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Russell E. Webb Russell E. Webb i(A105938 works by)
Gender: Male
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1 form y separately published work icon Richmond Hill Reg Watson , Ian Coughlan , John Coulter , Michael Harvey , Daniel Krige , ( dir. Gary Conway et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1988 Z1827549 1988 series - publisher film/TV

Like previous Grundy production Waterloo Station, Richmond Hill was an attempt to replicate Crawford Productions' success with the police-drama/soap-opera fusion that was Cop Shop. But like Waterloo Station, it was unsuccessful, limping through a year's worth of poor ratings before being cancelled.

Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series that the program was

designed to fit on the other side of the main evening news, thus hopefully holding viewers already hooked by Neighbours. Although the program had its share of younger characters, it is chiefly remembered for its older players, including the monumental Maggie Kirkpatrick as the pretentious butt of much of the comedy, veteran Gwen Plumb as the caring owner of a boarding house, and Ross Higgins as the police sergeant trying to hold it all together.

Moran also notes that the serial cost $8 million to produce.

1 form y separately published work icon All The Way Leon Saunders , Peter A. Kinloch , Sheila Sibley , Everett de Roche , Shane Brennan , ( dir. Mandy Smith et. al. )agent Melbourne : Crawford Productions Nine Network , 1988 Z1817183 1988 series - publisher film/TV historical fiction

Like other Crawford's programs in the 1980s (such as The Flying Doctors), All The Way began as a six-part mini-series, and was spun off into an ongoing series (which began production before the mini-series was screened on Australian television).

Set in the 1960s, the program follows three families through key historical events both abroad (such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy) and in Australia (such as the Maralinga atomic tests and the Bogle-Chandler case).

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, the program was 'a soap opera neither any worse nor any better than a host of others such as Cop Shop, The Box, The Restless Years or Neighbours', but it 'has an orientation towards the worlds of work and public affairs that, to the extent that one can generalise about the above-mentioned programs, tends to be present in Crawford soaps and missing from those produced at Grundy's.'

Moran is, however, critical of the program's setting, suggesting that the comparative lack of identifiable iconography in the early 1960s means the program 'looks and sounds little different from the present. Instead the viewer has the feeling that the costumes, props and sets were all found at the local Salvation Army depot.' The result, he argues, is that 'the serial just looks old-fashioned and therefore potentially of interest only to older viewers.'

1 form y separately published work icon Professor Poopsnagle's Steam Zeppelin Bruce Stewart , Betty Quin , Rick Maier , Ron Saunders , Robert Guillemot , Roger Dunn , ( dir. Howard Rubie et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1986 Z1827453 1986 series - publisher film/TV fantasy science fiction children's

Another Roger Mirams production, Professor Poopsnagle's Steam Zeppelin was a spin-off from Mirams's previous series, Secret Valley. In this series, Professor Poopsnagle, grandfather of one of the Secret Valley children, is kidnapped while working on a means of stopping air pollution. The children, in an effort to save him, complete his half-built steam zeppelin (a combination of an old bus and a hot-air balloon) and set off in pursuit of six golden salamanders: each salamander contains the name of a mineral, and the six minerals combined will complete the professor's formula.

The children are aided by the professor's friend, Doctor García, and opposed by the sinister Count Sator, a retired local land magnate. In the figure of the latter and in the concern with environmental destruction, Professor Poopsnagle's Steam Zeppelin (like Secret Valley) echoes the concerns of other children's programs such as Falcon Island and series one of The Henderson Kids.

The program also touches on the iconography of the then nascent genre of steampunk: though the program does not borrow the British Victorian or American Wild West settings associated with steampunk, the zeppelin itself is a distinctly steampunk device. Moran notes, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, that 'The effect of the flying bus was achieved through a combination of front projection photography, a double set of models, and front shots and interiors of a real bus hoisted on a crane'.

The program was successful on Australian television, and also aired in Switzerland, Finland, Spain, Greece, The Netherlands, France, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom (where, unlike Secret Valley, it was immensely popular).


1 form y separately published work icon Possession Bevan Lee , Gwenda Marsh , Denise Morgan , Peter Pinne , ( dir. Philip East et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1985 Z1827402 1985 series - publisher film/TV

Another Grundy soap opera, Possession was, like the ill-fated Taurus Rising, designed to challenge the American soaps Dynasty and Dallas, in that it was (to use Moran's description from his Guide to Australian TV series) 'nicely set to gravitate betweem motifs of material wealth and unbalanced, emotionally wrought behaviour'.

Like Taurus Rising, the program was unsuccessful, and was pulled from its 7:30pm slot early in its run, to run out the rest of its episodes in a late-night slot. Moran notes that the program was 'one of a long series of misses' for Channel Nine, as they struggled to find a replacement for The Sullivans and The Young Doctors.

Moran also notes, 'For industry watchers--the serial was producer Eric Taylor's first dip in the waters of commercial television after many years' flotation in ABC TV Drama'.

1 form y separately published work icon Secret Valley Ghost Town Gang Bruce Stewart , Betty Quin , David Phillips , ( dir. Howard Rubie et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1984 Z1827220 1984 series - publisher film/TV

Akin to other Australian television programs such as Falcon Island (1981) and The Henderson Kids (1985), Secret Valley revolved in part around the attempts of a group of children to protect a ghost town and its valley from the depredations of developers. In this instance, the children form the land into a weekend holiday camp, at which they both work and play; in this sense, Secret Valley is, as Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series, something of a successor to Roger Mirams's first Australian production, The Terrific Adventures of the Terrible Ten. Another group of children, led by Spider McGlurk, also live in Secret Valley (in Spider Cave), leading to a number of confrontations.

Secret Valley began as a made-for-television film, and was expanded into a twenty-four-episode series.

Moran notes that the program 'wore its Australianness well, even down to having the Secret Valley soundtrack lyrics imposed on "Waltzing Matilda".' Despite being (in part) a Grundy production, the program first aired on the ABC in Australia, and was sold into Spain, the United Kingdom (where it was a commercial failure when it aired on ITV), and the Netherlands.


2 4 form y separately published work icon A Country Practice Graeme Ellis , Anne Brooksbank , Hugh Stuckey , David William Boutland , Moya Wood , Leon Saunders , Luis Bayonas , James Davern , Roger Dunn , David Sale , Peter A. Kinloch , Keith Thompson , Chris Thomson , Tony Morphett , Denise Morgan , Christine McCourt , Gwenda Marsh , David Allen , Christine Schofield , Ro Hume , Galia Hardy , Marcus Cooney , Beverley Phillips , Don J. Townshend , Margaret Mitchell , Michael Aitkens , Patricia Johnson , Sheila Sibley , Margaret Kelly , Judith Colquhoun , Agi Schreck , Mary Wright , John Graham , Ted Roberts , Michael Brindley , Forrest Redlich , Anthony Wheeler , Michael Freundt , Russell E. Webb , Bill Searle , Cliff Green , Foveaux Kirby , Helen Steel , Howard Griffiths , Suzanne Hawley , Terry Larsen , Serge Lazareff , Helen Boyd , Carol Williams , David Worthington , Ray Harding , Bevan Lee , Stephen Measday , Patrea Smallacombe , Shane Brennan , Betty Quin , Graeme Koetsveld , Tim Pye , Jenny Sharp , Bob Herbert , Tom Galbraith , Alister Webb , David Phillips , Andrew Kennedy , Craig Wilkins , Grant Fraser , Sally Webb , Caroline Stanton , Chris Roache , Geoff Newton , David Marsh , Colin Free , Thomas Mitchell , Brett Mitchell , Steve J. Spears , Louise Crane , Ian David , Robyn Sinclair , Micky Bennett , Linden Wilkinson , Terry Fogarty , Michael Cove , Patrick Flanagan , Peter Neale , Peter Lavelle , Julieanne Stewart , Sally Irwin , John Hanlon , David Henry , Jenni Kubler , Jo Barcelon , John Misto , Katherine Thomson , Neville Brown , Margaret Morgan , Susan Bower , Sean Nash , John Lonie , Paul Spinks , Christifor McTrustry , Andrew Kelly , Charlie Strachan , Susan Bower , James Balian , Peter Dann , Michael Harvey , Jerome Ehlers , Jo Horsburgh , Jeff Truman , Rod Rees , Peter Gawler , Linda Aronson , Catherine Millar , Lynn Bayonas , James Davern , ( dir. Igor Auzins et. al. )agent Sydney Australia : JNP Films Seven Network , 1981-1993 Z1699739 1981-1994 series - publisher film/TV

Set in a small, fictional, New South Wales country town called Wandin Valley, A Country Practice focused on the staffs of the town's medical practice and local hospital and on the families of the doctors, nurses, and patients. Many of the episodes also featured guest characters (frequently patients served by the practice) through whom various social and medical problems were explored. Although often considered a soap opera, the series was not built around an open-ended narrative; instead, the two one-hour episodes screened per week formed a self-contained narrative block, though many of the storylines were developed as sub-plots for several episodes before becoming the focus of a particular week's storyline. While the focus was on topical issues such as youth unemployment, suicide, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS, and terminal illness, the program did sometimes explore culturally sensitive issues, including, for example, the Aboriginal community and their place in modern Australian society.

Among the show's principal characters were Dr Terence Elliott, local policeman Sergeant Frank Gilroy, Esme Watson, Shirley Dean Gilroy, Bob Hatfield, Vernon 'Cookie' Locke, and Matron Margaret 'Maggie' Sloan. In addition to its regularly rotating cast of characters, A Country Practice also had a cast of semi-regulars who would make appearances as the storylines permitted. Interestingly, while the series initially targeted the adult and older youth demographic, it became increasingly popular with children over the years.

1 1 form y separately published work icon Menotti Peter Schreck , Michael Jenkins , Michael Craig , ( dir. Russell E. Webb et. al. )agent Sydney : Australian Broadcasting Commission , 1981 6976933 1981 series - publisher film/TV

Series following the role of a priest in an inner-city Sydney suburb.

1 form y separately published work icon Spring and Fall ABC Television (publisher), ( dir. Michael Jenkins et. al. )agent 1980 Australia : ABC Television , 1980-1982 Z1674199 1980 series - publisher film/TV

The Spring and Fall television series comprised one-off dramas by different playwrights, focusing on life in Australia in the early 1980s.

1 form y separately published work icon The Slammer Spring and Fall : The Slammer Mervyn Rutherford , ( dir. Russell E. Webb ) Australian Broadcasting Commission , 1980 Z1389603 1980 single work film/TV

The Slammer focuses on the experiences of a prisoner released from a maximum security jail after serving an eight-year term. The prisoner has spent nineteen of his twenty-three years in institutions, including time in an orphanage and a boys' home. The narrative examines the difficulties experienced by ex-prisoners upon release, particularly adjusting to their freedom, finding work, and attempting to go straight.

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