Bryan Brown, Sam Neill Go ‘Old School’ At ABC1

Bryan Brown and Sam Neill have decided to go Old School at ABC1 in a new eight-part drama series for Australian television, according to a Thursday report from Twitch.

The show focuses on a retired cop (Neill) and retired criminal (Brown), who team up to solve crimes. It will be based on the 2003 film Lennie Cahill Shoots Through from director Paul Oliver, which starred Tony Barry in the role Brown will now be occupying.

Oliver teamed up with Steve Wright for the series pitch, which will be produced by Matchbox Pictures and distributed internationally by the production company’s owner NBCUniversal, which means there may be a shot at seeing this on Hulu sometime in the next year.

Let’s hope.

In the late 1980s/early 1990s, the US really seemed to dig Australian culture, revealed in small part through our love for Crocodile Dundee movies and, to a lesser degree, Old School series star Bryan Brown, who made a splash in Hollywood through the underrated and too-often-overlooked F/X films.

I caught F/X 2 on Amazon Prime a few nights ago, and if you’re in the mood for a sweet buddy action-comedy, then you need to head over to Amazon right after reading the rest of this article and give it a watch. It’s still a lot of fun.

As for Sam Neill, he will best be remembered by American audiences for his lead role in the original Jurassic Park.

ABC’s head of fiction Carole Sklan was overjoyed to land the two stars. In comments reported by TBI Vision, Sklan said, “This fabulous show is witty, tough, smart, and full of great characters. We’re really thrilled to have Bryan Brown and Sam Neill heading such a wonderful cast, and to be working with Matchbox Pictures again after such successful collaborations on series including The Slap and The Straits.”

Added series creator Oliver, “Old School was born from my short film Lennie Cahill Shoots Through, and is a love letter to Sydney, its shady corners, its unique characters and its rich history of cops, crims and all those in between.”

Are you fans of Bryan Brown and Sam Neill? Will you be watching Old School?

[Image via Jaguar PS / Shutterstock.com]