AustLit

'Summer Torres is a fierce Brooklyn teen who’s just been sent Down Under to live with family friends the Gibsons, in a tiny coastal town on the Great Ocean Road. Ari Gibson is an introverted but ambitious young surfer returning to competitive surfing after a life-threatening injury. Summer’s about to spend the next three months falling in love with surfing, driving Ari crazy… and upending everyone’s lives.'

Source: Production blurb.

'Twenty years on – when Laura Gibson returns to the beachside paradise of Pearl Bay to attend the birth of her estranged daughter’s baby – rising seas levels, community cover-ups and some very stormy weather conspire to convince her this town now needs her as much as she needs it.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When he is knocked off his pedestal and on to the Impaired Registrants Program, prodigal Sydney surgeon and party boy Hugh Knight must return to his family home in rural Whyhope where he might learn to swallow his pride and mend his ways – or not.'

Source: Production blurb.

'When their country is invaded by a large hostile force, a group of teenagers fight for their family and homeland. Based on the era-defining novels by John Marsden.'

Source: Screen Australia.

'Six teenagers, all elite within their own field, have come to live at Arcadia House to pursue their dreams. For some it's the opportunity of a lifetime. For others it's a last chance. All are strangers, some a long way from home, and the last thing they expect to find is family. Far from home, they must find a path through the new challenges and adventures that the big city offers while dealing with all the trials of growing up.' (Source: ABC3 website)

'Simon Chan has returned to his hometown after many years training in a faraway martial arts temple. He is a born hero, defender of the weak and champion of the honest people of Cabramatta… Well, not really. The truth is Simon was at art school but he'd rather risk his life than disappoint his mother. Welcome to Maximum Choppage, a painfully funny kung fu comedy where identity, family and love is a battlefield.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 14/1/2014)

'[This] series centres on four young families with one thing in common: the men are in charge of raising the kids.

'It's the beginning of a new school year and recently retired Lewis (Gary Sweet) finds himself in the unfamiliar role of stay-at-home dad to Tilda, his daughter with nurse Gemma (Julia Morris).

'Gemma works at the hospital with her best friend Abi (Natalie Saleeba) whose husband Mark (Rhys Muldoon) is juggling a return to part-time work and looking after five-year-old Poppy.

'Mark's brother-in-law Kane (Gyton Grantley) is in a relationship with Tom (Tim Campbell), raising Tom's orphaned niece Stella.

'When dropping their daughters off on the first day of school, the three men meet Justin (Firass Dirani), a former AFL star who, thanks to his bad boy ways, has seen his career and family walk out the door. He is now facing the fight of his life to win custody of his twin boys Zac and Jacob and eight-month-old daughter Angie.

'Finding themselves severely outnumbered by all the mothers at the school drop-off zone, the four men band together and help each other along as they face the challenges of raising a young family.'

Source: Channel Nine website (http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8469113) (Sighted: 17/10/2012)

An eight-part dramatic comedy series, I Rock charts the path of struggling indie rock outfit, Boy Crazy Stacey, a band trying to take over the world ... one disaster at a time. Frontman Nash Taylor is a swaggering wannabe rock god desperately trying to hide his inner nerd. Armed with big ambitions and even bigger insecurities, Nash loves being part of the uber-hip indie music scene, even if it doesn't always love him back. Now, after too many supports and not enough headliners, it's time to take the band to the next level. But with no money, no label and his do-gooder younger brother managing the band, Nash has his work cut out for him. And he's about to suffer a blow that may undo all his grand schemes ... Nash Taylor is about to fall in love.

Source: 'About I Rock', ABC website.

A co-Australian and German television series, Dance Academy revolves around Tara Webster, a young woman who has grown up on property in outback Australia all the while dreaming of becoming a dancer. When she makes it into the National Academy of Dance, Tara realises that her life is about to change forever. As the series progresses, she also comes to realise that she is not alone in this journey.

Home and Away is a television serial created by Alan Bateman and produced by the Seven Network. The idea for the series came to Bateman (then head of drama at Seven) after he stopped to buy ice-creams in a small country town in southern NSW. While chatting to some locals, he learned that the town was unhappy about plans to build a home for foster kids from the city. At that time, Channel Seven was still smarting from its decision to let Neighbours go to the Ten Network, where it had become hugely popular, and was looking to create another series to rival its success. Bateman saw in the idea that became Home and Away the potential for plenty of storylines and conflict by having streetwise city kids being relocated to a small regional environment,

In the beginning, the series focused on Pippa and Tom Fletcher, who, being unable to have children of their own, decide to become foster parents. When Tom is retrenched from his city job, the couple buy the rundown Summer Bay Caravan Park and move there with their five foster children. Soon after arriving, they also take in troublesome Bobby Simpson.

The series debuted in January 1988 with an hour-long telemovie. Although this rated well, the series itself took some while to develop an audience. Having learned their lesson from the Neighbours debacle, Network Seven gave its new show time, and its ratings gradually increased. As with Neighbours, the Home and Away series and performers became very popular in the United Kingdom.