AustLit
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Notes
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Drama series produced in conjunction with corresponding young adult novels/novellas published by McPhee Gribble and Penguin.
Includes
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form
y
The Big Wish
1990
Z989501
1990
single work
film/TV
children's
young adult
fantasy
humour
'Prince Wilton from the Enchanted Realm of the Faeries has been sent to Earth to dispose of seven wishes in the human world before sundown. If Prince Wilton doesn't give away these wishes, the Faeries will lose their powers. Fortunately he meets Christopher Walter Pratt (C.W.) who believes in him and his wishes. C.W doesn't realise, however, that the last wish lasts forever.'
Source: Australian Television Information Archive (http://www.australiantelevision.net/more_winners.html). Sighted: 10/11/2011
1990 -
form
y
Mr Edmund
1990
Z1391965
1990
single work
film/TV
children's
young adult
'The Sydney Harbour Bridge might look good on postcards, but it's a different thing if you have to live right under it, like Cherry and her kid brother, Sam. Their mum runs a boarding house and she's so busy all the time she forgets how to dream. But things change when Mr Edmund comes to stay. He believes that dreams can come true and he's going to show them all how to make sure they do.'
Source: Australian Television Information Archive (http://www.australiantelevision.net/more_winners.html). Sighted: 10/11/2011
1990 -
form
y
His Master's Ghost
1990
Z1392278
1990
single work
film/TV
children's
young adult
mystery
fantasy
horror
'Flea is in the business of frightening people with monster masks and severed hands. When he isn't being a terror, he's studying music in a spooky old mansion and artists' colony called Montsalvat. It's the sort of place that has a cemetery and a caretaker who sharpens his axe on a foot-cranked grindstone. When tales of the Ghost start to surface, Flea and his friends won't be warned. And they find themselves in a horror story scarier than anything Flea could ever invent.'
Source: Australian Television Information Archive (http://www.australiantelevision.net/more_winners.html). Sighted: 10/11/2011
1990 -
form
y
Boy Soldiers
1990
Z1561362
1990
single work
film/TV
children's
young adult
war literature
'In 1910 the Australian Government passed a law requiring all boys aged between 14 and 17 years of age to register for compulsory military training. Will Barnes is a 14-year-old conscientious objector who refuses to register. He is sentenced to three months training at Fort Queenscliff, where he meets a lot of opposition, but also wins his share of admirers for sticking to his beliefs.'
Source: Australian Television Information Archive (http://www.australiantelevision.net/more_winners.html). Sighted: 10/11/2011
1990 -
form
y
Second Childhood
1990
Z1561530
1990
single work
film/TV
children's
young adult
adventure
humour
fantasy
'Mark and his friends discover they've lived before. Not only that, they were famous and important people. Mark is elated—his father always wanted him to be "a somebody". Then Mark and the others find they are responsible for several of the world's big problems. So Henry Ford, Queen Victoria, Albert Einstein and Phar Lap set out to make up for what they've done. Never has a school history project been so dangerous, exciting … or hilarious.'
Source: Australian Television Information Archive (http://www.australiantelevision.net/more_winners.html). Sighted: 10/11/2011
1990 -
form
y
The Journey
1990
Z1561583
1990
single work
film/TV
children's
young adult
adventure
fantasy
'12-year-old Ada Zuckermann becomes an orphan when her father Justus, is killed in a fall. Before he dies, he tells Ada that she must journey south to find her true inheritance. Agnes, the housekeeper's stepdaughter, is to accompany her. As the two set out on their journey adventures befall them. The final discovery, however, of the buried treasure and a letter from Justus, makes the purpose of the journey very clear.'
Source: Australian Television Information Archive (http://www.australiantelevision.net/more_winners.html). Sighted: 10/11/2011
1990
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Related Works
-
form
y
Winners
Network Ten
(publisher),
1985
Australia
:
Network Ten
Australian Children's Television Foundation
,
1985
Z1676442
1985
series - publisher
film/TV
children's
Australian Screen says of Winners that it is 'an anthology series of eight telemovies for children aged between eight and fifteen. No one story is typical. Through comedy, science fiction, historical drama, adventure, fantasy and social realism, many issues are raised. Each of the Winners stories is about children, their families and friends. Common themes across the stories are family relationships, friendship, individuality, and the facing of difficult situations with courage, ingenuity and independence.'
Of the origins of the series, Patricia Edgar says in her memoir Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television (Melbourne: Melbourne UP, 2006):
The series was initially dubbed Masterpiece Theatre, an ironic salute to Phillips Adams' comment at the very first board meeting that we must use popular formats and not look like Masterpiece Theatre. It would eventually air under the title Winners, a title that I selected from a list of ideas during scripting.
I approached a number of experienced producers around the country to induce them to work on a children's program. With guidance from John Morris, I identified twenty of Australia's top writers--including John Duigan, Tom Hegarty, Sonia Borg, Anne Brooksbank, Tony Morphett, Morris Gleitzman, Bob Ellis and Cliff Green--and invited them to a briefing at the Sebel Townhouse in Sydney in February 1983. The way to get their involvement was to make the project high profile and competitivel the media would be involved throughout the process.
Writing is a solitary experience. These selected writers had never been together for a briefing before. The proposal was for each writer to develop two ideas for the sum of $500. If their idea was selected they would go on to the next stage and write a treatment and draft, otherwise we would give their idea back to them. Without exception, the idea appealed. The writers were not instructed on specific program ideas, but I made it clear I did not want bland adventure or syrupy formulaic family shows. I wanted the kind of drama children had not seen before--contemporary, challenging, dealing with important, relevant issue. I wanted stories that would add some meaning to children's lives. If these writers--the cream of the crop--could not deliver, nobody else in Australia could. (pp.155-56)
Edgar said of the series that 'Winners had been a baptism of fire--introducing me to a diverse range of producers, directors, styles of production and problems--as well as a wonderfully exciting introduction to the creation of drama, from an idea on paper to a powerful experience to be shared on screen' (pp.169-70).
