AustLit

'Beat Bugs is an animated series, revolving around the lives and adventures of five charming and funny child-like bugs who live in an overgrown American-style backyard.' (Production summary)

'Up to 80 murders, 30 unsolved cases, thousands of assaults. In the 1980s and 1990s a murderous epidemic grips Sydney. The attackers are united by contempt. Their targets united by their sexual identity. All are gay. For the first time Deep Water presents the full account of the gay hate crime epidemic that bloodied Sydney’s coastline. It stirs up old cases in the hope that new evidence will rise to the surface and bring peace and justice to the loved ones left behind..'

Source: Screen Australia.

'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)

'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)

'Australian teenage twins Samantha and Ben Haselton discover what ‘culture shock’ is all about when they spend the summer with some eccentric, aristocratic and accident-prone relatives who live in a remote German castle.'

'Funny, fast and furry - the WOODLIES are kobolds (small troll-like creatures) that are nuttier than a squirrel's lunch, on a mission to protect their forest from Uglies (the Woodlies call all humans Uglies) and get their paws on the greatest stash of food they can find!

'Big job when you're not much bigger than a squirrel ...

'Fearless FIREHEAD, gentle SEVENPOINTS and Curious NINEEYES are a mischievous crew with two rules. Rule number one? Never be seen by Uglies. Rule number 2? Never be seen by Uglies while stealing their food or sabotaging their weird Ugly plans.

'But when streetwise MIA and her nature-loving dad WELLIE take over a run-down campsite nearby, they bring with them disasters in the form of clumsy campers, greedy developers and a mean cat with a real taste for Woodlies!

'Think that's bad? A gang of renegade Woodlies known as the SWAMP RATS, led by WHITETAIL and his obnoxious cronies - FOULTOE and GNARLYBUTT, are determined to take over the forest and all the food in it. And they're not about to let a bunch of do-gooder Tree Saps get in their way ...

'As if that's not enough, nature itself serves up a menu of freezing blizzards, searing droughts and loads of creatures ready to make the Woodlies their next main course!

'So when NineEyes breaks the number one rule and becomes friends with Mia, it seems like things couldn't get any worse. Is this the end for the Woodlies?

'One thing's for sure... life's about to get a whole lot more interesting!'

Source: Flying Bark Productions (http://www.flyingbark.com.au/?portfolio=the-woodlies). Sighted: 12/4/2012

When three homeless children discover that the country biggest television personality is actually a robot, they realise they can turn this to their advantage, promising to keep his secret in return for moving in with him and posing as his children.

Three students (one Australian, one German, and one Singaporean) become close friends while studying at a Singaporean boarding school. Disappointed by their inevitable separation at the end of the school year, they are delighted when a fortuitous combination of mobile phones, computers, and a thunderstorm transports them bodily into an Internet chatroom and, from there, into each others' houses. The three spend their days moving freely between Australia, Singapore, and Germany.

The program's official website describes it as 'a vibrant, engaging, contemporary comedy-drama aimed at "tweens" throughout the world.'

Source: Official website (http://www.agurlswurld.com/about/). (Sighted: 23/2/2012)

When Yama's uncle is kidnapped by the most powerful cat in Catropolis, Yama transforms himself into Sumo-Mouse, with the help of an ancient o-icho with mystical powers.

Although Sumo Mouse was made for Australian television network Network 10 by Australian production company Moody Street Kids, it made extensive use of Canadian script-writers, in addition to Australian script-writers.

A 3D animated series based on the Bananas in Pyjamas television program.

'Against a new and exciting backdrop of prehistoric beasts and shamanism, a clever and talented 12-year-old boy named Enyo, who is learning to understand the language of animals, reads hidden messages and 'sees' glimpses of the future, will take us on a spectacular journey of fantasy, fun and wild adventure.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 16/8/2012)

'Follows the wild adventures of three young friends - Zigby the Zebra, McMeer the Meerkat and Bertie the Guinea Fowl. Based on the internationally successful children's book series by [British] writer Brian Paterson...'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 17/8/2012)

A co-production between companies in Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia, Master Raindrop follows the adventures of the students at a small martial-arts academy in the Land of a Thousand Legends. When their school is destroyed and their master kidnapped by the sinister General Bu, they learn that the general is looking for the five elements: Earth, Metal, Water, Wind, and Fire. Twelve years earlier, General Bu wounded the Golden Dragon, which split off into the five anthropomorphised elements. If the elements are reunited, peace will be returned to the land. But General Bu is determined to destroy the Golden Dragon once and for all ...

Similarities have been noted between this series and other martial arts-themed animated series, such as Avatar: The Last Airbender and Xiaolin Showdown.

'Seven 15 year-old surfers have been selected from around Australia and overseas to take part in an intensive 12-month residential school program at Blue Water High. At the beachside school they join other pupils in a normal year's academic work as well as receiving special coaching in surfing. At the end of the year, two of the seven will qualify to surf the pro-circuit and win a three-year sponsorship contract. The series is a race into the finals for the wild card, a race to get through the year, and a race to grow up. The seven teens, forced to live, study and train together—at the same time become best friends and greatest competitors.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 20/8/2013)

'Set in the picture-postcard community on Sydney's northern beaches, SNOBS is the story of unlikely friends - Abby, the daughter of a wealthy, middle class traditional family and Marian, a boy from a group of modern day nomads who have come to be known as Ferals - the arrival of whom upsets the peace of the community and is the catalyst for conflict, adventure and intrigue.'

Source: Screen Australia.

Crimes are being committed within fairy tales. And this means that the fairy tales in our world are losing their happy (or unhappy) endings. Two police officers (no-nonsense Christine Anderson and bumbling Johnny Legend) are sent inside fairy tales to establish the Fairy Tale Police Department and restore the happy endings.

Australian Screen says of Fairy Tale Police Department, 'Despite the title, which suggests a sweet little cartoon, this is a robust and very original series and loads of fun for all ages. Fairytale Police Department is a zany cross between Twisted Tales and the X Files for kids. Female detective Chris Anderson, like X Files cop Dana Scully ..., is strong, capable and ambitious, while her bumbling, vain metrosexual partner Johnny Legend is always getting into in trouble. Other characters are also terrific with strong characterisations and great scripts.'

Source: Australian Screen (http://aso.gov.au/titles/tv/fairytale-police-black/notes/). (Sighted: 12/9/2012)

'The humorous adventures of a group of young Australian native animals.'

Source: Screen Australia.

'In England a recently bereaved widow and her two children discover that they've inherited a property in Australia. With some reluctance they head to Australia to claim their inheritance only to discover that the profitable sheep station they've imagined is in fact a rather out of the way wildlife park full of Australian native animals. What's more it has human occupants as well - a distantly related trio of grandchildren who have been bequeathed lifelong rights to live on the property. As well, there's an Australian born Vietnamese animal handler who's somehow the only one who has real expertise in dealing with native Australian animals.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 23/5/2014)

'The detectives of the Kingsway Major Crime Squad fight to preserve their Pacific Paradise. Crime knows no boundaries—from the Miami-like streets of Sylvania Waters, all dark glass and pontoons, to the towering cranes on the Container Wharves of Botany Bay, bordered by the white beaches and blue water between Monterey and Hungry Point. This is our world. It's tough. It's beautiful. Dangerous. A contradiction.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 12/6/2013)