Simple image inspired long-running South Australian TV series McLeod’s Daughters
Keeping it simple made McLeod’s Daughters a huge TV hit around the world. In the lead-up to the 15th anniversary of its premiere, we look back at the much-loved South Australian drama.
IN the early 1990s, inspired by an image in a magazine, McLeod’s Daughters creator and executive producer Posie Graeme-Evans came up with what she now calls the “simplest pitch in the world”.
“The photograph was of this bunch of girls with big hats on ... and their faces were cut in half because it was such bright sun and all you saw was these big white grins,” she says.
The photograph of the young women accompanying a story about them being trained to work cattle in the Northern Territory “stayed” with Graeme-Evans.
“It was such a simple story — bunch of girls run a cattle station,” she says of the original pitch she made to Channel 9 executives in the early ’90s.
They agreed to a pilot telemovie, which made history when it screened on Mother’s Day in 1996 — with Jack Thompson as Jack McLeod, who dies of a heart attack, leaving his daughters to manage Drovers Run.
“It was the highest-rating Australian telemovie of all time,” Graeme-Evans recalls.
“This was a different era ... there was nothing on television in those days that just had women at the heart of the story.”
Despite the unprecedented success, McLeod’s Daughters the television series, which became a global success story, didn’t happen until after Sydney 2000.
“We finally got to re-pitch it again after the Olympics opening ceremony in the year 2000 when all those young Australian men and women on horseback poured into the arena holding the flag,” Graeme-Evans said.
“I pitched to David Leckie and I pitched by heart out and I said ‘You are mad if you don’t make this’.”
Debuting on August 8, 2001, the first season averaged 1.51 million viewers.
“The ratings were stunning — it was just the biggest exhale in my life,” Graeme-Evans says of the series, which went on to become an hit in Australia and overseas.
A huge part of McLeod’s international appeal was it’s rural setting, north of Gawler.
“It was so incredible how it sold to over 220 territories — it was a massive international show for Australia and put us on the map overseas in a lot of ways,” notes Michala Banas, who played Kate Manfredi.
“The whole outback and farming life is a huge drawcard internationally because that’s what Australia is in their eyes, but also we shot McLeod’s Daughters on film and it looked so beautiful ... the imagery was so remarkable.”
Graeme-Evans says distributors had told her McLeod’s had a global audience in the billions during its heyday. And the series, which ran for 224 episodes before ending in early 2009, still has a loyal following thanks to re-runs and DVDs.
“People said ‘No-one’s going to watch it but women’, but in fact a lot of men watch it too — it holds you in a warm embrace, it’s a hopeful series ... it’s life-affirming, not life-denying,” she says.
“The world is a pretty dark place these days and something like McLeod’s Daughters is a show the whole family can watch together.”
Actresses Simmone Jade Mackinnon, who played viewer favourite Stevie Hall, agrees.
“I loved the fact that all generations could sit and watch it together ... there’s not a lot of shows out there where you can do that,” she says.
It was also a standout because it had strong female characters, she adds.
“There’s not many shows out there that women of all ages hold the limelight and that show did it for everyone ... all the girls — it was a good powerful show.”
McLeod’s has a special kind of girl power, Banas says.
“There’s something to be said about shows about women ... people love them and they want to watch them,” she says.
“We had wonderful male actors and strong male characters on the show, but it was predominantly about women and I think people just ate that up, they loved it. A bunch of amazing women on horseback on the land — what’s not to love.”
Graeme-Evans also notes that in an industry where women are often portrayed as cliches, the series was also devoid of tokenism.
“(The female characters) were physical ... they drive trucks, fenced, milked cows and rounded up cows ... they just did it,” she says. “It wasn’t ‘Look at these women doing something different’, it was just part of their lives.”
Asked if she would ever consider a “Return to Drovers Run” McLeod’s reunion special, Graeme-Evans says it’s a frequently asked question, to which there can only be one answer.
“I think you should leave something at its peak ... I am not convinced that rebooting things works and I would have to be convinced that it would and I am just not convinced at the moment,” she says.
For now, fans will have to be content with getting out their DVDs to relive the McLeod’s nights of the noughties, which Graeme-Evans is always happy to hear them reminisce about.
“I wish I had $5 for everybody who told me they did that,” she says.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW
1 BRIDIE CARTER
The Melbourne-born NIDA graduate played Tess Silverman McLeod in the first six seasons and received Silver and Gold Logie nominations for the role. Appearing in television, film and stage productions since McLeod’s the 45-year-old is now starring in Seven series 800 Words.
2 LISA CHAPPELL
After her character Claire McLeod was killed off when her ute went over a cliff in the 2003 season, the actor and singer (who released an album When Then Is Now in 2006) appeared in TV shows including Rescue: Special Ops and Cops LAC and SA-made thriller Coffin Rock. The 47-year-old, who won the Logie for Most Popular New Female Talent in 2002 and for Most Popular Actress in 2004, played an alcoholic in Sydney’s Darlinghurst Theatre Company production of Detroit last year and has since been treading the boards in her native New Zealand.
3 RACHAEL CARPANI
School pals with singer Delta Goodrem, the Sydney-born actor who played Jodi Fountain forged a career in the US with roles in TV series Cane, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Glades and Against the Wall and telemovies If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday. The former girlfriend of Chad Cornes was in a long-term relationship with Matt passmore, with whom she starred in Mcleod’s and The Glades, but the couple split in 2011.
4 JESSICA NAPIER
Since playing station hand Becky Howard, the New Zealand-born actor went on to star in the 2005 telemovie The Alice and later appeared in The Underbelly Files: Infiltration and ABC drama series Janet King. The 37-year-old is married with two children.
5 SIMMONE JADE MACKINNON
The 43-year-old who played Stevie Hall is now a single mum to six-year-old son Madigan and blogger going by the name of The Wandering Ozzie who travels around Australia with her family which includes two dogs. While her most recent acting role was on Neighbours, she enjoys taking part in meet and greets with McLeod’s Daughters fans at Kingsford Homestead in Gawler, aka Drover’s Run.
6 BRETT TUCKER
Since playing vet Dave Brewer, the Melbourne-born actor has appeared in TV series here and overseas including Neighbours and Castle. The 44-year-old has also had big screen roles in Aussie rom com I Love You Too and Thor: The Dark World. Now based in the US he is currently starring mystery soapie Mistresses.
7 SONIA TODD
The Adelaide-born actor who played Meg Fountain, has rarely left our TV screens since her character departed Drover’s Run after 106 episodes to later return for the final episode. Best known for playing Gina on Home and Away sinceMcLeod’s, the NIDA graduate also went on to have roles in All Saints, Rake and Janet King.
8 AARON JEFFERY
Born in New Zealand, the actor who played Alex Ryan until 2008, went on to have roles in television series including Underbelly: Badness, Neighbours and Wentworth. His film credits following McLeod’s include Beautiful, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Turbo Kid.
Jeffery’s partner is his McLeod’s co-star Zoe Naylor, who played Regan McLeod, and with whom he has two children. The 46-year-old, who has a daughter from a previous relationship, has also taken part in fan events at Kingsford Homestead.
9 MYLES POLLARD
The 43-year-old Western Australian has had two stints on Home and Away since starring in McLeod’s as Nick Ryan. the married father of one has also appeared in movies such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Drift and has a role in the upcoming film Jasper Jones.
10 MICHALA BANAS
The actor who played Kate Manfredi, who hails from New Zealand, has been in demand since leaving McLeod’s appearing in television series including Neighbours, Winners & Losers and Upper Middle Bogan to name a few. The 27-year-old, who also appeared in the Beaconsfield miniseries, is about to start rehearsals for the Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of The Odd Couple starring alongside University of Adelaide graduates Sean Micallef and Francis Greenslade.
THE LOCATION
Filming of the locally produced McLeod’s Daughters took place at Kingsford Homestead, a heritage-listed property dating back to 1856 on the outskirts of Gawler, with town scenes shot at nearby Freeling.
Kingsford Homestead — aka the fictional Drovers Run — was bought from Channel 9 by Stefan and Leanne Ahrens in 2009. The couple renovated it and opened it in 2012 as a five-star luxury boutique property with seven appointed accommodation suites.
Fans of McLeod’s Daughters have attended reunions at Kingsford Homestead, with four more planned at the end of this month, three of which have already sold out.
The actress who played Stevie Hall, Mt Isa-born Simmone Jade Mackinnon, who will attend with former co-star Aaron Jeffery (aka Alex Ryan), says fans from far north Queensland, the US and Germany have attended previous events.
“It’s a testament to how the show affected people and how they hold it so dearly in their hearts,” she says.
For details of the August 28 meet and greet phone 0412 216 628.