AustLit

Conceived as a telemovie, Without Warning is a story of sexual pursuit and intimidation that almost destroys a marriage and eventually leads to extreme violence and murder. When successful film producer Megan Turner and her director husband David are flagged down by an over-zelaous highway patrol, everything appears normal. Although he lets David off with a warning, the Turners' lives soon spiral out of control as he stalks and psychologically intimidates Megan over a sustained period. As the threats increase and the violence worsens, the Turners vow not to succumb.

While holidaying in Asia, two Australian backpackers, Joanne and Richard, are hauled off a train and taken hostage by Cambodian rebels. A ransom demand is made to the Australian Government for their release. The government refuses to pay. Also kidnapped is French couple Louise and Pierre, who are confident that the French mining company for whom Pierre works will pay the ransom. When Richard and Pierre are executed, Joanne and Louise know their days are numbered and plan their escape.

'Sixteen years after returning home, three disillusioned Australian Vietnam conscripts use their army skills to successfully plan and execute the country's biggest bank robbery. Seven years pass, and a petty criminal convicted as the driver in the heist is released from gaol. When his body is fished out of the harbour, the grim murder reignites the case.'

Source: Screen Australia.

'A female lawyer heads a government taskforce investigating a suspected paedophile racket in Sydney.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive.

'Maryam Zahedi, an immigrant woman originally from the Middle East, loses her job at the hospital. She and her daughter Zozan are getting a rough time from people in the community, and when Tom comes by to see them, Maryam's daughter runs away in fear of him, or more accurately, his uniform. A farmer leaves his barking dog with Anna when his neighbours start complaining but it doesn't take long for the incessant noise to get to Harry either. The dog it turns out, can only be soothed by the music the farmer's recently deceased wife used to play. Maryam's application for residency is rejected. The new clinic receptionist is fired for smoking on the job.

'Hugo finds Zozan hiding out at at the lodge and takes her back to her mother. Bernice consults Harry, the resident golf expert, about putting in a golf course in at Rainbow Farm, while at the same time, Darcy is undertaking a plan to revegetate the land. Maryam receives notice that her husband has been executed. She is sent the bill for the bullet which provides the evidence she needs to claim refugee status. A party for Terence's 50th birthday is held at the club.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 21/6/2013)

'Lynette Cooper, a young and inexperienced farm hand, is left on her own to run the farm where she is working—until her long-lost sister shows up after having broken out of detention. Shirley has pneumonia. Harry tries to impress a young woman on the golf course. Steve has a close encounter with a horse on the highway.

'Harry decides that it would be best for him to move out of Steve's house and he finds a new home with Terence at Camelot. Rowie decides to donate one of her kidneys to save her sister. Tiger Kelly drives a truck into Cookie and Bob's house. Kate Bryant, a new nurse at the hospital, moves in with Steve and Luke at the farm and takes possession of the horse Steve nearly hit.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 20/6/2013)

'Esme's use of steroids startles Wandin Valley residents. Steve's animals are being poisoned. John Bushnell, a mildly retarded man is abandoned at the hospital by his mother Sue and sister Alison. Jess and Cris help John overcome some of his difficulties. Terence and Ann form a new bond and relationship as they help Linda McNeil give birth. Matt has egg on his face when Bob and Cookie fall for his yarn about feral chooks.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 20/6/2013)

'Victoria Flemming, a famous opera singer and her "maestro," Francesco Giannini, are befriended by Frank and Shirley. Cathy returns from Kakadu with a smile on her face. Could it have something to do with a mysterious helicopter pilot? Frank and Shirley's match-making pays off with the wedding of Victoria and Francesco. Lucy has big financial problems. With a bit of help from old Perce Hudson, Luke's precious car becomes a vet-mobile.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 20/6/2013)

'A boy turns to his father for help when he is tormented by a fellow student. The hospital chef decides to propose to the girl of his dreams, but wakes up the next morning to find he has popped the question to someone entirely different. A terrified boy takes desperate measures to stop a bully. There are a few surprises for Jo on her eighteenth birthday.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 20/6/2013)

'Wandin Valley is invaded by gun-toting hunters as the annual duck-season gets under way. Cathy is determined to find out who shot her horse. Jo refuses to talk to Michael despite his profuse apologies. Cathy decides to resign. Matron Sloan is intrigued to know why her two doctors are being so formal with each other. A shooting accident tears a family apart. Penny tries a little match-making between her two favourite doctors, although Terence and Alex don't seem to need much encouragement. Cathy tears up her resignation.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 20/6/2013)

A family saga, following four generations of the Irish-Australian Quinn family (both working class and Catholic) and their intimate involvement in the Australian labour movement. Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, summarises the plot as follows:

Paddy Quinn is a shearer involved in the great shearers' strike of the 1890s that saw the formation of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Married to Maureen, he becomes the lover of Nesta Darling, a silvertail and suffragette. He dies young and his wife becomes both the custodian of his memory and also, in a way, custodian of the founding ideological vision of the ALP. Her children and their children receive the political torch, but somehow drop it. It is only in 1972-73 coinciding with the election of Gough Whitlam and the first federal ALP government for 23 years, that Maureen, now a very old woman, sees her aspirations fulfilled with the decision of her great-grandchildren to join the party and work for the ALP.

Moran notes that some critics dismissed the program as 'Land of Soap', since it concentrates as much on 'more personal and domestic matters such as adultery, divorce and religion, filial betrayal, ideological defection, alcoholism and suicide' as on 'great political events and actors such as the Great Depression, World War 2, Menzies and the Communist referendum'. He does note, however, that 'the series is feminist in its politics, seeing women as the guardians of the social and political equality while men are, for the most part, corrupt, cowardly, unfaithful and chauvinistic.'

The series cost, according to Moran, $4.6 million to produce, but achieved good ratings even when aired against Sixty Minutes.

'After a social worker advises authorities that young Hector Bailey should be removed from his family, Hector's Bunyip spirits him away to safety. The town, the Baileys and Hector's Bunyip (if he really exists) become the centre of media and tourist attention'.

Source: Screen Australia (Sighted: 14/6/2012)

'Pop McKenzie, an old scrap merchant, lives with his grandchildren Dee, Ray and Sid, and their beloved Clydesdale horse, Sam, in a humble home on a prime piece of harborside real estate in a run down suburb of Sydney, Australia. When a Japanese developer decides to build a large hotel complex on adjoining land, the McKenzies find themselves being uprooted from their home, as he wants their property as well. In addition, the developer's young grandson, Mikio, who dreams of being a battle warrior with a mighty steed, wants the family's faithful horse for his own. After the property is vandalized and Sam mysteriously disappears, the McKenzies must battle for their home and their horse.'

Source: Timeless Family Classics (DVD release blurb).

'Matron Sloan takes a special interest in a stranger who applies for a job at the hospital. Fatso is missing and Simon and Vicky are terrified when they hear that a wombat has been shot. Simon gets some unexpected training for the sleepless nights he can expect with the baby. Matron Sloan tries to help a Vietnam veteran who is suffering a breakdown.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 20/6/2013)

A television film in which a young woman, Rosy Costello, inherits her father's truck and, with the help of her friend Gayle, decides to keep it on the road. They face opposition from male truckies, but also befriend motorcycle cop 'Speedy' Norton.

According to MemorableTV.com, both female leads had to get their grade five licenses in order to undertake the required driving for the film.

Source: MemorableTV.com (http://www.memorabletv.com/australia/tvaq.htm). Sighted: 3/11/2011

After Molly suffers a fall at the farm, her and Brendan's son is born prematurely and dies a few days after birth.

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.

An adventure series following the experiences of a naval patrol boat, Patrol Boat rated reasonably well on Australian television and sold well overseas. Made in co-operation with the Royal Australian Navy (which, Moran points out in his Guide to Australian TV Series, 'had been trying to get something similar onto the screen for almost eight years'), the series made use of two naval patrol boats for open-sea shooting, including (for the second series) the Fremantle class patrol boat HMAS Defiance.

Moran notes that 'Guest stories included pursuing drug runners, helping a stranded refugee boat and destroying an old mine that had become dangerous to shipping. Each self-contained episode was constructed around two stories, one usually working around an individual sailor while the other concerned a larger group'.

Patrol Boat was the first program in which series creator James Davern's production company, JNP Film, had an active involvement, but Moran notes that JNP Film 'simply packaged scripts for the first series'. Their involvement was greater in the second series, which was made much later.