Coming to Nine in 2021 Amazing Grace , Nine’s new drama series about life’s most surprising and precious moments, features a stellar cast including Kate Jenkinson(Doctor Doctor, Wentworth, Offspring) , Sigrid Thornton(Seachange, Wentworth) , Catherine Van Davies(Hungry Ghosts, The Letdown, True Story with Hamish & Andy),Alexandra Jensen(Frayed, My Life is Murder, The Letdown) and Kat Hoyos(Here Come the Habibs!) .
Amazing Grace is centred on midwife Grace ( Kate Jenkinson ) and her passionate colleagues at an unconventional birth centre attached to a major city hospital. A fierce advocate for her pregnant mothers-to- be, Grace’s dubious work/life balance is about to get even more chaotic when a new arrival at the birth centre changes her life forever.
Produced by Playmaker Media for Nine, the creative team for Amazing Grace includes writers Jonathan Gavin (Offspring) , Ainslie Clouston (Playing For Keeps) , writer and executive producer Sarah Smith (LoveChild), set-up director and co-executive producer Shawn Seet (Love Child, Reckoning, Hungry Ghosts), producer Diane Haddon (The Commons, Reckoning, The Code) and executive producers David Maher and David Taylor ( Love Child , Bloom, The Commons), plus Nine’s Head of Drama Andy Ryan.
Amazing Grace is a better title than the original working title The Midwife. Is this show going to be that much different to Offspring though or is it more like Love Child with its female dominated cast?
Haven’t they learnt anything from so many flops in female dominated drama aimed at a niche female audience? Bad Mothers, Sisters, Secret Bridesmaids’ Business. Would have been better making a drama with a more balanced cast like Doctor Doctor.
Or a second renewal of Halifax, although I feel there’s more partners involved for a renewal of that (Beyond lonehand, Roger Simpson etc) maybe it would have been too early to announce if it’s being considered in early stages.
Not to mention its yet another Australian drama set in a hospital setting/midwife ward (see Offspring, Love Child, Doctor Doctor, wasn’t House Husbands partly based in a hospital as well?). Is this the only setting this group of writers know how to write for? And the strange part is none of these shows really set the world on fire ratings wise, yet they’re taking it for another spin.
Even the tagline for Love Child on Stan is “An Unconventional Midwife Makes Waves” which could just as easily be swapped for here. Good luck to them.
Kate Jenkinson, Sigrid Thornton and Alex Dimitriades star in the premiere of the heartwarming and powerful new drama series, Amazing Grace, on Wednesday, March 3, at 9.00pm on Nine and 9Now.
Behind the doors of St Brigid’s birthing centre is a captivating world of new life, love and deceit, and right at its heart is Grace (Kate Jenkinson), a beautifully flawed midwife whose world is turned upside down when Sophia (Alexandra Jensen), the daughter she gave up for adoption 17 years ago, arrives unannounced and pregnant.
Sophia’s arrival rocks Grace’s world and brings into question all the decisions that have brought her to this point in life.
While she struggles to come to terms with this bombshell, her midwifery family face challenges of their own: trainee Max (Ben O’Toole), an ex-army medic navigating his first day on the job; midwife Sasha (Kat Hoyos), secretly struggling with the emotional demands of the job; and unit manager Laney (Catherine Văn-Davies), who is in a tangled affair with hospital executive Paul (Luke Ford).
Grace’s messy world is further challenged by her complex relationship with her mother Diane (Sigrid Thornton), the demands of Sophia’s adoptive father Kirk (Alex Dimitriades) and her ex-husband Jim (Ben Mingay) wanting to sell the house from under her.
Relationships will be tested to the very core. Scarred by secrets, love and lies, can one new life unite this fractured family?
Produced by Playmaker Media for Nine, the Amazing Grace creative team includes writers Jonathan Gavin (Offspring), Ainslie Clouston (Playing For Keeps), writer and executive producer Sarah Smith (Love Child), set-up director and co-executive producer Shawn Seet (Love Child, Reckoning, Hungry Ghosts), directors Lucy Gaffy (Doctor Doctor, The Unlisted) and Sian Davies (Bloom, The Gloaming), producer Diane Haddon (The Commons, Reckoning, The Code) and executive producers David Maher and David Taylor (Love Child, Bloom, The Commons), plus Nine’s Head of Drama, Andy Ryan.
With major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screen NSW’s Made In NSW Fund.
