1 9 8 5 (New Zealand/UK)
6 x 60 minute episodes
In 1881, Ceci (newcomer Valerie Gogan) leaves her home in England and emigrates to the untamed territory of New Zealand.
From the very first – and to the very end – Ceci is faced with experiences and difficult men that try her strength and courage repeatedly, forcing her to shed the innocence of her childhood to survive.
She is raped, and when the guilty man, Reg Bowen (Frank Whitten), runs off, leaving her pregnant, she marries his old father (Bill Johnson), who then accidentally shoots himself, bequeathing the farm to his young wife.
After her baby, Olwen, is born, she re-marries, this time to the cold and tyrannical wealthy landowner Calvin Laird (Kenneth Cranham). But Reg the rapist, eventually murders him, and she finds herself the mistress of Hexham, trying to run the vast and isolated sheep station single-handedly.
After losing everything she owns, she marries again – this time to Billy (Peter Bland), a poverty-stricken miner – and makes a new home in the poor coal mining town of Grevillton.
There – with the help of young William (Gordon Karpin) and a disreputable barmaid called Annie (Myra Dalziel) – she resurrects an old tavern.
Finally, when an underground explosion brings tragedy to Grevillton, Ceci returns with her daughter Olwen to the high country where she had lived 20 years earlier, seeking the happiness that still eluded her.
The ITV miniseries was co-produced by Central TV and TVNZ.
Calvin Laird
Kenneth Cranham
Ginger
John Howard
Ceci
Valerie Gogan
Reg Bowen
Frank Whitten
Jock Bowen
David Letch
Billy
Peter Bland
Olwen
Michele Amas
Rebekah Davies
William
Gordon Karpin
Miss Robertson
Elizabeth Hawthorne
Harry
Marshall Napier
Sam
Ross Duncan
Mrs Laird
Marijke Mann
Annie
Myra Dalziel
Old Bowen
Bill Johnson