Culture

Here’s Everything We Know About Tim Minchin’s New TV Show

And some of your favourite people are working behind the scenes.

Tim Minchin Upright

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Tim Minchin, the Aussie star behind musical-comedy smash Matilda: The Musical and countless viral videos, will be creating a new TV drama called Upright.

And in typical style for the hyper-talented singer/songwriter/comedian/actor, he’ll be doing a bit of everything: producing, writing, and acting.

The show will centre on Lucky Flynn, a talented Sydney-based pianist who’s struggling to make ends meet. He’s broke, reckless and a bit “damaged”. And when he finds out that his mother is close to death in Perth he decides to drive the thousands of kilometres there with his much-loved piano.

While heading through the Aussie desert, he meets a “tough-as-nails teenager” — played by young Australian TV stalwart Milly Alcock.

“From the moment I heard about the idea for Upright, I knew it was the show I’d been waiting to make,” Minchin said. “I like stories that make me laugh and think and cry, I adore the landscapes of outback Australia, and I love music, and homecomings, and characters full of flaws. It’s awesome to be writing with this extraordinary team, and I’m looking forward to acting alongside Milly Alcock, who I think is a really special talent.”

Joining Minchin on the writing team will be Kate Mulvany, and Chris Taylor (of Chaser fame).

Please Like Me’s Matthew Saville will be directing the project, which is a co-production between Foxtel and UK broadcaster SkyTV.

Minchin has moved back to Australia after a stint in Los Angeles, where he created the short-lived Broadway hit Groundhog Day, and was close to directing a $100 million animated film before it was axed in March.

Before we see Upright, Minchin will be starring alongside Jamie Foxx in an Otto Bathurst-directed Robin Hood film, due to be released in November this year.

Minchin is also a part-time prophet, having predicted the national debate that we are currently having about banning plastic bags way back in 2005.