Australian TV Plays: July 2021

ABC Pull story on Malaysia in 1963

This 1963 article refers to the ABC pulling a "television film" on Malaysia so as not to offend Indonesia. Garfield Barwick denied political pressure was placed on him.

This seems to have been a doco... but it does tie in with A Piece of Ribbon.

The Age 27 April 1963

The Guardian 29 April 1963

British advertisements for ABC jobs

The Guardian 17 June 1964

The Guardian 6 Aug 1956

The Guardian 7 Jan 1958

The Guardian 1 Jan 1960

The Guardian 15 Nov 1960

1953 British article on ABC, BBC and CBC

Observer 28 June 1953

The Guardian 12 Nov 1953

The Hungry Ones (7 July 1963)

The Hungry Ones was the fourth in the ABC's mini series cycle. Unlike previous serials it was entirely taped and not done live.

Premise

The story of Will and Mary Bryant and their escape from Australia.

Cast

* Fay Kelton as Mary Bryant

* Leonard Teale as Will Bryant

*John Ewart as James Martin

* Edward Hepple as Governor Phillip

Original story

It's onle of the most famous in colonial Australia.

Other versions

There was a 1938 book The Strange Case of Mary Bryant by Geoffrey Rawson

There was a radio serial Escape from Port Jackson by Aileen Mills. This aired in Australia in 1957 and then later in 1959. It was a BBC production and Mills played Mary.

In March 1963 Lyndall Barbour played Mary Bryant in an episode of Time Out.

In 1963 there was a book published The Transportation, Escape and Pardoning of Mary Bryant.

In June 1963 3AR radio station played a show called First Fleeters which illustrated the lives of 16 of Australia's first citizens. It included an episode on Mary Bryant.

Production

Rex Rienits, who had written Stormy Petrel and The Outcasts but not The Patriots, wrote episodes in London where he was living and sent them on.

Four of the characters were fictional and some of the incidents were made up. The sequence of events were streamlined. "I suppose there will be some murmurings about this, " Rienits told TV Times in London. "Whenever any author presumes to dramatise a slice of history a posse of angry pundits will start reaching for scribble pads and needle sharp pencils. But surely minor changes are permissible in a work of fiction which claims only to be based on history? The main stream of events and character in The Hungry Ones is as factual as possible within the demands imposed by TV drama."

Dean told Graham Shirley it “Wasn’t an outstanding piece of dramatic writing .. almost a documentary." It involved location filming.

Filming began in May 1963 on location in Jervis Bay. "The accent was on realism right from that first day," Leonard Teale told TV Times, "but the weather was a big help. The sea was so rough, especially for a 12-foot boat, that we couldn't have looked more sick and exhausted if we'd tried. But from that day on all the underprivileged members of The Hungry Ones cast have been keeping themselves on short rations. I'm not exactly on a rigid diet but I've just cut out all starches and sugars, except for a sweet coffee."

The Royal Australian Navy assisted with production for the Jervis Bay sequences. They leant a whaler and the rooms of the Jervis Bay Naval College (the cadets were on leave). An Aboriginal man, Mr Thomas, from a nearby reserve, played a small role.

The rest of it was shot at the ABC's Gore Hill Studios.

Crew

Director - Colin Dean. Designer - Quentin Hole. Technical supervisor - Harrie Adams. Make up - Daphne Ferguson. Script assistant- Prue Wyndham. Film camera man - Dennis Lankford. Editor -Derrick Timmins.

Produced at Gore Hill Studios.

Episodes

Ep 1– "Hung by the Neck" - 7 July (Syd), 21 July (Melb) - In 1792 at Newgate prison, James Boswell meets Mary Bryant. We flash back to 1784 where Mary meets Will Bryant in Cornwall. They are engaged but he is arrested for smuggling and sentenced to the new penal colony in Botany Bay. She commits robbery, hoping to be also sent to Botany Bay, but is sentenced to death. GS: Fay Kelton (Mary Broad), Leonard Teale (Will Bryant), Tom Farley (prison governor), Laurier Lange (James Boswell), Donald MacDonald (John Broad), Maiva Drummond (Mrs Broad), John Ewart (James Martin), John Hatton (revenue officer), Moray Powell (Judge), Rhoderick Walker (Lord Sydney), Edward Hepple (Governor Phillip), Roger Cox (shopkeeper), John Barnard, Betty Dyson, John Tietsort.

Ep 2 – "Bound for Botany Bay" - 14 July (Syd), 28 July (Melb) Mary's sentence is commuted for transportation. James Martin gets sent away as well. She befriends a female convict and manages to see Will. They are sent to Botany Bay. Mary realises she is pregnant. James Martin tells Surgeon White that Will is the father. GS: Fay Kelton (Mary Broad), Leonard Teale (Will Bryant), Robert McDarra (warder), Brigid Lenihan (Martha Lovelace), Mat Levison (Simon), Edward Hepple (Governor Phillip), Nigel Lovell (Surgeon John White), John Unicomb (Captain Watkin Tench), Ronald Morse (Robert Ross), Gordon Glenwright (Captain Thomas Gilbert), Carmen Duncan, Lucia Duschenski, Nancye Stewart, Dororhy Fraser, Philippa Baker, Helanie Brinklow, Carol Finlayson, Pamela Mai.

Ep 3– "Sydney Cove" 21 July (Syd), 4 Aug (Melb) - Captain Gilbert and Surgeon White learn Mary is pregnant on the Charlotte on the way to Botany Bay. White is supportive of Mary and Will. Mary is upset at James Martin. Mary has her baby and the Fleet arrives at Sydney, eventually relocating to Port Jackson. Will and Mary are married and Will is offered freedoms if he helps fish for the colony. GS: Fay Kelton (Mary Broad), Leonard Teale (Will Bryant), James Martin (John Ewart), Nigel Lovell (Surgeon John White), Gordon Glenwright (Captain Thomas Gilbert), John Unicomb (Captain Watkin Tench), Brigid Lenihan (Martha Lovelace), Edward Hepple (Captain Phillip), John Gray (Henry Brewer), Neil Fitzpatrick (Captain David Collins), Max Rowley (Rev Richard Johnson), Ronald Morse (Robert Ross), Nat Levison, Dennis Doonan, Bill Aaron, David Copping.

Ep 4–"Stern Justice" - 28 July (Syd), 11 Aug Melb) Will is a successful fisherman but Phillip has to introduce rationing. A friend of the Bryants, John Freeman, is going to be executed but avoids the fat by promising to be a hangman. Will eventually starts selling fish on the side. He is betrayed by an informer. GS: Fay Kelton (Mary Broad), Leonard Teale (Will Bryant), James Martin (John Ewart), John Unicomb (Captain Watkin Tench), Brigid Lenihan (Martha Lovelace), Edward Hepple (Captain Phillip), John Gray (Henry Brewer), Neil Fitzpatrick (Captain David Collins), Ronald Morse (Robert Ross), Stan Polonski (John Butcher), Reg Livermore (John Ryan), James Elliott (Sergeat Magee), David Copping (John Freeman), Guy Le Calire, Dennis de Marne, Michael Walsh.

Ep 5 - "Days of Famine" - 4 Aug (Syd) 18 Aug (Melb). Bryant is flogged as punishment and gradually starts to re-earn Phillips' trust. Some marines are hung for stealing food. The informer who turned in Bryant is found dead. GS: Fay Kelton (Mary Bryant), Leonard Teale (Will Bryant), Neil Fitzpatrick (Captain David Collins), Brigid Lenihan (Martha Lovelace), Stan Polonski (John Butcher), Nigel Lovell (Surgeon White),John Gray (Henry Brewer), John Ewart (James Martin), John Unicomb (Captain Watkin Tench), Edward Hepple (Captain Phillip), David Copping (John Freeman), Ronald Morse (Robert Ross), James Elliott (Sergeat Magee),Lionel Pearcey, John Stevens, Syd Morgan, Maxwell Tuttle, Ron Tunstall, Tex Clark.

Ep 6 - "The Crisis Grows" - 11 Aug (Syd) 25 Aug (Melb) - lack of food affects the colony. Mary is having another child.The second fleet arrives with no food and lots of convicts. GS: Fay Kelton (Mary Bryant), Leonard Teale (Will Bryant),Edward Hepple (Captain Phillip), John Gray (Henry Brewer), Neil Fitzpatrick (Captain David Collins), John Unicomb (Captain Watkin Tench), Nigel Lovell (Surgeon White), Howard Bell (butler), Robert Ross (Robert Ross), Stan Polonski (John Butcher),Brigid Lenihan (Martha Lovelace), James Martin (John Ewart), Noel Brophy (Cap Aitken), Ronald Dunphy.

Ep 7 - "The Second Fleet" - 18 Aug (Syd) 1 Sept (Melb) - the colony deals with the shock of the arrival of the Second Fleet. Surgeon White takes in a woman, GS: Fay Kelton (Mary Bryant), Leonard Teale (Will Bryant), Brigid Lenihan (Martha), Edward Hepple (Captain Phillip), John Gray (Henry Brewer), Neil Fitzpatrick (Captain David Collins), John Unicomb (Captain Watkin Tench), Nigel Lovell (Surgeon White), Max osbiston (captain Nihcolas Anstis), Max Rowley (Rev Johnson), Stan Polonski (John Butcher),BJames Martin (John Ewart), Barry Creyton (John Macarthur). Vivienne Lincoln (Rachel Turner), Donald Macdonald, Colin Hillary, David Crocker, Ron Bates, Allen Terrie, Mark Edwards, Arthur Reeves. Ashley Decent, Bill Paulin.

Ep 8 - "The Escape" - 25 Aug (Syd) 8 Sept (Melb) When Bryant discovers Phillip cannot guarantee his release without official confirmation, he begins to plot his escape. GS: Fay Kelton (Mary Bryant), Leonard Teale (Will Bryant), Stewart Ginn (William Morton), Edward Hepple (Captain Phillip), James Elliott (Sgt Magee), John Gray (Henry Brewer), Stan Polonski (John Butcher), Chris Christensen (Nathaniel Lilley), John Ewartt (James Martin), Mark McManus (Samuel Bird), Owen Weingott, Tony Crerar.

Ep 9 - "The Way to Timor" - 1 Sept (Syd) 15 Sept (Melb) The Bryants and their friends escape to Timor in a boat. They stay for two months but a maid overhears Mary talking about their escape and reports them to the Governer. GS: Fay Kelton (Mary Bryant), Leonard Teale (Will Bryant), Stewart Ginn (William Morton), Owen Weingott (William Allen), Chris Christensen (Nathaniel Lilley), Tony Crerar (James Cox), John Ewartt (James Martin), Mark McManus (Samuel Bird), Stan Polonski (John Butcher), Richard Davies (Dutch Governor), Dudley Stapleton, Xenia Kalkman, Ricardo Quiambao.

Ep 10 - 8 Sept (Syd) 22 Sept (Melb) - final episode - the Dutch realise the Bryants are escapees. The trip back to England will be the worst of all. GS: Fay Kelton (Mary Bryant), Leonard Teale (Will Bryant), Stewart Ginn (William Morton), John Barnard (clerk of the court), Lou Vernon (2nd judge), Max Meldrum (Captain Edwards).

Reception

The Woman's Weekly didn't like it. Neither did the SMH. This lack of critical enthusiasm may have prompted the ABC to try a contemporary piece next.

TV Times

Front page of script

Mitchell Library photos

Mitchell Library

The Bulletin 3 Aug 1963

AWW 4 Sept 1963

AWW 24 July 1963

Canberra Times 7 Sept 1963

Canberra Times 6 July 1963

Canberra Times 20 July 1963

AWW 10 July 1963

AWW 18 March 1964

Sydney Tribune 29 July 1964

TV Times

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Hungry Ones
by Stephen Vagg
October 24, 2021
Stephen Vagg’s series on Australian TV plays looks at the fourth ABC mini-series: The Hungry Ones (1963), the story of Mary Bryant.

During the early years of Oz television, the proportion of local drama that was written by Australians ebbed and flowed. It would go up (1956-58), then down (1958-59), then up (1959-62), and down (1962-64), then up again (1965 onwards).

The year of 1963 was a real low point – the only drama made by the commercial stations consisted of the last season of Consider Your Verdict, some filmed plays (Portrait of a Star in Perth, and a version of And the Big Men Fly in Melbourne), as well as two little-remembered series, Time Out and Tribunal, where Alistair Duncan would interview historical figures over ten-minute episodes. There may have been a few other productions I have missed but it was pretty grim. The ABC was, as is/was so often the case, the only game in town.

And while Aunty pumped out a fair bit of drama in 1963, when it came to producing locally-written content that year, the national broadcaster sunk to the occasion: Australian authors were routinely ignored in favour of home-grown versions of plays by Robert Bolt (Flowering Cherry, A Man for All Seasons), Shaw (Man of Destiny), Shakespeare (The Tempest), Pirandello (Six Characters in Search of an Author), RC Sheriff (The Long Sunset, The White Carnation), Jean Anouilh (The Fighting Cock), Aldous Huxley (The Giaconda Smile), Hugh and Margret Williams (Double Yolk), Leslie Thomas (A Piece of Ribbon), Sacha Guitry (Don’t Listen Ladies), Alun Richards (The Hot Potato Boys), a 1935 play by Laurence Houseman (Young Victoria), someone called Norman King (Night Stop), someone called Max Frisch (The Chinese Wall), someone called James Saunders (Barnstable), a play by Rodney Ackland they’d filmed four years earlier (A Dead Secret), another play they’d filmed six years earlier (Dark Brown). There were some Aussie works (Prelude To Harvest, Uneasy Paradise, The Right Thing, Concord of Sweet Sounds, a kids TV series called Smuggler’s Cove), but they were very much in the minority. Thus, the annual ABC mini-series for that year was a particularly big deal in terms of local content.

This was The Hungry Ones.

Like its three predecessors – Stormy Petrel, The Outcasts and The Patriots – The Hungry Ones was a tale of early colonial Sydney. However, it did not continue the timeline of that initial trio, and might be best considered a “prequel” to Stormy Petrel, focusing on events around the First and Second Fleets. There are two main plot strands: the attempts by Captain Phillip (Edward Hepple) to get the colony up and running in Sydney, and the escape of convict Mary Bryant (Fay Kelton), her husband Will (Leonard Teale) and their associates in a long boat to Timor.

The Mary Bryant saga is one of the great yarns of colonial Australia, having been told several times in various books, stage plays, radio plays, and mini-series, most recently the 2005 British co-pro The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant. The Hungry Ones wasn’t even the only account of this story that came out in 1963: an episode of the ATN-7 show Time Out focused on Bryant (played by Lyndall Barbour), and there was a book published that year called The Transportation, Escape and Pardoning of Mary Bryant and 3AR radio station played a show called The First Fleeters which included an episode on Mary. (No one’s ever cared that much about Will.)

The story of the First Fleet is also quite familiar ground – it too has been the subject of various books and plays as well as a recent co-pro mini-series, Banished (2015). In 1963, the ABC had already aired the aforementioned First Fleeters radio show and shown the TV play Prelude to Harvest (also directed by Colin Dean) and documentary The Land That Waited, which touched on some of the stories shown in The Hungry Ones… That’s a lot of First Fleet-sploitation… I guess it was the 175th anniversary…

The initial three ABC mini-series told stories that were predominantly set indoors, so they could be shot in-studio. Any dramatisation of Mary Bryant’s life inevitably had a lot of outdoor scenes, which would probably have scared off the ABC only a few years earlier, but by now the drama department had grown in confidence and technical ability. The Hungry Ones was mostly shot in the ABC’s Gore Hill Studios but also featured extensive location footage filmed at Jarvis Bay, where the Royal Australian Navy provided facilities, personnel and a boat. (You can look at some stills at the State Library of NSW website.) Apparently, this was the first Australian mini-series to be entirely taped beforehand, with no live broadcast elements.

The script (or, rather, scripts – there were ten episodes, each running 30 minutes) was written by Rex Rienits, who had penned Stormy Petrel and The Outcasts before handing over scribe duties to Philip Grenville Mann for The Patriots. Apparently, Rienits wrote The Hungry Ones in London but didn’t return home for production, presumably confident that his words were in good hands with Colin Dean, who had directed all the mini-series to date.

Rienits had written radio serials on famous colonial era women such as Margaret Catchpole, Mary Bligh and Margaret Reiby; to my knowledge, he never did one on Mary Bryant although Aileen Mills did for the BBC in 1949, called Escape from Port Jackson, which had aired on Australian radio as recently as 1959.

The Hungry Ones was closer to Stormy Petrel than The Outcasts or The Patriots, in that it had a tighter timeframe and built up to a specific climax (her escape and capture). It was the first Australian mini-series focused on a woman, incidentally… though Mary does disappear for slabs around the middle, when the action becomes more about the travails of the First Fleet.

I read a 1961 interview with Rex Rienits in the TV Times, where he expressed interest in doing a drama on John White, the chief surgeon on the First Fleet, and White features quite heavily in this series (played by Nigel Lovell), making eyes at Mary, worrying about hygiene, and getting “close” to a female convict assigned to him, Rachel Taylor (Vivienne Lincoln) (NB In real life, White knocked up Rachel then pissed off back to England but Rachel married another dude and became rich). I wondered if maybe Rienits wasn’t more interested in the First Fleet aspect of the story (White, Phillips, food, etc) than Mary Bryant. It does kind of dovetail, and I guess he did have to come up with five hours of material, it’s just a thought.

As a writer, Rienits was strong on structure and story, but less skilled with character and dialogue. When history provided that for him, as in Captain Bligh in Stormy Petrel, it wasn’t an issue. But like many writers who tackle this story, he seemed unsure exactly how to pitch Mary – is she a plucky, spirited lass? Coquettish vixen? Simpleton? She’s a little vague here, despite fine work from Fay Kelton in the role; it was perhaps unfair of Rienits to make the character a bit of a dill, committing robbery to be with Will and then later be the one whose blabbing in Timor leads to their secret being uncovered. (Personally, I think the way to do this story is to either make Will more of a villain and Mary an innocent victim, or to make Mary more of a spirited “bad girl”. Either would work, I just think Rienits needed to pick a lane).

The Hungry Ones is still very entertaining – Rienits was an excellent storyteller who dramatises key moments skilfully, particularly the descent of Sydney colony into starvation and the very exciting escape sequence. He always ensures there’s a flogging, hanging or brawl to keep things lively, not to mention a cat fight between Mary and another convict, Martha (Brigid Lenihan). The story is quite racy too, with a fair bit of (historically authentic) premarital sex going on: Mary gets knocked up to Will prior to them being married, Surgeon White keeps a mistress, Martha leaves her convict husband for a soldier, it is implied that Mary sleeps with a (unseen) Dutch captain to help them get material to escape. Incidentally, Rienits said four of the main characters were fictional, while some of the incidents were made up, but claimed it was faithful to history as a whole.

Another “Rienits touch” I noticed: as in Stormy Petrel and The Outcasts, a bunch of male characters are hot for the female lead – here, they include her fisherman-smuggler husband Will; fellow escapee James Martin (John Ewart) who, it’s implied, commits a crime to join Mary in Botany Bay; a prison warden (Robert McDarra); surgeon John White; the unseen Dutch captain; and Boswell (Laurier Lange). Clearly, there’s something about Mary.

The acting is very good; I especially liked Edward Hepple as Phillip and Brigid Lenihan and Stewart Ginn as convicts. There is even an Aboriginal character, too – well, “character” might be pushing it, one appears in the escape sequence to throw a spear at the convicts (surely, they could have made room for at least Bennelong?). The most fun characters are the rogues: the greedy Robert Ross (Ronald Morse), an informer (Reg Livermore!) and especially the incompetent Captain Atkins (Noel Brophy) of the Lady Juliana. Oz TV fans will love spotting early acting appearances from Livermore, Carmen Duncan (as a female convict), Mark McManus (as one of the escapees) and Barry Creyton (as a young John Macarthur).

Technically, the production is first rate with super costumes, sets, camerawork and lighting. The footage in Jarvis Bay is spectacular – I mean, the actors are out there, rowing away, looking exhausted. It’s an extremely well-mounted piece of TV drama.

Frank Roberts, TV critic of The Bulletin and a notorious hater of Australian writing, penned a typically bitchy review about The Hungry Ones – based on one episode, mind (Roberts was lazy as well as spiteful) – suggesting the ABC needed to film more drama using imported scripts and that Rex Rienits should take writing lessons from Leslie Thomas, whose A Piece of Ribbon had been filmed by the ABC. It’s embarrassing that The Bulletin employed a clown like Roberts as long as they did.

Admittedly, critical and viewer response to The Hungry Ones was less enthusiastic than for the previous three ABC mini-series. I think this was due to two factors. First, everyone was suffering from “colonial drama fatigue”; on top of this being the fourth in the historical mini-series, there had been commercial shows like Time Out, Jonah and Whiplash, as well as the ABC play Prelude to Harvest, which dealt with a similar period. Second, The Hungry Ones tells quite a gruelling story: the title is a very accurate description of the show, being full of prisoners and soldiers starving, sometimes to death; one convict, John Freeman (David Copping) is forced to turn executioner to save his own neck; Mary loses her brother, two children and husband, and her escape is ultimately unsuccessful. It’s dramatically powerful, historically truthful, and culturally important, but not exactly feel-good.

After four historical works, the ABC decided to make its 1964 mini-series a contemporary story. They could have gone in any number of directions – an adaptation of something by Ruth Park maybe, or D’arcy Niland, or Jon Cleary or Kylie Tennant or Patrick White or Eleanor Dark or any number of respected, popular Australian novels. Instead, they went for The Purple Jacaranda, a thriller based on a not-particularly-well-known book by Nancy Graham that had previously been adapted for radio. Colin Dean remained as director, Richard Lane turned it into script form, and the result appears to have been a complete disaster. I say “appears” because I have never seen it, and apparently there are no copies in existence… but Dean and Lane said it was bad, as did every single review I have read. Every. Single. One. It would be the last thing Dean directed, a disappointing end to a glorious career (he became an ABC executive).

However, the ABC bounced back in 1965 with a mini-series of My Brother Jack which was a notable success. So, the moral of the story – if you make a dud, don’t stress, push on and make something new.

Oh, and The Hungry Ones is a very solid piece of early Australian television.

NA Writers to O

NAA Listener Letter 1963

NAA Paul O'Loughlin

My Brother Jack (21 August 1965)

Adaptation of the classic novel. 10 eps x 30 mins.

Premise

The story of two brothers from a working class family in 1930s Melbourne.

Cast

*Ed Devereaux as Jack
*Nick Tate as Davey
*Chris Christensen as Dad Meredith
*Marion Johns as Mum Meredith
Original novel

The novel was published in 1964. Here is a long piece in The Monthly about it. Here's a 2014 radio doco on the ABC about it.

There's an appreciation in The Guardian here. George Johnston wrote it on the island of Hydra in Greece.

In April 1965 the novel won the Miles Franklin Award. The book was regarded as a classic almost straight away. There seems to be a hunger for the Great Australian novel and this fitted that bill.

The judges said in their report, “This is a strong, honest novel. It gains robustness from its conventional technique, particularly where the author avails himself of the well-tried devices of contrast and reflection. Its characters are convincing. In style it is straightforward and bold. Its language is crystal-clear. “The idiom is that of the Australian people whose lives have been con- temporaneous with its author’s. All who are familiar with Mr. Johnston’s earlier work will agree that this novel is his best.”

The novel was selected from 15 other entries: Summer by Peter Cowan Sundry Debtors by John McGhee, The Price of an Orphan by Patricia Carlon, The Livin’ is Easy by John Tranter, Man in ihe Jungle by David Rowbotham, Distant Land by Judtih Waten, The Place at Whitton by Thomas Keneally, Weave a Circle by John Patrick, It’s This Way by Dan Reidy, Brother Captain by Alan Chester. Shadow Mountain by Lola Irish. The Illegitimates by Raymond Aitchison, The Year of the Angry Rabbit by Russell Braddon, Black Lightning by Dymphna Cusack, and The Sun Breaks Through by Frank O’Grady.

The AustLit page is here.

Johnston would die in 1970, a year after Clift. His obit is here.

An oral history with Clift is here.

Other adaptations

It was filmed again in 2001 for two 90 minute episodes. The story incorporated more of the novel. A teaching kit for that is here.

Production

Colin Dean recalls (to Graham Shirley in 2004) that Ed Devereaux was a friend of Rex Rienits and lived in London. The actor sent Dean a letter asking if the director was interested in casting him. Dean knew Storry Walton was casting My Brother Jack and passed the letter on to him.

It was shot in Sydney with location work done in Melbourne (where it was set). There was some location work done in Sydney. See here. For instance the Johnston house in Elsternwick was discovered in Campsie.

Johnston's wife Charmain Clift did the adaptation. Johnston was offered the chance to do it but struggled so handed it over to Clift. He said" “I couldn’t face it myself I had just finished the book, and in its original form it was completely unsuitable for TV. It is an introspective book of Davey’s thoughts about his brother Jack. These had to be translated into action. “Charmian has done a wonderful job. She should get all the praise.”

She later said about it:

I am a novice at writing for television. Until I came back to this country eleven months ago I’d not even seen television, except once or twice in the English countryside on a set that was probably the original model and should properly have been in the Science Museum. So that when I was landed with the job of adapting my husband’s novel for the little box, I plunged into books by the experts, frantically scrabbling for guidance, or at least a set of rules to go by. What happened in the end was that I sat down and visualised the television screen and wrote down on paper what I wanted to happen on it, what I wanted to see, what I wanted to hear...groups and splittings of people, according to the dramatic situation that I wanted to emphasise; quietnesses, and intensities.... So, what I did eventually was to take the portion of the book I found most significant, the years of the Depression, and to cram into this as much of the earlier part of the book and as mucl^of the later part as I could without overloading it. ... What I have tried to do, what I hope I have done, is to stick to the truth of the book, the essence of it,
and present it in terms more dramatically suitable to that little viewing screen than long chapters of narrative. I’ve done it with love and care and thought and as much understanding as I have.

According to the Bulletin the budget was 16,000 pounds.

Design - John Montgomery. Based on novel by George Johnston. Adapted for television by Charmain Clift. Music composed by Herbert Marks. Played by the augmented ABC Dance Band. Technical producer - John Garton. Film director - Gil Brealey. Designer - Jack Montgomery. Produced by Storry Walton.

Cameramen - Samuel Chung, Peter Knevitt, Peter Vendrell. Vision mixer - Clve Gardner. Audio - Noel Cantrill. Film sequences cameraman - Bill Grimmond, Frank Parnell. Sound recordist - John Heath. Editor- Arthur Southgate. Staging supervision - Stan Woolveridge. Wardrobe - Rosalind Wood. Make up supervision - Joan Minor. Script assistant - Frances Carr-Boyd.

Episode Guide

Episode 1 (21 Aug 1965) - In 1932 Melbourne, Davey Meredith lives with his parents and his brother Jack. Davy works in a factory but wants to be a writer; he also attends art classes. Jack gets in a fight with a coworker, Dud, and loses his job but gets a date. GS Chris Christensen (Dad Meredith), Marion Johns (Mum Meredith), Stewart Ginn (Vern), John Armstrong (Stubby), Tom Farley (Joe Denton), Richard Meikle (Dud Rosevear), David Copping (Sam Burlington), Tessa Mallos (Jess), Alison Bauldt (Winnie), Fran McGrath, Lucia Duschenski, John Craig, Herbert Logan, Peter Sumner, Carol Ann Aylett, Bill Bennett, Kenric Hudson, Horst Burgfried.

Ep 2 (28 Aug 1965) - Davey goes missing and Jack goes looking for him. He tracks him down to the artists studio and meets Jack's arty friends. Jack gets a job at the pub. GS June Thody (Sheila), Chris Christensen (Dad Meredith), Marion Johns (Mum Meredith), David Copping (Sam Burlington), Tessa Mallos (Jess), Gordon Glewirght (Bostock), George Alcock, Kirsty Child, Louise Duval, Ursula Marton, Jane Stewart, William Baptist, Tony Bonner, Guy le Claire, Douglas Hall, Brian Harold, Jeffrey Hodgson, Nat Leveson, Charles Little, Kurt Ludescher, Barry Ross, John Salter, Leslie Platt, Ian Westbrook.

Ep 3 - (4 Sept 1965) Jack goes on a date. Davey sells an article. His artist friend Sam is wanted for murder. GS Chris Christensen (Dad Meredith), Marion Johns (Mum Meredith), Tom Farley (Joe Denton), David Copping (Sam Burlington), Tessa Mallos (Jess), Ronald Morse (CJ Brewster), Judith Roberts, John Craig, Ken Hacker, William Wall.

Ep 4 - (11 Sepr 1965) Jack tries to figure out what happened with the murder. Sam says he didn't do it. GS Chris Christensen (Dad Meredith), Marion Johns (Mum Meredith), Tom Farley (Joe Denton), David Copping (Sam Burlington), John Llewellyn (Detective Sgt), Alison Bauldt (Winnie), Roly Barlee (YMCA Clerk), Edward Nelson (detective)

Ep 5 - (18 Sept 1965) Jack has a fistfight. Davey's boss encourages him to try writing. Jack marries Sheila. Davey goes to work as a journo. Jack marries Sheila. GS Chris Christensen (Dad Meredith), Marion Johns (Mum Meredith), June Thody (Sheila), Rosalind Seagreave (Helen), Ronald Morse (CJ Brewster), John Gregg (Gavin Turley), Tom Farley (Joe Denton), Richard Meikle (Dud Rosevear), Gordon Glenwright (Bostock), Ailsa Carpenter, Tony Allen, Mike Barnacoat, Vincent Gil, Eddie Marsh, Con Shanahan, Dudley Stapleton, Vaughan Tracey.

Ep 6 - (25 Sept 1965) Jack struggles to earn money. Davey has a relationship with a young woman, Helen, who is left wing. Jack and Sheila leave. GS Chris Christensen (Dad Meredith), Marion Johns (Mum Meredith), June Thody (Sheila), Rosalind Seagreave (Helen), Stewart Ginn (Vern), Richard Meikle (Dud Rosevear), Kay Eklund (Landlady), Bettina Smeaton, Bill Anderson, Alan Graham, Robert Haddow, Frank Lloyd, Des McKenzie, Donald Reed, Ron Shand, Ossie Wenban.

Ep 7 - (2 Oct 1965) Davey becomes a successful journalist. Jack leaves Australia to find work and eventually comes home. Sheila falls pregnant. GS Chris Christensen (Dad Meredith), Marion Johns (Mum Meredith), June Thody (Sheila), Rosalind Seagreave (Helen), Stewart Ginn (Vern), John Armstrong (Stubby), Ronald Morse (CJ Brewster), John Gregg (Gavin Turley), Michael Bowei, David Yorston, Judith Fisher, Victory Haggith, Chuck Kehoe, Yvonne Matthew, Stan Polonsky, Richard Pusey, Paul Weingott.

Ep 8 - (9 Oct 1965) Jack recovers.Sheila gives birth. Helen meets Davey's family and she has an argument with Jack. Helen and Jack get married. GS Chris Christensen (Dad Meredith), Marion Johns (Mum Meredith), June Thody (Sheila), Rosalind Seagreave (Helen), Stewart Ginn (Vern), John Armstrong (Stubby), John Gregg (Gavin Turley), Deryck Barnes (doctor), Carla Cristan. Reg Collins, Craig Israel.

Ep 9 - (16 Oct 1965) Jack gets promoted but struggles to deal with it. Davey and Helen are established in high society but Davey is uncomfortable with it. War breaks out. GS Chris Christensen (Dad Meredith), Marion Johns (Mum Meredith), June Thody (Sheila), Rosalind Seagreave (Helen),Ronald Morse (CJ Brewster), John Gregg (Davind Turley), Jeanie Drynan (Sandra Solomons), Stuart Finch (Wally Solomons), Muriel Hopkins (Mrs Brester), Barbara Rogers (Miss Kirkwell), John Huson (Mr Treadwell), Ted Hopkins (Mr Philand), Carmen Duncan, Irene Harper, Max Phipps, Kevin Colebrook, Douglas Kelly.

Ep 10 (23 Oct 1965) Jack enlists, even though he could get out of service. Davey does articles on the war and visits Jack in camp. GS Chris Christensen (Dad Meredith), Marion Johns (Mum Meredith), June Thody (Sheila), Rosalind Seagreave (Helen), Stewart Ginn (Vern), John Armstrong (Stubby), Ronald Morse (CJ Brewster), John Gregg (Gavin Turley), Jeanie Drynan (Sandra Solomons), Stuart Finch (Wally Solomons), Des Rolfe, Carla Cristan, Sandra Gleeson, Bill Anderson, Vere Fulwood, Ted Hopkins, Michael Michelson, Peter Noble, Terry Reynolds-Gill, Alan Walker.

Reception

The Age said of the first episode "I was not greatly impressed". The SMH called it "a magnificent job"

Francis Stewart, a Labor MP, said ". I congratulate the Australian Broadcasting Commission on its presentation of " My» «Brother» «Jack ". This programme, written and produced in Australia, is up to world standards. I would like to see the commercial television stations devote more of their time, money and energy to Australian programmes and the use of Australian actors and producers."