australian television information archive

Academy

Debut: 1996
Executive Producers: Paula Duncan, Tim Carter
Producers: Tim Carter, Daniel Harvey
Director: John Orcsik
Writer: John Orcsik

Jennifer Haywood, a high profile actress, moves to the Gold Coast to start a new life for her daughter, Natalie, and herself. She brings with her a colourful household: her boyfriend William; Lilly, the nanny; Doris, the cleaner; and Mopsy, the dog. Life seems almost perfect until her ex-husband Jack is cast as her lover in the series in which she is currently starring. (92 min)

Cast: Paula Duncan, Tony Bonner, Michael McGlinchey, Jessica Orcsik, Asia Matthews, Suellen Underwood, Pauline Campton-Lowe, Bryan Williams, Matt Flanagan

Heat

Debut: 1996
Executive Producer: Paul Barron
Producers: Paul Barron, Bill Hughes
Director: Scott Hartford Davis
Writer: Leon Saunders

An idealistic solicitor heads to the bush after a disillusioning encounter with the legal system. In a small country town she witnesses an incident between police and two local Aborigines, and reluctantly becomes embroiled in a fight for justice. (94 min)

Cast: Claudia Karvan, John Moore, Sonia Todd, Martin Jacobs, Steve Bastoni, Jeremy Sims

McLeod's Daughters

Debut: 1996
Executive Producer: Andrew Blaxland
Producer: Posie Graeme-Evans
Director: Michael Offer
Writer: Ro Hume

A story of lost and regained love, binding together a father and his two daughters. A young woman comes home to the family property after 19 years in the city, to the father and hostile sister she does not know. After the death of their father, two sisters take over his ranch and run it with an all-female crew. (95 min)

Cast: Jack Thompson, Tammy MacIntosh, Kym Wilson, Kris McQuade, Simone Kessell, John Walton

Note: available on the Season 1 DVD box set

Medivac

Debut: 1996
Executive Producer: Mikael Borglund
Producers: Simone North, Tony Cavanaugh
Director: Geoffrey Bennett
Writer: Tony Cavanaugh

A pilot for the series about doctors and nurses who have become dangerously addicted to the adrenalin rush they experience while dealing with emergency situations. (90 min)

Cast: Genevieve Picot, Nicholas Eadie, Rena Owens, Lisa Forrest, Danielle Carter, Graeme Blundell, Mark Constable, Eugene Gilfedder, Caroline Kennison, Grant Bowler, Paul Mecurio

The Territorians

Debut: 1996
Executive Producer: Robert Bruning
Producer: Robert Bruning
Director: Michael Offer
Writer: Ted Roberts

When Constable Tom Daly (Aaron Pedersen) of the Territory Police is thrown into the position of local man-in-charge, he fears the worst when he learns he is to be teamed up with Detective Sergeant Robert McCabe (Steven Vidler), a no-nonsense city cop with fixed ideas on how proceedings should be conducted. While Tom is a laid back Aboriginal Australian who relies on intuition when assessing situations, Robert is hard-nosed, meticulous and a man who goes strictly by the book. The spate of unexplained murders finds the two men sharing the dangers of the vast open desert space and rugged escarpments as they race against time in a painstaking hunt for a psychotic killer. Their forced time together also finds them combining their individual talents to become a formidable, investigative team. (95 min)

Cast: Steven Vidler, Aaron Pedersen, Peter Adams, Susan Lyons, Jamie Croft, Kristen Boys, Robert Mammone, Greg Smith

Whipping Boy

Debut: 1996 (Ten)
Executive Producer: James Davern
Producer: Ray Alchin, James Davern
Director: Di Drew
Writer: Peter Yeldham

A female lawyer heads a government taskforce investigating a suspected paedophile racket in Sydney. Based on the novel by Gabrielle Lord. (95 min)

Cast: Sigrid Thornton, Temuera Morrison, Tammy MacIntosh, Jenny Vuletic, Martin Jacobs, Ralph Cotterill, Treffyen Koreshoff