person or book cover
Screen cap from opening credits
form y separately published work icon Run Rabbit Run single work   film/TV   crime  
Issue Details: First known date: 1975... 1975 Run Rabbit Run
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'BILLY DELANEY: Late thirties. Live-wire braggart, showman, bull-dust artist. Sometime stockman, sometime rodeo rider, rouseabout jack of all trades, master of none etc. Billy's a man with a past and somewhere in the last ten years of travelling he's lost his nerve - not just the nerve to climb the chute rails of small town rodeos, something more than that. Billy's lost faith in himself and whether he knows it or not he's running.

'JAMES MACREADIE: Late thirties. Big fish in a little pond. Macreadie has property running into thousands of acres. Local councillor committeeman, [sic] Rotarian and the rest of it. He's clawed his way from success to success and spent the last couple of years trying to whitewash it with respectability.

'MERV PIPER: Forties. Macreadie's manager and an old arch-enemy of Billy's. Tough, hard-bitten.

'CORA PIPER: Forties. Billy's sister-in-law. Hard-nosed and bitchy. Completely unsympathetic to Billy.

'BIRDIE WATTS: Late fifties. Ex-jockey, yardman. Remembers the Billy of old and is determined not to let him forget it.

'ED HARTLEY: Fifties. Elderly rodeo committee member. Rural background.

'HERB CURRIE: Forties. Local by-laws officer. Physically big. Herb had a small trucking business in Melbourne before selling out and moving to Matlock and the good life. The by-laws position suits him down to the ground, adding that touch of formal authority to an aggressive, bullying nature.

'C.F.A. OFFICER: Head of the local volunteer brigade.

'BAR EXTRAS:

'COMMITTEE MEMBERS'.

Notes

  • This entry has been compiled from archival research in the Crawford Collection (AFI Research Collection), undertaken by Dr Catriona Mills under the auspices of the 2012 AFI Research Collection (AFIRC) Research Fellowship: see The Writer in Australian Television History.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Crawford Productions ; Network Ten , 1975 .
      person or book cover
      Screen cap from opening credits
      Extent: 48 min. 2 secs (according to the script).p.
      Note/s:
      • A notation in black ink to the right of the typed running times on the script's cover suggests that the episode's duration was 50 min. 5 secs.
      Series: form y separately published work icon Matlock Police Terry Stapleton , Ian Jones , Everett de Roche , Ian Jones , Terry Stapleton , Keith Hetherington , Patrick Edgeworth , Tom Hegarty , Douglas Tainsh , Graeme Koetsveld , Peter A. Kinloch , Sonia Borg , Don Battye , Robert Caswell , George T. Miller , Gwenda Marsh , Cliff Green , Vince Moran , Luis Bayonas , David William Boutland , Phil Freedman , Keith Thompson , Denise Morgan , C.F. Barnes , Robert Bruce , Alan Cram , Vern Perry , Martin Robbins , John Dingwall , George Mallaby , Jim Stapleton , Simon Wincer , Melbourne Australia : Crawford Productions Network Ten , 1971-1976 Z1638563 1971 series - publisher film/TV detective crime

      The Matlock Police series (originally simply titled Matlock) was commissioned from Crawford Productions by ATV-0, in response to the popularity of rival-network police dramas such as Homicide and Division 4. Crawford's was initially reluctant to create another police series, but ATV-0 pressured the company for some time. Eventually, Ian Jones and Terry Stapleton devised the concept of a regional (Victorian) police series to provide viewers with something different. The more relaxed atmosphere of the country-town setting also allowed the writers to delve into the private lives of the main characters, rather than focusing heavily on big-city organised crime. In this respect, the series was situated somewhere between Homicide/Division 4 and Bellbird. The series did, however, cover typical rural policing, including such issues as break and enters, domestic issues, itinerant workers, brawls, petty crime and robberies, road accidents, the occasional homicide, and cattle rustling. On other occasions, the Matlock police also assisted Melbourne police in locating criminals on the run (among other problems). The idea behind the show was to reflect the causes of crime in a small community and show the effects on both the community and the officers themselves.

      The fictional town of Matlock (loosely based on Shepparton in Victoria) is situated inland on the Central Highway, approximately 160 kilometres north of Melbourne. Although the town's population is only seventeen thousand, this increases to around seventy-five thousand when the district is included. The Matlock Police Station is typical of a Victorian country town, with a Uniform Branch and a Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB). The CIB is headed by Detective Sergeant Vic Maddern, who grew up in the Matlock district and is an accomplished bushman. Second in command is Detective Allan Curtis, aged in his mid-twenties. Previously from Melbourne, Curtis has just been sent to his first country posting (against his will) when the series begins. Head of the Uniform Branch is Sergeant Bert Kennedy, an Englishman who migrated to Australia in 1950. A thorough but also easy-going man with a good sense of humour, Kennedy is married to Nell and enjoys the country life in Matlock, so much so that he has knocked back promotion to avoid moving to Melbourne. Several constables are attached to the Uniform Branch, but the most prominent is a motorcycle cop, Constable Gary Hogan, who performs a wide variety of duties. Hogan is about thirty, a friendly, easy-going person who grew up in the country and is always willing to help in whatever work is going.

      Number in series: 201
      1975 .
      person or book cover
      Script cover page (Crawford Collection at the AFi Reserch Collection)
      Extent: 55p.
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • The script is copied on on a combination of pink and white paper, and labelled 'Episode 04494' on the cover page. A notation in the top right-hand corner of the cover page in blue ink reads, 'Directors'. The cover page is further annotated in black felt pen (see note to extent above).
      • The script is annotated throughout in blue ink: these annotations are alterations to the dialogue, relatively minor in scope and occasional. Other annotations in blue ink include directorial/camera notes.
      • There is some minor underlining in red ink on page 1.
      • The script is also heavily annotated throughout in red felt pen and blue felt pen. These annotations are directorial, and refer to camera set-ups and specific shots.

      Holdings

      Held at: AFI Research Collection
      Local Id: SC MAT : 201

Works about this Work

Hannah Kent's Netflix Thriller Run Rabbit Run Brings Waikerie's Striking Beauty to International Audience Timu King , Anita Ward , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , July 2023;

'New psychological thriller Run Rabbit Run is rising up the Netflix charts and gaining global attention — but the screenplay would never have been possible without a trip to the small country town of Waikerie.' 

Tensions Rise down a Rabbit Hole Stephen Romei , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1-2 July 2023; (p. 8)

— Review of Run Rabbit Run Peter A. Kinloch , 1975 single work film/TV

'Run Rabbit Run, starring Sarah Snook, is a slow burn psychological thriller. It’s clear from the outset that a ­malevolent force is present. The question is who or what it is.'

Tensions Rise down a Rabbit Hole Stephen Romei , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1-2 July 2023; (p. 8)

— Review of Run Rabbit Run Peter A. Kinloch , 1975 single work film/TV

'Run Rabbit Run, starring Sarah Snook, is a slow burn psychological thriller. It’s clear from the outset that a ­malevolent force is present. The question is who or what it is.'

Hannah Kent's Netflix Thriller Run Rabbit Run Brings Waikerie's Striking Beauty to International Audience Timu King , Anita Ward , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , July 2023;

'New psychological thriller Run Rabbit Run is rising up the Netflix charts and gaining global attention — but the screenplay would never have been possible without a trip to the small country town of Waikerie.' 

Last amended 30 May 2013 15:40:53
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