Cirrus@Austlit

'[This] series centres on four young families with one thing in common: the men are in charge of raising the kids.

'It's the beginning of a new school year and recently retired Lewis (Gary Sweet) finds himself in the unfamiliar role of stay-at-home dad to Tilda, his daughter with nurse Gemma (Julia Morris).

'Gemma works at the hospital with her best friend Abi (Natalie Saleeba) whose husband Mark (Rhys Muldoon) is juggling a return to part-time work and looking after five-year-old Poppy.

'Mark's brother-in-law Kane (Gyton Grantley) is in a relationship with Tom (Tim Campbell), raising Tom's orphaned niece Stella.

'When dropping their daughters off on the first day of school, the three men meet Justin (Firass Dirani), a former AFL star who, thanks to his bad boy ways, has seen his career and family walk out the door. He is now facing the fight of his life to win custody of his twin boys Zac and Jacob and eight-month-old daughter Angie.

'Finding themselves severely outnumbered by all the mothers at the school drop-off zone, the four men band together and help each other along as they face the challenges of raising a young family.'

Source: Channel Nine website (http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8469113) (Sighted: 17/10/2012)

'Phryne enters the publishing world when she investigates the puzzling death of a magazine columnist and author of fairy stories. To get to the truth, she must unearth the deceptions and rampant rivalries of the magazine's thoroughly modern working women — and dig into the past of their token male employee. Meanwhile, Phryne rekindles her affair with the sensuous Lin Chung — whose arranged marriage has stalled in a mire of family politics and intrigue.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 24/5/2013)

'Based on the novels of Australian author Kerry Greenwood. Our lady sleuth sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of late 1920s Melbourne, fighting injustice with her pearl handled pistol and her dagger-sharp wit. Leaving a trail of admirers in her wake, our thoroughly modern heroine makes sure she enjoys every moment of her lucky life.'

Source: Inside Film and Television website

Best friends Jason and Lee, on a quiet boating trip in Vancouver, Canada, find themselves transported through a vortex to Stormworld, a mysterious world with three suns and mind-distorting storms. Since visitors are not uncommon in Stormworld, they find themselves incorporated into The Settlement, one of three principal settlements on Stormworld.

Stormworld is a complex example of world-building. For example, the program concentrates heavily on the effects of the ecosystem on the planet's inhabitants: as a hot-climate archipelago on a salt-water ocean, Stormworld has a dearth of fresh water, which subsequently becomes a highly valuable resource for the planet's inhabitants. Similarly, the program focuses strongly on the planet's economy (a barter system based on the rare and exotic artefacts that travellers bring through the vortexes with them), on inter-community rivalry among the three main settlements (the democratic Settlement, the patriarchal and hierarchical Arkoddians, and the piratical Drogue), and on the dangerous and mysterious weather patterns peculiar to Stormworld (such as the Winders--horizontal lightning--that are attracted to mental activity).

'Set in the homicide squad of a large metropolitan city, this is a punchy one hour drama series about murder mystery and a group of young committed cops, focused on justice for the deceased. Jennifer Mapplethorpe, ambitious and intelligent; Simon Joyner, keen, cool, self-assured; Duncan Freeman, living high, ready to fall; and Matt Ryan, intense and driven. In Homicide, it's not always crooks and low-lives, most murders are committed by ordinary people - a moment of madness, a failure of communication, a desperate act. These Detectives follow a profession that makes blood, grief and drama just part of their normal day. Their day begins when your day ends.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive.

'New ALS Lawyer Drew Ellis is young, black, arrogant, good looking and in need of a decent serving of street credibility on his CV before he moves off on his fast-track to Canberra. As far as he's concerned, Broome and the Kimberley, is just the place to do it. Armed with a largely cushy white upbringing, a sexy car, and a sense of adventure, Drew makes his way to his new home, only to discover he may not know as much as he thought he did.

'His car is derailed by a camel, his arrogance is curtailed by a stint in the cop shop, and his sense of self-worth is slowly eroded by his right hand man - court liaison Sam. For Sam is a proud, complex and angry man. A man who serves his people 24/7 and he has Drew pegged right from day one. If Drew wants to come to the Kimberley to get his 'degree in Aboriginality', then Sam is only too happy to help, to a point.

'The heat, the flies and the intense workload of a sausage-factory court system offer Drew little respite. He may have been able to talk-the-talk when he arrived, but he's finding it increasingly hard to walk-the-walk. Drew fails to understand the nuances of cases, fails to argue to the best of his ability and he doesn't even know enough to stay out of 'women's places'. He's a man with no culture, no country and no language that count in the Kimberley. Still, Drew keeps a brave face on when he speaks to his wife, and tries not to notice that Bella, Clerk of Courts, is a very attractive young Aboriginal woman indeed.

'Eventually finding his feet a little, Drew comes to like and rely on his new-found friends: Peter, the Magistrate; Bella, Clerk of Courts; Ellie, Legal Aid Lawyer; Archie the Journo and his Aboriginal lover, Clarry (Bella's cousin). Even Sam and Drew have their shared moments.

'But when he must defend Debbie Pope against a heavy drug charge, things become more complicated. Drew is sure that Debbie's father-in-law has some undue influence over the woman but Harry Pope is a respected Elder who sits on the bench with Peter. No amount of cajoling can get Debbie to speak out against him. Nor can Drew risk getting Peter's back up any further. Drew loses the fight - and the resulting scene of wrenching Debbie from her children is an emotional one.

'Back in Broome everyone is shell shocked... most of all Drew. His expectations, turned upside down by his first tour of duty, make Drew realise that he has a lot to learn in his new environment and that he's a long way from home.'

Source: SBS Television website, http://www21.sbs.com.au/
Sighted: 19/11/2008

'The Circuit is set in the Kimberley region of North Western Australia. It is a place of two seasons; the wet and the dusty dry. Known for its beauty, vastness and hardship, this region is a land rich in history for its traditional owners, but now sits within the confines of white ownership and white law. This is the home of The Circuit, the Magistrate's Court, which visits far-flung communities several days a month, bringing conveyor-belt justice dealt swiftly and fairly. Working between two worlds and juggling white law with traditional lore, means that justice can be a slippery beast.'

Source: SBS website, http://www.sbs.com.au/
Sighted: 09/07/2007

One of Australia's highest rating dramas, All Saints is a Logie Award-winning Australian medical drama set in the fictional All Saints Western General Hospital in suburban Sydney. The stories originally focused on the nursing staff of Ward 17 run by Nursing Unit Manager Terri Sullivan. It was sometimes referred to as the 'garbage ward' because it took the overflow of patients.

In 2004 Network Seven producers overhauled the series in an effort to increase the show's gradually dwindling audience. They achieved this by closing down Ward 17 and transferring some of the staff to the Emergency Department managed by Frank Campion. Several other new lead characters were also introduced. The changes also saw the storylines begin to focus more on the lives of the doctors and nurses.

Another significant change to the series came in early 2009 when the producers introduced the Medical Response Unit. Central to this development was the helicopter which took doctors to rescue situations outside the hopsital and which in turn brought patients to the All Saints Emergency Department. The show's name was also changed at this time to All Saints: Medical Response Unit. The increased production costs created by having scenes shot on location played a part, however, in the series being cancelled mid-year. The series ended with the Emergency Department and Medical Response Unit teams having a dinner to farewell the last remaining original character, Von Ryan on her final day at All Saints.

All Saints was popular in many countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium and Iran.

'The series is based on a national park ranger, her two children, their friends and how they form the Bush Patrol to help protect the park and its native inhabitants. There's plenty of adventure and fun featuring Australia's unique flora and fauna and modern family relationships.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 3/12/2013)

A character-based television drama series about the lives of police officers in the fictitious Australian country town of Mt Thomas, this series began with the arrival of Constable Maggie Doyle (Lisa McCune) to the Mt Thomas station in the episode 'A Woman's Place'. Doyle and avuncular station boss Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon (John Wood) were the core characters of the series until the departure of Lisa McCune.

Immensely popular for a decade, Blue Heelers was cancelled in 2006 after thirteen seasons. The announcement was front-page news in Australia's major newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney's Daily Telegraph, The Herald Sun and The Age in Melbourne, and Brisbane's Courier Mail.

On June 8, 2006 Ross Warneke wrote in The Age:

'It's over and, to be perfectly blunt, there's no use lamenting the demise of Blue Heelers any more. When the final movie-length episode aired on Channel Seven on Sunday night, 1.5 million Australians tuned in, a figure that was big enough to give the show a win in its timeslot but nowhere near big enough to pay the sort of tribute that this writer believes Heelers deserved after more than 500 episodes. It is unlikely there will be anything like it again. At almost $500,000 an hour, shows such as Blue Heelers are quickly becoming the dinosaurs of Australian TV.'

Home and Away is a television serial created by Alan Bateman and produced by the Seven Network. The idea for the series came to Bateman (then head of drama at Seven) after he stopped to buy ice-creams in a small country town in southern NSW. While chatting to some locals, he learned that the town was unhappy about plans to build a home for foster kids from the city. At that time, Channel Seven was still smarting from its decision to let Neighbours go to the Ten Network, where it had become hugely popular, and was looking to create another series to rival its success. Bateman saw in the idea that became Home and Away the potential for plenty of storylines and conflict by having streetwise city kids being relocated to a small regional environment,

In the beginning, the series focused on Pippa and Tom Fletcher, who, being unable to have children of their own, decide to become foster parents. When Tom is retrenched from his city job, the couple buy the rundown Summer Bay Caravan Park and move there with their five foster children. Soon after arriving, they also take in troublesome Bobby Simpson.

The series debuted in January 1988 with an hour-long telemovie. Although this rated well, the series itself took some while to develop an audience. Having learned their lesson from the Neighbours debacle, Network Seven gave its new show time, and its ratings gradually increased. As with Neighbours, the Home and Away series and performers became very popular in the United Kingdom.

A daily television drama series set in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough, Neighbours chronicles the lives of the residents of Ramsay Street. The series initially revolved around three families: the Ramsays (at number 24 Ramsay Street), the Robinsons (at number 26), and the Clarkes (at number 28). The scope of the series has since broadened to include new Ramsay Street familes.