Broadcasting
More Aussie drama classics coming your way
Via Vision Entertainment will be re-issuing episodes 667-792 of A Country Practice on DVD on the 22nd September. In this box set Esme Watson (Joyce Jacobs) is mortified when a flasher exposes himself to her and Bob Hatfield (Gordon Piper) is left fighting for his life following a bee sting.
A member of the dirty mac brigade exposes himself to Esme Watson (Joyce Jacobs) in A Country Practice.
The wayward Luke Ross (Matt Day) is diagnosed with a brain tumour, there are wedding bells for vet Matt Tyler (John Tarrant) and nurse Lucy Gardiner (Georgie Parker), and Dr Terence Elliott (Shane Porteous) is held hostage by a deranged woman who claims that her sister is a paraplegic due to his negligence. Meanwhile, Alex Fraser (Di Smith) has to deal with petrol sniffers at an outback clinic, Ted Campbell (Vincent Ball) decides to buy his son a new kidney from Asia, and an American mining company has plans to build a dam that will flood the whole of Wandin Valley.
A bushfire causes devastation when a pyromaniac runs amuck during the back-burning season, the locals are up in arms when a Japanese company considers opening a factory farm in the district, and councillor Alf Muldoon (Brian Moll) finds himself in strife when contaminated hospital waste is discovered at the local tip. Skeeter Martin (Willie Fennell) falls for the charms of an elderly one-legged bikie, Matron Maggie Sloane (Joan Sydney) is accused of keeping a filthy hospital when several patients develop infections following surgery, and there is widespread concern when an AIDS patient blows back into town.
Familiar faces appearing in these episodes include Chris King, Joanne Samuel, John Ewart, Noel Trevarthen, Nick Holland, and Colleen Clifford from The Young Doctors; Lorraine Bayly and Gerry Duggan from The Sullivans; Sheila Kennelly from Number 96; Geoff Paine and Maggie Dence from Neighbours; Peter Adams and George Mallaby from Cop Shop; Lyn Collingwood from Home & Away; Dennis Grosvenor from Chopper Squad; Brian Blain and Leila Hayes from Sons & Daughters; June Salter from The Restless Years; Lois Ramsey from The Box; Queenie Ashton from Blue Hills; Glenda Linscott from Prisoner; Brandon Burke from Glenview High; and Marc Gray from Richmond Hill. Others cropping up in the action include artist Pro Hart, singer Paul Kelly, Jill Perryman, Maria Venuti, Toni Collette, and John Bell.
You can pre-order A Country Practice Collection 6 from the Via Vision website.
This release means that every episode of the rural saga can now be purchased on DVD from Via Vision. You’ll find episodes 1-148 on the A Country Practice: Collection 1 box set, episodes 149-280 are on A Country Practice: Collection 2, episodes 281-400 can be found on A Country Practice: Collection 3, episodes 401-532 are on A Country Practice: Collection 4, episodes 533-666 are on A Country Practice: Collection 5, episodes 667-792 are on A Country Practice: Collection 6, episodes 793-882 can be found on the A Country Practice: Season 11 box set, episodes 883-968 are on the A Country Practice: Season 12 release, episodes 969-1058 are located on the A Country Practice: Season 13 box set, and the final thirty episodes of the programme can be found on the A Country Practice: Season 14 collection.
There are shocks aplenty for former prostitute Fiona Thompson (Pat McDonald) in Sons & Daughters.
Via Vision Entertainment have another treat in store with the release of the complete third season of Sons & Daughters on the 20th October.
In these episodes, David Palmer (Tom Richards) is left fighting for his life after a prison escapee goes on a shooting spree at Woombai, and Jill Taylor (Kim Lewis) contemplates aborting her rapist’s child. The unscrupulous Wayne Hamilton (Ian Rawlings) decides to swindle Beryl Palmer (Leila Hayes) out of her inheritance, and Barbara Hamilton (Cornelia Frances) is shocked to find the lifeless body of her dead husband’s mistress floating in her swimming pool.
The mentally unbalanced Patricia Morrell (Rowena Wallace) decides to get her revenge on former prostitute Fiona Thompson (Pat McDonald) by claiming that she’s been molested by Fiona’s illegitimate son, but Patricia will soon come unstuck when she’s forced to go on the run with violent heavies in close pursuit after she’s charged with murder.
The impressionable Andy Green (Danny Roberts) ends up being brainwashed by a shady religious cult, and Gordon Hamilton (Brian Blain) suffers a heart attack after being pushed to the brink by the scheming backstabbers around him.
Why is Irene Fisher (Judy Nunn) running a backstreet boarding house in Sons & Daughters? Tune in on DVD to find out.
The sleazy lawyer Roger Carlyle (Les Dayman) sets his sights on young Katie O’Brien (Jane Seaborn), and Lynn Palmer (Antonia Murphy) contemplates suicide as she verges on becoming anorexic. People wonder why Irene Fisher (Judy Nunn) is running a shabby boarding house when she’s a fully qualified doctor, and schoolboy Jeff O’Brien (Craig Morrison) puts his health on the line by using steroids and hitting the bottle. Kevin Palmer (Stephen Comey) develops what appears to be shell shock after being caught up in a war zone, and Fiona Thompson falls for the charms of a retired army type with a shadowy past.
Familiar faces appearing in these episodes include Anne Haddy from Neighbours; James Condon, Peter Cousens, Philip Quast and Vince Martin from The Young Doctors; Ken James from Skippy; Sonja Tallis and Kate Sheil from Prisoner; Sean Scully from Echo Point; Alyssa-Jane Cook from E Street; Richard Morgan from The Sullivans; Gennie Nevinson from Muriel’s Wedding; and Robin Stewart from Bless This House. Keep your eyes peeled for Elaine Smith from Neighbours as an uncredited air hostess.
You can pre-order Sons & Daughters: Collection 3 now from the Via Vision website.
A woman is murdered in A Place in the Sun. Inset: Future Neighbours star Anne Haddy appears in both A Place in the Sun and Sons & Daughters.
Meanwhile, Grace Gibson Productions have just released the classic radio serial A Place in the Sun on CD, USB and it’s also available as a digital download.
Adapted from Theodore Dreiser’s novel An American Tragedy this saga is based on an actual criminal case and explores the dark side of the American dream.
When the beautiful and mysterious Roberta Alden is murdered the only clue to her demise is a rumour of a secret marriage. The finger of blame is pointed at Roberta’s insanely jealous cousin Gil, at a shadowy stranger, and at Clyde Griffiths who spends his entire life in the desperate pursuit of success.
The cast includes Anne Haddy from Neighbours, Peter Whitford, Kerry McGuire and Kerry Francis. You can order A Place in the Sun now from the Grace Gibson website.
Photo’s copyright Via Vision Entertainment/JNP/Grundy Organization/Fremantle Australia. IRS Grace Gibson Productions.
Pictured top, left: Return to Wandin Valley on DVD. Pictured top right: Sons & Daughters resumes on DVD.
