\n\t\t\t\t\tA cliffhanger ending, a ratings winner with critical acclaim, but the cost of drama production may leave RFDS grounded.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
RFDS fans last night were left on tenterhooks as Dr. Eliza (Emma Hamilton) was left in a life or death situation in the season finale.<\/p>\n
Now the burning question for fans is, while the storyline ever be resolved?<\/p>\n
The double episode finale comes as the Seven series is yet to be renewed.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s a curious situation of a hit drama, a winner with both audiences and critics alike, drawing solid ratings without a fourth season greenlit.<\/p>\n
Seven sources tell TV Tonight they are keen to renew the Logie-winning show, but the numbers do not yet stack up for production company Endemol Shine Australia, amid the rising cost of drama production. Like 10 for Neighbours, Seven is only one part of the financial pie.<\/p>\n
Banijay Rights is understood to not be representing a fourth season for distribution, having been unable to recoup costs for three seasons.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s despite earlier seasons sold to the UK, USA, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands and New Zealand\u2019s (S3 is yet to screen in those markets).<\/p>\n
By contrast, NCIS: Sydney, also by ESA, is pumping out a bumper 20 episode season.<\/p>\n
A key difference is while that screens on CBS in the USA, RFDS is on More4 in the UK and PBS in the USA -likely to attract much lower licence fees.<\/p>\n
The outback scale of RFDS also comes at a hefty price tag.<\/p>\n
Its third season, filmed in South Australia, drew funding from the South Australian Film Corporation, but the show no longer attracts Screen Australia funding which was heavily generous in getting its plane off the ground in 2021.<\/p>\n
A Seven spokesperson said, \u201cThe 2025 season of RFDS has been a huge success and we are reviewing our options for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Critics are agreed the show deftly weaves quality acting and writing with storyline jeopardy, vista backdrops, action, humour, romance, First Nations and LGBTQIA+ characters\u2026. and wins its 7:30 timeslot. So what does a drama have to do to succeed in 2025?<\/p>\n
TV Historian Andrew Mercado said, \u201cIt rates really well, so let\u2019s hope it gets renewed and stays around for many years to come. As the last one hour Aussie drama on commercial TV, it should be treated as something that could be iconic, as befitting the organisation it portrays so beautifully each episode, the RFDS.\u201d<\/p>\n
TV Critic Colin Vickery agreed, saying, \u201cBy any measure, the third season of RFDS has been a major success here in Australia and good on Channel Seven for taking a punt and programming it at 7.30pm.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Seven\u2019s point of view, I\u2019m sure it is a no-brainer to want a fourth season but local ratings success doesn\u2019t seem to be enough these days when it comes to funding quality drama with a high price tag.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be incredibly sad if a show that ticks so many boxes can\u2019t get the go-ahead. That certainly wouldn\u2019t be a positive outcome for the local industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Endemol Shine Australia and Banijay Rights declined to comment.<\/p>\n
For now, fans are left much like Dr. Eliza\u2026. hanging by a thread and awaiting a lifeline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cliffhanger ending, a ratings winner with critical acclaim, but the cost of drama production may leave RFDS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-280593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}