False Witness, also known as The Diplomat (2009) internationally, is a two-part Australian television mini-series, produced by Screentime Australia, and broadcast simultaneously on the Australian subscription television channel UK.TV and BBC HD. Commissioned as part of its required drama output, False Witness was the third in a series of drama commissions by the network in 2008, following Make or Break and Supernova (2005).
Ian mentions A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson, and reads prose from a book. Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, CBE (1864 - 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent much of his childhood. Paterson's more notable poems include "Clancy of the Overflow" (1889), "The Man from Snowy River" (1890) and "Waltzing Matilda" (1895), regarded widely as Australia's unofficial national anthem.
The The Diplomat (2009) series premiered in Australia on January 11, 2009, with the second episode broadcast the following night. The series also broadcast in the United States on iOn as a four-hour event on January 17, 2009. Despite being co-produced by the BBC, the series was never broadcast on terrestrial television in the United Kingdom, instead being made available on DVD on March 14, 2011 via Showbox Entertainment. The series was, however, broadcast on True Entertainment.