Another batch of Classic Aussie Drama out now
Via Vision Entertainment will be releasing the sixth and final season of Sons & Daughters on DVD on the 7th December.
In these concluding episodes of the serial Wayne Hamilton (Ian Rawlings) is pursued by a shark as he attempts to save the life of the boy he believes to be his son. Meanwhile, a distraught Susan Hamilton (Oriana Panozzo) develops a serious gambling habit and is driven to the brink of suicide.
Marriage is on the cards for Gordon Hamilton (Brian Blain) and Beryl Palmer (Leila Hayes) but Beryl will find herself in prison after being framed for shooting Wayne and is flabbergasted to find that the top dog Pamela Hudson (Rowena Wallace) is Patricia Palmer’s long-lost twin sister. Debbie Halliday (Shannon Kenny) is targeted by a deranged stalker and it looks as if socialite Charlie Bartlett (Sarah Kemp) might have found the man of her dreams. A seriously ill Fiona Thompson (Pat McDonald) is forced to have her appendix removed in the middle of the bush whilst miles away from civilisation, and prudish Janice Reid (Rima Te Wiata) is determined to stop Andy Green (Danny Roberts) from working as a gigolo.
Caroline and Doug Fletcher (Abigail and Normie Rowe) learn that their baby will be born handicapped, and Alison Carr (Belinda Giblin) finds herself bankrupt without a friend left in the world but will David Palmer (Tom Richards) come to her rescue one final time.
Familiar faces appearing in these episodes include Andy Devine who went on to play Shadrach Dingle in Emmerdale; Craig McLachlan from Neighbours; John Hamblin, Serge Lazareff and Benita Collings from The Young Doctors; Vic Rooney from E Street; and Steven Tandy from The Sullivans. As a special bonus feature this box set includes an audio commentary by Normie Rowe on episode 972.
You can pre-order Sons & Daughters: Collection Six from the Via Vision website.
Pictured top: The final season of Sons & Daughters is coming to DVD. Pictured above left: There are plenty of shocks in store for Beryl Palmer (Leila Hayes) and Gordon Hamilton (Brian Blain) in Sons & Daughters. Pictured above right: In Sons & Daughters, Alison Carr (Belinda Giblin) is shocked to meet her twin sister Pamela Hudson (Rowena Wallace).
Grace Gibson Productions have released another selection of classic Australian radio serials from their archives.
In volume 13 of Night Beat newspaper columnist Randy Stone (Harp McGuire) continues to trawl the streets at night for his next big scoop. As Randy says, “You see plenty of action and take a lot of chances, but it’s worth it for the stories you get and the people you meet. It means you’ve got to be everything from a private detective to a good Samaritan – a fighter too if you want to remain in the mediocre state of health I am pleased to regard as good.” In these editions Randy comes across the living dead, he investigates the juke box girl, and learns about the true meaning of fear.
Meanwhile, private investigator Dick Mallory (Frank Waters) continues his relentless war against those that live in the shadows of life in volume 13 of Hunt The Man Down. Frank is a man of the world and is the top London agent for Investigations International who give him their most dangerous assignments, tune in to hear his action-packed adventures which take place in every corner of the globe.
Right: The action continues in Night Beat. Left: Harp McGuire stars as newspaper man Randy Stone in Night Beat.
Right: More shadowy figures meet their match in Hunt The Man Down. Middle: Frank Waters tops the bill as Dick Mallory in Hunt The Man Down.
In volume 14 of Whispering Streets former newspaper reporter and foreign correspondent Hope Winslow (Lyndall Barbour) shares another batch of stories that she’s come across during the course of her career. Hope tells tales of romance and human problems which were adapted from the original American scripts to suit Australian tastes.
Departure Delayed is a thrilling saga of courage, sacrifice and sorrow emerging from the bloody conflicts of war at a time when the soul of freedom was dying. The story was adapted for radio in 1945 by Ru Pullan from the best-selling autobiographical book of the same name by Jan Van Apeldoorn (real-name Jan Nils Vogt) who based it on his experiences during the Second World War.
In this absorbing serial we meet Jan (Eric Reiman), a Dutch engineer, and his young wife Rita, who would find themselves caught up in Hitler’s first blitz on Holland. After compiling intelligence information about German activity behind enemy lines with the intention of handing it over to the Allies, the pair fled on a tandem bicycle with no identity cards or passes across the frontier into Belgium, through occupied France and into neutral Switzerland with the Gestapo hot on their heels and judases waiting to betray them every step of the way. Jan and his wife continued on their perilous journey halfway across the world through fascist Italy by train, then across the Black Sea to Turkey aboard a Russian steamer, and onto Java on a Royal Dutch Airways flight. But after risking their lives for the forces of good would Jan and Rita be mistaken for Nazi fifth columnists or spies by the authorities in Java which was part of the Netherlands/Dutch East Indies.
After enduring so much together Jan was separated from Rita when he was evacuated from Java to Australia on urgent government business during the brutal Japanese invasion of the East Indies. In 1943 Jan’s book Departure Delayed was first published in Australia and at the time he had no idea as to whether Rita was dead or alive, and indeed this was how Ru Pullan’s radio serial was to conclude in 1945. You’ll be happy to learn that when a second edition of the book was published in 1946 the story was to have a revised and much happier ending because following the liberation at the end of the war Rita was finally found languishing in a prison camp in Batavia and our heroic couple were to be reunited in Australia.
You can order Night Beat, Hunt The Man Down, Whispering Streets, and Departure Delayed on CD, USB or as a digital download from the Grace Gibson website.
Left: Hope Winslow has more stories to tell in Whispering Streets. Right: Lyndall Barbour takes us back to the Whispering Streets.
Left: Departure Delayed is an epic saga of courage and sacrifice. Right: Eric Reiman stars as Jan Van Apeldoorn in Departure Delayed.
Photo’s copyright: Grundy Organization/Fremantle Australia/Via Vision Entertainment. IRS Grace Gibson Productions.
