My Brilliant Career

Plot

The series follows Sybylla, a girl growing up in a rural town in Australia in the early 20th century, with ambitions to become a writer. Her plans are disrupted by a budding romance with a young man called Harry.

Cast

Main cast

Philippa Northeast as Sybylla Melvyn

Christopher Chung as Harry Beecham

Anna Chancellor as Winifred Bossier, Sybylla's grandmother

Genevieve O'Reilly as Helen Bell, Sybylla's aunt

Kate Mulvany as Augusta Beecham, Harry's aunt

Jake Dunn as Frank Hawden, an Englishman staying with Mrs Bossier

Alexander England as Julius Bossier, Sybylla's uncle

Sherry-Lee Watson as Nell Kirby, an Aboriginal horse trainer

Miah Madden as Betty Kirby, a servant of Mrs Bossier

Nathan Page as Richard Melvyn

Production

Background

My Brilliant Career is an historical drama television series based on the 1901 novel My Brilliant Career, by Australian author Miles Franklin. The novel is often on the reading lists in Australian high school curricula, and the 1979 film adaptation by Australian director Gillian Armstrong brought international fame to Judy Davis and Sam Neill, who played Sybylla and Harry.

The longer format of the series allows for the introduction of new characters and subplots, and varies from the original in other ways, for example casting Harry Beecham as a Chinese Australian. There are various other contemporary elements including a gay relationship between men, and an Aboriginal character, Nell, with a family story behind her that shows how racism and colonialism affected people's relationships with each other.

Development

In June 2025, Netflix ordered the series for six episodes. Liz Doran is the developer and showrunner, whose credits include the Australian comedy series Please Like Me (2013–2016) and 2022 drama series Barons. The writing team includes Doran, Sarinah Masukor, and Rachael Turk, with Shari Sebbens as associate producer.

Alyssa McClelland directs the first three episodes as set-up director, with Anne Renton helming episodes 4–6 and serving as co-producer. It is executive produced by Jungle Entertainment's Chloe Rickard alongside Doran and McClelland. Paul Ranford produces the series, with Courtney Wise as co-executive producer. Key department heads include production designer Felicity Abbott, set-up director of photography Kieran Fowler, costume designer Mariot Kerr, and hair and makeup designer Zeljka Stanin. Marden Dean serves as block two director of photography, with casting by Nikki Barrett in Australia and Nathan Toth in the U.K.

The show's budget is around A$17 million, which is the most ever spent on a TV series made in the state of South Australia.

Casting

In June 2025, it was announced that Philippa Northeast would lead the cast, joined by Christopher Chung, Anna Chancellor, and Genevieve O'Reilly, with Kate Mulvany, Jake Dunn, Alexander England, Sherry-Lee Watson, and Miah Madden completing the lineup.

Filming

The series entered production, with filming occurring near Penola, in the South East of South Australia, in June 2025.

The series also filmed at Adelaide Studios and other locations, with the backing of the South Australian Film Corporation, and around 400 local cast and crew working on the series. It is the most expensive television production ever made in South Australia, costing around A$17 million.

The grand home in which Sybylla's grandmother lives, called "Caddagat", was filmed on a property at Penola called Yallum Park. Some of the rooms were recreated at Adelaide Studios, with furniture transported from the property to Adelaide for filming. Yallum Park, an Italianate mansion, was built on a 40-acre (16 ha) property purchased in 1861 by Scottish settler pastoralist John Riddoch (1827–1901) for £30,000. He hosted many notable people at his home, including English novelist Anthony Trollope. The home has 17 rooms, and is elaborately decorated and well-preserved. At the time of filming, it is owned by Andy and Annie Clifford, Andy's grandfather having bought the home from the Riddoch estate in 1914. The home is opened to visitors once a month.

Scenes set at the home of Harry Beecham, "Five Bob Downs", were filmed a property at Gawler called Para Para.

Music

Jemma Burns served as music supervisor on the series, along with Molly Lewis and François Tétaz. The series also features contemporary music by other artists, such as Kate Miller-Heidke and Thelma Plum. The score was composed by Tétaz and recorded at Synthtemple. It features Lewis whistling and Miller-Heidke on vocals, along with musicians Luke Carbon and Melina van Leeuwen playing a large number of instruments between them, including flute, piccolo, clarinet, oboe, and harp.

Release

On the eve of its worldwide release, a red carpet event in which two episodes were screened was held at the Piccadilly Cinema in North Adelaide, attended by Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Kyam Maher, along with delegates from Netflix and the South Australian Film Corporation, local cast members, extras, and crew.

My Brilliant Career received a worldwide release on Netflix on 13 August 2026, broadcasting to 190 countries.

Reception

As of 30 August 2026 the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes determined that 100% of 27 critics' reviews were positive, and the average of rated reviews was 8.2 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Powered by Philippa Northeast's sparkling performance, My Brilliant Career is a joyful, sharp, and refreshingly modern take on a timeless coming-of-age tale." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 80 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Lucy Mangan, writing in The Guardian (UK), gave the series 5 out of 5 stars, calling it a "rare and beautiful period drama... [that] crackles with intelligence and wit, gives all of its characters room to breathe... and, without ever becoming superficial, never loses its lightness of touch. A joy. A brilliant, brilliant joy". Luke Buckmaster, of Guardian Australia, gave it 3 out of 5 stars, objecting to its "at times Mills & Boon-ish vibes", but nonetheless concluding that it "still has plenty of pluck and sass, an appealingly messy kind of gusto, and a very entertaining high-voltage performance from Northeast".

Rachael Mead, writing in InDaily, called the series "exuberant, romantic, visually exquisite and deeply engaging", with "exceptional" production values. She praised the performances, in particular Northeast, whom, she wrote, "is the lynchpin of this production's success". She liked the expansion into six episodes, which allowed for additional subplots explored "sexuality, race, ambition, and class".

David Knox of TV Tonight gave the series 4.5 stars out of 5, singling out Northeast's performance for particular praise and calling the show "a triumph". He also praises the supporting actors, Kate Mulvany, Anna Chancellor, Genevieve O'Reilly, and Sherry-Lee Watson, and opines "It is Netflix’s best local contribution since Boy Swallows Universe".

Jasmine Valentine, giving the series 4.5 stars out of 5, wrote on TechRadar: "I'll happily vouch for it being the strongest and most authentic show that Netflix has released across 2026 to date".

On 19 August 2026 the show was #5 on Netflix's top 10 list.

Soundtrack

Two soundtracks were released on the same day, 13 August 2026:

A 31-track soundtrack credited to François Tétaz, with many of the tracks featuring Molly Lewis. The score was recorded at Synthtemple, and features Lewis whistling and Kate Miller-Heidke on vocals, along with musicians Luke Carbon and Melina van Leeuwen playing a large number of instruments between them.

A 10-track album featuring songs from the series, with the following tracks: