Television director.
Colin Budds began his television career as an editor for Crawford Productions in the mid to late-1970s, working on such series as Division 4 (1969), Homicide (1976), and The Bluestone Boys (1976).
He turned to directing, still with Crawford Productions, in the 1980s, beginning with multiple episodes of Holiday Island (1981). During the 1980s, he directed episodes for msot of Australia's biggest television production companies and networks, including such programs as Starting Out (1983), a soap-style drama about young doctors sharing a boarding house, created by Reg Watson; soap opera Sons and Daughters (1982-84), also created by Reg Watson; Crawford Productions second-generation police procedural Special Squad (1984); Grundy Enterprises' prison-based drama series Prisoner (1984); long-running Grundy soap opera Neighbours (1985); the ABC's comedy series The Fast Lane (1986), co-created by John Clarke and Andrew Knight; Crawfords' medical drama The Flying Doctors (1986-91); television series Dusty, based on the original telemovie by Sonia Borg; and American Mission Impossible (1988-90), a remake of the original 1960s' series, filmed in Australia with a strongly Australian cast and crew.
In the 1990s, Budds directed episodes of such series as the Australian Children's Television Foundation series Lift Off (1992-1994); children's adventure series Ship to Shore (1994); American-produced sci-fi/crime series Time Trax (1993-1994), which, like Mission: Impossible, was made in Australia with an Australian crew; Banjo Paterson-inspired Snowy River: The McGregor Saga (1994); children's adventure series Mission Top Secret (1994); Jonathan M. Shiff Productions' young-adult ecological science-fiction series Ocean Girl (1996); legal drama State Coroner (1997); adventure series Flipper (1998), yet another American series produced with Australian crew; Jonathan M. Shiff Productions' award-winning science-fiction series Thunderstone (1999); and a fourth American-produced series filmed in Australia, The Lost World (1999-2002).
In the 1990s, he also directed episodes of New Zealand drama series City Life (1996), and the film Hurrican Smith (1992), made in Australia for Village Roadshow Pictures and directed to a screenplay by Peter Kinloch, but starring American actor Carl Weathers.
Since 2000, Budds has directed a number of telemovies, including science-fiction/action adventure Max Knight: Ultra Spy (2000), loose adaptation Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (2000), fantasy Curse of the Talisman (2001), ocean-based adventure Maiden Voyage (2005), and documentary Danger Zone: Stunt School (2007).
He has also directed episodes of such television programs as Stingers (2003), Blue Heelers (2005), and The Saddle Club (2009).
His most prolific work since 2000, however, has been with Jonathan M. Shiff Productions: he has directed episodes of Scooter: Secret Agent (twelve episodes, 2005), Wicked Science (five episodes, 2005), H2O: Just Add Water (thirty-nine episodes, 2006-10), The Elephant Princess (thirteen episodes, 2011), and Lightning Point (thirteen episodes, 2012). He is also listed as a director for Shiff's forthcoming Reef Doctors (2013).
