''The Lizard King'' is a 1988 Australian

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

about a woman who comes from France to Australia in search of her son.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p101

Production

It was one of a series of TV movies that were made as a part of a co production deal between Revcom and ABC. Three were to be made in Australia, three in Europe with Australians; the common theme was to be "sentiment". (The other Australian movies were '' A Matter of Convenience'' and '' Perhaps Love''.) The movie was based on an idea by director Geoffrey Nottage. Producer Jan Chapman had just made two telemovies written by

Louis Nowra Mark Doyle, better known by his stage name Louis Nowra, (born 12 December 1950) is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist. He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights. His works have been performed by all o ...

and hired Nowra to write the script. Nowra was reluctant to work on a project that came from someone else's idea but enjoyed collaborating with Chapman and had just read Jules Verne's ''

Mistress Branican ''Mistress Branican'' (french: Mistress Branican) is an 1891 adventure novel written by Jules Verne. It is based on Colonel Peter Egerton-Warburton's and Ernest Giles' accounts of their journeys across the deserts of Western Australia, and was al ...

'' which had a similar plot and felt the offer was too serendipitous to refuse. Nowra later said he thought Nottage did a good job as director but was dissatisfied with the limitations of working for television.Interview with Louis Nowra at ''Lumina''
accessed 11 March 2014

References

External links

''The Lizard King''
at AustLit
''The Lizard King''
at BFI Australian television films 1988 films 1980s English-language films {{Australia-tv-film-stub