ABC’s Caper Crew delivers heists and heart – a bright spot in a struggling kids’ TV sector
- Written by Alexa Scarlata, Lecturer, Digital Communication, RMIT University
Australian kids’ TV shows are now few and far between. During the pandemic, the Australian government scrapped decades-old quotas for minimum hours of children’s content to try and bail out flailing commercial television networks. They were never reinstated.
In 2023, the Australian Communications and Media Authority reported the local kids TV sector decreased by more than 84% between 2019 and 2022. Certainly, Bluey continues to top global streaming charts. But beyond this phenomenon – which only financially benefits BBC Studios – local children’s TV has been in grave danger.
Last year, new laws were introduced in Australia to force streaming giants to invest in local content, including children’s programming. But these laws don’t include any minimum title numbers, or hours, per genre, so their tangible impact on kids’ TV remains unclear. For instance, Netflix’s 2026 Australian production slate includes no new kids content.
Essentially, it’s up to our national broadcaster the ABC, and advocacy organisations such as the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF), to carry the mantle and deliver this valued content.
The latest collaboration between the ABC and the ACTF is the new live-action family adventure series, Caper Crew. The first children’s series from acclaimed production company Easy Tiger, it demonstrates how good Australian kids TV can be, with a bit of resourcing.
Heists, hijinks and heartwarming fun
In Caper Crew, 12-year-old Amelia and 9-year-old Kai Delaney live in Woodspring, which they consider to be “the most boring town on Earth”.
Its only claim to fame is that 27 years ago the infamous Kangaroo Gang stole the town’s priceless golden meteorite, “The Nug”. Despite a $100,000 reward, its whereabouts remain a mystery. The series draws inspiration from the true story of the Kangaroo Gang, a group of Australian crooks who pulled off daring jewellery heists around Europe in the 1960s.
Just as Amelia embarks on a campaign to become the Year 6 school captain – against her nemesis and heir to the town’s dynasty, Emilia Katinkatonk – her glamourous con-artist grandmother Queenie mysteriously appears.
Queenie starts to teach her grandchildren the art of the grift, imparting a series of mischievous “con-mandments” from her personal playbook. As she shares her wisdom, Amelia and Kai can’t help but wonder: was this grandmother they never knew about once the Kangaroo Gang’s leader? Does she know where The Nug is?
Amelia and Kai, along with their friends Penelope and Ophelbert, form their own gang called the Joeys. They’re hell-bent on finding The Nug and claiming the reward.
The young cast of Caper Crew are very endearing, even when they precociously break the fourth wall. Tina Bursill’s Queenie is magnetic, Annie Maynard’s Mayor Katie Katinkatonk is gloriously grating, and ABC-favourite Michael Theo as drama teacher Jo Jo Encore will captivate the whole family.
For parents and carers watching with kids, Caper Crew combines a nostalgic ode to millennial classics such as Matilda and Harriet the Spy, with a Wes Anderson-esque visual quality. The series will likely charm young viewers into taking up magic or planning their own heist; parents be warned.
Family viewing key for the ABC
Caper Crew is emblematic of the ABC’s recent strategic shift to make shows optimised for co-viewing between parents and kids.
In June 2024, the ABC rebranded its ABC TV Plus channel (a more general family entertainment channel) to ABC Family, which is described as a “destination for big kids and their parents, with comedies, game shows, natural history, and movies”.
According to the ABC’s then-head of programming, acquisitions and streaming, Roberta Allan, this shift sought to capitalise on how most viewers were engaging with the ABC: via smart TVs, rather than on desktop or mobile browsers. As Allan explained:
Creating a brand like ABC Family will mean that we’ll be able to transition children as they get older with their families into that co-viewing safe environment. And expose them to some of the other content we have.
It’s a smart and appealing way to bolster kids programming at the ABC and to encourage a new generation of Australian families to watch together.
Caper Crew is available now on ABC iview and broadcasting on ABC Family.
Authors: Alexa Scarlata, Lecturer, Digital Communication, RMIT University
