''Marking Time'' was an Australian television mini-series, consisting of four one-hour episodes. It first aired on 9 and 10 November 2003 on ABC-TV. Directed by

Cherie Nowlan Cherie Nowlan (born Singleton, New South Wales, Australia)

and written by John Doyle, it was the first mainstream television/film project to address the issue of the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federalism, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster system, Westminster-sty ...

' refugee policy, a topic it approaches by chronicling the emotional journey of one young man during his year off after graduation, in his fictional rural home-town of Brackley, Australia. The storyline of ''Marking Time'' was inspired by the real-life experiences of

Afghan refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were compelled to abandon their country as a result of major wars, persecution, torture or genocide. The 1978 Saur Revolution followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion marked the first wave of inter ...

and their hosts in the rural town of Young; however much of the outdoor scenes of the series were actually shot at Singleton.

Plot

An Afghan father and his daughter, Randa ( Bojana Novakovic), arrive in Australia to escape the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

. At school Randa is teased for her religion and wearing a

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

. The main character who finished secondary school the previous year, Hal (

Abe Forsythe Abraham Forsythe (born 26 July 1981) is an Australian film and television actor, director, writer and producer. He is the son of actor and comedian Drew Forsythe. Career He first appeared on the TV series ''The Miraculous Mellops (TV series), Th ...

) begins to feel sorry for her and over a course falls in love with her. Although her father initially allows them to date, there is a lot of tension with their culture differences (Randa is a practising

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, Hal an atheist). Soon after the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, Randa's father's house is destroyed by an intentionally lit fire. Hal's father (Morrell) offers them shelter in his house. Later that night, Randa, afraid, sneaks into Hal's room seeking comfort. The two sleep together and are later found in bed by her father. Upset by what has happened, he leaves and refuses to let Hal see Randa. Hal and Randa continue to see each other in secret, Randa admitting she 'did not regret' what she did with Hal. Eventually their refugee status is rejected and they are ordered to return. Hal and his father try valiantly to think of a way to keep them there, but come up empty handed. Finally Hal, decides that he loves Randa and offers to run away from the law with her. He tells his plan to his father who initially disapproves, but after seeing how much they love each other, allows. He also tells Randa's father, who is initially reluctant. Hal promises to take care of her and her father agrees, realising that Randa will be deported with him unless she leaves. Randa is initially reluctant to leave her father, but ultimately agrees. They leave on the night of Randa's deportation. Stopping off in a hotel room, they make love tenderly one last time. When Hal awakes, Randa is gone. She leaves him a note explaining she can not leave her father or get him or her father into trouble. He returns, but is too late as he sees Randa and her father on a bus for deportation. Eventually he decides to go overseas to look for her. He uses the money his mother left to him to buy a plane ticket and the series ends with Hal unsure about what will happen in his search for his love.

Cast

- Hal Fleming * Geoff Morrell - Geoff Fleming *

Elena Carapetis Elena Carapetis is an Australian actress and writer, best known for her role as Jackie Kassis in ''Heartbreak High'', as well as numerous other television series and theatre roles. Early life Elena Carapatis graduated from Australia's National ...

- Gemma * Bojana Novakovic - Randa *

Matthew Le Nevez Matthew Le Nevez (born 10 January 1979) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as Doctor Patrick Reid in the TV series ''Offspring'', Detective Brian Dutch in the Tasmanian Gothic sci-fi television show '' The Kettering Incident' ...

- Bullet Sheather * Abbie Cornish - Tracey *

Katie Wall Katie Wall is an Australian actress who has appeared in various television and film roles. Filmography Film Television External links * Katie Wall at Channel Nine's Underbelly Site Katie Wall's first novel will be published by Scribe in M ...

- Belinda *

Gyton Grantley Gyton Stephen Grantley (born 17 July 1980) is an Australian actor and comedian, best known for his portrayal of convicted murderer and drug trafficker Carl Williams in the hit Australian television show '' Underbelly'', for which he was nomin ...

- Shane Sheather * Scott Swalwell - Jamie * Lech Mackiewicz - Hassan *

Graeme Blundell Graeme Blundell (born 7 August 1945) is an Australian actor, director, producer, writer, playwright, lyricist and biographer Early life Blundell was born on 7 April 1945 in Melbourne; he grew up in the suburb of Clifton Hill. He was educated a ...

- Ralph Dare * Anthony Simcoe - Scott Seaton * Brian Meegan - Ross Ferguson * Matthew Lilley - Todd Paynter * Barbara Morton - Marie Stockard *

Ian Bliss Ian Bliss (born June 30, 1966) is an Australian film, television, and stage character actor. With a career that has spanned 30 years, he has appeared in numerous iconic Australian Television dramas including Heartbreak High, Wentworth (TV serie ...

- Col Bryant *

Paul Pantano Paolo Giuseppe Pantano (born 23 February 1982), known professionally as Paul Pantano, is an Australian actor. Early life The son of Italian parents, Pantano was born and raised in the Sydney suburb of Glebe. He attended De La Salle College Ash ...

- Remus Migotso * Thea Gumbert - Katey *

Arianthe Galani Arianthe Galani (born 9 April 1940), is an Australian character actress born in New Zealand of Greek descent. She is known for her roles in TV soap operas and serials, TV commercials, as well as films. Galani is primarily known for guest roles ...

- Mrs. Spiro * Sharin Contini - Constable Welch * Dave Rondo - Cos * Rhonda Doyle - Aunt Holly * Ben Tate - Troy * Adam Cahill - Troy's mate * Sueyan Cox - Aunty Sarah * Andrew Harris - Salesman * Cecil Parkee - Billy Chan * Shauna Jensen - Wedding Singer * Megan Dickinson - Flower Girl *

as Mrs Spiro Abe Forsythe and Bojana Novakovic already knew each other as they went to primary school togethe

Awards and nominations

Awards

Won a record 7 AACTA Awards, AFI Awards in 2004

Nominations

References

External links

''Marking Time''
at the

National Film & Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national c ...

* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2019 2000s Australian drama television series 2000s Australian television miniseries 2003 Australian television series debuts 2003 Australian television series endings Films directed by Cherie Nowlan