| Genre: | Crime, drama |
| Director: | Daina Reid |
| Starring: | Anthony LaPaglia Melanie Lynskey |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 4 |
| Producer: | Ian Collie Anna McLeish Sarah Shaw |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Company: | Essential Media |
| Network: | SBS |
Sunshine (released internationally as Sunshine Kings)[1] is an Australian crime drama series which debuted on SBS on 18 October 2017.[2] The four-part miniseries is an Essential Media production, directed by Daina Reid and written by Matt Cameron and Elise McCredie.[3]
Sunshine is based in Melbourne's inner–western suburb of Sunshine and its surrounds. The story follows Jacob Garang, a young, aspiring South Sudanese-Australian basketballer who is on the cusp of being picked up by scouts for US college teams. He becomes a chief suspect in a police investigation involving a 15-year-old girl, found seriously injured in one of Melbourne's more affluent suburbs.[4]
A second strand in the story concerns Eddie (LaPaglia), owner of the sports shop, who is persuaded to take over coaching duties of the Sunshine Kings basketball team from the earnest but ineffectual parson Skelton (Gyngell). Under new management the team becomes successful and Eddie becomes accepted by the Sudanese community who are the backbone of team. A serious incident in his racist past comes to light and they feel betrayed, resulting in an irreparable loss of trust.
A third strand is the efforts of lawyer Zara Skelton (Lynskey), daughter of the parson, to divert the police from treating the Sudanese as suspects, and eventually helps them discover the truth.
Guardian Australia critic Luke Buckmaster described the series as an "excellent, beautifully balanced drama", and "one of the standout TV shows of the year".[5] On 6 December 2017, the series received the AACTA Award for Best Telefeature, Mini Series or Short Run Series at the 7th AACTA Awards ceremony.[6] It also received three nominations at the 2018 Monte-Carlo Television Festival: Best Long Fiction Program, Outstanding Actor in a Long Fiction Program (Anthony LaPaglia), and Outstanding Actress in a Long Fiction Program (Melanie Lynskey).[7]
The mini-series has been published by Roadshow Entertainment as four separate episodes as broadcast, in a two-DVD package.