AustLit

'A pair of unlikely friends - a dog and a flea - escape the dog pound for hair-raising and hilarious adventures in the big city and beyond. Flea-bitten! is cartoon comedy in the grand old tradition, with frantic chases, slapstick hilarity and the nuttiest cast of recurring guest characters ever assembled – colourful canines, feral felines and bizarre bugs that inhabit this animal-centric world'.

Source: Australian Children's Television Foundation. (Sighted: 26/9/2012)

This British/Australian co-production comedy/adventure series spins off the character of the robotic dog K9 from the British television series Doctor Who. Because the programme is not a BBC production, it cannot make direct references to Doctor Who. Similarly, K9 was radically redesigned for this show, because although Bob Baker (creator of K9 and co-creator of the original character) owns the character rights to K9, the BBC owns the rights to the original character design.

The concept for K9 was developed by Australian writers Shane Krause and Shayne Armstrong, who also serve as primary writers for the programme. Other Australian writers involved in the show include Queensland-based writer Jim Noble and comedian Ian McFadyen.

The programme is filmed and produced in Brisbane, Australia, but set in near-future London.

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.

A Canadian-Australian co-production.

'Amid the excitement and thrill of the horse world growing up seems harder than ever … Stevie, Carole and Lisa are strong, dynamic young women. Each has very distinct and personal dreams for the future. All have one thing in common - a passion for horses. In forming the Saddle Club the girls promise to remain loyal to each other no matter what, but that promise may not prove to be as easy to keep as they think.'

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

'In February 1967, Ronald Ryan was hanged for the murder of Prison Warder George Hodson, shot while Ryan was attempting to escape from Pentridge Prison. The jury found Ryan guilty after a controversial trial, despite Philip Opas QC passionately arguing his client's innocence. The mandatory penalty for murder was death, but since the previous 35 death penalties had been routinely commuted, no one believed Ryan would hang. The Premier, Henry Bolte, saw the case as a contest of wills and brushed aside all appeals and petitions, including one signed by seven of the jurors who sat on the Ryan case. Based on meticulous research, The Last Of The Ryans tells the true story of Ronald Ryan - about his wife Dorothy, and their three young daughters; his friendship with Prison Governor Ian Grindlay, the man who had to hang him; and his conversion by Father Brosnan who so convinced Ryan that redemption was real that Ryan went to the gallows in expectation.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 26/6/2013)

'In the night club world of drugs, sex and cocktails, the boundaries of decency become blurred and one never knows who to trust. Working under cover for The Feds, Jo's colleague is murdered before she can pass on information about a massive drug shipment arranged by the club's owner. Jo poses as a law student to infiltrate his organisation but soon discovers more than she anticipated. Meanwhile Dave investigates a suspected leak which may threaten Jo's survival.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 17/6/2013)

'When two young Australian children disappear during an access visit with their Indonesian father he becomes the prime suspect in the Federal Police investigation. Detective Sergeant Jo Moody isn't quite so sure and has trouble convincing her colleagues they could be looking in the wrong direction.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 17/6/2013)

'The death and subsequent State funeral of a former Prime Minister puts the Feds in charge of security for all visiting Heads of State. What nobody anticipates, except for a visiting German policeman is the white extremist bomber who comes on a special mission, targeting the visiting South African president.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 17/6/2013)

'There are strange goings on at Brindabella Homestead. Every time someone visits the house, they seem to come to a sticky end. Who is committing these horrible murders?

'Could it be glamorous socialite Mrs Peacock, owner of Brindabella? Perhaps it is her step-daughter, the lovely Miss Scarlet? Scarlet's boyfriend, Professor Plum, has charm but is he to be trusted? The family cook, Mrs White, seems a kindly old soul. But looks can deceive! Colonel Mustard's fine war record would suggest an upright gentleman. But is he? And the good Reverend Green? Surely a man of the cloth couldn't be a killer ... or could he?

'The answer is that any of them could be the killer and the task of finding out who is the criminal rests with you, the audience. In your investigations you will be assisted by the local sleuth, Detective Sergeant Bogong. Help will also come from a studio audience who are able to quiz the characters about their movements and their alibis.'

Source: Crawford Productions publicity material (held in the Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection).

On the cold and inhospitable planet of Zyrgon in a galaxy light years away, X's father wins the state lottery for the 27th time in a row. Knowing he will now be severely punished, twelve-year-old X is determined to save her family from jail, and decides to buy a spaceship. The whole family then set off into space, head halfway across the galaxy, and turn left. They land on an even stranger planet: Earth.

'They're women of action, they're women of the '90s, they're intelligent, highly trained and resourceful. But in the police force they call them "skirts".'

Source: Screen Australia

'An insight into the private and working lives of barristers.'

Source: Screen Australia.

'The story of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, the 1948 Australian tour and their encounter with Australian actor, Peter Finch.'

Source: Screen Australia.

'The story of a Melbourne house-wife who becomes a member of parliament.'

Source: Screen Australia.

Dusty is part Kelpie and part dingo. He was reared by dingoes but later bought as a puppy by an ageing bushman, Tom Lincoln, who trains him to be a champion sheep dog. The wild dingo side of Dusty is, however, never far from the surface. Although Tom is unaware of Dusty's lineage, the local farmers recognise it immediately, and he has to fend off numerous attempts to kill Dusty.

Like the earlier Crawford's series The Box, Prime Time was concerned with television production. In this case, the programme focused on the fictional Lockhart Productions and its prime-time current-affairs program, Assignment: according to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, 'although there was no physical resemblance between actor Chris Orchard and real-life current affairs host and company owner, Mike Willesee, nevertheless the reference was clear.' The show was produced in such a way that, according to Moran, its 'format was flexible enough to allow both the presence of ongoing narratives about the principal characters as well as featuring guest characters, narratives and situations arising out of the stories that Assignment was focusing on.'

Unlike The Box, Prime Time was not successful, though Moran emphasises that Channel 9, the network airing the program, 'did much to snatch disaster from the jaws of victory by scheduling Prime Time on Thursday and Friday nights'.

Set in the 1850s, Golden Pennies concerns a struggling family who move to the goldfield town of Jericho to try and make their fortune.

When his son Michael and Michael's wife Sally are unable to have children, wealthy businessman John Craig arranges for them to have private in-vitro fertilisation treatment. After Michael's death, Craig tries to take Sally's child from her.

A daily television drama series set in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough, Neighbours chronicles the lives of the residents of Ramsay Street. The series initially revolved around three families: the Ramsays (at number 24 Ramsay Street), the Robinsons (at number 26), and the Clarkes (at number 28). The scope of the series has since broadened to include new Ramsay Street familes.