australian television information archive

Answered by Fire

Australia: May 28 & June 04, 2006 (ABC)
Canada: September 12 & 19, 2006 (CBC)
Produced by Beyond Simpson Le Mesurier, Muse Ent. Enterprises and Mindless Ent.
Executive Producers: Roger Simpson, Mikael Borglund Michael Prupas Barbara Samuels, Justin Bodle, Scott Meek
Producers: Roger Le Mesurier, Andy Walker
Director: Jessica Hobbs
Writers: Katherine Thomson and Barbara Samuels

Set against the tumultuous lead-up to the 1999 referendum in East Timor and its horrifying aftermath, ANSWERED BY FIRE is a very personal exploration of first-world intervention in third-world traumas. Canadian RCMP officer Zoe Brennan, Australian Federal Policeman Mark Waldman and a young East Timorese translator named Ismenio Soares are brought together by the UN's fateful effort to give the Timorese a voice in their own future. In the chaotic run-up to the vote, these initially reluctant partners become real friends. But when the UN evacuates in the post-ballot rampage, Mark and Zoe are forced to abandon Ismenio and his family to a nightmarish fate. Haunted by guilt, the two westerners each find their way back to Timor, driven to make amends to the people they tried - and failed - to protect. (2 x 90 mins)

Starring: David Wenham, Isabelle Blais, Alex Tilman, Fatima Almelda, Damien Garvey, Ron White

Availalbe on DVD from chaos.com

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello

TV Debut: March 10, 2006 (SBS)
Execuive Producers: Susie Campbell
Producers: Julia Lucas, Anthony Lucas
Director: Anthony Lewis
Screenplay: Mark Shirrefs
Story by: Anthony Lewis, Mark Shirrefs
Music composed by: Bruce Rowland

Set in a world of iron dirigibles and steam powered computers, this gothic horror mystery tells the story of Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his Plague-ridden home on a desperate voyage to redeem himself. The chance discovery of an abandoned dirigible leads Jasper through unchartered waters to an island on which lives a terrifying creature that may be the cure for the Plague. The journey back to civilisation is filled with horrors but in a shocking climax, Jasper discovers that the greatest horror of all lies within man himself. (26 minutes)

Voices: Joel Edgerton as Jasper Morello, Helmut Bakaitis as Claude Belgon, Tommy Dysart as Captain Griswald, Jude Beaumont as Amelia, Richard Moss, Lewis Fiander

Note: 2006 Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Short Film and winner of the Grand Prix at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and the 2005 AFI Award for Best Short Animation as well as the AFI Award for Outstanding Achievement in Craft in a Non-Feature.

Remote Area Nurse

Debut: Janaury 05, 2006 (SBS)
Produced by Chapman Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer: Penny Chapman
Co-Producer: Helen Panckhurst
Directors: David Caesar, Catriona McKenzie
Writers: John Alsop, Sue Smith and Alice Addison

Set in the Torres Strait islands, this is the story of a talented, bloody minded and committed white woman and a people who love her but want her gone. 6 x 52 min

Starring: Susie Porter as Helen Tremayne, Charles Passi as Russ Gaibui, Billy Mitchell as Robbo, Luke Carroll, Margaret Harvey, Bruce Spence, Felix Wiliamson, John Brumpton, Merwez Whaleboat, Jimi Gela, Peta Brady, Aaron Fa'aoso, Serai Zaro, Belford Lu, Gabriel Piloti, Patrick Ahwang, Louisa Taylor, Santa Marina Rodgers, Nora Bagiri, Moses Kaddy, Dan Mosby, Elsie Passi, Gail Mabo, Fred Kebisue

Available on DVD from chaos.com

The Silence

Debut: April 02 and 09, 2006 (ABC)
Produced by Jan Chapman Films
Producers: Jan Chapman and Anthony Anderson
Writers: Alice Addison and Mary Walsh
Director: Cate Shortland

A policeman (Richard Roxburgh) traumatised by a recent incident is relegated to curating a police photographic exhibition. His obsession with the exhibition photos, which suggest connections between a series of murders, opens a Pandora's box with dangerous and irreversible results. (2 x 55min)

Starring: Richard Roxburgh, Essie Davis, Emily Barclay, Alice McConnell

Available on DVD from chaos.com

The Society Murders

Debut: June 18, 2006 (Ten)
Rating: 1,405,943 viewers (39% audience share)
Produced by Screentime Pty Ltd
Executive Producers: Des Monaghan, Sue Masters, Justin Bodle
Producers: Fiona Eagger & Greg Haddrick
Director: Brendan Maher
Writers: Greg Haddrick & Kylie Needham

In April 2002, wealthy Melbourne socialite Margaret Wales-King and her husband Paul King dined with family and then disappeared into thin air. Twenty-five days later, after an investigation that dominated the headlines, their bludgeoned bodies were found in a shallow bush grave. The family's grief was on full public display as speculation raged and rumours about drugs, gambling and financial strife did the rounds. Then Margaret's youngest son, Matthew, was arrested for the murders and his wife, Maritza, was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. Based on the book "The Society Murders" by Hilary Bonney.

Cast: Georgie Parker, Nicholas Eadie, Daniela Farinacci, Asher Keddie, Matthew Le Nevez, Heather Mitchell, Alex Dimitriades, Julia Blake, Terry Norris, Neil Pigot, Nicki Wendt

Available on DVD from chaos.com

Stepfather of the Bride

Debut: November 12, 2006 (ABC)
Produced by Essential Viewing
Executive Producers: Scott Meek, Miranda Dear
Producers: Rosemary Blight, Kylie du Fresne, Ian Collie
Director: Roger Hodgman
Writer: Geoffrey Atherden

Skye and Lachlan are in love and they're getting married. Their parents belong to the generation who married, divorced and married again, or who, in the case of Skye's father, married, divorced, married, divorced and married again. But Skye and Lachlan know they're not like that. They both agree that the way to demonstrate their love for each other is to make their wedding a big one. What could go wrong? Skye's grandmother being rushed to hospital doesn't help. And neither does her parents' panic about the size of the wedding. Nor her mother's doubts about her choice of husband. Her stepbrother, Jack, seems to go a little crazy, although it's hard to tell if it's just his normal craziness or whether he's going more mad than usual with jealousy. Lachlan doesn't want his absent father to come to the wedding, but it looks like they're going to need his generous offer of money.But Skye can handle all this. She's a rock. What she can't handle is when Lachlan tells her he's having doubts. The wedding has got too big, and he's considering that he might like to move back to Scotland. Skye needs another rock, someone she knows won't let her down - her stepfather - the one person who is always cool in a crisis. He would be, except that at this moment, he's struggling to hold his own marriage together. Skye's mother is leaving him. They were keeping it a secret so as not to spoil the wedding, but now that Skye's wedding is off, the truth comes out. Then Skye's stepbrother offers to step into Lachlan's wedding shoes and marry her. Then her grandmother dies.

Cast: Noni Hazelhurst, William McInnes, Alex Dimitriades, Garry McDonald, Leon Ford, Lucy Taylor, Georgie Parker, Frank Gallacher, Kate Ritchie, Lara Cox, Leslie Dayman, Zoe Houghton, Kerry Walker, Annie Byron, Ally Fowler, Rebecca Massey