AustLit logo

AustLit

image of person or book cover 1053935377091946235.jpg
Screen cap from promotional trailer
form y separately published work icon Rake series - publisher   film/TV   crime  
Issue Details: First known date: 2010... 2010 Rake
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'On any single day, Cleaver Greene is described as many things. Whilst his ex-wife may call him 'unreliable", his son will call him "a mate". To his learned friends at the bar table he is "a real wag", to his jurors he is "hilarious", and to most judges he is "an outrage". To the Tax Office, he is "a defendant", to a certain brothel owner "a legend", and to his former cocaine dealer "a tragic loss".

'The clients he loves the most - the cases that thrill him - are those that appear to be utterly hopeless. There's something about being on the wrong side of conventional wisdom that feels right to him, be it at the bar table or the dinner table.

'He will do whatever it takes to defend and save life's truly lost souls. The big sinners. Its drug lords. Its cannibals. Its bestialites. And at the same time, he will struggle to save himself, to stop himself falling back into the abyss that has characterised most of his self-destructive adult life thus far.

'Despite his own hopelessness, his wit and charm have won him hordes of companions over the years. Most nights of the week, there is no shortage of invitations: dinner with a judge at the RMC (His Honour pays), or with some drug dealers in Chinatown (Manos pays), or with some of his copper mates at the Matador (no one pays).

'Any gaps in his diary will inevitably be filled by either all night sessions in chambers preparing for court or similarly lengthy sessions at his favourite brothel, simply referred to by those in the know as "the Club" (here, Cleaver is more than happy to open his own wallet). He tends to wake up bruised. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. Usually it's a combination thereof. He spends a nano-second wondering how his life came to this - living in a studio above a café in the Cross, without his wife and son, in love with a prostitute, defending hopeless cases. Then he gets up, puts on his dressing gown and a pair of brogues and goes downstairs for a coffee. Then it's out into the world - onto the battleground that is Cleaver Greene's day.'

Source: ABC Television website, http://www.abc.net.au/tv/
Sighted: 1 November 2010.

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon Rake Peter Duncan , Peter Tolan , ( dir. Cherie Nowlan et. al. )agent United States of America (USA) : Fedora Entertainment Essential Media and Entertainment Sony Pictures Television , 2014 8287027 2014 series - publisher film/TV

An American re-make of the Australian series of the same name. The re-make was not popular with audiences, and no further episodes were made after the initial thirteen.

For a full list of episodes, see Film Details.

Notes

  • For further information, including episode details, see Rake's website, http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/default.htm
  • Award winning and individually published episodes in this series are included on AustLit.

Includes

1.1
form y separately published work icon R v Murray Peter Duncan , Australia : ABC Television , 2010 Z1905499 2010 single work film/TV

'In episode one, Cleaver's lover/friend/confident Missy — a high class call girl — has left without a trace, and tax lawyer David Potter, is in hot pursuit. Scarlet, his best friend Barney's wife, confides in him that she wants to leave home, and his 15-year-old son Fuzz draws him into a conspiracy to cover up his activities with his new girlfriend. But on the work front, Cleaver is presented with a case he can't resist — to defend a cannibal.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive (http://www.australiantelevision.net/) (Sighted: 05/12/2012)

Australia : ABC Television , 2010
1.5
form y separately published work icon R v Chandler Peter Duncan , Australia : ABC Television , 2010 Z1824629 2010 single work film/TV Australia : ABC Television , 2010
2.4
form y separately published work icon R v. Floyd Andrew Knight , Australia : ABC Television , 2012 6487594 2012 single work film/TV Australia : ABC Television , 2012
3.01
form y separately published work icon Rake [Series 3, Episode 1] Peter Duncan , Australia : ABC Television , 2014 8282855 2014 single work film/TV Australia : ABC Television , 2014
3.05
form y separately published work icon Rake [Series 3, Episode 5] Andrew Knight , Australia : ABC Television , 2014 7625346 2014 single work film/TV

'One man's meat is another man's misery. Cleaver is retained for a low rent tawdry sex offence. Royal Commissions that have decimated David's front bench mean that even barrel-bottom Cleaver Greene is getting briefs.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 23/7/2014)

Australia : ABC Television , 2014
4.07
form y separately published work icon Rake [Series 4, Episode 7] Andrew Knight , Australia : Australian Broadcasting Corporation , 2016 10253194 2016 single work film/TV Australia : Australian Broadcasting Corporation , 2016

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Note:

Series one directors: Peter Duncan, episodes 1 & 2; Rachel Ward, episodes 3 & 4; Jeffrey Walker, episodes 5 & 6; Jessica Hobbs, episodes 7 & 8.

Series two directors: Peter Duncan, episodes 1 & 2; Rowan Woods, episodes 3 & 4; Jeffrey Walker, episodes 5 & 6; Kate Dennis, episodes 7 & 8.

Series three directors: Jessica Hobbs, episodes 1 & 2; Jonathan Teplitzky, episodes 3 & 4; Rowan Woods, episodes 5 & 6

Episode four directors: Peter Salmon, episodes 1 & 2; Peter Duncan, episodes 3 & 4, 7 & 8; Rowan Woods, episodes 5 & 6.

    • c
      Australia,
      c
      :
      ABC Television ,
      2010-2016 .
      image of person or book cover 1053935377091946235.jpg
      Screen cap from promotional trailer
      Extent: 40x55 min. episodes; five seriesp.

Works about this Work

Rake : Australianising HBO-Style Television? Matthew Campora , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Screen in the 2000s 2018; (p. 301-318)
Examines Rake within the context of the rise of American prestige television, particularly HBO dramas.
Richard Roxburgh on Politics, Satire and the Final Season of Rake Richard Roxburgh , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , August 2018;

'If politics has indeed become so absurd it's putting satirists out of business, then spare a thought for Richard Roxburgh.'  (Introduction)

'What's Rock Bottom Now?' : Richard Roxburgh on Politics and Rake's Final Season Lauren Carroll Harris , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 16 August 2018;

'In its fifth and final season, Rake’s Cleaver Greene is a key player in the Australian Senate – and the ideal anti-hero for the Trump era.'  (Introduction)

Missing in Action: the ABC and Australia’s Screen Culture Kim Dalton , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: The Conversation , 1 May 2017;

'Achievements by the ABC to significantly increase levels of local drama, comedy, documentary, Indigenous and children’s content, as well as expand partnerships with independent production houses and creative talent, have in recent years been reversed.' (Introduction)

Bloody Good TV : How Rake Changed Australian Television Siobhan Lyons , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 7 July 2016;
'When Rake first hit our screens in 2010, it signalled a shift in Australian television. Based loosely on the life of barrister Charles Waterstreet (now a Sydney Morning Herald columnist), Rake’s lead character Cleaver Greene (Richard Roxburgh) is an unscrupulous, misanthropic but undeniably endearing scoundrel – one Australian television needs and deserves. ...'
A Dramatic Improvement Ruth Ritchie , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 13-14 November 2010; (p. 18)

— Review of Rake Peter Duncan , Andrew Knight , 2010 series - publisher film/TV
Leave It to Cleaver Graeme Blundell , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1-2 September 2012; (p. 26-27)

— Review of Rake Peter Duncan , Andrew Knight , 2010 series - publisher film/TV
Aussie Stars Meet Cleaver Holly Byrnes , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 5 September 2012; (p. 40)

— Review of Rake Peter Duncan , Andrew Knight , 2010 series - publisher film/TV
Guest Stars Add Brilliant Touch to Amusing Series Geoff Shearer , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 6 September 2012; (p. 52)

— Review of Rake Peter Duncan , Andrew Knight , 2010 series - publisher film/TV
Addicted? Prepare for Another Shot of Rake Graeme Blundell , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 6 September 2012; (p. 17)

— Review of Rake Peter Duncan , Andrew Knight , 2010 series - publisher film/TV
Rake's Excess Louise Schwartzkoff , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 1 November 2010; (p. 3)
Get a Sneak Peek at Rakish New Show James Joyce , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 30 October 2010; (p. 5)
Chamber of Secrets Joel Gibson , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 30-31 October 2010; (p. 4)
A Law unto Himself Scott Ellis , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 31 October 2010; (p. 3)
Rakish Charm to ABC Legal Drama Paul Kalina , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 4 November 2010; (p. 10-11)
X