SA's biggest-ever TV production comes to Murray Bridge

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Murray Bridge has become the backdrop for South Australia’s biggest-ever TV film shoot this week.

The Tourist is a Stan and BBC co-production with a budget in the tens of millions of dollars.

The six-part miniseries will be about a man who wakes up in hospital with amnesia after being run off the road by a semi-trailer.

Pursued by sinister figures from outback Australia to Bali and Singapore, he has to figure out who he is, why they’re after him and how to stop them.

The series is being produced by Highview Productions’ Lisa Scott, who brought Stan to the Murraylands last year to shoot A Sunburnt Christmas.

This time around the film crew visited Rollo’s Airfield at Pallamana on Tuesday, and the Adelaide Road Motor Lodge in Murray Bridge on Wednesday.

“The age and architecture of the building fitted perfectly into our design of our series,” Ms Scott told Murray Bridge News.

“We have completed some filming in other regional areas close to Murray Bridge.

“It’s wonderful to be able to use the resources of regional areas of SA and contribute to the local economy.”

Early in the afternoon, the show’s star – Fifty Shades of Grey’s Jamie Dornan – could be seen acting out a scene in full view of the public, to the delight of the half-dozen fans who came out to have a stickybeak.

Danielle MacDonald, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Alex Dimitriades and Damon Herriman will also feature in the production.

Hugo Weaving had previously been cast, but had to pull out due to a scheduling clash.

The thriller will be directed by Chris Sweeney, who started out helming music videos for Lana Del Rey, Lily Allen and Robbie Williams before moving into television.

In total, the production will employ more than 270 crew and cast members and require 850 extras over a 17-week shoot.

About half of the crew members were expected to be South Australian.

The production attracted $3.6 million in federal funding, but is expected to be worth $12.1 million to the state.

“We are delighted to bring this large-scale production to South Australia with the incredible support from the federal and state governments,” Ms Scott said.

Stan CEO Mike Sneesby said the production would be “world-class”, while writers Harry and Jack William described it as an ambitious project.

“The Tourist is a departure from anything we’ve written before,” they said.

“It isn’t an easy show to categorise, so we won’t.

“We are, however, hugely excited to have Chris Sweeney on board as director, and to be making this for the BBC and Stan – we’re thankful for their support.”