AustLit

Thirteen-year-old Lauren's life is confusing enough, with her mother remarrying, moving to another country, and introducing Lauren to a new stepfather and little stepbrother. But that's not nearly as confusing as the day two Nelfs (Santa's helpers) jump from his sleigh and into Lauren's life. With Santa's rounds finished for another year, Lauren is stuck with the bickering, meddling siblings until next Christmas. But when only Lauren can see them, her family start to think she's going mad.

A prototype cybernetic human from a distant planet crash-lands on Earth in order to explore the species from which she was developed. To move safely around the city, she disguises herself as the human cousin of a local boy. But two evil replicants are sent after her.

In positioning this program for the media, Jonathan M. Shiff emphasised both similarities to and differences from his previous programs:

'With CYBERGIRL, I set out asking myself how to create a series which has a teenage girl as a principal lead star, in a hip and modern way for the 21st century. Whereas OCEAN GIRL dealt with environmental themes, CYBERGIRL deals with the balance between humans and technology. In a world where millions of our audience are comfortable with the Internet, I thought it would be fun to have our hero as a walking computer!'

Indeed, Shiff placed great emphasis on his choice of a young female protagonist:

'I believe it has been many years since young children had a female superhero - the last was probably WONDER WOMAN. The recent trend for children, especially girls, to identify with characters like CHARLIE'S ANGELS indicates a strong desire for them to see themselves in the media as quite proactive, intelligent and strong, whilst still being emotionally sensitive'.

Source: Cybergirl media kit: http://www.jonathan-m-shiff.com.au/downloads/cg_media_kit.pdf. (Sighted: 17/2/2012)

'Based on the stories of Paul Jennings, DRIVEN CRAZY follows the adventures of the Bourke family as they travel around Australia in their old Chevy wagon.'

Source: Screen Australia.

'In one day successful city lawyer, Laura Gibson's world falls apart. Suddenly she realises she no longer knows her husband, her children, or where her all-consuming career is going. On a whim, Laura grabs at a position as magistrate in the small coastal town of Pearl Bay and with two bewildered kids in tow sets off to change their lives forever.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 18/9/2012)

'Frankie Smith is an undercover cop, a very good one. Still, Frankie spends so much of her life being someone else that the one person she hardly knows is herself. When Frankie goes in for a new brief, she is taken aback to find they want someone to go undercover into her sister's home town. Not only haven't they talked in eight years, heroin is being brought in by the local trawlers and Frankie's brother-in-law is a suspect.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 13/6/2013)

'Forensic psychiatrist, Jane Halifax, counsels a police officer who has shot a felon in the line of duty. The pressure increases when the officer's family begins to receive threats regarding evidence he is to give in court.'

Source: Screen Australia

The captain of rugby-union team the Dirty Reds grapples with defeat as his son watches on. Despite new training methods from motivation camps to yoga, the club has posted ninety-seven consecutive losses. For a man supposedly in charge, does losing mean emasculation, or can there be leadership where it seems there may never be victories? What makes and unmakes a hero? How and why do ordinary men seek dignity and power through team sport?

'A famous film director and his crew arrive in town for two weeks of location filming. Stamford is overjoyed to find the leading lady, Francis "Frankie" Lane, is an old flame of his from his stringer days in Cambodia. When the leading man is killed in an apparent stunt-gone-wrong, Stamford's suspicion is aroused. Unfortunately, no-one else suspects murder but him. As he quietly delves into the lives of the film unit, his investigation begins to point firmly in the direction of Frankie and Stamford finds that the 'good old days' are best left in the past.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 27/6/2013)

'It's a story about justice...and the corruption of justice. JANUS is about the lawyers, police, judges and magistrates who work with a very imperfect system. The focus of our story will be the new Director of Public Prosecutions Officer, taking over the handling of all Committals for trial - the first sweeping changes recommended by the Janus Taskforce Committee.'

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

After her partner is killed in a raid, narcotics detective Lorrie is transferred to the Police Rescue Squad, where she is teamed with Mickey. Internal Affairs suspects her of being corrupt, and enlists Mickey to spy on her. Soon, Lorrie and Mickey become romantically involved, and Mickey reveals she is under suspicion. Amid heroic rescues and a climactic bombing, Lorrie's name is cleared.

'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)

'The suspect's house is under heavy surveillnace as the Major Crime Squad makes it's final preparations before moving in. The decision is made for Megan to approach the neighbour to get a closer observation point but Jock refuses to let her be told exactly what the police's interest is, despite Megan's insistence the danger merits telling her what's she and her daughter are getting involved in.

'With admissions caught on tape, the police raid the house, taking the suspects into custody. Goose and the forensic team move quickly to secrure the ample physical evidence allowing the detectives to confront the bombers with the overwhelming evidence resulting in quick confessions.

'With the job done, the Deputy Commissioner arrives to offer his congratulations but pulls Jock aside to tell him he'll be under investigation by IID.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 11/6/2013)

'JACKAROO is the story of a wild Australian stockman - a young Indigenous Australian whose struggle to win the woman he loves and claim the land he has inherited erupts into a saga of family love, loyalty, passion and power.'

Source: Screen Australia.

An Australian television series which deals with the New South Wales Police Rescue Squad and its work attending to various incidents from road accidents to train crashes.

The story of the discovery of an ancient Roman boat in a small Queensland town and the commitment of three children to uncovering its mystery and resolving its fate.

Mini series based on the 1953 defection of Vladimir Petrov, a minor KGB agent at the USSR's Canberra embassy, and the snatching of his wife Eva, by Australian officials, from a Russian-bound plane at Darwin. The mini-series also covers the political fallout from the Royal Commission set up to examine Petrov's claims and ASIO's treatment of the situation.

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series,

The Petrov Affair is very much part of a Laborist view of Australian politics in the twentieth century. Important political movements, which might form the dramatic highlights of a conservative history -- such as Menzies' downfall at the hands of Earle Paige, the formation of the Liberal Party, the electoral triumph of 1949 and the Suez crisis -- are instead ignored in favour of a chain of narratives that sets the Labor Party and its leaders, warts and all, on centre stage.

Moran also notes that the Nine Network was cautious in its treatment of the mini-series: 'It lay on the shelf for some time after production and was finally aired without fanfare over two consecutive nights in an out of ratings period.'

'Four friends are reunited who, during the '70s, shared everything - an inner-suburban house, dope, plonk and, afterwards each other. They also share a murky secret, which threatens to destroy everything they have worked for since.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 31/1/2014)

The story of a disc jockey who is dying of cancer.

'A dramatisation depicting the problems faced by migrant women in Australia, particularly their exploitation in the workforce. Focuses on the life of an Italian woman, Angela, who works as a machinist in a clothing factory.'

Source: Trove. (Sighted: 21/9/2012)