Pine Gap (TV series)

Pine Gap

Company type	Television series
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	2018
Founder	Greg Haddrick, Felicity Packard
Products	Television drama series
Parent	Screentime

Pine Gap is an Australian drama and thriller television series that premiered on Netflix and aired on ABC in 2018. This six-episode production was created and scripted by Greg Haddrick and Felicity Packard, with direction by Mat King for every installment. Produced by Screentime, the narrative delves into intelligence activities at the collaborative defence facility shared by Australia and the United States.

Overview

Pine Gap is a political thriller with an international scope, focusing on the joint Australian-American defence intelligence centre located at Pine Gap, close to Alice Springs, Australia.

Cast

• Parker Sawyers portrays Gus Thomson, the US mission director stationed at Pine Gap
• Tess Haubrich plays Jasmina Delic, leader of the Serbian Australian communications intelligence team
• Jacqueline McKenzie appears as Kath Sinclair, serving as the Australian deputy chief of the facility
• Steve Toussaint takes on the role of Ethan James, the American head of the site
• Stephen Curry acts as Jacob Kitto, Australian mission director affiliated with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service
• Sachin Joab embodies Simon Penny, an Australian analyst specializing in communications intelligence
• Mark Leonard Winter features as Moses Dreyfus, an American analyst in foreign instrumentation signals intelligence
• Kelton Pell plays Dr Paul Dupain, an Elder of the Arrernte people and practicing medical doctor
• Madeleine Madden portrays Immy Dupain, an Arrernte activist and student of law
• Lewis Fitz-Gerald appears as Rudi Fox, American chief overseeing intelligence operations
• Edwina Wren is cast as Eloise Chambers, an American imagery intelligence analyst
• Alice Keohavong takes on Deborah Vora, a Laotian Australian electronic intelligence analyst
• Jason Chong acts as Zhou Lin, executive at Chinese state-owned mining firm Shonguran
• Simone Kessell plays Belle James, spouse of Ethan James from America
• Milly Alcock appears as Marissa Campbell, a resident of Alice Springs
• Michael-Anthony Taylor portrays Will Thompson, father to Gus Thomson
• Matt Holmes assumes the role of Prime Minister Phillip Burke

Critical response

Luke Buckmaster from The Guardian labeled the series "soporific," suggesting it functions more as a sleep aid than a spy drama. He criticized both its narrative development and performances, awarding it one star out of five due to its lack of cinematic impact. Similarly, Helen Razer writing for the Daily Review issued a negative critique, condemning it as a failed effort to cast a positive light on Australia–United States relations, while also highlighting superficial representation of Aboriginal characters.

Pat LaMarco of The Daily Free Press described Pine Gap as a "tedious and slow-paced thriller," associating its Netflix release with diminishing standards in content quality and grouping it among forgettable and subpar dramas.

Nine-Dash Line controversy

Following its depiction of a map containing the disputed nine-dash line in two episodes—an element tied to South China Sea territorial disagreements—Pine Gap was pulled from Netflix's platform in Vietnam. The series also included explicit criticism regarding China's territorial claims over these maritime areas.

In November 2021, the Philippines' Movie and Television Review and Classification Board mandated Netflix to remove episodes featuring the nine-dash line. This action came after a complaint filed by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, which denounced the line as "illegal" and infringing upon Philippine sovereignty, deeming such content unsuitable for public viewing.