Airdate: Scorched

Nine's next big drama, Scorched , will screen at 8:30pm Sunday August 31. The 90 minute telemovie will have to compete with TEN's Australian Idol and Seven's new series of Dancing with the Stars on the same night. The futuristic story features Georgie Parker as the Premier of NSW, plus a cast including Vince Colosimo, Rachael Carpani, Kathryn Beck, Les Hill, Cameron Daddo, Libby Tanner, Ben Oxenbould, Brittany Byrnes and Bob Morley.

Ninemsn also has a sexy new interactive website for the series, which looks at a lack of water and city bushfires in the year 2012. Australia,five years from now. There has been no rain in the catchments for over 200 days.

Sydney’s water supply is at its lowest levels in recorded history. The state government has built a desalination plant to “drought-proof” the city. At least that was the promise … This is the scenario behind SCORCHED, Australia’s first “what-if” disaster telemovie which premieres on Nine on Sunday, August 31 at 8.30pm.

In another first, SCORCHED is augmented by an online drama series which screens at www.scorched.tv both before and after the television event and involves all the key cast of the telemovie. SCORCHED features an all –star cast including Vince Colosimo, Rachael Carpani, Georgie Parker, Cameron Daddo, Bob Morley, Les Hill, Libby Tanner, Kathryn Beck, Brittany Byrnes and Alexandra Fowler. David Langmore (CAMERON DADDO) is state operations commander for the National Fire Service (NFS).

He rises on Christmas Eve to find that a combination of sustained drought, extreme weather conditions and lightning strikes has lit the fuse to a nightmare – the worst bushfire conditions imaginable. Susan Shapiro (RACHAEL CARPANI), a TV news journalist, has sensed that this day was coming. She has been trying to get to the heart of Sydney’s water crisis for months.

Michael Francia (VINCE COLOSIMO), a doctor working in a hospital’s accident and emergency department, is also feeling the heat from very early in the day. The air in the city’s west is thick with smoke and he is struggling to keep on top of the growing number of respiratory admissions. By midday on Christmas Eve the city is ringed by huge bushfires burning out of control.

Mother Nature is on the warpath. A state of emergency is declared. The NSW Premier, Angela Boardman (GEORGIE PARKER), is a woman whose career – like the city itself – is teetering on the brink of disaster.

It all depends on the successful management of the bushfire crisis. Despite calls for calm, panic rises. More and more suburbs succumb to the flames.

The city’s infrastructure groans under the pressure. Power lines melt. Communications go down.

Hospitals are running on generators with limited power - and there is barely any water left in the hoses to fight the fires. SCORCHED is a major Australian television event and multi-platform drama for the Nine Network Australia, produced by Goalpost Pictures Australia and Essential Media and Entertainment, in association with Firelight Productions.. Mon Aug 2008 02:08 (4 months, 3 weeks ago)