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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Drama
    Drama TV Shows - 1980s 4 Mins Read

    1915

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    1 9 8 2 (Australia)
    7 x 50 minute episodes

    On the eve of World War I in the small country town of Bindogundra (in the wheat belt of New South Wales), childhood friends Walter Gilchrist (Scott McGregor) – the quiet, intense, educated son of a successful grazier – and Billy Mackenzie (Scott Burgess) – the roguish but charming son of an alcoholic father and a cancer-stricken mother – have little idea of the impact that the world’s events will soon have upon their lives.

    Billy, cocky and knowing, is “doing alright” with the attractive widow Mrs Scott (Arna-Maria Winchester).

    Walter, more sensitive and less sure of himself, has returned home from university to learn that his father can no longer afford to keep him there studying geology and he must come home and work on the land.

    Billy’s convenient arrangement with Mrs Scott comes to an end when she agrees to marry her brother-in-law, while Walter makes hesitating progress with Ethel (Puberty Blues star Nell Schofield), despite confident assurances from Billy – whose attitude towards women, to be kind, needs improvement – that she would “go at a tree if it was wearing pants”.

    Around these two lads, a picture of Australian country life features race meetings, the pub, school children saluting the Union Jack, and the closeness of an isolated community.

    The two meet Frances Reilly (Sigrid Thornton), whose father runs a hotel while her mother teaches music in Sydney, and both of them fall for her. But when war breaks out, the lads enthusiastically answer Britain’s call for help and enlist with the elite Light Horse regiment, full of patriotic fervour and eager for adventure and a ticket out of Bindogundra – which is a prison for Walter and a dead-end for Billy.

    While on leave in Sydney, Billy meets Frances’s less sophisticated (and more sexually active) best friend Diana Bendetto (Jackie Woodburne). Not unexpectedly, she becomes pregnant to him.

    After a spell in Egypt, the lads are sent to Gallipoli as the war with the Turks escalates while, back home, Frances and a pregnant Diana flee to the elegant estate of Robert Gillen (Andrew McFarlane).

    Combat’s grim realities soon burst their patriotic bubble as the two mates endure the onslaught of enemy gunfire, endless bloodshed and the horrors of trench warfare. As Billy dreams of his impending fatherhood and establishes his reputation as an expert sniper, Walter broods over Frances’s defection and muses about the war as he and his comrades experience a growing sense of futility and betrayal.

    As the battle of Gallipoli ends, Walter is sent on a dangerous mission and is captured by the Turkish army.

    Meanwhile, back home, dramatic developments continue for Frances and Diana, including dirty-old-man lechery and a death by drowning. Ultimately, some form of tragedy befalls all the main characters

    Based on a book by Roger McDonald, this seven-part drama series from the ABC was undoubtedly one of the finest Australia has produced. Unlike Peter Weir’s award-winning film Gallipoli (1981), this series shares the focus between the two lads and the sweethearts they leave behind in Australia, Frances and Diana.

    Scott Burgess is most convincing as the rough but likeable Billy, though Scott McGregor was less impressive as Walter. Supporting roles from Aussie television royalty such as Lorraine Bayly, Gerard Kennedy and Bill Hunter lifted the calibre of the production enormously and no doubt boosted the audience.

    The entire series, including the Gallipoli battle scenes, was shot in Australia. With the cooperation of the people of West Wyalong, the face of the modern country town was lifted and transformed. A dirt road was built and an old steam train was brought back to life.

    The scenes of the war were filmed at a disused mine in Fifield (west of Parkes in New South Wales) while the streets of Cairo were constructed in the back lot of the Princess Forest studios.

    Walter Gilchrist
    Scott McGregor
    Billy Mackenzie
    Scott Burgess
    Frances Reilly
    Sigrid Thornton
    Diana Bendetto
    Jackie Woodburne
    Mrs Reilly
    Ilona Rodgers
    Rev. Fox
    Richard Moir
    Blacky Reid
    Serge Lazareff
    Harry Crowell
    Damon Sanders
    Robert Gillen
    Andrew McFarlane
    Alan Gilchrist
    Bill Hunter
    Helen Gilchrist
    Lorraine Bayly
    Oliver Melrose
    Adrian Wright
    Boof Lucas
    Mark Hembrow
    Hugh McKenzie
    Martin Vaughan
    Nugget Arthur
    Chris Lewis
    Ethel
    Nell Schofield
    Heinrich
    Hans Farkash
    Brigid Scott
    Arna-Maria Winchester
    Lieutenant Fagan
    Mervyn Drake
    Pig Nolan
    Ric Herbert
    Dave Scott
    Russell Newman
    Captain Barnes
    Noel Hodda
    Douggie Gilchrist
    Gary Holmes
    May Armitage
    Claire Crowther
    Ned Reid
    Tony Martin

    Episodes

    Best of Friends | The Girl on the Night Mail | The Day the Lights Went Out | Your Country Needs You | Soldiers of the King | Hands Across the Sea | The Last Day of the Year

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