Radar Studios unveils first MIPCOM slate – Melbourne-based Radar Studios is taking its first full sales slate to MIPCOM, pairing Australian factual productions with acquired programmes in true crime, history, wildlife, property, travel and lifestyle.
The line-up puts several local stories in front of international buyers: a documentary following aerial cinematographer Joe Jennings, a Western Australian police observational series and a Jamie Durie project about faster, more sustainable housing. It also gives a first wider showcase to the company’s new production-and-distribution model following the retirement of the Fred Media and Radar businesses as standalone identities.
This is a sales slate, not a newly announced Australian broadcast schedule. Radar Studios has not named local channels or streaming platforms for the titles in this announcement, so viewers should not read a MIPCOM presentation as confirmation of where or when each programme will screen.
Space Cowboy and Tony Robinson lead the Radar Studios MIPCOM slate
Space Cowboy is a 90-minute feature documentary produced by Thank You Pictures and REV Entertainment. It follows Emmy-winning aerial cinematographer Joe Jennings, who has spent more than four decades testing what can be filmed in freefall. As he prepares to send a car carrying four people into freefall, the film also explores the friendship, loss and personal struggles behind his pursuit of increasingly difficult stunts.
Tony Robinson Rewrites History is Radar Studios’ first original production. Available to buyers as either six hour-long episodes or 12 half-hour instalments, it sees Sir Tony Robinson revisit defining events from ancient times to the modern era. The series examines the people, politics, rivalries and accidents that shaped those events, while considering how close history came to a different outcome.
The Robinson project is more than a conventional television acquisition. As TV Central previously reported, Radar has also developed a dedicated YouTube channel and a 12-part digital version. That cross-platform approach is central to the new company’s pitch, although an Australian broadcast or streaming destination for the television series has not been announced.
Crime stories include Cook and Police Australia
Cook, a three-part, hour-long true-crime series from WTFN, RMG and Undivided Attention, centres on journalist Stephen Cook. He spent years reporting on New Zealand’s criminal underworld before becoming entangled in it. The series spans hitmen, bikie gangs, international drug cartels and major police operations, while tracing the increasingly blurred line between Cook’s work as an observer and his involvement in the drug trade he covered.
Police Australia takes a different approach. The six-part WTFN observational documentary has access to the Western Australia Police Force and follows officers on Perth’s streets. Rather than build around a single criminal case, it focuses on unpredictable incidents, difficult decisions and the people behind the uniform. Its Perth setting gives the slate another distinctly Australian story for overseas buyers.
Wildlife, housing and renovation
WTFN’s eight-part Ultimate Animal Rescue gathers veterinarians and wildlife advocates for memorable rescues around the world. The hour-long episodes move between vulnerable species, formidable predators and the people working through the risks, setbacks and successes of rescue and release.
Australian designer Jamie Durie fronts the six-part Jamie Durie Future House, produced by Rawkus Content. The programme asks how design and construction innovation might contribute to Australia’s housing challenge. Durie brings builders, designers and innovators together to develop homes intended to be sustainable, resilient, cost-effective, stylish and quick to build. Radar has acquired the title for its international slate.
The other property acquisition is Heart of Oak, a 58-part, half-hour series from Oak Development and Design. Set in coastal New England, it follows the practical business of designing, constructing and renovating homes. The producers position it as an unmanufactured view of the personalities, decisions and inevitable problems involved, rather than a house-flipping format built around contrived drama.
Travel and lifestyle round out the offering
Long-term producer partner Never Too Small has two new titles in the catalogue. In My City My Backyard, local architects, artists and designers guide viewers through neighbourhoods they know and love, revealing the communities and places beyond their own front doors. How I Live Small instead goes inside compact homes around the world to show how their owners use design choices to make limited space more functional and enjoyable. Each series comprises ten half-hour episodes.
Casa Bali is an eight-part, hour-long series produced by Nomad Media Industries. Photographer and director Daniela Federici explores Bali through sustainability, food, art and architecture, with the emphasis on understanding life on the island rather than simply touring its landmarks.
In the 17-part Bike to Bites, Emmy-nominated producer and host Garrett Bess travels cycling routes before meeting food producers, restaurant owners and chefs along the way. The half-hour series comes from new Radar producer partner Two River Pictures.
Returning brands complete the slate. Luxury Escapes, produced by Luxury Escapes Travel, returns for a ninth season of 12 half-hour episodes, visiting locations including Alaska, Singapore, Vietnam and South Africa. Australian-made The Fishing Show, from AFN, returns for a 12-hour twelfth season filmed around Australia and surrounding islands, combining fishing action, scenery, challenges and practical instruction.
What the first slate says about Radar Studios
Radar Studios’ acquisitions lead said the mix was intended to offer buyers recognisable talent and clear story hooks across different kinds of channels and platforms. The company points to the access in Police Australia, the central character in Cook, the stunt ambition of Space Cowboy and the housing question at the heart of Jamie Durie Future House as examples of that range.
WTFN formed Radar Studios in September 2026 by bringing Fred Media’s international distribution business and the Radar digital operation into a single division. The group says the new business develops, finances, acquires and creates programmes for broadcasters, streaming services, FAST channels, YouTube and social platforms. Its catalogue exceeds 2,200 hours, and it manages more than 30 owned and operated FAST and digital channels, including Bondi Vet, Real Emergency and Love Nature.
The MIPCOM presentation is therefore a test of both parts of that strategy: selling distinctive finished programmes from partners and building Radar’s own intellectual property for multiple outlets. The distinction matters because the presence of a title in the catalogue does not necessarily mean Radar produced it, or that a domestic release is imminent.
For the background to the new business, read TV Central’s report on the Radar Studios launch. The official Radar Studios page has more information about the company.