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Highlights

• Netflix’s six-part series adapts Miles Franklin’s 1901 feminist novel
• Phillipa Northeast stars as Sybylla Melvyn, a young writer determined to avoid the life chosen for her
• The adaptation combines period drama with modern music, frank sexuality and stories of racism and social inequality

An erotic poem, a scandalised grandmother and a young woman with little interest in marriage make for an unexpectedly lively opening to My Brilliant Career. Netflix’s six-part adaptation of Miles Franklin’s 1901 novel wastes little time establishing that this will not be a restrained period drama.

Adapted by Liz Doran, the series follows Sybylla Melvyn, a fiercely independent young woman who dreams of becoming a writer. It follows Gillian Armstrong’s acclaimed 1979 film starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill, but brings a distinctly contemporary energy to Franklin’s story.