Cirrus@Austlit

'Life in the suburbs as seen through the eyes of the family dog.'

Source: Screen Australia

Set in the Australian high country and based on the characters created by Elyne Mitchell in her Silver Brumby books, this series follows the adventures of the silver colt Thowra, son of the mighty Yarraman. Thowra is destined to become king of all the wild horses. Intelligent and courageous, Thowra, his friends Storm and Boon Boon, his half brother Arrow, and the bush animals, including Benni the wise kangaroo, have to outwit the Mountain Men who want to capture the wild horses and take away their freedom.

(Source: Australian Screen)

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.'

Children's adventure television series about children who live on fictional Circe Island, a fishing community and communications base off the coast of Western Australia. The first series featured episodes in which the children outwitted adults, particularly the character Hermes Endakis. The series later emphasised environmental issues, particularly in the second series, where the children try to stop a big corporation from destroying their island.

In the unforgiving wilderness of the Australian Alps roams a stallion like no other: the Silver Brumby, revered by all, including his greatest enemy, man. One horseman determines to challenge the might of the horse who, according to legend, could never be tamed.

The fantasy element of this film comes through the strong anthropomorphism in the treatment of the horses and the way in which the story of Thowra and The Man is framed as a fable.

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, 'Bang Goes the Budgie was a novel educational program with a drama framework.'

The framework involves four children who are appointed by the head of the Budgie Corporation 'to explain various words to the audience, and accordingly each episode is structured around a particular word. For example the word might be "blue" and thus the episode would include blue-tongue lizards, the origins of blue stockings, the recital of blue jokes and even the screening of part of a blue movie.'

Moran summarises the program as 'novel, attractive and a big hit with its young audiences.'

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.