Cirrus@Austlit

'In Innocent Murder, Investigator Ng and Stella Pentangeli work different sides of the crime fence. Ng's case is one of triads, sex slavery and murder. Stella's case is a showbiz trifle - she must discover who is stealing plotlines from the hugely successful soap The Young and the Naked and selling the information to a rival channel.'

Source : publisher's website

'All internationally renowned 'lady showbiz detective' Stella Pentangeli wants, is to solve a simple literary riddle: did William Shakespeare belong to a blood-thirsty 17th century cult which resurrected dead people?

'All enigmatic and brilliant Investigator Ng wants, is to find out why a relentless monster is using Shakespeare's personal recipe to make 'resurrection soup' out of 21st Century citizens.

'As the body count mounts, all the serial killer wants is to add Stella and Ng to the menu.'

Source : publisher's website

Crimes are being committed within fairy tales. And this means that the fairy tales in our world are losing their happy (or unhappy) endings. Two police officers (no-nonsense Christine Anderson and bumbling Johnny Legend) are sent inside fairy tales to establish the Fairy Tale Police Department and restore the happy endings.

Australian Screen says of Fairy Tale Police Department, 'Despite the title, which suggests a sweet little cartoon, this is a robust and very original series and loads of fun for all ages. Fairytale Police Department is a zany cross between Twisted Tales and the X Files for kids. Female detective Chris Anderson, like X Files cop Dana Scully ..., is strong, capable and ambitious, while her bumbling, vain metrosexual partner Johnny Legend is always getting into in trouble. Other characters are also terrific with strong characterisations and great scripts.'

Source: Australian Screen (http://aso.gov.au/titles/tv/fairytale-police-black/notes/). (Sighted: 12/9/2012)

When Rodney and Jessica witness two aliens crash landing on Earth, they undertake to protect them by roping them into joining the world's most unsuccessful children's television program, Kid's Breakfast (nicknamed Pig's Breakfast). Disguised as characters on the program, Grob and Meeba (and their pilot Queegle) are forbidden to reveal their real identities: the media believe them to be eccentric actors who prefer to stay in character (and costume). But the situation is complicated by the fact that the crashed spaceship was a school bus, and Grob and Meeba, although genuine aliens, are also genuine teenagers.

Set at Sydney's Bondi Beach, the series's storylines and characters are all linked to several establishments located in a majestic building that takes in the grand sweep of the beach boulevard. These are a cafe (Kate's), a community newspaper (The Breaker), a modelling school (BMS), and a volunteer agency (Against the Tide) that finds work and accommodation for the homeless kids who are drawn to the beach suburb.

The main characters are the teenage children of The Breaker's owners, the young models, the clients and volunteers of Against the Tide, the customers and staff of the cafe, and staff of the newspaper.

A young English girl, Penelope Townes, finds an opal pendant in her attic and, in playing with it, releases two Australian genies (father Bruce and son Baz). When Penelope inherits a property in Australia, the genies are delighted to be able to return home. But they are still under Penelope's control and subject to her whims–a situation complicated by Penelope's neighbour, Otto von Meister, insisting that the opal is really his by rights and by Bruce falling in love with Penelope's mother, Lady Diana.

Science fiction in a stricter (and less speculative) sense, Sky Trackers followed the adventures of a group of scientists' children living in a remote space-tracking station in the Australian outback. The program had the romantic component common to young-adult programming (with blossoming romance between thirteen-year-old Nikki and fourteen-year-old Mike), but also focused on such topics as ambition, future careers, and scholastic achievement.

'Fast-paced series spin-off of the hit feature film. Filmed at an abandoned school in Sydney's Maroubra, this program was about an ethnically diverse group of students attending Hartley High School.'

Source: National Film and Sound Archive record.

A mixture of live-action, puppetry, animation, and documentary, Lift Off centred on a group of children who lived in the same neighbourhood and whose imaginations made their environment a world of fun and excitement. However, the program also explored issues such as pain, loneliness, jealousy, and anger. The program was aimed at three-year-old to eight-year-old viewers (as defined by Harvard University developmental psychologist Howard Gardner), and was linked to school curricula through the Curriculum Corporation of Australia.