Rake: episode guide

Series 1 | Series 2 | Series 3 | Series 4 | Series 5

1.01 | 1.02 | 1.03 | 1.04 | 1.05 | 1.06 | 1.07 | 1.08


R v Murray

Episode 1.01
Thu, November 04, 2010 (ABC1)
Ratings: 0.900 million viewers (10th)
Written by Peter Duncan
Directed by Peter Duncan

Whilst barrister Cleaver Greene's ex-wife may call him unreliable, his son will call him a mate. To his learned friends at the bar table he is a real wag, and to most judges he is an outrage. To the Tax Office, he is a defendant, to a certain brothel owner a legend, and to his former cocaine dealer a tragic loss.

The clients he loves the most — the cases that thrill him — are those that appear to be utterly hopeless. He will do whatever it takes to defend and save life's truly lost souls. The big sinners. Its drug lords. Its cannibals. Its bestialites. And at the same time, he will struggle to save himself, to stop himself falling back into the abyss that has characterised most of his self-destructive adult life thus far.

Despite his own hopelessness, his wit and charm have won him hordes of companions over the years. Most nights of the week, there is no shortage of invitations: dinner with a judge, drug dealers, or his copper mates.

He tends to wake up bruised. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. Usually it's a combination thereof.

Occasionally he wonders how his life came to this — living in a studio above a café in the Cross, without his wife and son, in love with a prostitute, defending hopeless cases.

In episode one, Cleaver's lover/friend/confident Missy — a high class call girl — has left without a trace, and tax lawyer David Potter, is in hot pursuit. Scarlet, his best friend Barney's wife, confides in him that she wants to leave home, and his 15-year-old son Fuzz draws him into a conspiracy to cover up his activities with his new girlfriend. But on the work front, Cleaver is presented with a case he can't resist — to defend a cannibal.

Cast:

  • Richard Roxburgh as Cleaver Greene
  • Matt Day as David Potter
  • Adrienne Pickering as Melissa (Missy) Partridge
  • Russell Dykstra as Barney Meagher
  • Danielle Cormack as Scarlet Meagher
  • Caroline Brazer as Wendy
  •  
  • Lisa Bluthal as Female Dinner Guest
  • Kate Box as Nicole
  • Jeanette Cronin as Dr Lacy Hartcher
  • Michael Denkha as Thommo
  • Evin Donohoe as Eager Law Student
  • Tony Farrell as Male Dinner Guest
  • Jane Fullerton-Smith as Sally Sandilands
  • John Gaden as Prosecution (Murray Trial)
  • John Gregg as Tax Court Judge
  • Neveen Hanna as Sammy Female Dinner Guest
  • Brett Heath as Teddy
  • Nicholas Hope as Professor Aden Sinclair
  • Sacha Horler as Annie Murray
  • Tim Hunter as Ancient Law Lecturer
  • Keegan Joyce as Fuzz
  • Lachlan Judd as Adam Meagher
  • Steve Le Marquand as Col
  • Donald MacDonald as Don Osbourne
  • Matthew Moore as Sebastian Carey
  • Geoff Morrell as Joe Sandilands
  • Indira Naidoo as Newsreader
  • Robin Queree as Judge (Murray Trial)
  • Emily Stewart as Reporter
  • Madeline Towns as Zoe Meagher
  • Stephen Vasqez as Jury Foreperson
  • David Villanti as Dario
  • Matthew Walker as Bill (Advisor)
  • Skye Wansey as Jules
  • Hugo Weaving as Professor Graham Murray