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20-546: The Sullivans is an Australian period drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran on the Nine Network from 15 November 1976 until 10 March 1983. The series tells the story of a fictional average middle-class Melbourne family and the effect that the Second World War and the immediate post-war events had on their lives. It covers the period between 1 September 1939 to 22 August 1948. It

40-541: A genre directed towards women. Historical dramas have also been described as a conservative genre, glorifying an imagined past that never existed. Historical drama may include mostly fictionalized narratives based on actual people or historical events, such as the history plays of Shakespeare , Apollo 13 , The Tudors , Braveheart , Chernobyl , Enemy at the Gates , Les Misérables , and Titanic . Works may include references to real-life people or events from

60-557: The Partisans . John leaves Yugoslavia. Vera Plevnik won the Logie for Best New Talent for her performance. The series enjoyed success outside Australia when it was broadcast by networks in the United Kingdom, Ireland and continental Europe, usually as a daytime filler. The series was sold to over 45 countries worldwide. The first 26 episodes of the series were initially released on DVD in

80-716: The war , focusing on either the fighting itself or its effect on the Sullivan family. Scenes of battles in North Africa , Greece , Crete , Britain , New Guinea and Malaya were all filmed in or around Melbourne. However, some of the exterior scenes in the Netherlands were actually filmed in Amsterdam . The series was renowned for its high production standards. The programme's researchers went to great lengths to ensure both historical and cultural accuracy. Many scenes were timestamped and

100-448: The westerns and sword and sandal films that dominated North American cinema in the 1950s. The costume drama is often separated as a genre of historical dramas. Early critics defined them as films focusing on romance and relationships in sumptuous surroundings, contrasting them with other historical dramas believed to have more serious themes. Other critics have defended costume dramas, and argued that they are disparaged because they are

120-906: The Netherlands. The DVD audio is in English with removable Dutch subtitles. By October 2016 in Australia, all 1,114 episodes are available to purchase through Crawfords DVD (Region 0) over 23 volumes. A bonus DVD is also available with volume six of "The John Sullivan Story" which was a stand-alone TV film. In the UK (Region 2), Volume 1 (episodes 1–50) was released on 12 March 2012 followed by Volume 2 (episodes 51–100) on 30 July 2012. Volume 3 (episodes 101–150) and Volume 4 (episodes 151–200) were released on 27 May 2013 and then Volume 5 (episodes 201–250) and Volume 6 (episodes 251–300) on 28 April 2014. Volume 7 (episodes 301–350) and Volume 8 (episodes 351–400) were released on 26 May 2014. From November 2015 all volumes can be purchased in

140-580: The UK through Crawford's distributor, Eaton Films Ltd. Period drama Historical drama can be differentiated from historical fiction , which generally present fictional characters and events against a backdrop of historical events. A period piece may be set in a vague or general era such as the Middle Ages , or a specific period such as the Roaring Twenties , or the recent past. In different eras different subgenres have risen to popularity, such as

160-411: The biggest budget ever for a commercial network series. It reputedly cost one million dollars to set up. The story began in 1939, with the declaration of war against Germany . From the outset the series focused on the Sullivan family of fictitious address 7 Gordon Street, Camberwell, Victoria , along with neighbourhood friends, relatives and associates. The majority of the show's storylines related to

180-405: The era. The set designer Nick Rossendale said it was a "fascinating job" to find these items. He went on to say that the big companies would say to him they didn't have anything for him but he persisted by asking if he could look through their warehouses. "When I got in, I usually found something", he said. "It's amazing what a bit of research and looking around will dig up. The forgotten stuff that

200-428: The first full year of production, The Sullivans won five Logies in 1978. Paul Cronin was Most Popular Australian Actor , Lorraine Bayly was Most Popular Australian Actress , Michael Caton won for Best Sustained Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role , Vivean Gray won for Best Sustained Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role and, finally, the show won Most Popular Australian Drama . It would win

220-647: The idea was shelved making it the only official TV film spin-off from the series. After his troopship is sunk in 1941, John Sullivan is saved by Yugoslav Chetniks , whose leader Marko forces John to travel with him up through Greek Macedonia to a village where he has to practice as a doctor. He saves the life of a Jewish girl, Nadia, with whom he falls in love. John is then captured by the Gestapo but escapes. He meets British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents Major Barrington and Captain Meg Fulton. He goes to live with

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240-415: The latter award for the next two years running. The John Sullivan Story is a 1979 telefilm spin off from the series. It was used to explain what happened to John Sullivan in the years in which he went missing on the show. It was first shown on GTV9 Melbourne and TCN9 Sydney on Sunday 5 August 1979. It was to be the first of a series of films based on characters from the show though due to moderate ratings

260-570: The relevant time period or contain factually accurate representations of the time period. Works that focus on accurately portraying specific historical events or persons are instead known as docudrama , such as The Report . Where a person's life is central to the story, such a work is known as biographical drama , with notable examples being films such as Alexander , Frida , House of Saddam , Lincoln , Lust for Life , Raging Bull , Stalin , and Oppenheimer . Snowy River Too Many Requests If you report this error to

280-407: The scripts referenced actual military developments and events of the time, such as discussion of specific battles, sporting results and cinematic releases. For instance, this even went down to the weather, where the researchers checked through back copies of newspapers. Authentic 1930s furniture was located and used on sets, while kitchen pantries and the corner store were stocked with packaged goods of

300-440: The series and three months later they still had only two cast members, Vikki Hammond and Noni Hazlehurst . When researching the period, the set designer Nick Rossendale said at the time "when you are dealing with a period of time that is well within living memory, you have to watch things very carefully". Hence, the painstaking research into the reality of the show. In 1976, the show was regarded as an ambitious project with

320-482: The series to remain in production. In 1981 the war ended in the storyline and there were plans for the series to continue with examinations of elements of post-war Australian history such as the Snowy River hydro-electric scheme . However, the decision of Paul Cronin to leave the series at this time prompted the show's cancellation before any of this could come to fruition. The final scenes were shot on 19 July 1982. In

340-515: Was a consistent ratings success in Australia, and also became popular in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland , the Netherlands, Gibraltar , Greece and New Zealand. The show was purchased by Channel Nine without a television pilot program being produced. They commissioned 34 hours with a view to extension. Fourteen writers were assigned to the thirteen plot lines which had been devised. The cast had not been established when they started writing

360-480: Was also one of Australia's most popular drama series, screening in half-hour episodes at 7.00 p.m. In 1978 it was the third most popular show on Australian TV, after Are You Being Served? and Against the Wind . The show's popularity waned somewhat after 1979 following the departure of Lorraine Bayly. When she asked to leave the series the show's producers instead offered her six months' leave. Her character Grace

380-418: Was lying around was unbelievable. No one knew it was there." For instance, he found "hundreds of old pub mirrors labels, completely clean and unused" with every one of them "for a certain period of time". He said "to reproduce these would have cost a fortune but we can now label any product – can or bottle – with a real label so it won't be a reproduction at all." The Sullivans attracted critical acclaim and

400-461: Was sent to London to care for her injured son John, and a series of pre-taped segments were used in her absence to maintain her presence. The London scenes featured actors imported from New Zealand so Australian viewers would not recognise familiar actors. When Bayly refused to return after six months, she was written out of the series and Grace was killed by a V1 bomb during a London air raid. Despite Bayly's departure ratings remained high enough for

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