Australian crime drama Secrets & Lies to get American remake for ABC

By Mike Vago | October 28, 2013 | 6:40pm

Aux Features TV

Not to be confused with the Mike Leigh film of the same name, Secrets & Lies is an Australian drama set to premiere next year, in which Martin Henderson (The Ring) finds the body of a young boy, then becomes the prime suspect in the boy's murder. In a nearly unprecedented move, ABC has snapped up the rights to the series with an immediate 10-episode order—all without seeing a pilot, or even a single episode of the original version. (In a related story, NBC is on the hunt for an Australian sitcom it can snap up the rights to, then cancel before airing.)

Since both the Australian and U.S. versions of the series are set to run in 2014, ABC should at least be able to preempt criticism from fans of a foreign original decrying the inferiority of the American edition. In fact, there's an outside chance this show could be the first-ever remake to air before the original. Take that, laws of causality!