The Beach (TV series)

The Beach is an Australian television lifestyle documentary series on SBS TV and NITV. The six-part documentary series first screened as a special three-hour TV event on 29 May 2020. It was created, directed by Aboriginal filmmaker Warwick Thornton who also stars in it and is filmed by his son Dylan River for Exile Productions. [1]

Filmed in Jilirr, Dampier Peninsula, on the north-west coast of Western Australia, The Beach was filmed over a month at a lone beachside shack that was constructed for the documentary.[2] The series has something of a food theme; it juxtaposes Thornton's success at foraging and fishing around his camp, and using an ancient Toyota Jeep (which earlier appeared in an episode of Mystery Road[3]), with cooking with other ingredients inexplicably arriving from outside, like fresh limes and chili plants. Three chickens accompany him, but only one makes it to the end. A dog appears, and seems to be left behind when Thornton drives off in his Jeep. The landscapes and sunsets of the Peninsula are shot from drones and various locations to good effect. Thornton narrates several episodes from his own life to camera, seemingly alone in the shack, although in reality accompanied throughout by his son or the film crew.