Northern Pictures was crowned Production Business of the Year at this evening’s Screen Producers Australia (SPA) Awards, while also taking home further gongs for See What You Made Do and Love on the Spectrum. The Sydney-based company triumphed in a field that included Bunya Productions, Hoodlum Entertainment, Jungle Entertainment and WildBear Entertainment.

Jess Hill has spent the past seven years reporting on domestic abuse, recognised for her book See What You Made Me Do. This month sees the release of a three-part docuseries bearing the same name. She writes here about why it’s crucial for Australia to criminalise coercive control and how we can harness positive change seen overseas.

Reading the book was harrowing, upsetting, yet critical, and as Lucy Clark writes in The Guardian, “…seeing it brought to life on the screen, with the raw power of people talking to camera, adds a gripping, heart-in-mouth dimension.”

See What You Made Me Do makes for confronting viewing — it is a problem that involves people all around us in the community. As Hill tells us, there are three million Australian adults and children who are victims of domestic abuse.

The series is by turns sobering, heartbreaking and infuriating. At the risk of hyperbole and cliche, it should also be must-watch viewing, despite how much of it makes for difficult watching.