Wonderland (Australian TV series)

On 23 October 2012, Network Ten announced its slate of new programming, with Wonderland being one of five new dramas commissioned for the channel.[3] Michael Idato from The Age reported that Ten hopes the series will "tap into" Offspring's established audience.[4] Wonderland is billed as "a contemporary romantic comedy" and was co-created by Jo Porter and Sarah Walker.[4][5] The drama has drawn comparisons to The Secret Life of Us.[6] The 22-part project is being produced by FremantleMedia Australia.[7] Of the series, Ten's executive producer of drama, Rick Maier, said "Wonderland is an escapist treat with a great production team and with a perfectly-balanced ensemble cast. As the song says: the world really is wonderful and we can't wait to showcase this new series on Ten."[8] The first series of Wonderland began airing from 21 August 2013.[9]

After 13 episodes, the finale aired in November 2013, with the remaining nine episodes scheduled to air as season two from 13 August 2014.[10][11] Wonderland was commissioned for another 22 episodes, taking the episode count to 44.[12][13] Of the second series, cast member Ben Mingay said "Season two steps it up a level and dives into really cool storylines and there is more comedy and drama than the first season, it's a whole other beast. Wonderland fans of the first season are going to love season two."[14] The second season concluded after 15 episodes, airing on 19 November 2014.

On 26 October 2015, it was announced that Wonderland had been cancelled after it "failed to find a sufficient audience".[15] Most of the third season episodes fell below the 500,000 audience mark.[15]

Casting for the series was announced on 28 April 2013.[16] Brooke Satchwell was cast as lawyer Grace Barnes.[16] Describing her character, Satchwell stated "Grace is a very linear, bottled up defamation lawyer, and as you can imagine, she is going to come slightly undone."[16] Michael Dorman plays bachelor Tom Wilcox, while Jessica Tovey was cast as Dani Varvaris.[16] Tovey said her character is very different from herself. She works in PR and is "quite loud, speaks her mind, is quite confident and is very Gen Y girl."[6] Emma Lung plays Colette Riger and Ben Mingay plays Rob Duffy.[8] Tim Ross appears as Steve Beaumont, Glenn McMillan plays Carlos Dos Santos, while newcomer Anna Bamford plays Miranda Beaumont.[16] Ewen Leslie was cast as Nick, a love interest for Grace (Satchwell).[17]

All the main cast members returned for the second series.[18] Les Hill joined the cast as "the brooding but charming" Max Saliba.[19] While Martin Sacks was cast as Steve and Miranda's father Cal Beaumont.[20] Simone Kessell was cast as Sasha Clarke, a woman from Tom's past. Kessell described her character as being like a drug to Tom and added "my character has come on board to really, really shake things up."[21] Elise Jansen and model Megan Gale also appear in the second season.[14]

Network Ten announced on 29 April that Wonderland, which is set in a beach-side apartment building, had begun production. The following month, a reporter for The Daily Telegraph revealed that the cast had begun filming on location in Sydney.[8][22][23] Filming took place in the Sydney suburb of Coogee.[6] Filming for the second season began during late March 2014.[24] Cast members Tovey and Ross spent two days filming in Singapore. Tovey commented "We did it guerilla style, with not much crew at all."[25]

The Sydney sound house Smith and Western released the show's theme song "(Come On) Come Inside" shortly before the first episode aired.[26] The song was written and recorded by Ant Smith, Nick West, Dan Higson and Amanda Brown. It features singer and songwriter Mike Paxton on vocals.[26] The video for "(Come On) Come Inside" premiered on The Loop on 10 August 2013.[26] Of the song, West commented "It was a really fun process to write with so many great people and we're really stoked at how the song came about through such a collaborative and creative process. '(Come On) Come Inside' is about capturing the inviting sound of life in coastal Sydney."[26] The track was released to radio, while fans could download it for free from the Wonderland Facebook page.[26] Smith and Western have also composed the musical underscore featured throughout the series.[26] Australian band Purple Cream have recorded a theme song for the show called Crazy OL World