Secret City is an Australian political thriller television series based on the best-selling novels The Marmalade Files, The Mandarin Code, and The Shadow Game by Chris Uhlmann and Steve Lewis. It premiered on Foxtel's Showcase on 5 June 2016 and on Netflix internationally on 26 June 2018. The series is produced by Matchbox Pictures and Foxtel.
A sequel to the series called Secret City: Under the Eagle was green-lit in February 2018. It aired on 4 March 2019 in Australia and launched worldwide on Netflix on 6 March 2019. It was later removed from Netflix in March 2026.
The sequel storyline is a departure from the books written by Uhlmann and Lewis, who joined the series as story consultants.
Synopsis
Secret City
Beneath the placid facade of Canberra, amidst rising tension between China and the United States, press gallery journalist Harriet Dunkley (Anna Torv) forces her way closer to the truth, uncovering a set of interlocked conspiracies which threaten her career and her life and endanger the freedom of every Australian.
Secret City: Under the Eagle
The story picks up with Harriet unwittingly ensnared in a military and political cover-up with Catriona Bailey's (Jacki Weaver) fingerprints all over it. Harriet's search for the truth leads her back into Canberra's corridors of power, this time working for a maverick Independent MP. What she unearths is a military program so secret even the Prime Minister knows nothing of its existence.
Cast
Recurring cast
- Anna Torv as Harriet Dunkley, a former investigative journalist for The Daily Nation, now Senior Media Advisor to Karen Koutoufides
- Jacki Weaver as Catriona Bailey, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, later Minister for Home Affairs
- Marcus Graham as Andrew "Griff" Griffiths, Chief of Staff to the Minister of Home Affairs, former Senior Political Correspondent for The Daily Nation
- Sacha Horler as Ludie Sypek, host of a SKY political panel show, former Chief of Staff to previous Prime Minister Martin Toohey
- Justin Smith as William Vaughn, Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate
- Aleks Mikic as Thomas Maher, a junior analyst in the Australian Signals Directorate
Secret City
- Daniel Wyllie as Malcolm Paxton, Minister for Defence
- Alex Dimitriades as Charles Dancer, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) officer
- Damon Herriman as Kim Gordon, a senior analyst in the Australian Signals Directorate. Originally married to Harriet Dunkley, but was divorced by Dunkley after transitioning into a woman
- Alan Dale as Martin Toohey, Australian Prime Minister
- Mekhi Phifer as Brent Moreton, US Ambassador to Australia
- Eugenia Yuan as Weng Meigui, wife of the Chinese Ambassador
- Matt Zeremes as Sean Brimmer, Senior Constable, Australian Federal Police
- Huw Higginson as Gus Reardon, Editor of The Daily Nation
- Miranda Tapsell as Sasha Rose, a cadet journalist at The Daily Nation
- Brenna Harding as Cassie, Australian National University student
- Benedict Samuel as Felix Crawford, lecturer and tutor at Australian National University
- Sean Taylor as Paul Wheeler, Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
- Kate Mulvany as Veronica "Ronnie" Bordoni, Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence
- David Roberts as General Ross McAuliffe, Chief of the Defence Force
- Anni Finsterer as Vice Admiral Joanna Hartzig, Vice Chief of the Defence Force
- Max Brown as Kevin Dang, boyfriend of Cassie and Australian National University student
- Charles Wu as Qiu, Australian National University student
- Kimie Tsukakoshi as Ivy Chen
Secret City: Under the Eagle
- Danielle Cormack as Karen Koutoufides, Independent MP for Wakefield, South Australia
- Laura Gordon as Caroline "Cal" Treloar, Drone Pilot, Royal Australian Air Force
- Rob Collins as Lieutenant Joseph Sullivan
- Don Hany as Ewan Garrity, Australian Prime Minister
- Andrew McFarlane as Air Chief Marshal Wes Lockwood, Chief of the Defence Force
- Joel Tobeck as Jim Hellier, Minister for Defence, later Acting Minister for Home Affairs
- Louisa Mignone as Mina Al Masi, friend and former cellmate of Harriet Dunkley
- Robert Rabiah as Sami Al Masi, Canberra businessman and husband of Mina
- Tom Wren as Alex Berezin, a lobbyist for Vanguard Energy
- Renee Lim as Major Helen Wu, Australian Army and wife of William Vaughn
- Benedict Hardie as Declan Boyd, assistant to Karen Koutoufides
- Michael Denkha as Michael Lavelle, CEO of South East Asia Operations for Trebuchet
- Di Adams as Gaelene Curtis, Liberal Party Leader of the Opposition and MP from Victoria
- Christopher Kirby as Kip Buchanan, US Ambassador to Australia
- Frederick Du Rietz as Robbie Lambert, lone survivor of the Davoren Park explosion
- Dalip Sondhi as Yasir Younis, Pakistan Ambassador to Australia
- Rhondda Findleton as Madeline Stenders, Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
- Rob MacPherson as Richard Gascoigne, United States Secretary of Defense
- Greg Eccleston as Floor Manager 1, crew member on Sky News Australia show Inside World
- Fiona Press as Sylvie Dunkley, mother of Harriet Dunkley
- Rahel Romahn as Nakeesh
Series overview
Episodes
Secret City (2016)
Secret City: Under the Eagle (2019)
All episodes were released on stream platform Foxtel on 4 March 2019.
Reception
Awards and nominations
References
External links