AustLit

'All Lachie Munro wants is a quiet life in sunny Newcastle. But Lachie and quiet don’t seem to get along.

'When Lachie’s estranged dad, Terry, turns up fresh out of prison, he’s packing more than the usual family baggage. Suddenly there are two murderous goons on Lachie’s doorstep and the police are paying him special attention. But Terry’s on the hunt for a long-lost fortune, and he won’t be leaving Newcastle – or Lachie – without it.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It’s not every day a bloke stumbles on a dismembered torso on Nobby’s Beach.

Lachie Munro is starting to feel like he’s is a magnet for trouble. The day before he fished a giant haul of heroin out of his favourite abalone poaching spot near Newcastle.

There’s a better than even chance that the two are connected and he should leave well enough alone.

But the opportunity to clear his gambling debt and get ahead of the game is too good to pass up.

But how do you sell several kilos of heroin? It’s not like drug dealers are listed in the Yellow Pages. And what happens when the owners come looking for their missing package? Is the torso a warning to anyone thinking of crossing them?

Now a person of interest to the police, Lachie needs to stay one step ahead of them, a local bikie he’s managed to insult, play off a big time dealer from Sydney, placate the neighbour’s labrador, Horace, and win the heart of the gorgeous new Fisheries Officer he’s fallen for. Or will he discover that getting into the gun sights of the crooked, the dodgy and the downright shady characters of Newcastle and beyond is more than a man can handle.

But, if Lachie can pull it all off, he might just get Something for Nothing.'

(Publication Summary)

'Underbelly: Squizzy spans the years 1915 to 1927 and tells the epic story of "Squizzy" Taylor's relentless quest for power, ultimately creating a public persona that made him the first superstar gangster of the 20th Century.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 8/3/2013)

'The epic story of Australia's first superstar gangster of the 20th Century - Joseph Theodore Leslie Taylor, known to all as 'Squizzy', was a man whose relentless quest for power knew no boundaries.

'In the 1920s, Squizzy Taylor was a household name for all the wrong reasons - armed robbery, fraud, sly grog and prostitution rackets, race fixing, extortion, jury rigging and illegal gambling. Squizzy was a dandy, a bootlegger and Melbourne's most notorious criminal. From 1915 to 1927 he and his gang waged open warfare against their rivals across Melbourne.

'Underbelly: Squizzy tells the epic story of Squizzy Taylor's relentless quest for power and recognition, a quest that ultimately created our first celebrity gangster. Among those who really knew him - the women in his life and the members of his gang - Squizzy left a trail of misery and heartache, but in the end he got what he wanted. People still remember his name.'

Source : publisher's blurb

Silversun follows the journey of the titular spacecraft, two years into a ninety-year journey to a distant, Earth-like planet, intended for colonisation. The colonists are in cryogenic status, and the ship's crew is largely teenagers, who will take over the primary roles as the adult crew ages.

The program's focus was a combination of the coming-of-age/interpersonal relationship storylines typical of a teenage show and the type of ethical dilemmas common to science-fiction story-telling. Among the latter were such issues as whether or not a crew member's clone was human, and what effect long-distance interstellar travel would have on the human mind and emotions.

Season two of the program ended on a cliffhanger, and no plans have been made to revive the program.

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.