Learned Friends

1 9 8 3 (Australia)
10 x 50 minute episodes

This legal drama from Australia’s ABC starred Vic Hawkins as Tony Breen, a leading industrial barrister, a committed Socialist, and an aspirant to a Labor seat in Canberra, and Penny Downie as Jane Fitzwilliam, a newly admitted and ambitious young criminal lawyer and member of the wealthy Liberal establishment.

Within minutes of Jane’s admission to Breen’s chambers, the two were on a collision course – literally.

Whisky-swigging, chain-smoking Tony Breen revelled in being a cheerful, hard-working larrikin, while Jane – cool, poised and self-assured – was as much fun as lemon juice.

Milling around on the fringes, trying to attract his attention, were Breen’s estranged wife, Barbara, and their two patiently forbearing daughters, Emily and Nikki, and his desperately insecure actress girlfriend, Suzy, whose career was becoming as wrinkle-prone as her face.

Each self-contained episode dealt with a court case – and with the relationship between these two stubborn, fiery Sydney barristers.

Tony Breen
Vic Hawkins
Jane Fitzwilliam
Penny Downie

Episodes

Come Out Fighting | Considerations of Gender | A Private Affair | The Dirty Tricks Department | A Big Deal | A Surfeit of Women | Star Cross’d Loving | Breeding | The Deciding Factor | The Aid of the Party