australian television information archive

The Broken Shore

Sunday, February 02, 2014 (ABC1)
Ratings: 912,000 viewers (7th)
Produced by Essential Media & Entertainment
Executive Producers: Carole Sklan, Christopher Gist
Producers: Ian Collie, Andrew Knight
Screenwriter: Andrew Wright
Director: Rowan Woods

Detective Joe Cashin (Don Hany) has returned to the coastal village of Port Monro where he grew up. Broken in both body and spirit as a result of a botched homicide raid in Melbourne, Cashin and junior police officer Kendall Rodgers (Marni Johnston) run the local cop shop. Not everyone is pleased to see Cashin back. His mother, Sybil (Noni Hazlehurst), wants Joe to leave immediately, before the dark cloud of his father's death overwhelms him.

Joe's new neighbour, Helen Castleman (Claudia Karvan), also stirs up memories. Thirty years ago she planted a summer kiss on Joe that still lingers. When Helen accuses him of putting up illegal fences, desire and attraction are laced with hostility.

When well-heeled philanthropist Charles Bourgoyne (Ralph Cotterill) is brutally bashed and robbed in his home, Joe's investigation uncovers a cycle of lies, betrayal and systematic corruption in a community where tensions over race, class and politics are at boiling point.

Capturing the chilling action and laconic wit of Peter Temple's internationally acclaimed novel, this television adaptation filmed against a rugged coastline brings alive the novel's cast of complex characters as it slowly reveals the shocking face behind a community's respectable mask.

Starring: Don Hany, Claudia Karvan, Anthony Hayes, Erik Thomson, Dan Wyllie, Tony Briggs, Wayne Blair, Catherine McClements, Robyn Nevin, Noni Hazlehurst; Ralph Cotterill, Jane Bayly, Steve Hayden, Marni Johnson, Damon Herriman, Melodie Reynolds

Carlotta

Thursday, June 19, 2014 (ABC1)
Produced by Story Ark Productions
Executive Producers: Carole Sklan, Christopher Gist
Producers: Riccardo Pellizzeri, Lara Radulovich
Director: Samantha Lang
Writer: David Hannam

Carlotta is based on the extraordinary life of iconic Les Girls headliner and Australian transgender pioneer, Carlotta. Spanning forty years of groundbreaking social and sexual upheaval, Carlotta lays bare the life of the sexually confused teenager Richard Byron and his flight from a neglectful and abusive household into the turbulence of the hedonistic Kings Cross of the sixties and seventies. We witness the birth of the transsexual underworld against the threat of criminal prosecution as well as social rejection and with it, the emergence of the all conquering drag queen and performer, Carlotta. (90min)

Cast: Jessica Marais, Anita Hegh, Caroline O'Connor, Alex Dimitriades, Paul Capsis, Eamon Farren, Socratis Otto, Andrew Lees, Ryan Johnson, Gigi Edgley, Damian de Montemas, Warick Young, Kai Lewins, Genevieve Lemon

Hope and Wire

Thurday, July 03, 10, 17, 2014
Producers: Chris Hampson, Gaylene Preston
Writers: Gaylene Preston, Dave Armstrong
Director: Gaylene Preston
Network: TV3 [NZ]

A gripping, emotional, character-based drama set in Christchurch after the devastating earthquakes of 2010-2011. Three two-hour episodes follow characters who continue to live amid the ruins, despite frequent disturbing aftershocks. Reflecting their fractured experiences, Hope & Wire circles around overlapping worlds and viewpoints. Fate and destiny collide in unpredictable ways as they all grapple with the "new normal".

Starring: Bernard Hill as Len, Rachel House as Joycie, Jarod Rawiri as Ryan, Miriama McDowell as Donna, Stephen Lovatt as Jonty, Luanne Gordon as Ginny, Joel Tobeck as Greggo, Chelsie Preston Crayford as Monee, Kip Chapman as King, Anton Tennet as Dwayne, Lucy Wyma as Hayley

INXS: Never Tear Us Apart

Sunday, February 09 & 16, 2014 (Seven)
Ratings (1): 1.974m viewers (1st)
Ratings (2): 1.768m viewers (2nd)
Produced by Shine Australia
Producers: Rory Callaghan, Mark Fennessy
Writers: Justin Monjo, Dave Warner
Director: Daina Reid

INXS: Never Tear Us Apart tells the uncensored story of Australia's most successful band, INXS. This big, brash and colourful TV drama charts the rise of six Sydney boys who became the biggest band in the world. A story of mateship, a story of success and excess, talent and sheer bloody will, set to a pulsating soundtrack including all of INXS's greatest hits. (2 x 90min)

Cast: Luke Arnold as Michael Hutchence, Hugh Sheridan as Garry Gary Beers, Alex Williams as Kirk Pengilly, Ido Drent as Jon Farriss, Andy Ryan as Andrew Farriss, Nicholas Masters as Tim Farriss, Damon Herriman as Chris Murphy, Samantha Jade as Kylie Minogue, Georgina Haig as Paula Yates, Mallory Jansen as Helena Christensen, Jane Harber as Michele Bennett, Freya Stafford as Kim D

Jack Irish: Dead Point

Sunday, April 13, 2014 (ABC1)
Ratings: 780,000 viewers (11th)
Produced by Essential Media and Entertainment
Produced by Ian Collie
Written by Matt Cameron
Directed by Jeffrey Walker

Guy Pearce returns in the third instalment of Jack Irish - Dead Point, based on the award-winning thriller by author Peter Temple. Jack Irish is a part-time lawyer, mug punter and finder of people who'd rather remain lost. When a high profile judge, Justice Loder, commissions him to locate a mysterious red book, Jack is thrown into a world of sexy club owners, dodgy drug dealers, bisexual blackmailers, and unhinged killers. Anyone who touches the red book turns up dead. Jack should follow his instinct and back away very slowly and very quietly. If only the judge wasn't family.

Cast: Guy Pearce as Jack Irish, John Jarratt as Sen. Sgt Laurie Olsen, Vince Colosimo as Mike Cundall, Marta Dusseldorp as Linda Hillier, Barry Humphries as Justice Logan, Shane Jacobson as Barry Tregear, Roy Billing as Harry Strang, Aaron Pedersen as Cam Delray, Deborah Mailman as Cynthia

The Killing Field

Sunday, May 04, 2014 (Seven)
Ratings: 1.166m viewers (5th)
Creators: Michaeley O'Brien, Sarah Smith
Executive Producers: John Holmes, Julie McGauran
Producers: Rebecca Gibney, Bill Hughes, Sarah Smith
Director: Samantha Lang
Writers: Sarah Smith and Michaeley O'Brien

In the small country town of Mingara, a teenage girl goes missing, prompting a large-scale operation to find her. Unexpectedly, five dead bodies are found in a field. Dt. Eve Winter and Dt. Lachlan McKenzie are brought in to lead the investigation and soon uncover long buried secrets of this sheltered town. As the investigation intensifies so do tensions within the community, with friends and neighbours turning against one another. Can it be that a serial killer has been living undetected in their midst all this time?

Cast: Rebecca Gibney, Peter O'Brien, Liam McIntyrem Chloe Boreham

article: 'The Killing Field' divides audience

Monster Beach

Produced by Bogan Entertainment Solutions
Producer: Bruce Kane
Director: Patrick Crawley
Writers: Bruce Kane, Patrick Crawley, Shane Krause, Shayne Armstrong

A 1x70' special that tells the story of two brothers who are packed off on holiday to stay with their uncle, but run into trouble with the local community who turn out to be monsters.

Cast: Rove McManus, Steven Hall, Jacquie Brennan

Nancy Wake: A Love Story [NZ]

Executive Producer:
Producer: Gary Scott
Director: Mike Smith
Writers:
Network: TV One (NZ)

The thrilling true story of a NZ-born heroine who became the Gestapo's most wanted woman in World War II. This showcase documentary-drama follows Nancy Wake's life from becoming a vital link in the French resistance, to fleeing from Nazi spies, before returning as a highly trained special agent. She fought to win back her country, but can Nancy also save her husband's life? (70min)

Cast: Rachel Blampied, et al

Parer's War

Sunday, April 27, 2014 (ABC1)
Ratings: 522,000 viewers (17th)
Producer: Andrew Wiseman
Director: Matthew Saville
Writer: Ewan Leslie

It's 1942 — Darwin has been bombed and 29-year-old war-time cinematographer Damien Parer is filming Australian troops as they fight the Japanese on the deadly razorback ridges of New Guinea. Risking his own life, Damien is determined to make the film that will shake Australians out of their complacency and let them know that the war is on their doorstep.

Cast: Matt Le Nevez as Damien Parer, Adelaide Clemens as Marie Cotter, Rob Carlton as Ken Hall, Nicholas Bell as Bob Hawes

Schapelle

Sunday, February 09, 2014 (Nine)
Ratings: 1.022 million viewers (7th)
Produced by FremantleMedia Australia
Executive Producers: Jo Rooney, Andy Ryan, Jason Stephens
Producers: Stephen Corvini, Jason Stephens
Director: Khoa Do
Writer: Katherine Thomson

Documents convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's infamous 2004 journey to Bali and subsequent legal battle. Based on Eamonn Duff's book Sins of the Father.

Cast: Krew Boylan as Schapelle Corby, Jacinta Stapleton as Mercedes Corby, Denise Roberts as Ros Corby, Colin Friels as Mick Corby, Les Chantery Ron Bakir, Vince Colosimo as Robin Tampoe, Francis Greenslade as Alexander Downer, Michael Croaker as Mick Keelty