Although many talented comedy actors were on board (mainly from the cast of Fast Forward), this pale imitation of Black Adder from Australia’s Channel Seven – written by Andrew Knight and Doug MacLeod – was an unmitigated disaster.
Following the mutiny of his ship, the Bounty, the cantankerous and dishevelled Captain William Bligh (Michael Veitch) arrived in the early colonial settlement of New South Wales, Australia, in 1807, where he became the new Governor. Magda Szubanski repeated her lusty, tipsy Mary McGregor character as Bligh’s (fictional) wife, Betsy.
William McInnes played their pastoralist neighbour and rival, John Macarthur, after the fashion of a 1980s entrepreneur – if you can’t shear it or shoot it, then clear it and mine it.
Also in the regular lineup were Gina Riley (cast below her talents as the hearty, horsey Mrs Macarthur), Peter Moon as the slobbering, lecherous Reverend Marsden, and Irish comedian Jimeoin, whose convict manservant was clearly modelled on Tony Robinson’s Baldrick, right down to the fish-mouthed delivery and the love affair with root vegetables.
Steve Blackburn and Geoff Brooks (better known as the Dodgy Brothers) played the perenially lost explorers Blaxland and Wentworth.
It may qualify as the worst Australian sitcom ever – which is quite a feat.
Governor William Bligh
Michael Veitch Betsy Bligh
Magda Szubanski John Macarthur
William McInnes Elizabeth Macarthur
Gina Riley Reverend Marsden
Peter Moon Convict Griffin
Jimeoin Dr McBryde
Max Phipps Frances Rosebud
Marg Downey The Prince
Kim Gyngell Father O’Brien
Gerard Kennedy Sir Joseph Banks
David Downer Mad Lottie
Jane Turner Wentworth
Steve Blackburn Blaxland
Geoff Brooks Casanova
Peter Cousens
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