Wooden Horse
EXCLUSIVE: Stuff the British Stole, the Australian-Canadian doc series about the impact of British colonialism, is being remade as a six-part scripted heist caper.
Anchuli Felicia King, who wrote on HBO’s The Sympathizer and The Baby and Deadloch for Prime Video, is creating and writing the series, which is coming out of Australia and billed by producers as “an exploration of the the nuanced debate around repatriation through a sharply funny lens.”
Ben Chessell (The Great, Giri Haji, Doctor Who) is attached to direct and write episodes, with Kacie Anning (Class of ‘07, Upload, The Other Guy) and award-winning First Nations writer and playwright Dylan Van Den Berg also on the creative team.
Aussie indie Wooden Horse, which made Disney+ series The Clearing, is co-producing with Warner Bros International Television Production (WBITVP) Australia, known for the likes of The Twelve, on which King was a writer, and Love Me. Wooden Horse’s Jude Troy and Richard’s Finlayson are exec producing alongside WBITVP’s Michael Brooks and Hamish Lewis. Marc Fennell, who created the original Stuff the British Stole, is also an exec producer.
Stuff the British Stole highlights the controversy around artifacts taken during the height of the British Empire, and launched in Canada on CBC and Australia on the ABC in 2022. It has included contributions from the likes of Stephen Fry and a second season launched last week on June 17. A third season of the show — which is from Wooden Horse, WildBear Entertainment and Cream Productions — is in development, we hear.
The hour-long drama adaptation is also at development stage. According to the producers, it will take “a provocative and sharply observed deep dive into the complexity of history, and identity, in our modern world through an irreverent and wryly humorous lens.”
“Led by Anchuli Felicia King, the writing team, alongside attached set-up director Ben Chessell, have developed a unique cast of diverse and fascinating characters, who almost accidentally steal their way to becoming the heroes of a global repatriation movement,” they added in a statement. “In doing so, they find themselves not just on the run, but in the middle of a multi-government, political shit storm.
“If there’s one thing we learned from the brilliant Stuff the British Stole factual series, it’s that history is complex – a lesson our characters will learn the hard way.”
Former eOne exec Troy and ex-ABC television chief Finlayson launched Wooden Horse in 2019. It landed a number of wins at the Screen Producers Australia Awards, including Breakthrough Business of the Year and Miniseries Production of the Year for Disney+ series The Clearing.
WBITVP Australia is known for Binge series Love Me and Foxtel thriller dramas The Twelve, and recently wrapped production on How to Make Gravy, the screen adaptation of the Paul Kelly song that we first told you about in October last year. The latter will be streamer Binge’s first film.
Anchuli Felicia King is represented by Yellow Creative Management (ANZ) and CAA. Ben Chessell is represented by The Fleming Agency (ANZ) and United Agents in the UK. Dylan Van Den Berg is represented by Cameron’s Management (ANZ) and Kacie Anning is represented by Creative Representation (ANZ) and WME (USA).