rachel Griffiths and Hugo Weaving back Australian TV as international demand grows

ACTING royalty Rachel Griffiths and Hugo Weaving have called for more local television funding as demand grows internationally for Aussie content.

Hugo Weaving and Rachel Griffiths will appear at ACMI this week. Picture: Ian Currie

ACTING royalty Rachel Griffiths and Hugo Weaving have called for more local television funding as demand grows internationally for our content.

Griffiths and Weaving are starring in TV series Dead Lucky and Patrick Melrose respectively, and will feature as special guests for screenings at TV festival Series Mania Melbourne.

Griffiths’ crime thriller, Dead Lucky, will air on SBS, while Weaving’s Patrick Melrose will screen on BBC First on Foxtel and Fetch.

“I will say we’re in a very exciting time for our content, now being able to partner up internationally a lot more which allows production values to rise,’’ Griffiths

said.

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“The demand for quality characters and storytelling is so high.

“Historically, there’s been a bit of pull-back on the types of characters we can put on TV, but with the internationals it’s ‘no, push it, go to the edge and don’t be afraid’.

“To have the unexpected, it’s making our TV better.

“We can’t be complacent — we need our national broadcaster ABC and SBS.

“We need to keep drama funded.”

Weaving, who will soon shoot a new Shakespearean film in Melbourne, agreed.

“A breeding ground for TV production is SBS and ABC historically,” he said.

“ If we can’t fund them, we can’t really fund our own culture. You actually have to actively support it.”

Weaving described Patrick Melrose as a “superb piece of screenplay writing”.

He will appear tonight at Series Mania at ACMI at Federation Square; Griffiths will appear on Sunday.

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