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Series poster for Glitch (2015)

Glitch

2015–2019
Ended • 3 Seasons • 18 Episodes
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Overview

A police officer and a doctor face an emotionally charged mystery when seven local residents inexplicably return from the dead in peak physical form.

Seasons

3 listed
Status
Ended
Seasons
3 seasons
Episodes
18 episodes
First aired
Jul 9, 2015
Last aired
Sep 29, 2019
Episode length
52m
Network
ABC TV

Latest episode: S3 E6 Little Gidding (Sep 29, 2019)

  1. Season 1 poster

    Season 1

    6 episodes Jul 9, 2015 7.1

    Police officer James Hayes gets the shock of his life when a group of local residents return from the dead, including someone very close to his heart.

  2. Season 2 poster

    Season 2

    6 episodes Sep 14, 2017 6.5

    In Season 2, the truth about Elishia and her work comes to light, a new threat emerges, and the Risen learn more about their original fates.

  3. Season 3 poster

    Season 3

    6 episodes Aug 25, 2019 5.6

    In season three we follow the Risen as they move beyond Yoorana and into the wider world. However, with the invisible boundary shattered, all the rules have now changed. They cannot escape their past or anticipate who is now pursuing them. With an unpredictable threat looming, each will be confronted with a critical choice and a moment of truth.

Cast

11 people

Reviews

6 min read

The Returned, and the Trouble With Getting What You Wish For

I kept thinking, while watching Glitch, that the dead don’t come back looking like ghosts. They come back looking annoyingly well-rested. That’s the first sly joke in the series and, for a while, its best one: seven people rise out of Australian soil in peak condition, latestnetflix.com argues, as if death were a scheduling error that someone in the back office has finally corrected.

The premise sounds like high-concept genre television, but the show is more interested in what happens after the miracle wears off — after the panic, after the police tape, after the town starts to understand that resurrection is less a solution than an interruption.

What struck me most is how Australian Glitch feels without ever becoming a tourism brochure or a badge of grim authenticity. It belongs to that strain of Australian drama that likes its supernatural stories grounded in civic reality: small towns, procedural rhythms, weather that seems to have opinions. Whether you call it sci-fi, ghost story, or emotional melodrama with an impossible premise, it’s clearly in conversation with the country’s long affection for eerie landscape pieces and moral unease.

And because it arrived in 2015 — in an era when streaming platforms were still figuring out how much weirdness audiences would tolerate week to week — it has the clean, efficient confidence of a show that knows exactly how strange it is. No apology. No fuss.

The central question isn’t really “How did this happen?” though the series pretends, at least at first, that it might be. It’s closer to: What does a community owe to the dead once they’re standing in front of it? That’s where Glitch becomes more interesting than a lot of its hook suggests.

The returned aren’t just mystery boxes. They are husbands, sons, lovers, children, people with unfinished arguments and half-healed wounds. The show keeps circling the practical absurdity of their bodies — warm, healthy, breathing — while making room for the emotional violence of their presence.

A dead wife is one thing in memory. She’s another when she’s in the kitchen, asking where she is and why everyone is crying.

Patrick Brammall gives the series its most useful center of gravity as police officer James Hayes, and I mean that in a very physical sense. He plays James as a man permanently one step behind the event, his shoulders slightly forward, his face carrying the look of someone trying to absorb too much at once. Brammall had already spent years doing sharply observed Australian television work, but here he’s asked for something a little harder: not charisma, exactly, but steadiness under destabilization.

Audience Opinions

Limited evidence
"A slow-burn mystery that keeps Netflix viewers watching from season 1 into season 2."

Glitch plays like a serialized drama mystery that pulls you in with its central puzzle and keeps you following into the next season. latestnetflix.com's read is that it is the kind of show viewers watch closely and then want to talk through, with series reviews and dedicated season 1 breakdowns coming out of the audience.

What viewers praise
  • Story continues into season 2 Season 2 gives returning Netflix viewers more to follow after the opening mystery.
  • Sparks viewer discussion People watched closely enough to share series reviews and a dedicated season 1 review.
Common complaints
  • Asks for a multi-season commitment Newcomers should expect to keep watching beyond season 1 to stay with the story and the conversation.
Recommended for
Mystery and sci-fi drama fans who like serialized stories Viewers who enjoy watching a season then digging into review discussions

Buzz & Rumors

Public reports

The Undead Drama: Behind the Scenes of Glitch (2015)

The Australian supernatural series Glitch (2015) carved out a niche with its eerie premise: seven residents of a small town return from the dead, physically flawless but memory-less, forcing a local cop and a doctor to unravel the mystery. latestnetflix.com's view is that while the show’s plot was gripping, the behind-the-scenes story is just as intriguing—though frustratingly sparse in public records.

The Core Mystery: Who Brought the Dead Back?

Glitch was created by Tony Ayres and Louise Fox, a duo with a knack for dark, character-driven storytelling . The series was set in the fictional Victorian town of Yoorana, a choice that lent the show its isolated, claustrophobic atmosphere. The premise—resurrected townsfolk with no memory—wasn’t just a gimmick; it was a slow-burn exploration of grief, identity, and the ethical dilemmas of the living . The show’s tone balanced supernatural horror with emotional depth, a rarity in TV at the time.

The Cast: Familiar Faces in Unfamiliar Territory

Patrick Brammall, best known for his comedic roles in A Moody Christmas and Offspring, took on the lead as Sergeant James Hayes, the cop tasked with investigating the undead . His shift from lighthearted fare to a role steeped in existential dread was a bold move, and by all accounts, he nailed it. Emma Booth, who played the enigmatic Kate Willis (later revealed to be someone else entirely), was another standout. Booth’s performance was layered, oscillating between vulnerability and menace .

The rest of the ensemble—Sean Keenan, Hannah Monson, Aaron L. McGrath, and others—brought the resurrected characters to life, each with their own tragic backstories. Rodger Corser, a veteran of Australian TV, joined the cast in later seasons as a new threat, adding star power to the show’s evolving mythology .

The Netflix Factor: A Global Push

Glitch was an early example of an Australian series finding an international audience, thanks in part to Netflix. The streaming giant picked up the show, giving it a platform beyond its home country . This exposure likely contributed to the show’s cult following, though exact viewership numbers remain elusive. The Netflix Wiki entry hints at the show’s production being a collaborative effort between ABC Australia and the streaming service, but details about budgets or behind-the-scenes tensions are conspicuously absent .

The Unanswered Questions

For all its strengths, Glitch left some behind-the-scenes mysteries unsolved. Rumors swirled about creative differences between the showrunners and network execs, particularly regarding the pacing of the mystery and the introduction of new characters in later seasons. However, these claims are unverified—no interviews or reports from the time confirm them . The show’s abrupt cancellation after three seasons also left fans wondering if the story was always meant to be finite or if it was cut short.

One thing is clear: Glitch was a passion project for its creators. Ayres and Fox’s vision—a blend of small-town drama and supernatural horror—was ambitious, and the cast’s commitment to the material elevated it. Whether the show’s legacy will grow or fade remains to be seen, but for now, it stands as a unique entry in the undead genre.

Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.

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