Max Varnel Max Varnel i(A127167 works by)
Gender: Male
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1 form y separately published work icon Case for the Defence Anne Brooksbank , Ron McLean , Tony Morphett , Bob Ellis , ( dir. Alan Coleman et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1978 Z1826901 1978 series - publisher film/TV

Like King's Men, Case for the Defence was devised by Ron McLean when he first began work with Grundy's. The program focuses on Sydney defence lawyer John Case and his girlfriend/legal partner Winsome ('Win') Blake.

Don Storey notes, in his Classic Australian Television, that unlike such predecessors as Consider Your Verdict, Divorce Court, and The Unloved, which focused on events in the court room, 'events prior to the cases coming to court were a major part of the storylines, and were backed up by extensive location filming'. Storey summarises the program as follows:

The series consistently followed a tried and true formula. John Case always seemed to get the baffling cases that, on the surface, appeared impossible to defend. Each episode had Case and friends involved in a certain amount of sleuthing, with a myriad of suspects and many plot twists and turns. The real culprit would then be revealed at the end of the show. Although the format was predictable, it was very well written, with competent acting and direction, and had high production standards. The only valid criticism of the show is that it was produced on videotape, rather than film, which gave it a cheap and amateurish look.

Albert Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, notes that the program was 'not particularly successful', though it had 'high production values' and 'was one of John Hamblin's better television roles'.

1 1 form y separately published work icon Glenview High Ron McLean , Robert Caswell , Tony Morphett , Anne Brooksbank , Derek Strahan , Hugh Stuckey , Bob Ellis , Bruce Wishart , Colin James , ( dir. Bill Hughes et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1977 Z1826869 1977 series - publisher film/TV

A relatively short-lived drama series based in a secondary school in one of Sydney's more impoverished suburbs, Glenview High focused on teacher Greg Walker, dividing its attention between his work with his students and his homelife with his brother and two flatmates.

Don Storey, in his Classic Australian Television, notes that 'Glenview High frequently looked at the problems faced by city kids preparing for a world of uncertainty, with less opportunity and high unemployment. It also dealt with the frustration of the education system from the point of view of both teachers and students.' Albert Moran, conversely, notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series that 'Glenview High was mildly concerned with social issues in and around school, kids, teachers and parents but with each episode needing to tie its stories up inside the hour, social problems were mostly solvable and social issues were raised but not explored.'

Storey summarises the program as follows:

Grundy's claimed that Glenview High could not be compared to Class of 74/75, a valid statement with which the critics agreed. Glenview was a better product than Class, but it could not be considered an outstanding series: the scripts sometimes lapse into melodrama, with corny and contrived endings, and being produced entirely on video gives it a cheap look.

(Note: Moran mistakenly lists Ken James and Rebecca Gilling as playing teachers, rather than their actual roles of Greg Walker's brother Tom and flatmate/air hostess Robbie Dean.)

1 1 form y separately published work icon The Young Doctors Alan Coleman , Michael Laurence , Betty Quin , Reg Watson , Brian Faull , Margot Hilton , David Phillips , John Misto , Rick Maier , Patrea Smallacombe , ( dir. Alan Coleman et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1976 Z1826767 1976 series - publisher film/TV

According to Don Storey, in his Classic Australian Television, The Young Doctors was the result of Grundy's association with Ron McLean, who devised a pilot for a program called City Hospital at the same time as he was developing the ultimately unsuccessful King's Men.

Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, notes that

The domain of the serial was young viewers, and accordingly the emphasis was on romance and relationships at the Albert Memorial Hospital. Divorce, sex, social and medical problems were all off-limits for this deliberately lightweight serial concerning the various doctors, nurses and patients at the hospital.... However, shootings, bombings and invasions by dangerous psychotics were all permissable ways of removing regular characters and rearranging relationships.

Though less critically and commerically successful than its rival The Sullivans, The Young Doctors ran for five years, ultimately amassing more screen time than either The Sullivans or Number 96.

1 form y separately published work icon King's Men Robert Caswell , Ron McLean , ( dir. Paul Eddey et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1976 Z1826690 1976 series - publisher film/TV

King's Men was originally conceived as a fairly straight television police drama centred on a crusty, middle-aged, old-school police officer based in Sydney's Kings Cross area (and modelled in part on actual Kings Cross policeman 'Bumper' Farrell). But the studio, inspired by the success of American television program The Mod Squad, modified the concept, instead basing the program around a group of young police officers working undercover (albeit under the guidance of a crusty, middle-aged, old-school police officer), where each episode contained a standalone scenario involving the adoption of different undercover identities.

According to Don Storey, in his Classic Australian Television,

King's Men was not as good as Homicide or Bluey or any of the other police series from the Crawfords stable, but it wasn't bad either. The late change of direction to incorporate the undercover squad was a significant factor in the show's demise. If more time had been allowed for development, King's Men could have been a successful, polished product.

Instead, the program was pulled from the air in both Sydney and Melbourne after only a handful of episodes had been shown, and plans for a second series were cancelled.

Albert Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, is less optimistic about the program, describing it as 'a very routine police series despite a veneer of dash and style.'

1 form y separately published work icon McManus M.P.B. Robert Caswell , ( dir. Max Varnel ) Sydney : Cash Harmon Television , 1975 Z1812901 1975 single work film/TV detective crime

According to MemorableTV.com, this was a failed pilot, in which Sergeant McManus of the Missing Persons Bureau investigates the disappearance of a Russian consul's daughter.

Source: MemorableTV.com (http://www.memorabletv.com/australia/tvam.htm). Sighted: 7/10/2011

1 form y separately published work icon Dear Beloved Monster Tony Morphett , ( dir. Max Varnel ) Australia : Mende Brown Productions Amalgamated Pictures Australasia Productions , 1973 8118146 1973 single work film/TV horror

A Nobel Prize-winning scientist, who works with the manipulation of DNA, becomes an unwitting accomplice to murder.

1 form y separately published work icon The Rovers Kenneth Hayles , Ron McLean , Michael Wright , Ted Roberts , Ralph Peterson , Glyn Davies , Kenneth Cook , Brian Wright , Ted Hepple , Rosamund Waring , Peter Schreck , Michael Latimer , Anne Hall , ( dir. John von Kotze et. al. )agent Australia : NLT Productions , 1969 Z1823397 1969 series - publisher film/TV adventure

Like The Adventures of the Seaspray and Barrier Reef, The Rovers was an adventure series based around a ship (in this case, an island schooner called the Pacific Lady). The concept allowed for a great degree of mobility, so that, in Moran's words (in his Guide to Australian TV Series), they 'drop anchor, go ashore and "have adventures".'

The crew consisted of Captain Sam McGill (called 'Cap'), Cap's ten-year-old grandson Mike, freelance wildlife photographer Bob Wild, and journalist for Wildlife magazine Rusty Collins, 'whose editor agreed to her accompanying the party on the boat as long as it doesn't cost him anything' (according to Don Storey, in his Classic Australian Television).

Moran says of The Rovers that it 'was a bargain basement variation of the Barrier Reef formula' (despite the fact that Barrier Reef didn't air until nearly two years later, in February 1971). But Don Storey similarly notes that

To be fair, The Rovers could not be considered a ground-breaking pinnacle of artistic achievement, following as it does the well-trodden path taken by Seaspray, Skippy and Woobinda. However, for all its predicability and happy ending, The Rovers is a slick, well-produced and entertaining product, with a balance between the dramatic and the light-hearted that appealed to adults and children alike.

1 form y separately published work icon The Poachers Michael Wright , ( dir. Max Varnel ) 1968 Z1624879 1968 single work film/TV Sonny, Mark, and Jerry investigate an expensive game-fishing cruiser with three men aboard, after Skippy and Sonny come across men trapping animals in the bush at night. Swimming out to the cruiser, Jerry overhears a conversation that indicates the men are stealing koalas for Dr Stark's private zoo.
1 8 form y separately published work icon Skippy Lee Robinson , Dennis Hill , Ross Napier , Ted Roberts , Joy Cavill , Lee Robinson , Denys Burrows , Ed Devereaux , Moya Wood , Carol Odell , Joan Levy , Rae Glasser , Warren Glasser , James Workman , Tony Booth , J. Benn Darrow , Dennis Hill , Creswick Jenkinson , Michael Wright , Maureen Walsh , Scotty Denholm , Suzanne Baker , Peter Finnane , Peter Kay , Kay Keavney , John McCallum , Will Pryor , Ron Taylor , Margaret Trist , John Warwick , Rene Devereaux , Alex McDonald , Phyllis McLean , Ron McLean , Richard Raper , Stephen Rhodes , Martyn Sanderson , Valerie Taylor , Albie Thoms , Alan Veitch , Brian Wright , Stewart A. Fist , Bill Lambert , Harry Woollerton , ( dir. Eric Fullilove et. al. )agent 1966 Australia : Nine Network Fauna Productions , 1968-1970 Z1624851 1966 series - publisher film/TV

Set in the fictional Waratah National Park (NSW), the Skippy series focuses largely on the adventures of a young boy, Sonny Hammond, and his intelligent pet kangaroo, Skippy. Sonny is the youngest child of Head Ranger Matt Hammond. Matt was left a widower in his early forties when his wife Mary died not long after Sonny was born. Other principal characters are Sonny's older brother Mark, Flight Ranger Jerry King (the park's helicopter pilot), and Ranger Clancy Merrick, the teenage daughter of another park ranger.

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