A CRITICALLY-acclaimed Australian television series produced by a man with Fermanagh roots has received a series of prestigious awards Down Under.

‘Hitting Home’, a major two-part documentary centred on Australia’s domestic violence epidemic, has so far won a total of five honours since it was first broadcast in November 2015.

The documentary series was produced by former Portora Royal School pupil, Nial Fulton, who moved to Australia in 2003.

Mr Fulton, a son of the late Sandy Fulton, a well-known footballer from Enniskillen, now runs an independent production company called In Films, which was co-founded in 2009 with Ivan O’Mahoney.

Just before Christmas, ‘Hitting Home’ won the documentary category at the Walkley Awards, which recognise excellence in Australian journalism.

It also picked up the documentary award at the annual Australian Academy of Cinematic and Television Arts (AACTA) awards.

To date, the series has also won The Australian Director’s Guild Award, the Amnesty International Australia Television Award and the Our Watch Long-Form Journalism Award.

Speaking to the Impartial Reporter, Mr Fulton said: “As producers, we collect these awards on behalf of the entire production team and everyone who contributed to the series.

“Our names might be on the statuette, but making television is a team sport. And winning the awards allows us to continue the debate, raising awareness and keeping the conversation going.”

He added: “The courageous women who trusted us with their stories deserve every accolade.”

Presented by Sarah Ferguson, one of Australia’s most respected journalists, ‘Hitting Home’ was the result of two years of research and over six months of filming on the front line of the country’s domestic violence epidemic.

The documentary was watched by over two million people and generated huge publicity in Australia. Following its screening, domestic violence agencies across the country reported a huge upturn in demand for their services.

The Walkley Award judges, in their comments, stated that ‘Hitting Home’ “went beyond” an excellent news/current affairs story.

The judges said: “It both exploited the momentum at the time of broadcast around domestic violence and propelled the issue much further, engaging viewers in complexities of gender control and violence, viscerally confronting male perpetrators and showing impact on families.

“It revealed compassionately that domestic violence affects all classes of women. A powerful window into a national crisis and a call to arms.”

Having received multiple honours Down Under, Mr Fulton revealed that his company are in talks with UK and Irish broadcasters to produce a UK/Irish version of the series.

The company are also in talks to follow up ‘Hitting Home’ with another project of similar ambition and scope.

He said: “The most satisfying aspect of making something confronting this is that, if you are lucky, it can make a difference to people’s lives. All of us who worked on this project have been approached afterwards by people saying they didn’t know they were in an abusive relationship or that they didn’t know how to break out.

“Domestic violence comes in many shapes and for some people, the psychological erosion of their self-esteem makes it hard to see what’s happening around them.”

The Enniskillen-born man added: “If only one woman was able to get her way out of an abusive relationship, then we did our job.”

After moving to Australia in 2003, Mr Fulton produced and co-wrote the acclaimed drama ‘The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce’, which starred fellow Fermanagh men, Adrian Dunbar and Ciaran McMenamin.

In a further link to the Lakeland county, he also met his wife Abbey through Mr Dunbar, who is her uncle.

In Films, Mr Fulton’s production company, has produced films and series for the Australian TV networks ABC and SBS, as well as Al Jazeera America.