australian television information archive

Abandoned [NZ]

August 30, 2015
Director: John Laing
Writer: Stephanie Johnson

In 1989 the trimaran Rose Noelle set sail from Picton, New Zealand, for Tonga with four men on board. After a freak wave turned the boat upside down, they drifted for 119 days before landing on Great Barrier Island. But their miraculous survival is only the beginning of a new nightmare.

Cast: Dominic Purcell, Peter Feeney, Owen Black, Greg Johnson, Siobhan Marshall

Catching Milat

Sun, May 17 & 24, 2015 (Seven)
Part 1: 1.387m viewers (2nd)
Part 2: 1.459m viewers (1st)
Produced by Shine Pty Ltd
Producers: Kerrie Mainwaring, Rory Callaghan
Director: Peter Andrikidis
Writer: "Dalton Dartmouth"

A dramatised version of the investigation into the 1990s backpacker murders leading to the arrest and conviction of serial killer Ivan Milat. After the bodies of backpackers are discovered in Belanglo State Forest, New South Wales' Police unit Task Force Air begins its search for a murderer. Ultimately the bodies of seven backpackers are found. With the help of forensic evidence and tip-offs from the public, thousands of leads are investigated before Milat is finally arrested in 1994. Catching Milat tells the story of how the NSW Police Taskforce Air, and in particular Detective Paul Gordon, tracked down and caught Ivan Milat. The 2x90min mini-series is based on the book Sins of the Brother by Mark Whittaker and Les Kennedy.

Cast: Mal Kennard, Richard Cawthorne, Geoff Morrell, David Field, Carole Skinner, Ben Geurens, Alan Flower, Fletcher Humphrys, Daniel Krige, Leeanna Walsman, Sacha Horler

Article: Facing horror: who's who in Seven's serial killer biopic Catching Milat

House of Hancock

Sunday, February 08 & 15, 2015
Ratings (1): 1.383m viewers (2nd)
Ratings (2): 1.380m iewers (2nd)
Produced by Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder
Producers: Michael Cordell, Claudia Karvan and Paul Bennett
Writer: Katherine Thomson
Director: Mark Joffe

Two part miniseries profiling the world's richest woman Gina Rinehart and the Hancock/Rinehart dynasty. The plot follows the public feud between Gina and her father Lang Hancock's second wife Rose Lacson, her struggle to rebuild the company following her father's death, and her recent battles with her children over their multi-billion dollar inheritance.

Cast: Mandy McElhinney as Gina Rinehart, Sam Neill as Lang Hancock, Peta Sergeant as Rose Lacson, Robert Coleby as Frank Rinehart, et al

Mary: The Making Of Princess

Sunday, November 15, 2015 (Ten)
929,000 viewers (6th)
Produced by FremantleMedia Australia
Executive Producers: Jo Porter, Anthony Ellis
Producer: Antonia Barnard
Director: Jennifer Leacey
Writers: Samantha Strauss

Twenty-eight-year-old Mary Donaldson has all but given up on love when one night she goes to the pub and meets a prince. But falling in love is the easy part, compared to what it takes for an Australian girl to become the future Crown Princess of Denmark.

Cast: Emma Hamilton, Ryan O'Kane

Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door

September 13 & 20, 2015 (Seven)
Produced by Shine Australia Pty Limited
Executive Producer: Rory Callaghan
Producers: Kerrie Mainwaring
Director: Shawn Seet
Writers: Justin Monjo, Michael Miller

There are few Australian stories as remarkable as Peter Allen's. The boy from the bush whose talent, determination and drive made him Hollywood royalty and an international household name. The only Australian to win an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe, Allen wrote some of our most iconic songs. He died in 1992 at 48, but his songs and spirit live on — whether on the stage as part of The Boy from Oz or as part of Coldplay's no. 1 worldwide hit 'Every Teardrop is a Waterfall'.

Cast: Joel Jackson, Rebecca Gibney, Sigrid Thornton, Rob Mills, Henri Szeps, Nick Farnell, Sara West

Redfern Now: Promise Me

Thu, April 09, 2015 (ABC)
Produced by Blackfella Films
Executive Producers: Sally Riley, Erica Glynn
Producers: Darren Dale and Miranda Dear
Director: Rachel Perkins
Writer: Steven McGregor

When a young Aboriginal woman is raped and doesn't report it, it has consequences she never could have imagined.

Cast: Deborah Mailman, Wayne Blair, Rarriwuy Hick, Lisa Flanagan, Anthony Hayes, Kelton Pell, Kirk Page, Daniella Farinacci, Kim Knuckey, Genevieve Lemon, Di Smith

Venus and Mars [NZ]

Sunday, August 23, 2015 (TV One)
Produced by Screentime NZ
Writer: John Banas
Director: John Laing

A police officer bound, gagged, slashed and bleeding in the backyard of his burning house. A crazed Satanic Avenger on the loose, a city living in fear, who will be next? The case that sparked Operation Venus/Mars was one of the most shocking crimes in New Zealand's contemporary history. In order to escape a marriage it involved a deception of the highest level. A man willing to sacrifice almost anything, including his career as a well-liked and well-respected fraud detective, all the while watching as his friends and colleagues families lived in fear and investigated a fictional attacker he himself created. But one Detective working on instinct saw through the lies and went out on a limb, risking his own career to bring the truth to light.

Cast: Craig Hall, Ande Cunnigham, Sara Wiseman, Arlo Macdiamid, Toby Leach, Fraser Brown, Brooke Williams, Rachel Blampied, Taylor Hall, Tim Foley, Tim Carlsen, Vinnie Bennett, Alex Macdonald, Andrew Norman, Louis Maxwell

article: TV show recalls crime that shocked NZ