Prime Minister Julia Gillard during the address in Canberra. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: The Daily Telegraph
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is set to relive one of the most tumultuous episodes of her political career with a major television drama under way on the leadership knifing of Kevin Rudd.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that work has begun on the series, with author Bob Ellis commissioned to write an initial script.
The series, in pre-production at Sydney-based international media and content group Beyond, will map the events leading to the dramatic removal of Mr Rudd on June 24, 2010.
Award-winning television veteran Tony Tilse has agreed to direct the series with renowned producer Stuart Quin who worked on feature film The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert to oversee the project.
Tilse won an Australian Directors Guild Award for his work on the original 2008 television series Underbelly, which was a huge hit.
The proposed Rudd series' development comes as Labor prepares to fight one of its toughest political battles in recent years. Mr Quin confirmed agents were being approached to fill the cast.
He said the series would be about both the rise and fall of Mr Rudd.
"Everyone thinks they know what happened with the rise and fall of Rudd, but like a true iceberg, 90 per cent is invisible," Mr Quin said.
"I think we can promise some revelations in the sometimes hidden world of federal politics."
Mr Ellis has been a speechwriter for Foreign Minister Bob Carr, with whom he remains a close confidant, and writes a regular political blog called Table Talk. He has been scathing of Ms Gillard and rude about Mr Rudd.
He once chastised Ms Gillard for her "girly tears" over the death of her father, and using John Gillard's death to "take time off playing hooky from her national obligations" while he has described Mr Rudd as "friendless".
The series is the brainchild of Beyond executive producer Mark Hamlyn, whose company lists Nine, Seven and the ABC among its clients.
Beyond's productions include the popular MythBusters, which roadtests bizarre claims of urban legends and modern misconceptions.
It also produced The Years That Made Us, a three-part series presented by award-winning journalist Chris Masters that looked at his family's personal journey during the two decades between the world wars, and the real estate show Hot Property.
Mr Hamlyn was head of ABC Television's documentary unit and the executive producer of ABC 's Television Science unit, where he developed the popular science series Quantum.
Mr Hamlyn will be leaving Beyond later this month to take on a job at Screen NSW, but talks are under way for Beyond to pursue the series following his departure.
Mr Hamlyn confirmed Mr Ellis had been paid to "write scenes" and the outline.
"We think it's one of the national stories of our time, that has just refused to go away, no matter how much those in power wished it would," he said.
"It's not often that Australian politics creates the kind of heart-stopping drama that the downfall of Kevin Rudd created. The whole country came to a halt the day it did.
"You can't get better drama than that. You can't get a more compelling story and it tells us also a lot about the price of power. And it's a story that isn't over yet."
Mr Hamlyn said he hoped to have the knifing series air "within 12 months".
The Rudd drama is expected to be done in a similar vein to last year's successful Howzat! Kerry Packer's War series and will have an all-Australian cast. It is understood initial approaches have been made to prominent actors to play the lead roles although none have been finalised.
Among the ALP stalwarts to be portrayed in the series will be Treasurer Wayne Swan, Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor elder Senator John Faulkner.
Naturally the so-called "faceless men" who helped orchestrate the removal of Mr Rudd as prime minister - Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten, Senator David Feeney, former senator and Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib and former ALP national secretary Karl Bitar - will feature.
Industry sources say the planned production has created "a buzz" given the upcoming federal election and the series is expected to be snapped up by a television network when finalised.
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