Born: Established: 1939 Queensland, ;
AustLit
BiographyHistory
Bio changes summary
Script-writer.
Although perhaps best known as the screenwriter for the 1981 feature film adaptation of Puberty Blues, Margaret Kelly has also carved out an impressive career over four decades as a television script-writer.
Kelly's first television scripts were for Crawford Productions' Homicide, for which she wrote in the early 1970s. She followed this with scripts for Quality of Mercy (1975), an anthology series for which all authors were Australian women; the ABC's comedy series No Thanks, I'm on a Diet (1976); Pig in a Poke (1977), co-written with John Dingwall and co-starring Justine Saunders, in which a wealthy Melbourne doctor moves to Redfern; and the ABC's Top Mates (1979), co-written with Anne Brooksbank. Both Pig in a Poke and Top Mates dealt with, among other issues, the disenfranchised and impoverished state of Australia's indigenous population.
In 1980, Kelly adapted Patricia Wrightson's novel as the ABV TV series The Nargun and the Stars, in which a heartbroken and orphaned city boy moves to the country and finds, hidden in the depths of undeveloped land, creatures from the distant Indigenous Australian Dreamtime. This was followed by Kelly's adaptation of Puberty Blues, which she had optioned from the as-yet unpublished stories of Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey, whom she had met at a writing workshop in a suburban theatre.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Kelly wrote for A Country Practice (1982, for which she wrote at least seven episodes), The Cowra Breakout (1984), G.P. (1989-1990), Heartbreak High (1994-1995), and SeaChange (1998).
Her post-2000 credits include scripts for McLeod's Daughters (2003).
In 1978, she shared the Logie Award for Best Dramatic Script with John Dingwall for her work on Pig in a Poke.
Most Referenced Works
Awards for Works
-
form
y
A Country Practice
( 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.
- 1984 winner Logie Awards — Most Popular Drama Series
- 1985 winner Logie Awards — Most Popular Drama Series
- 1986 winner Logie Awards — Most Popular Drama Series
- 1992 nominated Logie Awards — Most Popular Drama Series
-
form
y
Pig in a Poke
( dir. Michael Jenkins
)
Sydney
:
Australian Broadcasting Commission
,
1977
7200984
1977
series - publisher
film/TV
A Melbourne-based doctor gives up his practice to take a practice in Redfern, sight unseen, and is drawn into the conflicts of the impoverished, inner-city suburb.
- 1978 winner Logie Awards — Best Dramatic Script The particular episode for which the award was given is not specified in contemporary reports.
-
form
y
Homicide
( dir. Bruce Ross-Smith
et. al. )agent
Melbourne
:
Crawford Productions
,
1964-1975
Z1813076
1964
series - publisher
film/TV
crime
detective
Running for twelve years and a total of 510 episodes, Homicide was a seminal Australian police-procedural program, set in the homicide squad of the Victoria Police. According to Don Storey in his Classic Australian Television, it represented a turning point for Australian television, prompting the development of local productions over the purchase of relatively inexpensive American dramas. Indeed, Storey quotes Hector Crawford as saying that his production company intended three outcomes from Homicide: demonstrating that it was possible to make a high-quality local drama series, counteracting criticism of local performers, and showing that Australian audiences would watch Australian-made dramas.
As Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series, the program adopted a narrative structure focusing on crime, detection, and capture, rather than on character studies of the lead detectives. The early episodes were produced by a small crew (Storey notes that the crew was frequently limited to four people: cameraman, grip, director, and assistant director), requiring some degree of ingenuity to achieve a polished result (including, in some cases, the actors performing their own stunts). However, the program received extensive support from the Victoria Police (who recognised, in its positive portrayal of police officers, a valuable public-relations exercise) and, as its popularity grew, from the public.
The program's cast changed extensively over its twelve years on the air, though it remained focused on a small group of male detectives, with the inclusion of irregular characters such as Policewoman Helen Hopgood (played by Derani Scarr), written on an as-required basis to reflect the involvement of women in the police force. In Moran's words, 'The other star of Homicide was the location film work. These ordinary, everyday familiar urban locations were what gave the series a gritty realism and familiarised audiences with the shock of recognition at seeing themselves and their milieus on air'.
- 1973 winner Logie Awards — Best Australian Drama
- 1970 winner Logie Awards — Best Australian Drama
- 1969 winner Logie Awards — Best Drama
- 1968 winner Logie Awards — Best Drama
- 1967 winner Logie Awards — Best Drama
- 1966 winner Logie Awards — Best Drama
- 1965 winner Logie Awards — Best Australian TV Drama Series