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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Amidst rising tension between China and America, senior political journalist, Harriet Dunkley, pursues a long-buried and exposing secret, leading to assassination attempts, suicide and murder. Beneath the placid façade of Canberra, she uncovers a ‘secret city’ of high-level Australians corrupted by the competing super-powers.'
Source: Screen Australia
Notes
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Mini-series.
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Original mini-series broadcast in 2016. Second series, with the title Secret City: Under the Eagle, broadcast in 2019.
Includes
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2.1form y Run Little Rabbit Australia : Matchbox Pictures , 2019 16958665 2019 single work film/TV Australia : Matchbox Pictures , 2019
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Essie Davis’s Honour Roles
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 18-24 July 2020;'It’s a baking hot summer’s day in St Ives on Sydney’s north shore, and Essie Davis gives a half smile as she breezes past in dark glasses and a blue kimono during a break in filming Babyteeth, a movie adapted from an Australian play about love, loss and addiction.' (Introduction)
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‘The Gates of Hell’ : The Cruel Optimism of National Security in Secret City
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media and Cultural Studies , vol. 34 no. 1 2020; (p. 102-116)'Despite the rapid expansion of counter-terrorism legislation in Australia since 9/11, recent polls show that Australians feel no safer. In this article, I examine the affective dimensions of national security in Foxtel’s political thriller Secret City (2016). I draw on Lauren Berlant’s concept of cruel optimism to illustrate the ways in which Secret City frames the desire for security itself as problematic. Secret City uses the logic of security and the visual language of surveillance to alert viewers to the threat that national security legislation poses; when politicians and intelligence agencies erode civil rights, journalistic freedoms, and democratic processes, citizens lose their ability to secure against their own security forces. However, in creating such a pervasive atmosphere of fear and threat for its viewers, Secret City actually validates the foundational desire for security which it shows to be so easily exploited. I argue that Secret City illustrates an impasse in which the desire for security is affectively binding, even when security practices jeopardize the very safety and wellbeing they promise.' (Publication abstract)
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A Change in the Atmosphere
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , March 2019;
— Review of Secret City 2016 series - publisher film/TV 'The different focus and register of season two of Secret City reflects a shift in Canberra itself' -
The Rat Cunning of a New-style Political Journo
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 25-26 June 2016; (p. 40)
— Review of Secret City 2016 series - publisher film/TV -
Secret Lives Exposed
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 25-26 June 2016; (p. 38)
— Review of Secret City 2016 series - publisher film/TV
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City of Spies
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 4-5 June 2016; (p. 25)
— Review of Secret City 2016 series - publisher film/TV -
Review : Secret City
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 5 June 2016; (p. 16)
— Review of Secret City 2016 series - publisher film/TV -
What's Wrong With ... Secret City
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 6 June 2016; (p. 2)
— Review of Secret City 2016 series - publisher film/TV -
Secret City Review – All the Ingredients for a First-rate Australian Political Thriller
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 6 June 2016;
— Review of Secret City 2016 series - publisher film/TV 'A journalist, a body and a secret. With Showcase’s new six-part series, does Australia have its own House of Cards?' -
The Secret's Out - Canberra's Thrilling
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Times (Perth) , 12 June 2016; (p. 10)
— Review of Secret City 2016 series - publisher film/TV -
Working Up to New Dramas
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 17 June 2015; (p. 24) -
Date with Kate : Miranda Tapsell
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 5 June 2016; (p. 3) -
Political Minefield
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 5 May 2016; (p. 3) -
Full Focus
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 4 June 2016; 'Director Emma Freeman's filmography includes some of Australia’s best-loved TV dramas, but her greatest challenge came at a much earlier age.' -
Man of Many Faces Brought to Heel
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 June 2016; (p. 10)
Awards
- 2019 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards — Best Television Drama Series for series two, 'Under the Eagle'.
- 2019 nominated Logie Awards — Most Outstanding Drama Series for series two, 'Under the Eagle'.
- 2017 nominated Logie Awards — Most Outstanding Miniseries or Telemovie
- Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,