Tara McCauley August 12th, 2020 - 1:22 PM
On September 1, Metro Sexual, an Australian mockumentary series about an under-funded public health clinic, will premiere on the free comedy streaming platform Crackle for U.S. audiences. According to Variety, this was part of a larger North American streaming deal for the show, which will find a home on OUTtvGo and OUTtv’s Apple TV in Canada.
The 8-episode series, produced by Humdrum Comedy, originally aired on Australian channels 9Now and 9Go in late 2019, via Variety. According to Variety, Metro Sexual was able to reach further audiences between January and April of this year when it was made available to nearly 3 million passengers travelling with Virgin Australia.
Metro Sexual stars Geraldine Hickey and Riley Nottingham, who also serves as a writer and producer on the show, as doctors at the financially-struggling Metropolitan Sexual Health clinic. Variety notes that “Metro Sexual is the first Australian sitcom with all LGBTIQ lead characters.”
Humdrum writers Henry Boffin, Riley Nottingham, and Nicholas Kraak were intially able to finance their project with an investment from the Australian Government via Screen Queensland. Tracey Vieira, the CEO of Screen Queensland, commented about the investment: “bold and distinctive creative content that pushes boundaries and drives conversations is what Screen Queensland is always looking for and Metro Sexual delivers all of this in volumes.” (Screen Queensland).
Crackle president, Philippe Guelton, echoed similar sentiments when speaking to Variety about Crackle’s recent decision to bring the show to the United States. He said of Metro Sexual: “This ground-breaking comedy is the rare combination of relevant and irreverent, examining a serious topic in a hilarious way.” (Variety).
Metro Sexual writer and editor, Nicholas Kraak, expressed his gratitude that a global pandemic was “not enough to stop our little show from heading abroad next month” via Twitter, including emojis of the U.S. and Canadian flags. Riley Nottingham, the writer and producer who plays Metro Sexual’s Langdon, chimed in on the celebrating by posting the Deadline announcement on his Instagram saying “excited to share Metro Sexual with North America.”
Metro Sexual is heading to the US & Canada! 🇺🇸🇨🇦
Turns out a global pandemic can slow things down a bit, but not enough to stop our little show from heading abroad next month. https://t.co/NEomeHHTA7
— Nicholas Kraak (@nicholaskraak) August 12, 2020
Nottingham elaborated, when speaking with Deadline: “I am thrilled we are able to bring Metro Sexual to an American and Canadian audience and have found our home with Crackle and OUTtv. It’s such a hoot to play in the wild world of sexual health and hopefully Steph, Langdon and their crazy clinic can bring some much-needed laughter to the world.”
With 10-minute episodes, Metro Sexual serves bite-sized Australian comedy perfectly suited for a streaming audience. Starting in September, the series can be found on Crackle in the United States and OUTtvGO in Canada.
