Directed by Kriv Stenders and written by Stephen M. Irwin, the series features an ensemble cast that includes Sean Keenan, Alex Dimitriades, Caren Pistorius, David Wenham, Anna Samson, Gary Sweet, and Robyn Malcolm.
After finishing the school year in time for the Christmas holidays, he begins driving to Sydney to take up a new teaching position at Neutral Bay, as well as seemingly marry his girlfriend Robyn.
After a winning streak, John loses all of his money, as well as some borrowed from former MMA fighter Mick Jaffries and her brother Joe, who subsequently demand that he pay them back.
John befriends real estate agent Tim Hynes, who invites him to have dinner with his family, including his wife Ursula and daughter Janette, the town nurse.
By this time, Lingo Pictures had also entered a co-production deal for two series with Mark and Carl Fennessy of Endemol Shine Australia, and Wake in Fright was decided as the first of those two productions.
[7][8] Commenting on the relatively short period from development to principal photography (roughly fourteen months), Bowden explained that screenwriter Stephen M. Irwin - who was hired in January 2016 - and Network Ten's head of drama Rick Maier were "very fast and very good with feedback".
Although noting that Wake in Fright was primarily targeted at a contemporary Australian audience, she expressed confidence in the series finding success abroad, saying "It's got a franchise, so it's known through the novel, which has never been out of print in 50 years and it's known through the film, which is very famous and not long ago the restored version was distributed through the US and a number of European countries.
[2] On 4 March 2017, the lead cast of Wake in Fright - Sean Keenan, David Wenham, Alex Dimitriades, Gary Sweet, Caren Pistorius, Robyn Malcolm, Lee Jones, Anna Samson, Hannah Frederiksen and Jada Alberts - was announced.
The writer felt that its 408,000 viewership ratings put in doubt "the future of Aussie drama on commercial networks after disappointing figures from similar biopics and remakes (including Blue Murder: Killer Cop, House of Bond and Hoges: The Paul Hogan Story) throughout the year".
[19] Since its broadcast, critical responses to the 2017 miniseries Wake in Fright have varied, with reviewers typically lauding members of the cast (particularly Keenan, Dimitriades and Wenham) for their performances, while the story adaptation and technical elements of the production were either praised for creating a strong sense of fear and intensity, or criticised for being overwrought, unnecessary or inferior to the novel and 1971 film.
Writing for The Australian, Graeme Blundell's assessment of the series was highly positive, asserting that Irwin and Stenders' adaptation successfully retained Cook's vision of the outback and mateship.
[24] A similarly enthusiastic response came from Denise Erikson of The New Daily, who expressed that she was tempted to "call this the best new Australian drama this year", describing Wake in Fright as "beautifully cast, well scripted, imaginatively shot and very well directed.
Erikson felt that audiences unfamiliar with previous versions would not be hindered by the experience of watching the newer adaptation, "because you won't waste time wondering which one is best.
The writer believed that the series was a "rather terrific production" that captured the spirit of the novel and the "snowballing chaos all this drunkenness begets" well, singling out Wenham, Sweet and Dimitriades for praise; while admitting that he was uncertain about the new treatment of Doc Tydon's character, he said that he could "understand why it was done".
While praising Stenders' direction and the cast, particularly Keenan and Samson, Neutze felt that the chosen medium of commercial television and the need for advertising breaks throughout severely hampered the story's pacing, resulting in the series "struggl[ing] to find a way to maintain the tension and mounting helplessness of John's situation".
[28] Awarding the first episode three out of five stars, Knox criticised, among other aspects of the production, what he saw as a "heavy-handed approach to the locals as menacing, manipulative and two-sided" in comparison to the benevolently friendly nature of the characters in the film, and felt that Wenham's portrayal of Crawford was inferior to Chips Rafferty's.
Buckmaster believed that John's interactions with these characters results in "standard issue crime story plotting" that "reduces the impact of Grant's downward spiralling trajectory, placing more emphasis on external forces", and decried Geoffrey Hall's cinematography for looking "bright rather than burnt, and lack[ing] visual flavour".
[29] Jason Di Rosso of ABC Radio National expressed similar sentiments:[30] It begins promisingly, with a sense of menace that Stenders builds well, but it sells itself short in the second half as almost every character is given a backstory to explain their actions or account for their demise.