''Crownies'' is an

Australian television Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the ''Radiovision'' system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Bris ...

drama series which was originally broadcast on

ABC1 ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC TV channel an ...

from 14 July until 1 December 2011. The series revolves around a group of solicitors fresh from law school, working with Crown Prosecutors, who are the

public prosecutors A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

in the legal system of New South Wales, working for the office of the

Director of Public Prosecutions The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members o ...

(DPP).

Production

ordered ''Crownies'' for a twenty-two-episode run and it was produced by

Karl Zwicky Karl Zwicky (born 16 November 1956) is Australian film director, producer and screenwriter. Movies Television series * Tricky Business (2012) (2 episodes) *Crownies (2011) (22 episodes) *Cops L.A.C. (2010) (4 episodes) * K-9 (2010) (5 epis ...

. It was the first long-form drama format to be commissioned by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

since 2005's ''

MDA MDA, mda, or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Moldova, a country in Europe with the ISO 3166-1 country code MDA Politics * Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (2018), ruling coalition government in the Indian State of Meghalaya led by National Pe ...

''. Filming began in January 2011. The location chosen for filming was

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Many scenes were filmed in the business district

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

, more predominantly around the

Parramatta Justice Precinct The Parramatta Justice Precinct (PJP) is located in the western part of the Parramatta () central business district. The precinct houses the corporate headquarters of the New South Wales Department of Attorney General and Justice. Other legal of ...

for the low financial cost and its accessibility. Alongside the Parramatta river shops, churches and streets were used for location shoots. Every twelve days a Brazilian restaurant located on Church Street would be converted into the set of "Gar's Bar", which served as the "legal hangout" for the characters. To cut costs, scenes requiring countryside settings were filmed a mere fifteen-minute drive away from Parramatta. The series finished filming in September 2011. It is written by

Greg Haddrick Gregory Bevan Haddrick (7 September 1960) is an Australian-born Logie Award winning screenwriter and film and television producer. Over the last decade he has won six AWGIE Awards as a writer, two AFI Awards as a producer, and an International ...

, Jane Allen, Kylie Needham, Tamara Asmar, Blake Ayshford, Chris Hawkshaw, Justine Gillmer, Pete McTighe, Stuart Page & Sam Miekle. It is directed by Tony Tilse, Chris Noonan, Cherie Nowlan, Grant Brown, Lynn Hegarty, Garth Maxwell and Jet Wilkinson. On 24 January 2011, Greg Hassall from ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' announced the casting of

Todd Lasance Todd James Lasance (born 18 February 1985) is an Australian actor, best recognised for his roles in Australian television including Aden Jefferies on ''Home and Away'', Cam Jackson on '' Rescue: Special Ops'', Ben McMahon on ''Crownies'' and Maj ...

, Hamish Michael,

Marta Dusseldorp Marta Dusseldorp (born 1 February 1973) is an Australian stage, film and theatre actress. Her television credits include ''BlackJack'', ''Crownies'' (and its spin-off '' Janet King''), ''Jack Irish'' and '' A Place to Call Home''. Early life an ...

and

Jerome Ehlers Jerome Ehlers (20 December 1958 – 9 August 2014) was an Australian actor and writer. He graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1987. Ehlers died in Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New Sout ...

Episodes

Cast

Main cast

as Ben McMahon * Hamish Michael as Richard Stirling *

Ella Scott Lynch Ella Scott Lynch (born 27 September 1982 in Sydney) is an Australian actress. Her notable roles include Shirley Ryan in the series '' Love Child'' and Melbourne gangland barrister Nicola Gobbo in the Channel Nine mini-series ''Informer 3838''. ...

as Erin O'Shaughnessy *

Andrea Demetriades Andrea Demetriades (born 1987) is an Australian actress known for her television, theatre and film roles. Personal life Demetriades was born in Perth, the youngest of four sisters. Her father, Costas, emigrated from Cyprus in 1969 and met her ...

as Lina Badir *

as Janet King *

Indiana Evans Indiana Rose Evans (born 27 July 1990) is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in ''Home and Away'' as Matilda Hunter, '' H2O: Just Add Water'' as Bella Hartley, and '' Blue Lagoon: The Awakening'' as Emmaline Robinson. Early lif ...

as Tatum Novak *

Peter Kowitz Peter Kowitz is an Australian actor. Film and television acting His television credits include: ''Prime Time'', '' Richmond Hill'', ''Rafferty's Rules'', '' Chances'', ''Pacific Drive'', '' Water Rats'', '' Big Sky'', ''Halifax f.p.'', ''Swim ...

as Tony Gillies * Jeanette Cronin as Tracey Samuels *

Lewis Fitz-Gerald Lewis Fitz-Gerald (born 15 November 1958) is an Australian actor, screenwriter and television director, who lectures in Screen and Media Studies at Australia's University of New England. Filmography As actor * ''Breaker Morant'' (1980) ...

as David Sinclair QC *

as Rhys Kowalski

Recurring

* Chantelle Jamieson as Julie Rousseau * Christopher Morris as Andy Campbell *

Daniel Lissing Daniel Aaron Lissing (born 4 October 1981) is an Australian actor. He played Conrad De Groot in ''Crownies'' in 2011. The following year, he appeared in American military drama '' Last Resort''. From January 2014 to April 2018, Lissing starred ...

as Conrad De Groot *

Marcus Graham Marcus Graham (born 11 October 1963) is an Australian film, television (including both serials and mini-series) and stage actor and director, with roles including ''Mulholland Drive'' and '' Josh Jarman''. He was known as a teenage heartthrob i ...

as Danny Novak * Aimee Pedersen as Ashleigh Larsson *

Ritchie Singer Ritchie Singer is an Australian actor. Singer portrayed executive producer Richard Shapiro in the fictionalized 2005 American television movie/docudrama '' Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure'', based on the creation and behind the scenes ...

as The Honourable Mr Justice Rosenberg * Paul Moxey as Harry * Elias Joukhdar as Tariq Badir *

Petra Yared Petra Georgina Yared (born 18 January 1979) is an Australian actress. She has also been credited as Petra Jared. Early life Yared was born in Melbourne to Rick and Shelley, having an older sister, Sara, and younger brother, Nicholas. Yared is ...

as Paula Corvini

Spin-off series

Before the series finale of ''Crownies'' had broadcast, ABC1 Channel Controller Brendan Dahill revealed that he sought the creation of a spin-off and singled out Dusseldorp and Michael for their portrayals. He believed that there were many successful aspects of ''Crownies'' to build on and expressed his surprise that the show was not as popular as he had envisioned. On 20 August 2012, ABC TV confirmed that it had commissioned an "8-part legal and political thriller" titled '' Janet King''. The spin-off went into production in early 2013 and featured various cast members from ''Crownies''. The first episode aired on 27 February 2014.

Home media

''Crownies'' was initially released on region 4 DVD in two separate parts. The first eleven episodes were released on 6 October 2011. The remaining episodes were released on 1 December 2011. The two box-sets were later released for region 2. Although the series has never been shown in the UK, it is available to view on the

STV Player STV Player is a video on demand service owned by STV Group and available free-of-charge across the UK, online, on mobile and on all major TV platforms, including Sky Glass, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Freeview Play and Virgin Me ...

, the video on demand service owned by STV, the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

affiliate in North and Central Scotland.

Reception

Critical analysis

Doug Anderson from ''

'' liked the show for the cast, "fresh" writing and good relationship between character. He believed anyone with intelligence could relate to the show. He praised the character of Tatum Novak for being the modern girl and branded the rest as fairly conventional characters, with personal issues blended in with cases. But his colleague Craig Mathieson criticised the show stating "The show is struggling to find an even tone and at various times it's flirtatiously sexy, coolly cynical and blazingly emotional. The problem is that these diverse moods jarringly occur one after the other. It's somewhat messy."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website

Production website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crownies 2011 Australian television series debuts 2011 Australian television series endings Australian drama television series Australian legal television series English-language television shows Australian LGBT-related television shows Lesbian-related television shows Television shows set in New South Wales Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Television series by Screentime Television series about prosecutors