My Brilliant Career is Netflix’s adaptation for Miles Franklin‘s best known novel of the same name, released in 1901.
Set the year before, in Australia, young lady Sybylla Melvyn (Philippa Northeast) comes to Caddagat, a huge estate owned by her grandmother, Mrs Bossier (Anna Chancellor – Compulsion), and living with Aunt Helen (Genevieve O’Reilly – Andor), who lost her husband to the flu.
While modern medicine could’ve prevented that, this series has an anachronistic soundtrack, where modern music is included, such as the singing of Rod Stewart’s Young Turks at a dance, and elsewhere, Simon And Garfunkel’s Scarborough Fair.
Sybylla is quite the rebel in a a very buttoned-down world, and comes across as quite foxy, although there are some daft moments, such as when someone refers to her as a “fallen women”. Her grandma then chirps, “My granddaughter’s not fallen“, at which point Sybylla falls off a horse.
So, My Brilliant Career is quite playful, but while I can see a lot of people enjoying this, it takes an awful lot for me to get on board with a period drama – even when this is throwing in modern comedic elements, so it’s not for me, but unless this covers the whole novel, book, expect further series to come.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
My Brilliant Career is on Netflix from today.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 35-50 minutes per episode (6 episodes)
Release date: August 13th 2026
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Alyssa McClelland
Producers: Chloe Rickard, Paul Ranford
Writers: Liz Doran, Sarinah Masukor, Rachael Turk
Music: François Tétaz
Cast:
Sybylla Melvyn: Philippa Northeast
Harry: Christopher Chung
Helen: Genevieve O’Reilly
Mrs Bossier: Anna Chancellor
Augusta: Kate Mulvany
Frank: Jake Dunn
Nell: Sherry-Lee Watson
Betty: Miah Madden
Gertie Melvyn: Ella Oliphant
Whistler: Molly Lewis
Charlie: Jarron Andy
Lucy Melvyn: Mirrah Foulkes
Richard Melvyn: Nathan Page
Sgt Jack Baker: Reagan Mannix
Julius: Alexander England
Theodore: Erik Thomson
Jim Reid: Max Mayer-Rayment
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.