australian television information archive

After the Deluge

June 15 & 16, 2003 (Ten)
Executive Producers: Deborah Cox, Andrea Denholm, Andrew Knight
Producers: Richard Keddie, Andrew Wiseman
Director: Brendan Maher
Writers: Deb Cox and Andrew Knight

After the Deluge will tell the story of three brothers coming to terms with their roles as husbands, fathers, sons and men. They also are trying to find appropriate care for their Alzheimer's-affected father who is struggling with memories of World War II.

Starring: David Wenham, Hugo Weaving, Samuel Johnson, Ray Barrett, Vince Colosimo, Rachel Griffiths, Catherine McClements, Aden Young, Simon Burke and Kate Beahan.

BlackJack (1): Murder Archive

March 16, 2003 (Ten)
Executive Producer: Nick Murray
Producer: Sally Ayre-Smith
Director: Peter Andrikidis
Writers: Shaun Micallef, Gary McCaffrie

Jack Kempson started out as an idealistic cop, but thirty years on he has lost confidence in his moral barometer. When a quantity of drugs signed out in his name goes missing, Jack smells a rat and becomes a whistle blower. In retaliation, he is demoted to supervising data entry into a new computerised crime tracking system. There in the basement, he meets Constable Julie Egan, and the two begin to work outside the system—digging up the unsolved kidnapping of a boy, taken but never found 30 years ago… (Three additional movies commisioned)

Starring: Colin Friels as Jack Kempson, Kate Beahan as Julie Egan, Victoria Longley, Russell Dykstra and Tina Bursill

Cold Turkey

November 28, 2003 (SBS)
Executive Producer:
Producer: Steven McGregor
Director: Steven McGregor

The bond between two brothers is explored against a backdrop of manipulative mind games. Shane's brother Robby is leaving Alice Springs for a job in the Coober Pedy opal fields. As they sit drinking together on the night before Robby leaves Shane tells his brother he doesn't want him to go. Later, at Shane's urging, they hit town and Shane steals a car. As they speed down a country road someone or something turns the car's headlights off and the brothers are plummeted into a nightmare world that will tear their relationship apart.

One of the nine films featured at 50 Minutes From Home—An Australian Film Festival

Starring: John Moore, Wayne Munroe and Kelton Pell

Floodhouse

October 31, 2003 (SBS)
Producer: Peter Sainsbury
Director: Miro Bilbrough

It is 1978, and teenager Mara has been away living with her grandparents. When she returns to her parent's home, she not only has to contend with her hippie father and narcissistic mother, but her own awakening sexuality as well.

One of the nine films featured at 50 Minutes From Home—An Australian Film Festival

Starring: Catherine McClements, Robert Menzies and Victoria Thaine

Go Big

March 14, 2004 (Ten)
Produced by: Go Big Film & TV Pty Ltd
Producers: Rosemary Blight, Ellie Beaumont, Michael Miller
Executive Producer: Sue Masters
Director: Tony Tilse
Writers: Ellie Beaumont, Michael Miller

If you could change your whole life overnight, would you do it? Thirty-year-old Gina Katz, stuck in a dead end telemarketing job, is contemplating just that. Transformation for Gina means embarking upon a wild and seductive journey with two strange men she meets in a bar. Together they are going to Go Big forming the biggest, richest company in the world. They don't have an office or any employees but they do have three very sexy business cards, some good-looking suits and a knack for stretching the truth. Through an elaborate masquerade the three lovable scoundrels manage to convince society's A-list they are high flying tycoons. Go Big is a sexy, fast-paced romantic comedy of underdogs taking on the big guns, celebrity, hype, friendship, family, sibling rivalry and, most of all, love. (100 min)

Starring: Tom Long, Justine Clarke, Alex Dimitriades, Leon Ford, Geoff Morrell, Sacha Horler, Kimberley Joseph, Tony Barry and Judi Farr

Lennie Cahill Shoots Through

December 05, 2003 (SBS)
Produced by: Late Saturday Films Pty Ltd
Producer: Charles Doane
Director: Paul Oliver
Writer: Paul Oliver

Lennie Cahill, an old South Sydney crim, is dying of cancer. He is determined to make amends for an unsolved crime in which an innocent girl was murdered 20 years ago. Staying one step ahead of "Twink", a cop on the verge of retirement, Lennie stuns the Sydney public when he makes a series of video confessions. So starts a cat and mouse game between two wily old-timers and it's anyone's guess who will come out on top, until a surprise twist reveals all. (52 min)

Starring: Tony Barry, Chris Haywood, Gary Waddell, Steven Vidler, Diana Glenn, Leah Purcell

Marking Time

November 9 and 10, 2003 (ABC)
Producer: John Edwards
Director: Cherie Nolan
Writer: John Doyle

Tells a story of Hal, a small town boy who has just left high school. The world is at his feet. He falls in love with Randa, an Afghani refugee at a time of momentous change—from the time of the Olympic torch relay up to the national election focusing on border protection. (4 x 45 min)

Starring: Abe Forsythe, Bojana Novakovic, Geoff Morrell, Abbie Cornish, Katie Wall, Matt LeNevez, Graeme Blundell

Martha's New Coat

October 17, 2003 (SBS)
Produced by: Newtown Films
Producer: Liz Watts
Director: Rachael Ward
Writer: Elizabeth Mars

Martha is a young girl growing up in a small town with her younger sister Elsie, their pregnant mother and their mother's seemingly unsavoury boyfriend. When her mum fails to fulfil a promise to take the girls to the beach on her 15th birthday, Martha takes off with Elsie in tow. Martha has her day at the beach then goes looking for her real father. When she finds him the experience changes her life and transforms her hopes and allegiances. (52 min)

One of the nine films featured at 50 Minutes From Home—An Australian Film Festival

Starring: Matilda Brown, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Lisa Hensley, Daniel Wyllie, Helen O'Leary, Amy Miller-Porter

The Postcard Bandit

Sunday, June 01, 2003 (Nine)
Executive Producers: Ross Plapp, Kris Noble
Producer: Matt Carroll
Director: Tony Tilse
Writers: Peter Gawler

The Postcard Bandit—that's what the media called Brendan James Abbott (Tom Long), because rumour has it he used to send postcards of his travels to the coppers chasing him. In a career spanning a decade BJ knocked off almost five million dollars of the banks' money and much of this has never been recovered. This is the story of BJ, it celebrates his spirit—it's a warts'n'all account of a unique, gifted Aussie bloke who took the wrong road and who is now paying a heavy price in solitary confinement in a maximum security facility.

Starring: Tom Long, Brett Stiller, Tasma Walton, Helen Dallimore and Simon Burke

Preservation

November 21, 2003 (SBS)
Producer: Della Churchill
Director: Sofya Gollan
Writer: Sofya Gollan

From the age of eight Daphne was taught the art of taxidermy by her father, who has since died. It is the Depression of the late nineteenth century and Daphne now runs the business alone, from her elegant but lonely family home. Into her world steps a stranger. Nick, a labourer on the docks, arrives weary and without luggage but with plenty of money to rent a room. He is, in his own way, also in the grip of the dead. As Nick and Daphne's past secrets are revealed under the glittering gaze of dead animals, a tenuous relationship comes to life for two people who thought themselves lost to love.

One of the nine films featured at 50 Minutes From Home—An Australian Film Festival

Starring: Jacqueline McKenzie, Jack Finsterer, Simon Burke, Fiona Martinelli, Kris McQuade

Queen of Hearts

November 7, 2003 (SBS)
Producer: Charlotte Seymour
Director: Danielle Maclean
Writer: Danielle Maclean

Penny is visiting her grandparents in Alice Springs and some things are just the same—her fights with her cousin, powdered milk to drink, trying to make sense of half-heard conversations between the adults. What is different is that this time the secret she overhears makes her desperate to take control of her world so that she can save her beloved Nanna.

One of the nine films featured at 50 Minutes From Home—An Australian Film Festival

Starring: Kirsty McDonald, Lisa Flanagan, Aaron Pedersen and Lillian Crombie

Roy Höllsdotter Live

October 24, 2003 (SBS)
Producer: Trevor Blainey
Director: Matthew Saville
Writer: Matthew Saville

Melbourne stand-up comic Roy Höllsdotter is enjoying popularity, regular bookings and plenty of laughs. His routines leave the crowds rolling on beer-splashed carpet at his weekly gig but his private life is going to hell. Roy's girlfriend Cate has unceremoniously dumped him. Roy's neuroses, apathy and smart mouth saw her out the door and now the comedian has turned amateur stalker. Perched atop a stool in a local café, his nightly stake-out affords him a brief glimpse of Cate as she drives by.

Amongst his coterie of dead-shit mates, it's the unassuming Simmo who comes to Roy's rescue. Ignoring insults, brush-offs, outrageous soft-drink prices and even flying fists, Simmo persists in pressing home to the collapsing comic that his behaviour is becoming very, very dubious. (52 min)

One of the nine films featured at 50 Minutes From Home—An Australian Film Festival

Starring: Darren Casey, Luke Elliot, Asher Keddie, Maude Davey, John Clarke

The Shark Net

August 10, 2003 (ABC)
Executive Producer: Robyn Kershaw
Producer: Sue Taylor
Director: Graeme Burfoot
Writer: Ian David

Adapted from Robert Drewe's award winning memoir, THE SHARK NET is a gripping account of murder and adolescent angst in the middle class suburbs of a city [Perth] cut off from the rest of the world. (3 x 60 minutes)

Starring: Tim Draxl, Angus Edwards, Zac Richmond, William McInnes, Leeanna Walsman, Dan Wyllie, Angie Milliken, Warren Mitchell

So Close To Home

November 14, 2003 (SBS)
Producers: Samantha Jennings and Martin Williams
Director: Jessica Hobbs

Maggie, a thirty-something professional woman, is on her way to Melbourne, to be reunited with her estranged mother, Ramona. On the overnight train from Sydney a teenage girl enters the compartment. She tells Maggie she is from Europe but says little else. The next day, as Maggie prepares to meet her mother, she realises the girl, Azra, is following her. To Ramona's incredulity Maggie brings Azra back to her mother's suburban home. As Maggie and Ramona struggle to re-establish their relationship they discover the painful truth of what family and belonging mean for Azra.

One of the nine films featured at 50 Minutes From Home—An Australian Film Festival

Starring: Kerry Fox, Gillian Jones and Arbenita Fejzullahu