Best Television Drama Series
Subcategory of Australian Film Institute Awards
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Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2009

winner form y separately published work icon East West 101 Kristen Dunphy , Kris Wyld , Michael Miller , Kris Mrksa , Michelle Offen , Sherine Salama , David Ogilvy , Vanessa Bates , Katherine Thomson , Steve Knapman , Steve Knapman , Kris Wyld , ( dir. Peter Andrikidis ) Australia : SBS Television Knapman Wyld Television , 2009-2011 Z1643485 2009-2011 series - publisher film/TV (taught in 1 units)

Series One of East West 101 focuses on two men whose destinies are irrevocably intertwined. Malik is driven by a hunger for justice. He was twelve when a masked gunman held up the family shop. Malik refused to hand over the money and his father was subsequently shot and injured. He later joined the police force and has been looking for the shadowy figure who pulled the trigger. When he finally finds him, Malik's belief in the justice system is challenged by a powerful desire for revenge. As he hunts down the truth, it is revealed that one of his colleagues, Crowley, had a part to play in the original investigation. Crowley is a man whose vision has been blighted by pain and prejudice. His son, Paul, was found dead of an overdose on drugs sold to him by a Lebanese dealer. When the drug dealer who sold Paul the heroin is found murdered, Internal Affairs come asking questions.

In Season Two, East West 101 expands to seven episodes as the Major Crime Squad investigate crime and murder in all quarters of multicultural Sydney. But overarching all is the quest for Detective Zane Malik to find the truth behind a car bomb attack which kills two men. The Major Crime Squad form a joint task force with the NSO (National Security Organisation) to deal with the crime. There is paranoia in the city and fallout on the Muslim community. Malik knows that in order to stop the circle of hate, he must solve the crime. Was the bomb really an act of extremists, as the media suggest, or a sophisticated killing by a career criminal? Malik doggedly pursues the truth until he, too, becomes a target. Inspector Patricia Wright questions his motives but her vision is clouded by personal issues that she wants to keep hidden from the squad. Crime has touched her own family.

Season Three : The Hero's Journey. 'In [this] third season of East West 101, the Major Crime Squad investigates a 36 million dollar robbery in Australia and its connections to the murder of 17 people in Afghanistan. Is the robbery to fund an act of terror by military trained radicals, or the work of sophisticated criminals? For Detective Zane Malik the case has savage personal and professional ramifications. Malik is obstructed in his quest to find those responsible by the interference of newcomer Detective Neil Travis. Travis has fought in Iraq and his attitude and approach to the investigation cause conflict with Malik. In the hunt for an elusive foe, ultimately both men are forced to confront what makes a man a hero, or a coward...'

(Source: East West 101, SBS website)

For Season Two.

Year: 2008

winner form y separately published work icon Underbelly Greg Haddrick , Peter Gawler , Felicity Packard , ( dir. Tony Tilse et. al. )agent Australia : Screentime , 2008 Z1529959 2008 series - publisher film/TV crime

Miniseries exploring the gangland wars of Melbourne. Before Victorian Police finally intercepted plans for two contract killings in 2004, leading to multiple arrests, the death toll stood at thirty three, making it one of the bloodiest crime wars in the Western world.

Year: 2004

winner form y separately published work icon Stingers Grace Morris , Howard Griffiths , Peter A. Kinloch , Paul Davies , Jock Blair , Vicki Madden , Mac Gudgeon , Roger Simpson , Jo Martino , Sue Hore , David William Boutland , Sally Webb , Margaret Wilson , Denise Morgan , Daniel Krige , Martin McKenna , Jeff Truman , Everett de Roche , Stu Sutcliffe , Adam Todd , Tom Hegarty , Simon McDonald , Chris Hawkshaw , Cliff Green , Abe Pogos , Guy Wilding , Max Dann , David Hannam , Magda Pyke , Marcia Gardner , Shane Brennan , Philip Dalkin , Peter Gawler , Anthony Watt , John Banas , Graeme Koetsveld , Michaeley O'Brien , Chris Corbett , Tim Gooding , Shelley Birse , Matt Ford , Samantha Winston , John Reeves , John Ridley , David Bates , Sam De Brito , Meg Mappin , Jane Allen , ( dir. Julian McSwiney et. al. )agent Australia : Beyond Simpson Le Mesurier Nine Network , 1998-2004 6031565 1998 series - publisher film/TV crime detective

'Inspired by true events, Stingers reveals the shadowy and ambiguous world of undercover cops — people with covert lives and constantly changing identities. They are police who defeat crime from within the criminal world — always without a badge and frequently without protection. The series follows the lives of the operatives as they befriend and betray those on the other side of the law. For these select few, it is a deadly way of life.The undercover cops of Stingers are a unique breed. They must juggle their own lives — love, laughter, family and humanity — with the tension of the criminal personas they adopt in their passion for justice.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 7/6/2013)

Year: 2002

winner form y separately published work icon Kath and Kim Jane Turner , Gina Riley , ( dir. Ted Emery ) 2002 Australia : Riley Turner Productions ABC Television Seven Network , 2002-2007 Z1766077 2002 series - publisher film/TV humour

A sit-com that focuses on life in suburbia, particularly the dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship at the show's centre.

For a full list of episodes, see Film Details.

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