The new Australian production label The Set Up has put down its first high-profile marker: a television series based on Lisa Wilkinson’s bestselling historical non-fiction book The Titanic Story of Evelyn.
The story centres on Evelyn Marsden, the only Australian-born survivor of the Titanic, and her relationship with ship’s doctor William Abel James. The book, published in April 2026, follows her from rural South Australia to a career as an ocean-liner stewardess, then through the 1912 disaster, the First World War and the Great Depression before she and James settle in Sydney.
A female-led lens on familiar territory
The producers are framing the project as a departure from typical Titanic retellings. In a statement, Bruna Papandrea, Alison Hurbert-Burns and Steve Hutensky said the series would show “the Titanic as we’ve never seen it, told through Evelyn’s eyes and those of the many extraordinary women on that ship, with a beautiful love story at its heart.”
That positioning matters for buyers. Titanic is a proven global subject, but the pitch leans on a specific point of difference: a real Australian woman’s account, with a romance and a multi-decade sweep that pushes beyond the sinking itself.
Why this announcement is a slate signal
The adaptation arrives roughly six weeks after Made Up Stories and Alison Hurbert-Burns officially launched The Set Up. Hurbert-Burns is the former Foxtel content chief who commissioned The Twelve and Colin From Accounts; Made Up Stories is behind Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.
- Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Alison Hurbert-Burns will produce for The Set Up.
- Wilkinson, Nick Fordham and agent-producer Lee-Anne Higgins are also attached.
- In August, the label said it would source projects from third-party Australian producers and creatives.
- The company has flagged a “ready-to-go” production pipeline beginning in 2027.
None of that makes this a greenlight. It is a development play: a known book, a strong producing team and a story that can travel, packaged for streamers and broadcasters that are still looking for premium female-skewing drama.
What media planners and marketers should track
For ScreenStat readers, the useful signal is less about one title than about the slate strategy. The Set Up is pairing proven IP with an internationally castable story and producers who have delivered both awards-friendly drama and broad hits. Expect the pitch to focus on a woman’s perspective, Australian roots and a recognisable historical event as the hook.
The book was published in April 2026, so it arrives as a current title rather than a backlist catalogue item. The next steps to watch are buyer attachments, casting and whether a platform commissions it in time for the 2027 pipeline. If it lands, it will compete for high-value drama budgets and global marketing support.
Source: C21media
