1 9 7 3 (Australia)
10 x 30 minute episodes
Sydney, 1894. Captain Woolcot (former Homicide star Leonard Teale) – an Englishman in the New South Wales Regiment – is a widower with seven children: Meg (Barbara Llewellyn), Pip (Mark Clarke), Helen – who prefers to be called Judy (Jennifer Cluff), Nell (Anna Hruby), Bunty (Mark Shields-Brown), Baby (Tania Falla) and “The General” (Christian Robinson).
He marries again, and his new, much younger wife, Esther (Elizabeth Alexander), takes on the trials of bringing up seven spirited children at their large house on the Parramatta River in Sydney, called ‘Misrule’.
The Captain runs the family with military discipline, but his rules and regulations are no match for the fun-loving children, led by the redoubtable Judy.
The children are an endless source of frustration for their unyielding father, and as Judy seems to be the ringleader, she is the one he punishes most.
Based on the best-selling 1894 Australian novel of the same name by Ethel Turner and filmed in Sydney and on location near Bowral and Canberra, this series from Australia’s ABC-TV was co-produced by Ethel Turner’s son, Adrian Curlewis.
The series was broadcast on US television as Seven Little Wolcotts.
It won the Gold Logie in 1974 for Best New Drama also winning several Penguin Awards and AFI Awards.
Captain Woolcot
Leonard Teale
Meg Woolcot
Barbara Llewellyn
Pip Woolcot
Mark Clarke
Judy (Helen) Woolcot
Jennifer Cluff
Nell Woolcot
Anna Hruby
Bunty Woolcot
Mark Shields-Brown
Baby Woolcot
Tania Falla
The General
Christian Robinson
Esther Woolcot
Elizabeth Alexander
Martha
Ruth Cracknell
Episodes
Fowl for Dinner | What Are Fathers for Anyway? | Consequences | All for the Worst | Secrets | Tomorrow Do Thy Worst | Into the Sun | Yarrahappini | The Picnic | Going Home