The Kettering Incident


The Kettering Incident is an Australian television sci-fi drama program, first broadcast on Foxtel's Showcase channel on 4 July 2016. Starring Elizabeth Debicki and |Matthew Le Nevez, the series was created by Victoria Madden and Vincent Sheehan, and filmed in and around the town of Kettering and Bruny Island in Tasmania. The series won several awards, including the AACTA Award for Best Telefeature, [Mini Series or Short Run Series|AACTA Award for Best Telefeature or Mini Series].

Synopsis

Anna Macy left Kettering when she was just fourteen, shortly after her best friend, Gillian Baxter, mysteriously disappeared. The two girls had been cycling through the forbidden forests outside Kettering when they saw strange lights in the sky. Eight hours later, Anna was found alone, terrified and covered in blood.
Fifteen years later, Anna returns to find the town struggling to survive. The forests have been marked for logging and the town is on edge following violent clashes between environmentalists and the local loggers. Anna's reappearance causes a stir when another local girl, Chloe Holloway, disappears, prompting Anna to discover what really happened the night Gillian disappeared, uncovering secrets that threaten the future of Kettering.

Cast

Main cast

Supporting cast

Production

The Kettering Incident was created by Victoria Madden and Vincent Sheehan, and was written by Victoria Madden, Louise Fox, Cate Shortland, and Andrew Knight. A sneak preview of the series launched at the 2015 Dark MoFo festival, with two episodes shown to select audiences at nine locations around Tasmania.
The series was filmed in and around the town of Kettering and Bruny Island in Tasmania, as announced in February 2014 by the then Premier of Tasmania, Lara Giddings, during a press conference in Kettering. The series was funded by Screen Australia, Screen Tasmania, Foxtel and BBC Worldwide, and was developed with the assistance of British broadcaster Channel 4. The series was executive produced by Penny Win and Liz Watts.
The series was budgeted at A$15 million, and was promoted as the first adult drama filmed in Tasmania. The series was directed by Rowan Woods and Tony Krawitz.
A second series was in development in May 2017 but series creator Victoria Madden confirmed in June 2018 that it was ultimately not picked up by Foxtel.

Broadcast

The Kettering Incident premiered on Foxtel's Showcase channel on 4 July 2016.

Reception

Critical reception

The Kettering Incident garnered mixed reviews, with a score of 67% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Clem Bastow, writing in The Guardian in June 2016, called the series a "Tasmanian gothic thriller par excellence", awarding it 4 out of 5 stars, while Chitra Ramaswamy, writing in The Guardian in February 2017, wrote that that there was "more than a touch of David Lynch to this Australian take on Scandi-noir"
The Irish Times reviewer Peter Crawley, referring to the series as a "widely applauded Australian drama" was withholding his opinion after viewing the first episode, writing "The Kettering Incident is so far shy to define itself, trailing the scent of a supernatural, political, sci-fi or detective drama. The real mystery is how many genres a single show can keep in play, before a globetrotting audience decides it would rather escape elsewhere". Rachel Cooke, writing in the New Statesman, called it a "ponderous, derivative show", which sacrifices character for plot.
SciFiNow, reviewing the DVD release, gave it 3 out of 5 stars.

Ratings

The series debuted to 115,000 viewers across its two episode premiere, making it the most watched non-sport title on the Foxtel platform. The figure does not include replays, streams or timeshift viewers.