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Anzacs

Anzacs

Year: October 1985
Producer: Geoff Burrowes
Writers: John Dixon, John Clarke
Directors: John Dixon, George Miller, Pino Amenta

This epic six hour drama follows the lives of a dozen Australia Australian soldiers who served in the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during World War I which follows them from the 1915 battle of Galipoli, to the brutal trenches of France during the 1916 Somme battles, the 1917 Arias and Vimy Ridge battles to the final 1918 German offensives and the final victory drive as well as the hardships, mid-adventures and the casualties of friends encountered at each one.

Cast: Andrew Clarke, Paul Hogan, Jon Blake, Mark Hembrow, Christopher Cummins, Megan Williams, Tony Bonner, Shane Briant, Peter Finlay, Patrick Ward, Vincent Ball, Jonathan Sweet, Illona Rogers, Noel Trevarthen, David Bradshaw

Archer

Year: 1985
Produced by Roadshow Coote & Carroll Pty Ltd
Executive Producers: Matt Carroll, Greg Coote
Producer: Matt Carroll, Moya Iceton
Writer: Anne Brooksbank
Director: Denny Lawrence

Archer was the first Melbourne Cup winner and perhaps the greatest Australian-born race horse ever. A story of courage and faith, as Archer and his owner battle all odds to walk over 900 kilometres to Melbourne for the big race.

Cast: Brett Climo, Robert Coleby, Nicole Kidman, Anna-Maria Monticelli

Body Business

Year: 1985
Produced by PBL Productions for the Nine Network Australia
Writers: Michael Fisher, Ted Roberts
Director: Colin Eggleston

The chairman of Glamour Industries is about to retire... and three ambitious executives compete for the job. Victoria Desmond returns from New York to Sydney, to maintain control of the international fashion house her family once ran. With three opponents keen to get their hands on the million-dollar business, and stop Victoria's progress, there is bound to be drama. One of Victoria's models is murdered, and when her son is kidnapped, Victoria must use all her strength to find him and keep her life. (2 x 2hr)

Cast: Carmen Duncan, Jane Menelaus, Elizabeth Desmond, Gary Day

The Dunera Boys

Aired: October 1985
Produced by
Writers: Ben Lewin
Director: Ben Lewin

After the outbreak of World War II, a group of young Jewish men is rounded up in England and, in the face of suspicion there about them, sent out to Australia on board the HMT Dunera. The film follows their life in Australia, through internment in a camp at Hay, NSW, to positions of distinction in Australian society. Winner of the AWGIE award for best script, four AFI Awards (Best Mini-series, Best Direction, Best Screenplay and Best Actor) and five Penguins

Cast: Bob Hoskins, Warren Mitchell, John Meillon, Mary-Anne Fahey, Julia Blake

I Live With Me Dad

Year: 1985
Executive Producers: Hector Crawford, Ian Crawford, Terry Stapleton
Producer: Ross Jennings
Writer: Peter Pinney, Derry Moran (original short story)
Director: Paul Maloney

Sid and Chris McCall are a homeless father and son whose struggle to survive life on the streets is a bitter one. The authorities take 7-year old Chris away from his drunken father and it takes all of Sid's courage and devotion to clean up his act and reclaim the son he loves.

Cast: Peter Hehir, Haydon Samuel, Rebecca Gibney, Tony Hawkins, Gus Mercurio, Dennis Miller, Val Lehman, Anne Phelan, Nell Johnson

An Indecent Obsession

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Year: 1985
Produced by PBL Productions for Nine Network Australia
Writer: Denise Morgan
Directed by Lex Marinos

Based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough - this is the story of a woman's obsession with duty. And about the obsession she unwittingly nurtures in the men she cares for. World War II is drawing to a close. In Ward 'X' of an Australian Military Hospital, five emotionally wounded soldiers remain in the care of Sister Honour Langtry (Wendy Hughes), a tough intelligent and sensitive young woman who cares deeply for her unit. To four of them she's a mixture of saint and sister. But when a charming new patient arrives (Gary Sweet), the delicate relationship between the inmates quickly unravels.

Cast: Julia Blake, Wendy Hughes, Bill Hunter, Bruno Lawrence, Gary Sweet, Richard Moir

The Lancaster Miller Affair

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Year: July 1985
Producer: Paul Davies
Writer: Peter Yeldham
Director: Henri Safran

A mini-series based on the true story of Jessica 'Chubbie' Miller who left Australia in the twenties seeking a challenging new life in London. She finds this is Bill Lancaster and the ex-RAF pilot's dream to be the first to fly from Britain to Australia. Chubbie and Lancaster's hopes are dashed when their plane crashes. They return for repairs. Poorer but very much in love they arrive in Australia but both are still married and Bill's wife refuses to divorce him. Famous but desperate they move to Miami, where Chubbie grows disillusioned. And then in walks Haden Clarke, an American author; he moves in with them to write Chubbie's life story.
Lancaster takes the chance to fly a light plane to Mexico, only to learn that he's expected to smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants into America. In the midst of this he receives a letter from Clarke informing him that he and Chubbie have fallen in love, and intend to marry. He returns and one night, Lancaster wakes Chubbie — Clarke has shot himself in the head. Two suicide notes are found but Lancaster admits he wrote them. He is arrested for murder but Chubbie stands by him, hiring a clever lawyer who succeeds in getting Lancaster acquitted but their reputations have suffered and they flee to Britain. Determined to win back the public's favour, Lancaster determines to beat Amy Johnson's new record flight from London to Capetown. His plane disappears in the Sahara Desert. Lancaster's wife and mother prevent Chubbie from mounting a search.
29 years later the French Foreign Legion finds the young pilot's remains. His diary tells of his last eight days, and his love for Chubbie. (6 x 60min)

Cast: Kerry Mack, Nicholas Eadie, Malcolm Robertson, Wayne Gull, June Salter, Barry Hill, Lisa Armytage, John Lee, Earl Francis, Stephen Costain, Charles Dance, Bill Richardson, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell

Palace of Dreams

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Year: 1985
Producer: Sandra Levy
Writers: David Goldie, Denny Lawrence, John Misto, Debra Oswald, Marc Rosenberg
Directors: David Goldie, Denny Lawrence, Geoffrey Nottage, Riccardo Pellizzeri, Graham Thorburn

The story of an orthodox Russian-Jewish emigrant family running an inner-city hotel, The Dundee Palace, during the Depression of the 1930s. O'Neill is the young aspiring writer from Gundagai who lives at the hotel and shares their lives. (10 x 50min)

Cast: Henri Szeps, Michael O'Neill, Deidre Rubenstein, Linda Cropper, Susie Lindeman, Kris McQuade, Peter Ford, John Walton, John Jarratt, Durand Sinclair

The Petrov Affair

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Year: 1985
Produced by PBL Productions for Nine Network Australia
Writer: Cliff Green, Mac Gudgeon
Director: Michael Carson

On April 12, 1954 Vladimir Petrov, Third Consul at the Soviet Embassy in Canberra, and head of Soviet espionage in Australia, defected, unbeknown to his wife. This began a series of dramatic events that tore the political fabric of Australia and had repercussions around the world. This is an international spy story, a political story, but most of all a human story; the Petrovs themselves, disappearing into the anonymity of Australian suburbia, forced to adopt false names and personal histories, condemned to lead "secret lives". (4 x 1hr)

Cast: Alex Menglet, Eva Sitta, Simon Chilvers

Remember Me

Year: 1985
Produced by Southern Star Entertainment for the Seven Network Australia
Writer: Anne Brooksbank
Director: Lex Marinos

Jenny and Geoff are a happily married couple in their 30's, leading a comfortable, ordered, suburban life in Sydney with their two young children, they live in a spacious modern beachfront home. Like many successful marriages, theirs is based on mutual affection and respect. It may not be a passionate relationship, but it's a satisfying one. But their matrimonial harmony is individually eroded when Jenny's ex-husband, Howard, suddenly turns up. "Remember Me?" he asks, which is the beginning of a disturbing series of events.

Cast: Wendy Hughes, Richard Moir, Robert Grubb

Robbery Under Arms

Year: 1985
Produced by South Australian Film Corporation
Producer: Jock Blair
Writers: Tony Morphett, Graeme Koetsveld
Directors: Ken Hannam, Donald Crombie

Sam Neill stars as the suave, fearless bushranger Captain Starlight in this big budget action-drama based on the classic novel by Rolf Boldrewood. Joined by bush larrikin Ben and his two adventure-hungry sons, Starlight leads his gang of wild colonial boys in search of riches, romance — and other men's cattle. With the chief of police and his men on to them, the outlaws will have to make a run for it in one last wild race to freedom. Two versions were filmed simultaneously, a tv miniseries and a feature film, with separate scripts and directors.

Cast: Sam Neill, Steven Vidler, Christopher Cummins, Liz Newman, Jane Menelaus, Andy Anderson, Deborah Coulls, Susie Lindeman, Elaine Cusick, Ed Devereaux, Tommy Lewis, Robert Grubb