AustLit

'Karen Parsons, a dedicated and courageous American nurse, sets out with five young orphans on an epic journey from a Thai refugee camp to freedom in Australia. She is rescued by an Australian charter boat captain, Steve Hannah, and love blossoms against impossible odds.'

Source: Screen Australia.

Travelling North is the story of a man's struggle to retain his dignity in the face of adversity and of his relationships with those around him. The narrative, with its King Lear overtones, revolves around Frank, a crotchety old man who nevertheless has an unending zest and passion for life, and his companion Frances. As events unfold, she watches helplessly as Frank attempts to come to terms with the complexity of his personality and his strong desire to live his remaining days to the fullest.

Set in 1947, this short story explores the actions and consequences that arise from a young boy's moral dilemma. Ten-year-old Gary Doyle is the third child of a large, poor Catholic family. Bright and with a photographic memory, Gary is constantly picked on and beaten up by the boys at school. His teachers want him to go to a special school for bright kids where his talents will be better developed, but his father can't be convinced to let this happen. When Gary wins a radio quiz show and is asked to become a regular, he finds fame and fortune within his reach. But when they start rigging the show, the religious and ethical Gary has a difficult decision to make, as he becomes trapped between his belief in honesty and the benefits that fame can bring.

Source: Australian Screen.

According to Patricia Edgar's memoirs:

I was really upset when I went to view the director's cut of Top Kid, which was my favourite script in the series. [...] Bob Ellis had written an ending that was ambiguous but which explored the enormous pressures on the boy. I had submitted the script to Father Gerry Briglia at the Catholic Education Office for his advice on such a story for young people. He endorsed it strongly and reinforced my confidence that we should be doing provocative productions of this kind.

But Carl Schultz and Jane Scott didn't like the ending and had shot an alternative, unscripted version in which Gary stood up and said, 'I will not tell a lie'. I was horrified; the film had lost its point and been turned into the kind of moralistic, sermonising story for children I detested. I felt very sure of Ellis' likely response. The shoot was well over, so we had to work with the footage we had. But as the director had not believed in the film as written, when it was assembled the scripted ending did not work. There was a prolonged stand-off between me and Jane Scott. I insisted we invite Ellis to view the ending--without the moral line (and without telling him of the producer's attempt to create an alternative ending to his story)--and ask his advice. Bob came up with a very simple but clever solution to extend the line of dialogue from the boy over a freeze-frame and throw the question of judgement back to the audience to ask them what they would have done.

Source: Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television, Melbourne: Melbourne UP, 2006, pp.167-68.

Dramatisation of the 1932-1933 Ashes tour of Australia, otherwise known as the 'bodyline' series, after the controversial fast leg theory bowling ('bodyline') practised by the English cricket team in an attempt to counter Don Bradman's skill as a batsman.

Albert Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, links the mini-series to the earlier Kennedy Miller production The Dismissal, arguing that 'Although ostensibly a change in subject matter (from politics to sport)', Bodyline is 'a further fascinating portrait in tyranny'. Moran also argues that the use of archival footage 'authenticated the series, augmenting its claims to truth, while the material shot for the series narrativised and dramatised the original footage'.

The series was shown over four successive weeks, and produced excellent ratings for Channel Ten.

Set in the Depression, the story follows the bitter struggle between two sisters over the custody of their orphaned nephew. Each determined to have the boy, both women resort to deceitful manipulation and cruel lies.

Dramatisation of the political events leading up to the dismissal of the Whitlam government on November 11th 1975.

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, the plot is as follows:

The title of the series refers to archaeologist Dr Pieter Gerrard's efforts to find proof on the Greek island of Levkas of his theory that prehistoric man trekked from Africa over what is now the floor of the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. To finance his activities, Gerrard engages in smuggling ancient Greek artifacts. When exposed, he takes a few possessions and disappears. Meanwhile, his son Paul [...], a footloose adventurer, is trapped into working for a shady Hamburg art dealer. This takes Paul to Greece also and, once there, he sets about trying to find his father. This leads to a complex cat and mouse game involving smugglers, police and a rival archaeologist.

According to Moran, Australians had a large creative input in The Levkas Man (a co-production with a German production company), but a smaller financial investment; as a result, the ABC did not share in export profits.

'On Queensland’s Gold Coast in the early 1980s, a disgraced former cop, Michael Stacey (Ray Barrett), sets out to find a missing girl, the daughter of a senior politician. Stacey is down on his luck and desperate for a drink. His ex-wife has left him, he misses his dog Somare, and the publisher cancels his book about police corruption. He plunges into the Gold Coast’s nightmarish world of corruption, sex, violence, cult religion and dirty politics. He gets beaten up, finds and loses the girl and stumbles upon an unlikely plot for a military coup. People keep dying around him and he must continually resist the temptations put before him. Surviving in Surfer’s Paradise is not easy.'

Source: Australian Screen. (Sighted: 29/8/2013)

Now an extremely obscure text, Timelapse, aired in 1980, followed the struggle for revenge of computer genius Douglas Hardy: cryogenically frozen in the late 1970s after a failed assassination attempt by corrupt politicians, Hardy is accidentally awoken in 1991, to find that the politicians of his own time have only increased their power. In this new fascist future, Hardy seeks revenge against those who tried to kill him.

In a 1981 interview with star Robert Coleby, Greg Flynn notes that 'Although a rocketing success with sci-fi enthusiasts, Timelapse received few critical bouquets' ('Robert Coleby: Levkas Man is Everyone's Cup of Tea', Australian Women's Weekly, Wed. 25 Feb. 1981, pp.170-71).

For example, one particularly scathing contemporary review (by Cul Cullen) notes:

'There is a whisper abroad that Colin Free wrote the script. I can't believe it. I hope he sues those responsible for this vile slander. ... Cleverly, the ABC has slotted Timelapse against very popular shows on the commercial channels. That way, you see, it might slip by unwatched by anybody.

'And no awkward questions will be asked as to why public money is wasted on such inept nonsense.'

Source: 'Culled Out', Australian Women's Weekly, Wed. 14 May 1980, p.213.

However, Albert Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, says instead that

'Timelapse was a surprisingly good thriller cum piece of adult science fiction much in the manner of the excellent British cult series Prisoner starring Patrick McGoohan. However, where Prisoner was ultimately metaphysical in suggesting the impossibility of either escape by the central figure or his capacity to overcome his captors, Timelapse chose to be more pragmatic in having Hardy finally defeat his enemies.'

Set in the 1930s, Ride on Stranger focuses on the life of country girl Shannon Jones. After working for her aunt as a maid, Shannon moves to Sydney, where she becomes involved with a religious sect.

For a detailed, episode-by-episode synopsis, see Film Details.

Five men meet again at a high-school reunion, allowing them to reflect on the past and plan for the future.

This mini-series concerns an accountant who is framed for murder after he discovers a discrepancy in the books of a giant financial operation.

According to a piece in the Australian Women's Weekly, 'The story begins when Hennessy's accountant discovers a discrepancy in the firm's books. The accountant, Ben Wilson, resigns and gets killed in an "accident." Another accountant, Harry Blake (played by Michael Aitkens), is brought in to check the books, discovers the same discrepancy and ends up getting "framed" for Wilson's death' (Wed. 24 Aug. 1977, p.32).

Set in the South Australian town of Streaky Bay, Blue Fin is the story of a young boy's relationship with his father, owner of the fishing trawler Blue Fin, and the chance the boy has to prove himself.

'A claim by a bankrupt Wagga Wagga butcher that he was Sir Roger Charles Tichborne, heir to the Tichborne title and estates as twelfth Baronet, resulted ultimately in one of the most famous British criminal trials of all time.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 28/6/2013)