AustLit

Explores the hidden lives of locals in a small town that seems like paradise, after a young woman goes missing.

Two police detectives, both survivors of a shark attack, team up to hunt a serial killer.

'To secure the affections of the woman he loves, Chopper pledges to go straight, but the sins of his past, his ego and an ongoing feud with bikie Syd Collins make this a dangerous and near-impossible enterprise.'

Source: Nine Network.

'Ioan Gruffudd stars as brilliant forensic pathologist Dr Daniel Harrow in this major new 10-part Australian crime drama. He investigates the apparent suicide of a young woman whose grieving father suspects she was murdered.' (Production summary)

Given a second chance at life, Frankie Bell helps save other lives.

'After Detective Gary Hyde's best mate is killed in a seemingly random attack, he vows to bring the killers to justice. With his new partner Claire McKenzie, they uncover a criminal network which threaten their life and the lives of their loved ones.

'While investigating, the police and immigration officials uncover a network of potential terrorists. The enemies of national security are hiding in plain sight and the race is on to hunt them down before the next atrocity.' (Production summary)

'A psychological thriller and procedural drama, CATCHING MILAT is a dramatised version of the investigation into the 1990s backpacker murders leading to the arrest and conviction of serial killer Ivan Milat. After the bodies of backpackers are discovered in Belanglo State Forest, New South Wales’ Police unit Task Force Air begins its search for a murderer. Ultimately the bodies of seven backpackers are found. With the help of forensic evidence and tip-offs from the public, thousands of leads are investigated before Milat is finally arrested in 1994. CATCHING MILAT is the story of the men who brought him to justice. The mini-series is based on the book Sins of the Brother by Mark Whittaker and Les Kennedy and produced by Shine Australia for Seven. ' (Production summary)

'Alex, a Greek Orthodox schoolteacher, falls for Lebanese Muslim lawyer, Eve. The relationship is forbidden by both families, and thus the emotional dilemma of 'Alex and Eve' is created.' (Production summary)

'A character drama set in 1969 in Kings Cross; the time and place Australia came of age and the new generation broke all the rules. It was the Summer of Love. Mick Jagger was in town, Australia was glued to the telecast of the moon landing and American sailors clashed on the street with anti-Vietnam war protesters. We follow Joan Millar, 28, a maverick midwife returning to Australia and five young pregnant women, whose choices for their babies and own lives exemplify the radical changes at the heart of the cultural and sexual revolution. Their lives intersect between a maternity hospital, a home for unwed mothers and the wild streets of Darlinghurst.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 13/2/2014)

Janet King is an Australian television drama series which first aired on ABC1 in 2014. It was created as a spin-off from the 2011 legal drama Crownies.

Series 1:

'An 8-hour legal/political thriller that is a spin-off of Crownies featuring Marta Dusseldorp reprising her role of Crown Prosecutor Janet King. The series will look at the dilemmas of a contemporary woman who returns to work after a year's maternity leave and is flung into a shocking prosecution that involves layers of intrigue played out at the highest levels of power. Janet King's case leads her through some astounding twists and revelations that impact on her life on every level.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 7/4/2014)

Series 2:

With gun crime in the suburbs causing great concern, the state government establishes a Royal Commission to look into the problem following the death of Todd Wilson and appoints Janet King to head it. Give the power to become investigators, King and her team are allowed to raid premises, interrogate persons of interest and have police seconded to them. King believes that solving Wilson's murder might uncover what's fuelling the violence.

Series 3:

Janet confronts a hornet’s nest of illegal gambling, organised crime and money laundering while tracking the tragic death of a young sports star. What begins as a spot betting investigation soon unmasks elite professional sportsmen and women and their connection to the shadowy underbelly of performance enhancing drugs, match fixing, kickbacks and, ultimately, murder.

Source: ABCTV (http://about.abc.net.au/abc-in-2017/drama-lovers/). (Sighted: 04/11/2016)

'On March 19, 2006, Mokbel, said to be Australia’s richest gangster, became Australia’s most wanted man. What followed was an intense manhunt that lasted 18 months and dismantled a drug empire.

'A miraculous tip-off to the Australian police revealed that Mokbel was living in Athens, Greece under a false name and documents. But how do you find one man in a population of four million? Fat Tony & Co follows Mokbel from his early beginnings in Melbourne’s underworld to his eventual discovery and arrest in a cafe in Athens.' (Source: http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8703629 )

'1964-65. Singapore is a city at a crossroads. Political and racial tensions are at fever pitch as the British pull out, and a new nation is about to be born. The lights of Bugis Street have never burned so bright: bootleg copies of Motown songs boom out from street stalls; the Rolling Stones are in town along with tourists and American sailors fresh from Vietnam. They join British and Australian soldiers checking out the prostitutes and gambling dens en route to their own war in Borneo.

This is the city of Sam Callaghan, Patricia Cheng, the CIA’s Conrad Harrison and the clients of the Cheng Detective Agency. The agency’s cases range from the usual (straying spouses and petty fraudsters) to events with international implications and complications. Sam’s contacts from his military days are useful - but they start to drag him back into a dark world that he would prefer to leave behind.'

Source: 'About [Serangoon Road]' http://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/serangoon-road/ (Sighted 06/12/2013)

'Hollywood has a stranglehold on the Australian industry and with 'talkies' on the way, the exotic 'Bride of Babylon' production is in serious jeopardy. With one of Phryne's oldest friends producing the movie, she has no choice but to get involved when the lead actor is murdered on set. She steps in to solve the crime and save the production — juggling the roles of principal investor and private investigator. The show must go on, and when the director is also killed, Phryne takes the reins.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 26/2/2014)

'When the fresh corpse of Professor Katz turns up in place of a cadaver in Dr Mac's anatomy lecture she demands that Phryne and Jack, now estranged, work together in her interest. As the pair step around each other to investigate the murder — and the disappearance of a valuable manuscript — a web of college pranking, politics, and eugenics theory looks set to unravel.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 26/2/2014)

' A courageous young man, a steadfast donkey and the ANZAC legend is born ... Simpson, the story of Pvt John Simpson Kirkpatrick.'

Source: Screen Australia.

Based on the non-fiction book Brothers in Arms by Lindsay Simpson and Sandra Harvey, Bikie Wars is a dramatised account of the events leading up the 1984 Milperra massacre, a shoot-out between members of the outlaw motorcycle gang the Comancheros and the Bandidos, a group formed from a splinter group of former Comancheros: the massacre left 7 people dead and 28 wounded, and led to 63 murder convictions, 147 manslaughter convictions, and significant changes to NSW gun laws.