''Diary of an Uber Driver '' is an Australian television

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

series screened on ABC TV from 14 August 2019, based on a

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

and

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

by Ben Phillips. The TV series was written by Thomas Ward and directed by Matthew Moore.

Plot

''Diary of an Uber Driver'' follows

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

driver Ben as he transports a number of disparate characters to their destinations. The passengers display a range of behaviours, with each trip telling a part of their stories and evoking a range of reactions by Ben. Ben's background story unfolds as the series progresses, as he tries to prepare for impending unplanned fatherhood with the mother of his child, whom he hardly knows.

Cast

* Sam Cotton as Ben *

Zahra Newman Zahra Newman is an Australian actress. Early life and education Newman was born in Port Antonio Jamaica and spent her formative years in Kingston before migrating to Australia at the age of 14 with her mother. Her interest in the performing ar ...

as Beck * John Bell as Ken *

Caroline Brazier Caroline Brazier is an Australian actress who is best known for the role of Chrissy Merchant in ''Packed to the Rafters'' and the starring roles of Veronica Johnson and her twin sister Betti in the children's television series ''Parallax''. Braz ...

as Jodie * Ed Oxenbould as Clint *

Julian Maroun Julian Maroun is an Australian actor, best known for his roles as Corporal Peter "Pepsi" Abboud in ''Fighting Season'' and Farid in Logie Award-winning miniseries ''Romper Stomper''. Early life Maroun's parents were born in Lebanon. Career ...

as Mo *

Emily Barclay Emily Barclay Ward (born 24 October 1984) is a British-born New Zealand and Australian AFI award winning actress. Career Emily Barclay was born in Plymouth to a General practitioner and a landscape designer, and raised in Auckland, New Zealan ...

as Georgie * Harry Cook as Mike Fisher * Rajan Velu as Saad

Background and production

Ben Phillips' blog and e-book ''Diary of an Uber Driver'' was optioned for development as a TV series by RevLover Films' Martha Coleman. Thomas Ward, co-writer of and actor in ''

Please Like Me ''Please Like Me'' is an Australian comedy-drama television series created by and starring Josh Thomas. Thomas also serves as a writer for every episode. The series premiered on 28 February 2013 on ABC2 in Australia and is on occasion available ...

'', wrote the TV series after reading the blog, creating a different backstory for Ben but borrowing ideas from some of the stories of the passengers. Sam Cotton was recruited to play the lead character and Zahra Newman the mother of his unborn child. The series was supported by

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

Create NSW Create NSW is a government agency of the Government of New South Wales, that falls within the Enterprise, Investment and Trade cluster. The agency was created on 1 April 2017 from an amalgamation of Arts NSW (ANSW) and Screen NSW. Create NSW i ...

and

All3Media All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London. The All3Media group consists of more than 50 production and distribution companies and labels from the Uni ...

Episodes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diary of an Uber Driver Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming 2019 Australian television series debuts Australian English-language television shows Works about Uber