AustLit

G.P. is an Australian television series that ran for eight seasons. Set in and around a fictional general medical practice in an inner-city suburb, the storylines explore the professional and personal lives of the doctors and staff who worked there.

A comedic adventure series that follows two men (Abel Moore and Charles Willing) living and working on a houseboat on Sydney Harbour, particularly their attempts to keep up payments on the boat. Also living on the house boat are aspiring actress Angela and the young, streetwise Parramatta.

Moran notes, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, that while the series reprised the ABC's The Fast Lane, it was nowhere near as successful a production:

there was little difference between the principal characters, both looking for the main chance. In addition the playing-off of Shane Withington and Grant Dodwell against each other (mildly tolerable in A Country Practice where the two had become fictional bachelors and odd-couple house companions after the departure from the series of their fictional wives) was decidedly threadbare.

Moran notes that this was the first series that Lynn Bayonas produced after leaving A Country Practice, and she had brought with her to the production not only the two main actors but also a number of writers.

An attempt to re-invoke the popularity that police procedurals had enjoyed a decade earlier, Special Squad was the most expensive program produced in Australia up to 1985 (at $150,000 per episode), yet received such lukewarm ratings that Channel Ten chose not to commission a second series.

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

it was good to watch, with expert stunt work and special effects. With well-paced narratives, intelligently and nicely worked out situations and plenty of emphasis on the villains and victims, Special Squad was just as watchable and entertaining as Homicide had been in its last series.

According to Moran, the failure of Special Squad lay both in its difference from and its similarity to Homicide. The novelty (of Australian accents and Australian locations) that had helped make Homicide so successful was no longer in play, and 'the sight of tough men (on both sides of the law) made the program [Special Squad] seem very old-fashioned. In addition, the plethora of other Australian dramas on air at the time gave viewers more than enough alternatives.'

A crime drama devised for Grundy's by Ron McLean (Don Storey suggests, on Classic Australian Television, that it evolved from an earlier concept called The Killer Stalks), Bellamy was not successful when it aired on Australian television.

According to Albert Moran in his Guide to Australian TV Series, the problem was that Bellamy was, by the time it aired, an archaic concept:

Police series production had effectively come to an end in 1975 and women had become a more important part of Australian television, both on screen and in the audience. Yet the Network went against the tide by commissioning this police series starring ex-Homicide star John Stanton in the title role. As conceived and executed by Grundy's, Bellamy and underling Mitch had little or nothing in the way of a personal life and were pitted against monstrous villains, almost invariably murderers who lacked social backgrounds and psychological complexity. As a result many of the episodes had strong similarities, with a two-dimensional Batman and Robin duo pursuing such villains in the threadbare chase narratives.

The program was cancelled even before the first set of episodes had been completed.

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.

In this made-for television film, an insurance investigator follows the bizarre case of a man struck and killed on a long-abandoned railway track, and finds not only land fraud swindles but also the presence of the supernatural.

Chopper Squad follows the adventures of a helicopter surf rescue team based on Sydney's northern beaches, as they deal with various difficult rescues and occasionally come into close contact with desperate criminals.

The program suffered from long hiatuses between the pilot and series one, and between series one and series two. Furthermore, Don Storey notes, in his Classic Australian Television, that

Unfortunately, the quality of the scripts varied immensely. Some episodes had excellent dramatic narratives, and the viewers would be on the edge of their seats watching the rescue process. Other plots were contrived merely to justify the use of a helicopter, or to show off some other facet of the surf rescue operation, or were just corny. This variation in quality occurred not only from episode to episode, but quite often within an episode.

However, Storey concludes that

If the scripts left a lot to be desired, the same could not be said for the other aspects of the programme. The actors all gave good performances, and the technical quality is excellent by any standards. Extensive external location work was used, with internal sets being kept to a minimum. The camerawork is second to none, highlighting the magnificent scenery of the Sydney coastline to great effect.

Albert Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, notes that 'World distribution rights to the series were bought by Paramount Pictures, which sold the production to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Britain'.

'Barry Allen is a successful TV and film actor, but the cool confident hero of the screen is a subservient husband at home.'

Source:

[TV guide], The Canberra Times, 18 August 1978, p.26. (Read via Trove.)

Set in the fictional Riverside Police Station, Cop Shop combined self-contained stories focusing on specific police investigations with the type of open-ended serial storylines familiar from soap operas. This allowed Crawford Productions to make use of the expertise gained from their highly successful police procedurals (all recently cancelled) and serials such as The Sullivans (then still airing).

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

Although the format may sound predictable and routine, in fact it was pioneering. In putting women police on the screen, Crawford's were moving Australian crime drama away from being an all-male domain. In addition, by choosing a suburban police station populated both by uniformed police and plainclothes detectives, Cop Shop introduced an upstairs and a downstairs world. The latter, in particular, began to exert its own attractions with handsome young men and women in the roles of the new constables.

'The wife of Tom Kelly, a suburban butcher, is murdered. Her throat has been cut. Rita, the lonely and frustrated next door neighbour has a clear view of the murderer as he drags the body to the garden shed, but she tells the police that she was out at the time.

'In the absence of Inspector Lawson, Harry White is made up to the position of acting inspector. He is anxious that all the angles of the investigation are followed up before charges are laid, and puts his staff under a lot of pressure.

'Kelly claims that he was in his shop all day and one of his regular customers confirms that he was in his shop at the time of his wife's death. White also suspects that the murderer might be Edward Grant, the neighbour on the other side of the Kelly's house from Rita. A Vietnam veteran, he shares a consuming interest in pedigree cats along with the deceased Mrs. Kelly. White considers his behaviour very peculiar.

'It becomes apparent after further investigations that Rita was in fact at home at the time and therefore must be witholding information. Detectives Redford and Deegan go to her house but she isn't home.

'Rita visits Kelly at his shop and explains that she knows he is the murderer. She demonstrates a consuming desire for Kelly. She vows her silence in return for sexual gratification.

'Redford and Deegan are surprised when Rita and Kelly arrive home together. They overhear a conversation that clearly indites Kelly as his wife's murderer. Kelly's alibi comes unstuck when it comes to light that the customer who vouched for his whereabouts at the time, hadn't reset his watch for daylight savings'.

Source: Synopsis held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection (RMIT).

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'RITA: A thirty-five year old virgin, plain and randy, sentimental, old fashioned, ill at ease with men. A muscle freak.

'TOM KELLY: Mid forties. Butcher, ex-slaughterman. And looks like it: Big, muscular, a broken nose, a crew cut. Physically attractive. Under his brutal appearance there's a quiet introvert simple (NOT STUPID) man with a problem: He has a frigid wife.

'EDWARD GRAVES: Mid or late 20's. Good looking, nice, gentle personality. A Viet-Nam veteran, lost one lung from war wound. Lives on a pension from the Army. Writes poems and loves cats to the point of fanaticism.

'EDNA: Tom's wife. Late 30's or early 40's. Big, soft, chirpy, sweet and graceless. Nice round rump. She's frigid and breeds show cats.

'MR. COOK: Mid sixties pensioner, very fit, rosy cheeks, lives in the bush, grows his own vegies. A conservationist.

'FORENSIC: ESTABLISHED: (WATKINS)

'PHOTOGRAPHER:

'2. AMBULANCE MEN:

'UNIFORMED POLICEMAN: An ordinary constable.

'ALFRED: Edward's cat - the loser. A lynx-point siamese - (SEE WRITER).

'OTHER CATS: Siamese, burmese, abysinian, etc. (SEE WRITER)

'ALEXANDER: The champion cat. A superb burmese specimen. (SEE WRITER)'.

'Ned Robbins, a former workmate of Tony Angellini's, rings him at Ryan's office after being beaten up by two thugs. He is too frightened to give any details so Ryan and Tony decide to go see him.

'When they arrive at his home, they find Ned missing and his arthritis-stricken wife, Daisy, very distraught. She draws Ryan and Tony's attention to a drug she'd been taking and points out that Ned was on the verge of revealing something about it before he was beaten up. The drug is made at a laboratory owned by a man named Summers.

'When Ned is found dead later, Daisy is moved out of her home because Ryan and Tony now fear for her safety.

'Ryan assumes the identity of a man interested in buying the "wonder drug" from Summers, while his secretary, Julie King, poses as a sexy sports fanatic in order to con Summers into revealing the real truth behind the drugs.'

Source: Synopsis held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection (RMIT).

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'PETER SUMMERS: Mid 30's. Cool - ruthless - business man, but shy with girls. A bit insecure to play big lover boy, has the wrong image for that, maybe he's not tall and beautiful. He is preoccupied with sex. But surprisingly tender - and that is what hooks Julie. He is the type of bloke who chases women and feels the need to impress them with his big car and his millions. And women know this and use it. He resents it and withdraws until the day he falls in love with Julie (for real). Drives car.

'SIMMS: 50's. Honest, competent biochemist, good man under a lot of pressure, does his duty regardless. Strong personality. When he's about to crack up takes a swig of brandy and back to work. Drives car.

'NED ROBBINS: 50's. Ex alcoholic. That's why he left the cabs. Now works as caretaker. Good man, escape valve for Simms. Someone quiet and comfortable to have a chat and a drink with. Ned is proud of this friendship with "his mate Mr. Simms". Drives car.

'DAISY ROBBINS: 50's. Looks older. Ned's wife. Crippled by arthritis. Keeps up the good spirits. Strong woman on bad legs. Ned's death is the end of her strength.

'1ST MAN AND 2ND MAN: Difficult parts. 30's. Physical, not too much. These two bashers look like cops or like business men, not bashers. Short back and sides essential. Well spoken. Well dressed in dark suits. They are not the ordinary heavies. They must be good actors. Able to underplay the parts, control their faces. One drives, both bash.

'DR. CLARK: Late 30's - Competent, likeable, efficient. Mate of Ryan's. One scene.

'CLEANING WOMAN: Pleasant, friendly. Good eye for people. 50's or 60's. One scene.

'PUBLICITY MAN (JIM): Young and respectful and ambitious. Good at his job. One scene.

'SUSAN (LAB GIRL): Early 20's. Pretty. One might think that she's been given the job by Summers himself. (He likes to be surrounded by pretty girls). Two scenes.

'GEORGINA: A club waitress, early 20's. Extremely pretty and sexy (not tarty). Could be the main reason why Summers uses the club as an office. Until the day Julie appears. Few Scenes, little dialogue - emphasis on her face and figure.

'GATE MAN: 30's. Sort of dead-pan, tongue-in-cheek character.

'EXTRAS, CLUB: All executives with a lot of class.

'EXTRAS SUMMERLAB: The sort of people who work in a factory of drugs.'

'A passover of narcotics goes wrong. A migrant couple run into a hundred thousand dollars worth of trouble. What's money to God. Anyway?' [sic]

Source: Synopsis held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection (RMIT).

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'MARIO FABRIZZI: Italian. Mid thirties. Or late thirties. Similar type to Tony (accent not essential but mannerisms yes.), but looking different. He was a Flamenco dancer and busted his gut one day when he got carried away with the stomping. Since then he has occasional brick-laying jobs, but even that stopped because he claims the crowbar is too heavy for his hernia. A bit of a bludger. A charmer. A good Catholic.

'ANGELA FABRIZZI: Italian. A bit younger than Mario. A Saint. Patient and understanding and loving, no matter what. Also a good Catholic, but keeps her feet on the ground. When we first find them, they're in a desperate situation. No job, no money for a long time. This should show in their attitude, expression, clothes. Accent not essential, but mannerisms, yes.

'FRED JONES: Little, inoffensive, likeable man, in suit and tie. Looking like any nine to five civil service man. An "honest" crook. A specialist. Late fifties. This would be his last job "because he can't cope any more. He's getting old."

'McNAMARA: McNamara has two images: one, when he's doing his part-time work (big scale pusher), then he looks like a "family man doing his weekend shopping while the wife minds the kids". The other image is an impeccable, smart, classy, businessman. Big, honest business. And dressed accordingly. Subdued class, a nice soft pleasant voice. Always like that. Never ironic or sarcastic but for real. A lot of violence under his cool, polite grin. McNamara is violent to inanimate objects (as well as people), and this sort of cruelty is as terrifying as the ordinary basher, or maybe more. Thirties or forties.

'JIM: About thirty. A tough crook since he was ten. A lot of latent danger in Jim's forced co-operation.

'STEVE: Another young crook. Man of many talents - Car lifter, fizz and many more. Anything for a quick buck. Must be reasonably tall and strong for contrast with little skinny old Fred.

'EDDIE: Late forties. Smartly dressed in a suit about four sizes too big. Flogs fake gold watches without a licence. Not enough guts to steal openly. Not bad as an informer and this is his main source of income.

'CHARLIE: Fifties. Friendly taxi driver who acts as an informer (only for Ryan, not a regular).

'ABDUL: Preferably Oriental or olive-skinned, but not essential. Flashy, almost distinguished man. Smokes gold-tipped cigarettes. Wears big rings. If we could we would smell a strong, incense-cinammon scented after-shave on Abdul. Thirties.

'TWO C.I. MEN:

'UNIFORMED COP'.

Ryan focused on the titular Michael Ryan, a private detective with a stringent code of ethics and a background as a soldier, police officer, and social worker. Ryan's work doesn't focus on divorce and domestic problems, but on serious crimes that, for some reason, the victims are unwilling to take to the police. He is supported by his secretary Julie King (who often becomes involved in fieldwork), cab driver and later assistant Tony Angelini, and police liaison Detective Sergeant Dan Cullen.

According to Don Storey in Classic Australian Television,

'The production standards of Ryan are very high -- good writing, solid acting performances, smooth direction and excellent camera and editing work combined to form a polished and professional product. And Ryan was very successful overseas -- proportional to the number of episodes made, Ryan has probably done better overseas than most other Crawford shows. Yet it was the first Crawford show not to do well locally'.

'Brennan says he is surrounded by conspirators bent on his destruction. Death could come from his jealous boardroom colleagues .... his faithless wife, or from his own dark and tortured mind. And Ryan must sort the facts from the fantasies.'

Source: Synopsis held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection (RMIT).

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'STEVE BRENNAN: 60ish. Thin. Little. Insignificant looking, kind, strong personality. Capable of spectacular transition from commanding authority to nervous wreck. Maniac, depressive. Good education. A lot of class.

'PATRICK: Late 20's. Playing against. He's a dangerous killer, a drug user. Amusing, lazy, humorous, bored personality. We must laugh with him without ever losing the scary feeling.

'ANNE BRENNAN: About 28. Attractive, sexy, beautiful without affectation. Gentle, sweet personality, very understated. Exactly the opposite to the unfaithful wife, frivolous - tart cliche.

'BILL HENNIGAN: 35-40. Impressive looking director. Big, strong, ambitious, ruthless, violent. Mild, quiet front.

'JASON SCOTT: Early 20's. Attractive, sweet, gentle, nice, understated.

'BETTY: Late 20's or early 30's. A psychiatric nurse. Plump, warm-hearted, sweet. Lovely personality.

'SERGEANT KNUDSEN: A cop. Ryan's age.

'TOM BRENNAN: About 24. Small, thin, studious, quiet, pleasant personality.

'DAISY SMITH: Late 50's or early 60's. Dear old paraplegic woman. Good cameo part.

'DR. JONES: Psychiatrist. Mid 30's. Long hair, young type.

'CABBIE: Extra.

'TWO DRUNKEN BOYS: One must.

'TWO NUTS: Extras.

'FOUR DIRECTORS: Extras.

'ONE MAN IN UNIFORM: One line.

'WOMAN WITH BABY IN PRAM: Extra.

'PATIENTS: Extras.'

'Drinking too much, taking bribes, gambling and thumping policemen won't solve anybody's problems. Or maybe it will. Who knows. Ryan seems to know.'

Source: Synopsis held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection (RMIT).

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'JACKIE WEBB: About 35. Little scared crim. A reasonable con man. A failure. A million priors.

'ENZO: About 35, 40. Despite Italian descent he speaks perfect "strine" without a foreign accent. A professional, intelligent, experienced crook who manages to stay always out of trouble. The opposite to Jackie. No priors at all.

'JONATHON "FATHER" SMITH: Benign, placid, round faced. Moves and talks and looks like a priest. Capable of crash transition into hard, brutal man.

'AMALIA: Subdued and attractive and nice in a Shirley McLaine [sic] style. Must be both sexy and warm and confidence inspiring. The sort of woman you'd open your heart to when you're full to the eyeballs.

'INSPECTOR MULLIGAN: A police inspector. (Lack of description doesn't mean lack of importance. On the contrary).

'JOHNSTON: Late 30's or early 40's. A good policeman. A good family man. A good man period. The sort of man who'd spend the evening playing with the kids or fixing a broken chair rather than go to the pub and have a beer with mates.

'BILL: Good looker in an old fashioned, muscled way. Father Smith's bodyguard.

'POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: What I said about Mulligan applies to him.

'FREDDIE: Other muscle man from Smith's mob.

'HILLMAN: A police detective.

'JENNY: Johnston's wife. Late twenties or early thirties. Sexy blonde with mole on cheek and big boobs.

'WADE: Established.

'POKER PLAYERS (2): Toughies.

'FEMALE EXTRA: Pretty girl.

'CROOK: Smartly dressed. Pickpocket who doesn't look like one. (The man who gives Jackie the dough at the racecourse, opening scene)'.

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'NEIL THOMAS: Blind. Incredibly fit. Good looking. 50. Authorative, ex-Army.

'ANNE: His niece. Beautiful 21 year old nymphet.

'BURGLAR: Good looking, well spoken, intelligent with a sense of humour.

'TOM ROBERTS: 60's. Hard working farmer.

'MR. HIGGINS: 40's. Smooth, but boring salesman.

'MR. PITTS: Grocer.

'FRUITERER: No lines.

'DELICATESSEN SALES ASSISTANT: No lines.

'TOBACCONIST: No lines.

'TRUCKIE: No lines.

'LADY DRIVER: No lines.

'MAN: Owner of stolen car.'

The Spoiler arose from the pilot for a proposed late 1960s' television program called Vendetta, in which a policeman left the force to pursue a private vendetta against a crime boss. Though Vendetta was not picked up as a series, the central idea was later re-visited by producer Robert Bruning. Bruning was approached by the marketing director of TCN-9; the network wanted a police program, but Bruning was keen to differentiate his program from the plethora of police procedurals then airing. Bruning settled on the notion of a vengeful former police officer.

According to Don Storey, in his Classic Australian Television, 'Bruce Barry plays Jim Carver, the 'spoiler' of the title. Carver is a Sydney detective who discovers that Sir Ian Mason, a leading respectable businessman, is head of a crime syndicate, and is kicked out of the police force because of his investigations that have so far turned up no evidence of complicity. His dimissal makes Carver all the more determined to find the evidence he needs to bring Mason to justice.'

Of the central character, Storey argues that 'Carver was a rough, tough character. When he needs information he often extracts it by force. He drinks hard. He's a womaniser, and he treats his women rough.' Storey also notes that the program became notorious for the quantity of nude and semi-nude scenes: 'A number of girls come into contact with Carver who end up in various states of undress, usually for no reasons of any pertinence to the plot.' Carver is supported by a sympathetic barmaid/sometime girlfriend, a friend in the police force, and an underworld informant.

The Spoiler was not successful: it rated poorly from its original airing in Sydney, so poorly that neither Melbourne nor Brisbane television stations even attempted to air it in a prime-time slot.

Summing up critics' responses to the program, Storey suggests,

The anti-hero was an aggressive, boozing chauvinist who belted the crooks and treated women like dirt, and was a sort of warring psychopath tolerated by the police and not understood by anyone. The show downgraded women, upgraded the law of the boot and took a dog-eat-dog view of society. There was very little for men to identify with, and certainly nothing to appeal to women.

While Storey acknowledges the legitimacy of these arguments against the program, he also suggests that the program might have been ahead of its time. The Spoiler cannot, however, be re-evaluated in terms of modern television, since the master tapes were wiped and no other copies of the episodes have surfaced.

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'ANTON: Middle 50's. He's been through war and a lot of suffering and has a fatalistic sense of life.

'MRS. McDOUGAL: Late 40's or early 50's. Good looking, kind-hearted, sentimental. Feels both maternal and romantic about Anton.

'WOODSIE: Early 20's, impulsive and thoughtless. Over-cool, over-confident.

'TOM: Late 30's, intelligent, professional thief.

'CRAIG: Middle 40's. Anton's ex-boss. A hypocrite.

'TIM: Early 30's. A hippy bum. (Dropout, phoney hippy). Lazy, dirty, well-educated. His stink must be almost visual.

'SARAH: Middle 30's. A senior prostitute with a divine personality.

'KATIE: Pretty, young, middle 20's. Pro., with a lot of confidence, very cool and pleasant. Anton's wife.

'RON: Middle 30's. A painter (painters and dockers crew) Malicious, distrusts everybody.

'CAPTAIN: A veteran sailor. Minds his business. Late 40's.

'SHOP ASSISTANT: Not camp.

'3 YOUNG PEOPLE (EXTRAS): Well-dressed, rich, mod, snob.

'GORGEOUS GIRL: (1) Same kind as above.

'BARMAN:

'CUSTOMER:

'LADY: (Gets knocked down).

'DRIVER OF VAN:

'2 GUARDS:

'6 PAINTERS AND DOCKERS:

'POLICE ACTUALS: (If available).'