From Kath and Kim to Blue Heelers: 10 Aussie TV shows that need a reboot
If Sex and the City and Gossip Girl can come back from the dead, why not these Australian television greats. Take our poll.
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If the recent spate of reboots and revivals hitting our screens says anything, it’s that nostalgia is powerful enough to bring things back from the dead.
We’ve seen the cast of Will & Grace reunite for not just one, but three new seasons.Gossip Girl is back and its all new millennial cast enjoyed a few tweaks to reflect how times, technology and teenagers have changed.
Our favourite Friends got together on that famous red couch, all be it for one night only. Rumours that Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer’s on-screen chemistry was rekindled and spilt off screen abounded. Unfortunately they’ve shut that down but how perfect would it have been if they televised the wedding – aptly titled The One Where Jen and Dave Get Married? And then Schwimmer says the wrong name and, bam, it’s the circle of life.
Of course, Sex and the City fans are frothing at the news Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mr. Big (Chris Noth) are together again. The onscreen couple taking to Instagram to share pics of their reunion on the New York City set of the SATC’s newly-titled show And Just Like That …
The glaring problem in all of the happy news is that Australian TV shows have largely been overlooked. (OK, apart from Back to the Rafters which will stream on Amazon Prime next month, the one season flash-in-the-pan from SeaChange and the recent announce that Hey Hey It’s Saturday and Young Talent Time will celebrate with 50th anniversary shows on Seven and Ten respectively later this year).
From All Saints to McLeod’s Daughters (yes, we still have hope!), these 10 Australian shows need to make a comeback.
ALL SAINTS
Hitting our screens in 1998, All Saints ran for six years before the focus shifted to the Emergency Department. The rejigged version aired until 2009. While there haven’t been any whisperings of a comeback, the show’s leading lady Georgie Parker, who was Sister Terri Sullivan until 2005, is on board. Although we would miss the chemistry between Parker and Erik Thomson who played her love interest Mitch who died of a brain tumour. Dedicated fans have suggested he could come back as a ghost.
BLUE HEELERS
Blue Heelers ran from 1994 until 2006 and followed the dramatic events of Mount Thomas Police Station as they solved the case of the week. Ditch, who played Evan Jones, said while it would need a massive re-work he wouldn’t say no. “I absolutely loved doing that show,” he tells. “People have such fondness for Blue Heelers that I wouldn’t put it off the table. If all the cards fell in the right way.”
FRONTLINE
This satirical comedy program from the geniuses at Working Dog, which poked fun at news and current affairs, had three seasons starting in 1994. It would absolutely have a lot of material to draw inspiration from in the current political climate. Shame it didn’t happen in the Trump era. Would have been hilarious to see how anchor Mike Moore (Rob Sitch) tackled that.
KATH AND KIM
It was noice, different and unusual, and we’d love to see a revived version back on our screens! Not sure it could ever happen though. Peter Rowsthorn, who played Brett Craig, isn’t keen. He once said a reboot would never live up to the first one: “It would be horrible!”.
MCLEOD’S DAUGHTERS
Everyone’s still a tad sensitive after the rollercoaster of emotions we experienced during the McLeod’s Daughter’s reboot saga. Remember? There was a cast reunion and months of rumours a reboot was on its way, then creator Posie Graeme Evans confirmed negotiations had fallen through – devastating. Michala Banas, who played Kate Manfredi for four seasons, said she’d and others had some discussions. “Most people were like ‘Yeah, I’d jump on a horse again’ … but my 40-year-old butt might not like it.”
ROUND THE TWIST
“Have you ever … ever felt like this?” If you were a child in the ’90s, you probably still have the opening jingle lodged deep in your brains. Actually, the four seasons capturing the whacked-out adventures of the Twist family – adapted from Paul Jennings’ popular books, full of ghosts and curses and fantastical creatures and magical machines – could hold up pretty well, especially with more up-to-date special effects and weird tales about modern tech, from drones to robots to virtual reality.
RUSH
This show followed the elite Tactical Response team as it dealt with extreme situations in Melbourne. The show ended in 2011, but we’d love to see what Senior Sergeant Lawson Blake (Rodger Corser) and the rest of the team are up to now. Corser joked this year that he was starstruck playing alongside John Waters in the final season of Doctor, Doctor. “I remember when I was growing up, John Waters was the lead in so many great shows. I was joking that we’ve both starred in a show of the same name, Rush. He was in the ‘70s gold rush version and I was in the cop show in the 2010s.” Why not reunite them in the reboot?
SEA PATROL
Sea Patrol ran from 2007 to 2011 and was set on board HMAS Hammersley, a fictional patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy. It starred Aussie acting royalty Lisa McCune as Lieutenant Kate McGregor who says it was honour to be cast: “Working alongside the Australian Navy was incredible. So many fine young men and women worked with us.”
THE DISMISSAL
The six-part political drama The Dismissal, explored the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, which resulted in the Governor-General of Australia sacking Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and replacing him with the leader of the Opposition. Because, you know, democracy. Can you imagine a re-telling of the infamous ‘night of the long knives’, which saw the Labor Party roll then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and replace him with Julia Gillard. Because, again, democracy. Sarah Snook would be perfect as Gillard.
THE SECRET LIFE OF US
Who didn’t fall in love with The Secret Life Of Us? The incredible cast included Deborah Mailman, Claudia Karvan, Samuel Johnson and Joel Edgerton. It followed a group of friends living in the same apartment block as they dealt with various relationships and careers. Basically it was an Aussie version of Friends. While they’ve all gone on to do incredible things, we’d love to see them back together. Johnson said in a radio interview in 2019, he’d do it if Karvan did.
Any faithful TV fan knows the struggle of losing a favourite show is real. But what if you had the power to single-handedly bring one dearly departed TV series back from the dead for another season? Which show would you choose? We’re dying to know the answer.
CREATORS KEEN TO GIVE BIRTH TO MORE OFFSPRING
Remember 2014, when we thought we had farewelled one of our favourite shows – Offspring. It was all wrapped up neatly and tied up with a bow, or rather Patrick (Matt Le Nevez) looking on giving his seal of approval to Nina Proudman’s (Asher Keddie) fledgling relationship with Leo (Patrick Brammall).
But it wasn’t the end. Devoted followers endured season six and its great Darcy-shaped hole, before the new writers found their groove and delivered a much-improved season seven.
And almost five years later, Offspring’s original writers Michael Lucas and Christine Bartlett have revealed they’d be up for a revisit.
Lucas said he was constantly asked whether he would bring the Proudmans back.
“And why did you kill Dr Patrick? — it’s always those two questions,” he said.
“People always have the same pitch – ‘will you do another season and it turns out Dr Patrick is not dead?’ Or that he has a twin.?
“That’s what you want when you create a show, you want them to crave it and never get enough.”
Lucas conceded, however, that the decision was somewhat out of his hands. But he’s be happy to write a telemovie.
“Australia doesn’t have a tradition of Christmas specials like the UK – maybe the Proudman family Christmas,” he said. “Now the series are on Netflix, there’s a whole new world-wide audience turning in. And if I ever tweet or post anything about it. There’s a tremendous response. Offspring still looms pretty large.”
Originally published as From Kath and Kim to Blue Heelers: 10 Aussie TV shows that need a reboot
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