Streamers start the new year on the Run: Binge and Stan go hard from January 1

When streaming platforms started to flood the market a decade ago, starting with Stan and Netflix, free to air networks turned their attention to how they performed over the full 12 months… sort of.

With cricket and tennis dominating viewing in January, partly because there was not much else on offer, the TV year started with unscripted (reality) content from the day after the Men’s Final at the Australian Open tennis.

With Network 10 and ABC missing out on big ticket sport, they had been building a January audience with sport alternatives.

The former starts its year early with I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and the latter programs Australian drama series. In 2025 it was the wild final season of The Newsreader, in 2026 it will be the three-part mini-series about Australian tennis great Yvonne Goolagong, kicking off January 4.

Getting the jump on both of these though will be Binge and Stan.

The Foxtel Group entertainment streaming platform will debut its six-part drama about the bank robber Brenden Abbott  – Run – on New Year’s Day.

Meanwhile, Stan will continue its tradition of Australian drama premieres the same day with Dear Life. The drama features Brooke Satchwell in a story about organ donation from producers Wayne Hope and Robyn Butler via their production company Gristmill.

The adrenaline-fuelled Run could attract the biggest audience thanks in part to the guaranteed News Corp Australia coverage via the continued shareholding News has in the new Foxtel Group owner Dazn.

Run also happens to be a cracking story with brilliant leads – George Mason as Brenden Abbott, Ashleigh Cummings as his partner Jackie and Robyn Malcolm as his mum Thelma.

The series is produced by Warner Bros. International TV Australia (WBITV) with the steady hands of executive producers Hamish Lewis and Michael Brooks (for WBITV) working alongside Lana Greenhalgh and Penny Win (for Foxtel).

Speaking to Mumbrella about the production, executive producer and head of scripted for WBITV, Hamish Lewis said the company is anticipating audiences not just in Australia but globally engaging with the story of the man dubbed The Postcard Bandit.

ITV Studios is handling international sales and Run is part of a Brenden Abbott festival that the Foxtel Group is releasing with the companion documentary The Postcard Bandit also dropping just days after Run is released.

“Episode one starts off with a bang and it just goes harder and harder after that,” was Lewis’ summary of Run’s momentum.

As to the workload of leading man George Mason as Brenden Abbott, Lewis says: “This is his first leading role and he was on every day of the shoot, bar one, and he’s in almost every scene. He rides a roller coaster of emotions – there’s super high octane physical scenes that he had to prepare for, plus fight scenes, sex scenes, emotional scenes, fun scenes, he had the works.

“He was so prepared, so nuanced, his performances were so complex, he really stepped up to the plate. It is the story of Brenden Abbott and it’s a portrayal that feels genuine to Brenden himself. He’s incredibly smart, incredibly articulate and incredibly charismatic but also is able to hold his own in a room full of other criminals and police officers and he has a real presence.”

Lewis is equally effusive about the role of Jackie, Abbott’s partner, played by Ashleigh Cummings. This is her first role back in Australia for the Puberty Blues star for some time after starring in international productions Citadel and Long Bright River.