Creator Michael Lucas began developing the concept around 2015 while working on Party Tricks and the fifth series of Offspring, originally basing it on a male and female lead representing a flip of gender stereotypes rather than a newsroom setting.
Lucas decided on the 1980s newsroom setting later, feeling it put pressure on characters to fulfil gendered roles, and conducted research including interviewing former 1980s newsroom workers and reading nearly every newspaper from 1986, focusing especially on letters to the editor.
The pilot script was written on spec and pitched to the ABC, with executive producer Brett Sleigh suggesting the series be structured around real historical news events using the ABC's archive footage rather than generic invented stories.
Lucas knew from the start the series would open with the Challenger explosion, as it was the first major news event he remembered from childhood, and built the rest of the timeline around real 1986 news events.
To secure international distribution, producers had to be conscious of choosing stories with international resonance, such as the Azaria Chamberlain case, since foreign distributors were wary of the show's strong Australian and temporal specificity.
To achieve an authentic 1980s look rather than a modern show 'about' the 1980s, cameras were fitted with vintage lenses, and newsdesk scenes were shot using a mix of full cinematic cameras and old Betacam cameras.
The first series was filmed over 54 shoot days during COVID-19 restrictions in late 2020 and early 2021, which limited the extent of planned location filming.
Scenes depicting the aftermath of the Russell Street bombing were shot at the actual site of the real attack, and creator Michael Lucas made a cameo appearance in one episode of the first series.
The News at Six studio scenes were filmed at NEP Studios in Southbank, South Melbourne, while the newsroom offices were set in a disused chemical warehouse/factory in Brooklyn, west of Melbourne.
Development of the second series was commissioned by the ABC before the first series even aired, giving Lucas time to plan the story without knowing how audiences would respond to season one.
For the second series, cast members were given a booklet detailing real 1987 and 1988 news events featured in the show, to provide background for actors unfamiliar with the period's news stories.
The original cut of the second series' final episode ran about 84 minutes and had to be trimmed down to an hour, which Lucas described as one of the agonies of making the series.
Pre-production of the third series began with cast table reads in December 2023, and filming took place partly at the former Neighbours studios on the outskirts of Melbourne's CBD, concluding after 56 shoot days in March 2024.
Anna Torv was cast as Helen Norville in early 2020 after reading the scripts for the first two episodes, and described her portrayal as an amalgamation of real female newsreaders she grew up watching, rewatching their broadcasts as research.
Michelle Lim Davidson felt apprehensive about playing Noelene since it made her the first Korean Australian woman in a major Australian TV drama, but praised the arts department's attention to detail in representing Korean culture.
Chai Hansen appeared significantly less in the second series as Tim Ahern due to his commitments to the Amazon Prime Video series Night Sky.
The activist character Lynus was heavily based on real figures from the Bicentennial protests, with writer Adrian Russell Wills drawing large influence from his own activist brother and his 2014 documentary '88' on the protests.
Singer Em Rusciano made a singing cameo in the second series, alongside real Australian TV journalists including ABC meteorologist Nate Byrne, Network 10 reporter Daniel Doody, and radio sports commentator Megan Hustwaite.
An episode used real Four Corners footage of an interview with then-Finance Minister Paul Keating, edited to appear as though the character of Helen were conducting the interview herself; permission was not sought from Keating, though it was required from Kylie Minogue for other archival footage.
An intimacy coordinator was used during production of the second series to help shape performances and dialogue accurately for a period-appropriate storyline involving Dale's sexuality with the character Gerry.
The Newsreader became the ABC's most-viewed drama program of 2021, averaging 1.5 million viewers across linear and on-demand platforms, and both its first and second seasons received 100% approval ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.
The series received the most nominations of any show or film at the AACTA Awards in both 2021 and 2023.
