australian television information archive

Dangerous Remedy

Year: 2012
November 04, 2012 (ABC1)
Produced by Summer Offensive Pty Ltd
Executive Producer: Andrew Myer
Producer: Ned Lander
Director: Ken Cameron
Writer: Kris Wyld

In 1969 suburban GP Dr Bert Wainer, moved by the death of a young woman, embarked on a campaign for law reform. He quickly discovered an illegal abortion ring protected by corrupt homicide detectives that allowed the medical establishment, media and politicians to turn a blind eye to the insidious impact of the law. His crusade created powerful enemies who threatened his practice, his reputation, his family and came close to taking his life.

Cast: Jeremy Sims, Susie Porter, William McInnes, Maeve Dermody, Mark Leonard Winter, Gary Sweet, Caroline Craig, Nicholas Bell

Devil's Dust

Year: 2012
November 11 & 12, 2012 (ABC1)
Produced by FremantleMedia Australia
Executive Producer: Jason Stephens
Producers: Antonia Barnard, Stephen Corvini
Director: Jessica Hobbs
Writer: Kris Mrksa

A thriller of David and Goliath proportions ripping the cloak of secrecy from a huge corporate scandal that exposes how asbestos multi-national company, James Hardie, oversaw a strategy that, by ignoring the dangers of asbestos for decades, was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Based on the book Killer Company by Matt Peacock. (90min)

Cast: Anthony Hayes, Don Hany, Ewen Leslie, Alexandra Schepisi

Links: ABC site, Trailer on youtube

Dripping in Chocolate

Saturday, April 07, 2012 (UKTV)
Produced by Southern Star Entertainment Pty Ltd
Producers: Julie McGauran & Sarah Smith
Director: Mark Joffe
Screenplay: John Ridley & Sarah Smith

A contemporary crime drama set in the laneways of inner city Sydney. When Detective Bennett O'Mara finds a chocolate wrapper on a strangled girl, it leads him to enigmatic chocolatier Juliana Lovece. Just as this perceptive woman gets under his hardened skin, he suspects she may be at the centre of an increasing murder count.

Starring: David Wenham, Louise Lombard, Rick Donald, Chelsie Preston Crayford, Richard Brancatisano, Caroline Brazier, Glenn Hazeldine, Lucy Durack, Geoff Morrell

Exchange Student Zero

Sunday, December 16, 1012 (Cartoon Network)
Produced by Bogan Entertainment
Executive Producers: Yoshiya Ayugai, Silas Hickey
Producer: Bruce Kane
Animation directors: Francis Jason "Kiko" Lerma, Lean Lagonera
Writers: Bruce Kane, Shayne Armstrong, Shane Krause

Two school friends obsessed with a fantasy card game called Battle Day Zero inadvertently bring one of the characters, Hiro, to life. His arrival coincides with that of a Japanese exchange student who he is mistaken for allowing him to live among the confused townsfolk. The fact that he functions as anime character in a normal toon world is the source of much confusion and tension. However our unlikely heroes managed to keep their new guests true identity a secret until they can work out how to get him back to his own world. This becomes more difficult when the portal they have opened allows more and more exotic creatures into their sleepy town. Life will never be the same again and as our leads discover, it is far more exciting this way. The first animated Australian made production to be commissioned by the Cartoon Network.

Voices: Rove McManus, Marg Downey, Scott Edgar, Peter Rowsthorn, Kate McLennan, Natalie Bond, Mark Hamill, Candi Milo, Bradley Dee Baker, Jon Von Goes; Edwin Kane, Giles Brading, Gene Argiro, Patrick Crawley, Molly McCusker, Judy Whittle, Astra Whitton, Serena Kane, Shona Elliot-Kerr, Ginger Argiro, Indigo Malatt

Howzat! Kerry Packer's War

Sun, August 19 & 26, 2012 (Nine)
Ratings (1): 2.097m viewers (1st)
Ratings (2): 2.091m viewers (1st)
Produced by Southern Star John Edwards
Producers: John Edwards and Mimi Butler
Director: Daina Reid
Writer: Christopher Lee

Howzat! — Kerry Packer's War tells the story of the bitter two-year cricket war between Packer, with his highly-paid elite professionals and the cricket Establishment doing its best to protect the hundred-year legacy of pride in the traditional nature of the poorly paid game. The result was to change cricket forever. World Series Cricket introduced into the game a dramatic new era of dynamism and elite professionalism and thrust cricket into the modern era, shaping the game we know today.

Starring: Lachy Hulme, Clayton Watson, Damon Gameau, Brendan Cowel, Matthew Le Nevez, Richard Davies, Hamish Michael, Ryan O'Kane, Alexander England, Mandy McElhinney, Cariba Heine, Travis McMahon

Jack Irish: Bad Debts

Sun, October 14, 2012 (ABC1)
Produced by Essential Media and Entertainment
Producer: Ian Collie
Director: Jeffrey Walker
Writer: Andrew Knight

Jack Irish: Bad Debts life is hard enough for Jack - his beloved football club has moved interstate, the odds ofhis latest plunge at the track seem too long and he's still cooking forone. So a phone message from ex-client Danny McKillop doesn't ring any bells. But then Danny turns up dead and Jack must take a walk back into a dark and dangerous past.

Starring: Guy Pearce, Aaron Pedersen, Marta Dusseldorp, Simon Russell

Jack Irish: Black Tide

Sun, October 21, 2012 (ABC1)
Produced by Essential Media and Entertainment
Producer: Ian Collie
Director: Jeffrey Walker
Writer: Andrew Knight

Jack Irish: Black Tide sees Jack helping out an old family friend Des Connors whose son Gary has gone missing. As Jack begins to dig, he discovers Gary Connors was a man with something to hide, and his friends are people with darker and more deadly secrets.

Starring: Guy Pearce, Aaron Pedersen, Marta Dusseldorp, Nicholas Coghlan, Ron Jacobson

Mabo

Sun, June 10, 2012 (ABC1)
544,000 viewers (11th)
Produced by Tradewind Films Pty Ltd
Producer: Miranda Dear, Darren Dale
Director: Rachel Perkins
Writer: Sue Smith

Tells the story of one of Australia's national heroes: Eddie Koiki Mabo, the Torres Strait Islander who left school at fifteen, yet spearheaded the High Court challenge that once and for all overthrew the fiction of terra nullius.

Starring: Jimi Bani, Deborah Mailman, Ewen Leslie, Tom Budge, Charles Passi, Rob Carlton, Colin Friels, Miranda Otto

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab

Sun, October 28, 2012 (ABC1)
826,000 viewers (13th)
Produced by Burberry Entertainment in association with the ABC
Executive Producer: Ewan Burnett
Producer: Margot McDonald
Director: Shawn Seet
Writer: Glen Dolman

Melbourne, 1886. Two gentlemen climb into a hansom cab late one murky night. One man climbs out, the other travels on to St Kilda. On arrival, the driver finds the second man dead; murdered. The 'high-society' killing sends shockwaves through the young city, still flush from its gold-rush boom. The victim, Oliver Whyte, fresh from England with glowing 'letters of introduction', had endeared himself to one of the wealthiest men in the colony, Mark Frettlby. It is Mark's 21-year-old daughter, Madge Frettlby, who Whyte instantly sets his sights on, but Madge is already in love with Brian Fitzgerald, a sensitive, hard-working Irishman. Based on the best-selling novel by Fergus Hume. (100min)

Starring: John Waters, Marco Chiappi, Shane Jacobson, Jessica De Gouw, Oliver Ackland, Chelsie Preston Crayford, Felix Williamson, Charlie Cousins, Gerry Connolly, Helen Morse, Anna McGahan, Michael Carman, Brett Climo, Nathan Lovejoy, Kerry Walker, Julie Nihill, Kali Hulme, Nicola Parry

Mrs Biggs

Year: 2012
An Australia/UK co-production
Produced by Seven Productions, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, February Films Pty Ltd
Executive Producers: George Adams, Jeff Pope
Producers: Kwadjo Dajan, Tony Wright
Director: Paul Whittington
Writer: Jeff Pope

The new drama will tell the remarkable story of Charmian Brent — the ex-wife of the notorious fugitive Ronald 'Ronnie' Biggs. It will focus on her life from the moment she met and fell in love with Biggs, to their four years in Australia after the Great Train Robbery in 1963, to the heartbreak when he rejected her after he fled to Rio de Janeiro. (5 x 60min)

Cast: Sheridan Smith, Danny Mays, Caroline Goodall, Time Draxl, Freya Stafford, Alison Bell

Redfern Now

November - December 2012
Produced by Blackfella Films Pty Ltd
Executive Producer: Sally Riley
Producers: Darren Dale, Miranda Dear
Directors: Rachel Perkins, Catriona McKenzie, Wayne Blair, Leah Purcell
Writers: Michelle Blanchard, Jon Bell, Adrian Wills, Steven McGregor, Danielle MacLean

REDFERN NOW centres around contemporary inner city Indigenous life. Over six episodes we join the households of six different families whose lives are changed by a seemingly insignificant incident. Extraordinary events in ordinary lives. (6 x 60min)

Cast: Leah Purcell, Wayne Blair, Deborah Mailman, Kelton Pell, Dean Daley-Jones, Jimi Bani, Miranda Tapsell, Shari Sebbens

Scumbus

Sat, November 10, 2012 (Ten)
Executive Producers: Ed Kavalee, Tippy Kavalee
Producers: Christian Clark, Ed Kavalee
Director: Luke Tierney
Writer: Ed Kavalee
Story: Josh Lawson, Luke Tierney and Ed Kavalee

What would you do if your best friend was trying to ruin your life? Red and Tommy are two very different cops. Tommy (Ed Kavalee) who does everything according to the letter of the law while Red (Toby Truslove) thinks laws were made to be broken. When they are sent to 'The Scumbus', a police station in the worst part of town. Tommy will either hold off the local drug dealers and corrupt cops long enough to earn the promotion he craves and win the woman he loves. Or will Red will finally ruin his life good?

Cast: Toby Truslove, Ed Kavalee, Samantha Tolj, Glenn Robbins, Ryan Shelton, Christian Clark, Henry Nixon, Tony Martin, Dave Hughes, Lachy Hulme, Kate Langbroek, Peter Helliar

Underground - The Julian Assange Story

Sun, October 07, 2012 (Ten)
Ratings: 1.336 million viewers (4th)
Producer: Helen Bowden
Director: Robert Connolly
Writers: Robert Connolly, Mark Davis

Set in suburban Melbourne in the late 1980s, Underground follows a teenage Julian Assange and his gang of friends — the International Subversives — as they try to break into the computer systems of the worlds most powerful organisations. Hoping to uncover the inner workings of these groups, the boys wage battle from their bedrooms with the technologies, with each other, and with the Senior AFP Detective who is intent on shutting down their group.

Cast: Alex Williams, Rachel Griffiths, Anthony LaPaglia, Callan McAuliffe, Laura Wheelright, Jordan Raskopoulos