Cirrus@Austlit

'The play, based on real events, deals with the neglected issue of PTSD in young soldiers and the dark ripples that spread across their families and communities. Rob, an army medic, suffers PTSD and ‘time travels’ between home and Afghanistan. His anti-war mother, weary counsellor and vulnerable brother pull him in different directions. Crowe, his senior officer is tearing out the ‘stitches’ in his wounds. After Rob and his mother expose Crowe, Rob leaves the army for their remote family farm.

'Plagued by guilt for not saving the life of Brownie, his best mate in Afghanistan and disturbed by his brother’s depression, Rob visits Jodie, Brownie’s fiance, and learns his mate’s death was a ‘fake’ trauma. Then he hears Crowe has committed suicide. Rob is plotting suicide when his mother, who has undergone her own bitter journey, reaches out using poetry that bonded them long ago. The play ends with them entwined, their futures ambivalent, as the other characters form a shadowy tableau.' (Production summary) 

'In this unnamed country refugees are called “dirty skunks”. Thrown into congested processing centres, they face the daily threat of being deported at a moment’s notice.

'Disgusted by their government’s behaviour, individuals have formed networks of “skunk handlers” to help escaped refugees elude this fate. The government, urged on by shock jocks, has responded by treating this civil disobedience as a serious crime. Immigration teams drive through suburbs and towns, searching for skunks and their handlers. Informers assist them.

'Lily is a “short term” skunk handler. Last night Michael, her facilitator, arrived at her suburban home with two refugees − Stephen and his daughter Sam. They have just escaped from a detention centre and Michael needs Lily to care for them until they can be moved to a permanent safe house.

'A fairly routine situation for Lily turns into a nightmare day for everyone when Michael arrives with Kristy, another skunk handler. The tension ratchets up as we see the situation from different viewpoints, including the elderly neighbour, Miriam.

'This is the story of a father who must save his daughter from getting sent back. It’s the story of a woman who will keep her promise to them no matter what. It’s the story of a man, Michael, who will deal and double deal to get what is important – the means/ends dichotomy. It’s the story of a public servant who wants to do the right thing, but needs to protect herself in the process. Finally, it’s the story of an elderly neighbour who is so disoriented by the political changes around her that she swallows the whole anti-skunk propaganda until she meets the two skunks and realises they are people just like her.

'In the end, only one person can make it possible for young Sam to remain safe.' 

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 look at a day in the life of an Armenian electrician.'

Source:

[Television guide], Canberra Times, 20 October 1986, p.3S.

Set in a small, fictional, New South Wales country town called Wandin Valley, A Country Practice focused on the staffs of the town's medical practice and local hospital and on the families of the doctors, nurses, and patients. Many of the episodes also featured guest characters (frequently patients served by the practice) through whom various social and medical problems were explored. Although often considered a soap opera, the series was not built around an open-ended narrative; instead, the two one-hour episodes screened per week formed a self-contained narrative block, though many of the storylines were developed as sub-plots for several episodes before becoming the focus of a particular week's storyline. While the focus was on topical issues such as youth unemployment, suicide, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS, and terminal illness, the program did sometimes explore culturally sensitive issues, including, for example, the Aboriginal community and their place in modern Australian society.

Among the show's principal characters were Dr Terence Elliott, local policeman Sergeant Frank Gilroy, Esme Watson, Shirley Dean Gilroy, Bob Hatfield, Vernon 'Cookie' Locke, and Matron Margaret 'Maggie' Sloan. In addition to its regularly rotating cast of characters, A Country Practice also had a cast of semi-regulars who would make appearances as the storylines permitted. Interestingly, while the series initially targeted the adult and older youth demographic, it became increasingly popular with children over the years.