10 recommendations

I recommend this...

Scorched

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

It seems that in 2012, Mark Ferguson will look exactly as he does today. The Nine Network newsreader appears as himself in the new telemovie Scorched, which is set four years in the future - yet Ferguson doesn't appear to have aged a day.

Although Ferguson has avoided Father Time, not everything about Scorched's fictional world of tomorrow is so rosy - in fact, it's downright depressing. Drought has ravaged Australia, and Sydney is almost out of water: dams are near-empty, and a much-hyped desalination plant has failed to quench the city's thirst.

On Christmas Eve, disaster breaks out when uncontrollable bushfires begin to burn around the city... and there isn't enough water to put them out. Fire Service commander David Langmore (Cameron Daddo) fights to extinguish the blaze; Doctor Michael Francia (Vince Colosimo) juggles an onslaught of patients with his teenage daughter; and NSW Premier Angela Boardman (Georgie Parker) is faced with the failure of her government to avert the crisis.

It's not often an Australian drama comes along that is so epic in scope: Scorched is a true disaster flick, complete with special effects and melodramatic emotional subplots. The out-of-water premise is scarily credible - though even if it doesn't convince you, it's worth tuning in to just for the all-star Aussie cast.

Scorched premieres on the Nine Network on Sunday, August 31, at 8:30pm.

Sam Downing, August 2008

View Citysearch's TV guide.