McLeod's Daughters (film)
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''McLeod's Daughters'' is a 1996 Australian
television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...
, it aired on the
Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
on 11 May 1996, which was Mother's Day. It remains the highest-rated telemovie of all time in Australia. The movie serves as a back door pilot for the later ''
McLeod's Daughters ''McLeod's Daughters'' is an Australian drama television series created by Posie Graeme-Evans and Caroline Stanton for the Nine Network, which aired from 8 August 2001, to 31 January 2009, lasting eight seasons. It stars Lisa Chappell and ...
'' television series.


Synopsis

Following the death of her mother, Tess Silverman travels to Drovers Run, a rural cattle property in
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
, and the farm where she spent the first few years of her life. She intends to make her visit a short one and move on to
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
to continue on with her life. Once there she endeavours to reconnect with her only remaining family, her father Jack McLeod and her half-sister Claire, whom she has not seen in 20 years, since her mother left Jack and moved to the city, and taking Tess with her. Tess arrives in a complex situation and finds herself meeting an adoring father but a hostile sister whom she no longer knows and who resents her sudden arrival and even quicker ability to win over Jack, something she feels that she has never completely been able to accomplish. The unexpected accidental death of their father forces the sisters to overcome their differences and the many obstacles before them to realise their father's dream of running Drovers Run together. To complicate matters, Tess begins to take drastic action to alleviate the property's debts, including firing stockmen, and organising an all female muster of cattle for sale. Her actions alienate her sister's fiancé, putting strain on their engagement and forcing Claire to begin re-evaluating her own future plans. Despite problems with the local bank and the temporary loss of their prized bull, things turn out well in the end as the sisters learn to work together and are able to refinance their father's loans, thus saving the property.


Cast

* Jack Thompson as Jack McLeod *
Kym Wilson Kym Wilson (born 1 April 1973) is an Australian actress and former television host. Career As a girl, Wilson studied drama and dance at Cheshire Dance Academy in North Narrabeen, Sydney in the early 80s. Wilson made her television debut pla ...
as Tess Silverman McLeod *
Tammy MacIntosh Tammy MacIntosh (born 16 February 1970) is an Australian actress known for portraying Dr. Charlotte Beaumont in the medical drama '' All Saints'' and Jool in the TV series ''Farscape''. She is also known for her roles on television series '' The ...
as Claire McLeod *
Kris McQuade Kris McQuade (born 1952) is an Australian actress who has had many film, television and theatre roles. Career McQuade's film credits include '' The Love Letters from Teralba Road'', '' Kostas'', '' Fighting Back'', '' Lonely Hearts'', '' Goodby ...
as Meg * Mercia Deane-Johns as Rosa Wilcox *
Simone Kessell Simone Kessell (born 19 August 1975) is a New Zealand television actress known for her role as Lt. Alicia Washington in the short-lived Fox science fiction television series '' Terra Nova.'' In 2016, Kessell starred opposite Ray Winstone on the ...
as Jodi Wilcox * Maya Stange as Becky Howard *
Robert Mammone Robert Mammone (born 1969) is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as AK in ''The Matrix'' movies, as Sid Walker in the soap opera ''Home and Away'', and as Tim Palmer in '' Sons and Daughters''. Mammone played the main villain oppos ...
as Patrick *
Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget buddy comedy film ''Clerks (film), Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted i ...
as Rod * John Walton as Terry Wilcox * Patrick Rees as Noddy Barlow *
Grant Piro Grant Piro is an Australian actor. He is best known as the host of the children's television show '' Couch Potato'' on the ABC. He also appeared as Captain Schnepel in ''Escape From Pretoria''. Personal life He is married to Australian soprano a ...
as Steve Creeley * Audine Leith as Dottie Prendergast * Roger Newcombe as Clem Prendergast * Denis Nobel as Neville Grady * Jo Peoples as Freddy * Gary Heath as Stockman #1 * Gary Tielen as Stockman #2 * Philip Keen as Auctioneer * Thomas Penna as Calm Operator


Production

Creator and Executive Producer
Posie Graeme-Evans Posie Graeme-Evans (born 1952) is an Australian novelist, television and film producer, editor, screenwriter and director. She is best known as the creator and showrunner of '' McLeod's Daughters'', the co-creator and co-producer of '' Hi-5'', pr ...
had the idea for the creating the show as far back as 1992. She was reading a magazine and saw a picture of a group of Australian cowgirls leaning over a farm gate, with big hats and wide grins. Evans immediately thought of a group of women running a cattle station. The movie went into production in 1995 and was shot over 1995–1996 in and around
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
. Evans needed to find a location that was in reach of a major city, and it was hard to do outside of
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
. She looked at doing it in
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, but she didn't know Queensland well as she knew South Australia. She eventually located a government owned farm which was empty, so the production was moved in and it was treated as a backlot.


Reception

The movie aired on the
Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
on Mother's Day 1996 and it became the highest rated telemovie of all time in Australia. In 1997 cinematographer David Foreman won the Award of Distinction award for the best Telefeatures, TV Drama & Mini Series by the
Australian Cinematographers Society The Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1958 for the purpose of providing a forum for Australian cinematographers to further develop their skills through mutual co-operation. History The Austral ...
.


Home releases

The first ever release was included in the season one boxset in Australia. It was also included in the U.S. season one boxset, released by
Koch Entertainment Koch Entertainment was an American record label and a distributor of film, television, and music. It was purchased by Canadian entertainment company ROW Entertainment in 2005. History First years The company began in 1975 as part of Koch Inte ...
(now
E1 Entertainment E1, E01, E.I or E-1 may refer to: Transportation Aircraft * Azcárate E-1, a Mexican sesquiplane trainer * Fokker E.I, a German fighter aircraft * Grumman E-1 Tracer, an American airborne early warning aircraft * Hydra Technologies E1 Gavilà ...
). On 8 December 2009, E1 Entertainment released the movie separate on region 1 with extras including: the first two episodes of season one.Paul Mavis (7 January 2010) Also released on Region 2 in Germany under the title ''McLeod's Töchter''.


Television series

Despite the success of the movie, Nine decided not to pick it up for a series as they thought a female driven drama would not appeal to audiences. Initially, following further negotiations, Nine agreed to commission three more telemovies, before eventually ordering a season of 13 (later renegotiated to 22) episodes. Initially, the film served as a pilot with the first season to follow soon after. However, as the series was not picked up until some years later, the decision was made to go back to basics for episode one of the series. The series eventually went into production from late 2000 to early 2001 and premiered on the Nine Network on 8 August 2001. The series soon became one of Australia's most successful and was popular around the world; running eight seasons and 244 episodes between 2001 and 2009 on the Nine Network. Several casting changes occurred, such as with the main characters of Claire, now played by Lisa Chappell and Tess, now played by
Bridie Carter Bridie Carter (born 18 December 1970) is an Australian actress best known for her role as the main character of Tess Silverman McLeod on the television drama series '' McLeod's Daughters''. Early life Bridie was born and raised in Melbourne, A ...
.
Sonia Todd Sonia Todd (born 1959) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her television roles as Sgt. Georgia Rattray in ''Police Rescue'' (1989–1996), Meg Fountain in '' McLeod's Daughters'' (2001–2008) and Gina Austin in the soap opera '' ...
as Meg Fountain, Rachael Carpani as Jodi Fountain, and
Jessica Napier Jessica Napier is a New Zealand-born actress based in Australia. She has appeared in a number of feature films, including '' Love Serenade'', ''Blackrock'', '' Cut'', '' City Loop'', ''Angst'', '' The Illustrated Family Doctor'' and '' Ghost Ri ...
as Becky Howard, were also recast. Other new characters, who did not appear in the film, include brothers Alex Ryan (played by
Aaron Jeffery Aaron C. Jeffery is a Logie Award-winning New Zealand-Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Watson in '' Water Rats'', as Alex Ryan in '' McLeod's Daughters'', and as Matt "Fletch" Fletcher in '' Wentworth''. Personal life ...
) and Nick Ryan (played by
Myles Pollard Myles Pollard (born 4 November 1972) is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as Dr. James Edmunds in ''Home and Away'' and previously Nick Ryan on the TV series '' McLeod's Daughters''. Early life Myles Pollard was born in Perth, an ...
).


References


External links


McLeod's Daughters
at the
Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
{{McLeod's Daughters 1996 television films 1996 films 1990s English-language films