Television series

The Newsreader

Name: The Newsreader
Genre: Drama
Released: 2021
Cast: Anna Torv, Sam Reid, William McInnes, Chum Ehelepola, Michelle Lim Davidson

Drama

The Newsreader follows a young reporter and a difficult veteran newsreader in a 1986 Australian TV newsroom as they cover the Challenger disaster, Halley's Comet, and the AIDS crisis. It's meticulous period drama—about ambition, credibility, and how two very different people build genuine connection under pressure. For anyone who loves character work and the texture of a specific moment in time.

TVMaze rating

3.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like workplace dramas where the ticking clock is the news itself and the office politics are as sharp as the dialogue, with a slow-building partnership at the centre.

Skip it if you want a tight, fast-moving plot; this is talky and patient, with long quiet stretches between the big news events, and its pace may test you early.

What it asks of you: Eighteen episodes of roughly fifty-four minutes each, unhurried and close-focused, so it rewards settling in over a few evenings rather than a single sitting of attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

All the President's Men1976

Woodward and Bernstein's investigation has the same DNA: ambitious journalists competing with themselves, each other, and the system. The detail work is obsessive and it crackles. You'll recognize the hunger.

But It's a procedural about bureaucracy and paper trails—not exactly breathless, and the famous bits you already know.

The Paper1994

Set in a New York newsroom over one frantic day in the 1990s, it captures the pressure, the egos, the genuine stakes of getting the story right. Michael Keaton and Glenn Close have that same charged dynamic as Dale and Helen.

But It's faster and scrappier than The Newsreader—tonal whiplash if you wanted the quiet character stuff.

Network1976

The granddaddy of TV news dramas, and it nails the collision between ambition, ethics, and ratings. Paddy Chayefsky's script is savage and funny about what television does to people. Essential.

But It's a sermon, basically. The cynicism is the whole point, which can feel relentless if you're not in the mood for satire.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Newsreader

Broadcast News1987

Set in the same era, it's a love letter and a warning about the news business. James L. Brooks understands the obsession, the romance, the moral cost. Holly Hunter's intensity will feel familiar.

But It's more about romantic entanglement than journalism—if you wanted the work side, this tilts toward the personal.

The West Wing1999

Walks the same line: smart people doing important work, quick dialogue, the pleasure of watching professionals at the top of their game. Different setting, same love of institutional detail and moral seriousness.

But It's a fantasy about how things should work, not a portrait of how they do. Brighter and more idealistic than The Newsreader.

NewsRadio1995

A workplace ensemble set in a Manhattan radio station—ensemble work, personality clashes, genuine stakes underneath the comedy. The newsroom energy is there, just filtered through sitcom warmth.

But It's a half-hour comedy, so the texture is lighter. If you want that taut, period-accurate atmosphere, this feels airbrushed.

Lou Grant1977

A Los Angeles newspaper drama with real teeth—cases, investigations, the friction between doing good journalism and keeping the lights on. Edward Asner carries it with no sentimentality.

But It's episodic rather than serialized, so the narrative momentum is different. Also sixty-something years old, which shows.

Mad Men2007

Set in the 1960s advertising world, it has The Newsreader's obsession with period detail, workplace dynamics, and ambitious people chasing credibility. The texture is meticulous.

But Slower burn than most things, and the characters are often morally murky in ways that can feel self-indulgent. The newsroom energy is completely absent.