AustLit

An Australian-New Zealand co-production.

'When 14-year-old New Zealander Holly McKenzie arrives in the Australian seaside town of Woolich, her dreams of playing basketball with the RAMS, one of the best junior basketball teams in the district, are quickly shattered. Determined to prove her ability, Holly forms her own team—the OUTLAWS. With basketball as a backdrop, Holly's Heroes is a funny and light hearted exploration of being the new kid on the block, the importance of friendship, the value of teamwork, first love, and the rewards that come from participation and the simple love of sport. Holly learns that the feeling of belonging she achieves with her team is far more important than simply winning.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

A Canadian-Australian co-production.

'Amid the excitement and thrill of the horse world growing up seems harder than ever … Stevie, Carole and Lisa are strong, dynamic young women. Each has very distinct and personal dreams for the future. All have one thing in common - a passion for horses. In forming the Saddle Club the girls promise to remain loyal to each other no matter what, but that promise may not prove to be as easy to keep as they think.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 20/8/2013)

According to Screen Australia, 'Julia Brandt, a German graduate, travels to Australia looking for adventure without telling her mother, only to find herself embroiled in drug smuggling and murder in the Outback.'

(Sighted: 13/6/2013)

'Inspired by true events, Stingers reveals the shadowy and ambiguous world of undercover cops — people with covert lives and constantly changing identities. They are police who defeat crime from within the criminal world — always without a badge and frequently without protection. The series follows the lives of the operatives as they befriend and betray those on the other side of the law. For these select few, it is a deadly way of life.The undercover cops of Stingers are a unique breed. They must juggle their own lives — love, laughter, family and humanity — with the tension of the criminal personas they adopt in their passion for justice.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 7/6/2013)

'A fast-paced television drama set within the fascinating environment of a State Coroner's office complex. Each day a team of highly trained professionals deal with the questions of deaths, murders, accidents, suicides, fires, drownings and even the odd natural cause. We see their battles with grieving families, slow or meddling authorities and organized crime, from the initial inquiry through to the courtroom appearances and the Coroner's final verdict and recommendations for trial or reform.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive (http://www.australiantelevision.net/statecoroner/statecoroner.html). (Sighted: 8/3/2013)

'Superintendent Dave Griffin is preparing for the major arrest of Steven Jellicoe, the pre-eminent brain surgeon and national treasure, for drug importation and Medicare fraud. Jellicoe is being shadowed in Hong Kong by Detective May Po. During the surveillance, May's brother is killed by Kai, a triad hitman.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 17/6/2013)

'A hard-edged, gritty drama about the tense and claustrophobic world of a Major Crime Task Force set up to solve an urban terrorist bombing, a Task Force which brings together a crew of idiosyncratic, competitive characters over a knife edged maximum stressed two months. PHOENIX is no traditional cop shop or crime story. Its characters are not clean, super hero cops, just real police whose attitudes can be shocking and whose humour is grim and black.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 3/5/2013)

On the cold and inhospitable planet of Zyrgon in a galaxy light years away, X's father wins the state lottery for the 27th time in a row. Knowing he will now be severely punished, twelve-year-old X is determined to save her family from jail, and decides to buy a spaceship. The whole family then set off into space, head halfway across the galaxy, and turn left. They land on an even stranger planet: Earth.

'Drama series set in and around an Australian embassy in the fictional Islamic country of Ragaan, where day to day diplomacy is the stuff of danger and news headlines rather than privilege and cocktails.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 10/4/2014)

'An insight into the private and working lives of barristers.'

Source: Screen Australia.

'The story of a Melbourne house-wife who becomes a member of parliament.'

Source: Screen Australia.

The two series of The Henderson Kids (produced two years apart) explore the changing circumstances of Steve and Tamara Henderson, as they first go to live with their uncle in a small seaside community after the hit-and-run death of their mother (series one) and then return to the city to live with their father (series two).

Each series had an over-arching story arc: in the first series, the 'kids' and their friends attempt to stop a predatory property developer, and in the second series, the 'kids' and their new gang stop a group of thieves who are targeting the Hendersons' father.

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, series one cost $3 million to produce over a six-month period, and series two cost $3.5 million to produce. Intended for a 7:30pm timeslot, series one was instead shown in the late afternoon. Series two reverted to a 7:30pm timeslot, as an attempt to capture some of the youth demographic of Hey Hey Its Saturday.