News

‘McLeod’s Daughters.’

McLeod’s Daughters, the Nine Network drama co-created by Posie Graeme-Evans and Caroline Stanton, was proclaimed Australia’s most favourite show in the Great Australian Binge.

Fremantle’s Wentworth came second, followed by Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road series and Riley Turner Productions’ Kath & Kim (which is streaming on Netflix).

Fewer than 10 votes separated Fremantle’s Neighbours and Seven Studios’ Home and Away in fifth and sixth place.

Matchbox Pictures/For Pete’s Sake Productions’ The Heights ranked seventh, followed by Southern Star’s Puberty Blues, Rob Sitch’s 1997 classic The Castle – the most popular Aussie movie – and Southern Star’s Offspring.

Ludo Studio’s Bluey was voted the No. 1 children’s show. Michala Banas announced the results on YouTube last night.

The Meaa ran the initiative asking people to vote online for the Australian film or show they’ve loved watching in lockdown as part of the...

The Meaa’s The Great Australian Binge initiative, which invites people to vote online for the Australian film or show they’ve loved watching in lockdown, reveals a large fondness for nostalgic TV.

The most popular show thus far – voting closes at midnight this Sunday – is McLeod’s Daughters, the Nine Network drama co-created by Posie Graeme-Evans and Caroline Stanton, which is airing on Stan.

The show starring Bridie Carter, Sonia Todd, Jessica Napier, Rachael Carpani, Simmone Mackinnon and Aaron Jeffery ran on Nine for eight seasons from 2001 to 2009.

Fremantle’s Wentworth is running second, followed by Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road series, Riley Turner Productions’ Kath & Kim (which is streaming on Netflix) and Fremantle’s Neighbours.

Nearly 5,500 people have voted so far. Each is automatically referred to a petition calling on Arts Minister Paul Fletcher to do more to support the people who make the entertainment that Australia loves. The...

Damien Garvey and Mark Mitchinson in ‘Rake’.

As a regular in the ABC’s Rake since the second series, Damien Garvey has a ready explanation as to why the fifth series is the last.

“This series plays more like a documentary than a satire,” says Garvey, who plays Cal McGregor, the resilient former government minister, jailbird and now blow-hard TV show host.

“The scripts were written 12 or 15 months ago, depicting the most ridiculous scenes. Now you turn on the TV and what you see is very similar. You can’t make up enough stories like that about politics anymore.”

In Sunday night’s episode Cal was offered a vacant seat in the House and a ministerial portfolio while his ambitious wife Jane (Sonia Todd) has her eyes on the seat.

Garvey is a huge admirer of Richard Roxburgh – “he works very hard on the show” – and co-creator Peter Duncan and...

Richard Roxburgh in Rake.

Rake Season 4 will hit Australian screens on May 19 with guest appearances from Miriam Margolyes, John Waters, Rhys Muldoon and Rachel Blake.

Co-creator and producer Richard Roxburgh is back as Cleaver Greene, last seen dangling from a balloon drifting across the Sydney skyline..

This time, Cleaver crashes into the world of a one-time mentor and now powerful criminal on the run, Edgar Thompson (Waters)..

Against the backdrop of a city that.s taken a turn to the dystopian, Cleaver frantically tries to stay alive — from seeking refuge in a country town congregation, to representing the very man who.s trying to have him killed.

Season 4 of Rake continues to cast Cleaver.s wit on politics, the legal system, and our wider fears and obsessions..

His long-suffering friends, relatives, and pugnacious foes also return in the form of Matt Day, Danielle Cormack, Russell Dykstra, Caroline Brazier, Adrienne Pickering,...

The ABC has begun production of a new legal series which will showcase the talent of Australia’s acting talent pool.

The announcement:

Marta Dusseldorp (A Place to Call Home, Jack Irish, Crownies) returns as Senior Crown Prosecutor Janet King in the title role of the powerful new eight hour mini-series for ABC1, which begins production today.

Joining the cast are Vince Colosimo (Underbelly, The Great Gatsby) as Chief Superintendent Jack Rizzoli, and Damian Walshe-Howling (Underbelly, Brothers In Arms, The Time of Our Lives) as Owen Mitchell, a rising star prosecutor – each crucial in Janet’s campaign to expose the truth behind a shocking murder that strikes at the very heart of the justice system.

Also appearing in the compelling high stakes legal thriller are John Howard (Fury Road, Packed to the Rafters, All Saints), Sonia Todd (Rake, Home and Away, McLeod’s Daughters), Jessica Napier (Sea Patrol, McLeod’s Daughters), Deborah Kennedy (Rake,...

ABC Crownies spin-off, Janet King, has started production.

The eight-hour legal mini-series marks the return of Marta Dusseldorp (A Place to Call Home, Jack Irish) as Crownies senior crown prosecutor Janet King.

Joining the cast are Vince Colosimo (Underbelly) as chief superintendent Jack Rizzoli and Damian Walshe-Howling (Underbelly) as rising star prosecutor Owen Mitchell..Other new cast members include John Howard (Packed to the Rafters), Sonia Todd (Rake), Jessica Napier (Sea Patrol), Deborah Kennedy (Rake) and Tiriel Mora (Rake).

Former Crownies cast members who are returning include Hamish Michael, Ella Scott Lynch, Andrea Demetriades, Peter Kowitz, Christopher Morris, Indiana Evans, Jeanette Cronin, Aimee Pedersen and Lewis Fitz-Gerald.

The series is being produced by Screentime for the ABC.

Screentime.s executive chairman, Des Monaghan said: .Screentime is delighted that the strength of this production has attracted such an outstanding calibre of cast, to realise characters both new and returning. They will...