True Believers (miniseries)

The True Believers is a 1988 Australian mini series which looks at the history of the Australian Labor Party from the end of World War Two up to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955.[2]

True Believers
GenreMiniseries
Written byBob Ellis
Stephen Ramsay
Directed byPeter Fisk
StarringEd Devereaux
Simon Chilvers
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersStephen O'Rourke
executive
Matt Carroll
Sandra Levy
Running time8 x 1 hour
Budget$3.6 million[1]
Release
Original networkABC
Original release28 June 1988 (1988-06-28) –
1988 (1988)

It was co-written by Bob Ellis who focused on three characters "Chifley, the unlettered man of great dignity; Menzies, who used to stand for something but eventually stood only for Menzies; and Evatt, the grand idealist... It's almost like Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. It's a chunk of national history during Australia's great era of change after the war."[3]

Cast

Production

The idea for the mini series and the title came from Bob Ellis, who pitched it to Matt Carroll at Channel Ten. Carroll commissioned Ellis and Stephen Ramsey to write it, originally as a feature film. In October 1984 Ten announced they did not want to make it.[4]

The producers of The Petrov Affair reportedly tried to buy part of the script, but were turned down. Carroll took the project to Sandra Levy at the ABC and she agreed to make it provided it was done on videotape. If it was shot on film the estimated cost would be $5.6 million but on video it could be done for $3.4 million. It would be shown on the ABC for the Bicentenary.[5] The project needed to be rewritten and Ellis and Ramsay refused. John Lonie rewrote the scripts.[1]

Filming took place in October 1987.[6]

Fred Daly watched the show and said "the bloke playing Chifley hasn't got the voice right but then nobody could get Chif's voice right."[7]

Reception

Jim McCelland said "whileI am prepared to concede that I may be an atypically political animal I have to report that I experienced not a moment of boredom in watching the eight hour mini-series... It pulls off that rare double-historical accuracy and rivetting entertainment."[8]

Fred Daly called it "an excellent production."[9]

References
  1. Ramsey, Alan. The Way They Were. UNSW Press. p. 454. ISBN 9781742240220.
  2. Ed. Scott Murray, Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995, Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p243
  3. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TONGUE Wanda Jamrozik Sydney Morning Herald 18 June 1987 p 13
  4. "Ten's No to Drama". Sydney Morning Herald. 14 October 1984. p. 61.
  5. Oliver, Robin (27 June 1988). "3 MEN AND A NATION". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1.
  6. "Who's this back at Parliament House?". The Canberra Times. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 26 October 1987. p. 1. Retrieved 7 May 2020 – via Trove.
  7. "Fred's Seal of Approval". Sydney Morning Herald. 19 June 1988. p. 53.
  8. McCelland, Jim (26 June 1988). "TURBULENT ERA THAT MAKES COMPELLING TV". Sun Herald. p. 11.
  9. Daly, Fred (27 June 1988). "TELLING IT LIKE IT WAS". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 6.

location: Zig Zag Railway Lithgow

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