The Code is an Australian drama television program created and produced by Shelley Birse. Developed from a partnership between Playmaker Media and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, it premiered on ABC1 in Australia on 21 September 2014, and the first season aired through 26 October 2014. Season 2 of The Code premiered on 1 September 2016, and aired through 6 October 2016.
The first six-part series, set in both outback and metropolitan areas of Australia, interweaves several plot lines. The first follows brothers Ned (Dan Spielman) and Jesse Banks (Ashley Zukerman), who publish a video of a mysterious outback accident, and Hani Parande (Adele Perovic), who becomes involved with them. The second follows the accident, which sees teacher Alex Wisham (Lucy Lawless) and policeman Tim Simons (Aaron Pedersen) becoming involved in the personal affairs of accused teenager Clarence Boyd (Aaron L. McGrath). The third covers Ned's journalism office, managed by Perry Benson (Adam Garcia). The fourth chronicles the intrigues of Deputy Prime Minister Ian Bradley (David Wenham), and political staffers Randall Keats (Aden Young) and Sophie Walsh (Chelsie Preston Crayford) while the after-effects of the accident unfold.
ABC in June 2015 renewed The Code for a second season, after receiving significant funding from the Australian Capital Territory's film fund, Screen ACT. The new series that commenced screening in 2016, deals with fictional brothers Ned and Jesse Banks facing deportation to the United States of America to face trial in connection with security breaches. Anthony LaPaglia, Sigrid Thornton, Robyn Malcolm, and others joined the cast for the second series.
Synopsis
Series 1: A stolen vehicle collides with a transport truck in the middle of the desert. Two Aboriginal teenagers in the car are critically injured but nobody called for help because someone involved works for a major stakeholder in a secret research project. The accident would have remained a mystery if it had not been for Ned Banks, a young internet journalist desperate for a break, and his brother Jesse Banks, a hacker on a strict good behaviour bond.
Series 2: Two Australians are murdered in West Papua, the only survivor being Jan Roth, the fugitive founder of a "dark web" site, who is being chased by both Australian and US authorities. At the same time, a young boy is kidnapped in Australia by someone offering to sell him to paedophiles through the same site. The Australian Federal Police contacts the Banks brothers and informs them that the US authorities have demanded their extradition to the US for their previous actions, but if Jesse helps the police find the boy, the government will resist the extradition demands. Jesse agrees, but soon finds that the truth is very different.
Cast
Main
Dan Spielman as Ned Banks, journalist at Password
Ashley Zukerman as Jesse Banks, Ned's brother
Adele Perovic as Hani Parande, student and hacktivist who befriends Jesse
Series 1
Adam Garcia as Perry Benson, chief editor of internet news journal, Password
Chelsie Preston Crayford as Sophie Walsh, director of communications at PM's office Paul Tassone as Andy King, head of security at Physanto Dan Wyllie as Lyndon Joyce, AFP investigator Lucy Lawless as Alex Wisham, schoolteacher at Lindara Aden Young as Randall Keats, Chief of Staff, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet David Wenham as Ian Bradley, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
Series 2
Anthony LaPaglia as Jan Roth, fugitive hacker living in West Papua
Sigrid Thornton as Lara Dixon, head of the government's cyber ops unit
Robyn Malcolm as Marina Baxter, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Geoff Morrell as David Banks, Ned and Jesse's estranged father
Ben Oxenbould as Nolan Daniels, senior AFP agent
Ella Scott Lynch as Meg Flynn, a photographer and activist for West Papuan independence