All Saints (TV series)

All Saints is an Australian medical drama television series that first screened on the Seven Network on 24 February 1998. Set in the fictional All Saints Western General Hospital, it focused on the staff of Ward 17 until the ward's closure in 2004, which is when the focus changed and began following the staff of the emergency department. The show was produced by John Holmes, alongside Jo Porter, MaryAnne Carroll, and Di Drew. The final episode aired on 27 October 2009, completing its record-breaking 12-year run.

Plot

All Saints follows the lives of the staff at All Saints Western General Hospital. Until the ward's closure in 2004 (season seven), the show primarily focused on the staff in Ward 17. Known as the "garbage ward", as it took all the overflow from the other wards, Ward 17 was run by compassionate nun, Sister Terri Sullivan (Georgie Parker). Her staff included her nurses Connor Costello (Jeremy Cumpston), Von Ryan (Judith McGrath), Bronwyn Craig (Libby Tanner), Jared Levine (Ben Tari), and Stephanie Markham (Kirrily White) and her ward clerk Jaz Hillerman (Sam Healy). Luke Forlano (Martin Lynes) and Peter Morrison (Andrew McKaige) were doctors who frequently worked with Terri and her staff. Ben Markham (Brian Vriends) was an ambulance officer who worked closely with Luke, despite their rivalry. Bronwyn left Ward 17 and became an ambulance officer at the end of 1998, but returned to the ward full-time at the end of season three.

Peter and Jaz were written out early on in the second season, which introduced Doctor Mitch Stevens (Erik Thomson, an old boyfriend of Terri's with whom she had unfinished business. More of the original cast left: Stephanie was killed in a car accident in season three and Connor left in season four. The beginning of the fourth season gave Ben a new ambulance partner, Scott Zinenko (Conrad Coleby), and the concluding episodes introduced two new nurses, Paula Morgan (Jenni Baird) and Nelson Curtis (Paul Tassone). Long-serving doctor Charlotte Beaumont (Tammy Macintosh) made her debut in the fifth season.

Cast

Main cast

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center; width:99%; font-size:90%"

! rowspan="2" style="width:14%;" scope="col"| Actor

! rowspan="2" style="width:14%;" scope="col"| Character

! colspan="12" | Season

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 1

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 2

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 3

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 4

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 5

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 6

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 7

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 8

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 9

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 10

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 11

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 12

| Georgie Parker

| Terri Sullivan

| colspan="8"

| colspan="4"

| Jeremy Cumpston

| Connor Costello

| colspan="4"

| colspan="8"

| Sam Healy

| Jaz Hillerman

| colspan="2"

| colspan="10"

| Martin Lynes

| Luke Forlano

| colspan="7"

| colspan="5"

| Judith McGrath

| Von Ryan

| colspan="12"

| Andrew McKaige

| Peter Morrison

| colspan="2"

| colspan="10"

| Libby Tanner

| Bronwyn Craig

| colspan="6"

| Ben Tari

| Jared Levine

| colspan="6"

| colspan="4"

| Kirrily White

| Stephanie Markham

| colspan="3"

| colspan="8"

| Brian Vriends

| Ben Markham

| colspan="2"

| colspan="4"

| colspan="6"

| Erik Thomson

| Mitch Stevens

| colspan="5"

| colspan="6"

| Conrad Coleby

| Scott Zinenko

| colspan="3"

| colspan="4"

| colspan="5"

| Jenni Baird

| Paula Morgan

| colspan="3"

| colspan="2"

| colspan="5"

| Paul Tassone

| Nelson Curtis

| colspan="3"

| colspan="4"

| colspan="3"

| Tammy Macintosh

| Charlotte Beaumont

| colspan="4"

| colspan="7"

| Christopher Gabardi

| Vincent Hughes

| colspan="5"

| colspan="2"

| John Howard

| Frank Campion

| colspan="6"

| Wil Traval

| Jack Quade

| colspan="6"

| colspan="5"

| Natalie Saleeba

| Jessica Singelton

| colspan="6"

| colspan="3"

| Alexandra Davies

| Cate McMasters

| colspan="6"

| colspan="4"

| Mark Priestley

| Dan Goldman

| colspan="6"

| colspan="5"

| Chris Vance

| Sean Everleigh

| colspan="7"

| colspan="2"

| Andrew Supanz

| Bartholomew West

| colspan="8"

| colspan="4"

| Jolene Anderson

| Erica Templeton

| colspan="8"

| colspan="3"

| John Waters

| Mike Vlasek

| colspan="8"

| colspan="3"

| Virginia Gay

| Gabrielle Jaegar

| colspan="8"

| colspan="3"

| Allison Cratchley

| Zoe Gallagher

| colspan="8"

| colspan="3"

| Jack Campbell

| Steve Taylor

| colspan="9"

| colspan="3"

| Kip Gamblin

| Adam Rossi

| colspan="10"

| colspan="2"

| Ella Scott Lynch

| Claire Anderson

| colspan="10"

| colspan="2"

| Alix Bidstrup

| Amy Fielding

| colspan="10"

| colspan="2"

| Mirrah Foulkes

| Jo Mathieson

| colspan="11"

Recurring cast

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center; width:99%; font-size:90%"

! rowspan="2" style="width:14%;" scope="col"| Actor

! rowspan="2" style="width:14%;" scope="col"| Character

! colspan="12" | Season

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 1

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 2

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 3

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 4

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 5

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 6

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 7

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 8

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 9

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 10

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 11

! scope="col" style="width:6%;" | 12

| Elizabeth Maywald

| Sophie Williams

| colspan="10"

| Kim Hillas

| Joan Marden

| colspan="2"

| colspan="4"

| Michael Angus

| John Ahearn

| colspan="2"

| colspan="9"

| John Noble

| John Madsen

| colspan="3"

| colspan="2"

| colspan="5"

| Justine Clarke

| Samantha O'Hara

| colspan="2"

| colspan="10"

| Damon Herriman

| Danny Bucknell

| colspan="10"

| Rod Mullinar

| rowspan="2"| Prof. Richard Craig

| colspan="11"

| Robert Coleby

| colspan="3"

| colspan="4"

| colspan="5"

| Jake Blundell

| Tony Hurst

| colspan="2"

| colspan="8"

| Celia Ireland

| Regina Butcher

| colspan="2"

| colspan="3"

| colspan="4"

| Joy Smithers

| Rose Carlton Stevens

| colspan="4"

| colspan="6"

| Ling-Hsueh Tang

| Kylie Preece

| colspan="4"

| colspan="7"

| Kim De Lury

| Mick Todd

| colspan="2"

| colspan="8"

| Sarah Vassallo

| A&E Nurse Stella

| colspan="2"

| colspan="8"

| Pia Miranda

| Brittany Finlay

| colspan="2"

| colspan="9"

| Belinda Emmett

| Jodi Horner

| colspan="2"

| colspan="8"

| Emma Jane Fowler

| Vicky Dernakov

| colspan="3"

| colspan="2"

| colspan="7"

| Natasha Beaumont

| Rebecca Green

| colspan="3"

| colspan="6"

| Josh Quong Tart

| Matt Horner

| colspan="3"

| colspan="5"

| Rochelle Whyte

| Cara Windom

| colspan="3"

| colspan="6"

| Chris Haywood

| Peter Buchanan

| colspan="4"

| colspan="7"

| Rebecca Massey

| Various

| colspan="4"

| colspan="2"

| colspan="3"

| Troy Planet

| Dennis Poole

| colspan="5"

| colspan="4"

| Alan Flower

| Morris the Florist

| colspan="5"

| colspan="6"

| Rachel McNamara

| Frances Regan

| colspan="5"

| colspan="6"

| Fletcher Humphrys

| Alex Kearns

| colspan="5"

| colspan="2"

| colspan="5"

| Henry Nixon

| Sterling McCormack

| colspan="5"

| colspan="2"

| colspan="5"

| Liz Alexander

| Alison Newell

| colspan="5"

| colspan="4"

| Anne Looby

| Julia Archer

| colspan="5"

| colspan="2"

| colspan="5"

| Grant Bowler

| Nigel "Mac" MacPherson

| colspan="6"

| colspan="2"

| colspan="4"

| Jaime Mears

| Kerry Lytton

| colspan="6"

| colspan="2"

| colspan="3"

| Peter Phelps

| Doug Spencer

| colspan="7"

| colspan="2"

| Sibylla Budd

| Deanna Richardson

| colspan="7"

| colspan="2"

| colspan="3"

| Nicole da Silva

| Sasha Fernandez

| colspan="7"

| colspan="4"

| Panda Likoudis

| Bryce the Ambo

| colspan="7"

| colspan ="3"

| Guy Edmonds

| Stuart Mapleston

| colspan="7"

| colspan="4"

| Wendy Strehlow

| Lorraine Tanner

| colspan="7"

| colspan="4"

| Douglas Hansell

| Aaron Roth

| colspan="7"

| colspan="4"

| Celeste Barber

| Bree Matthews

| colspan="7"

| colspan="5"

| Alexandra Fowler

| Eve Ballantyne

| colspan="7"

| colspan="2"

| Jacinta Stapleton

| Jo Henderson

| colspan="8"

| colspan="3"

| Yael Stone

| Ann-Maree Preston

| colspan="9"

| colspan="2"

| Mike Smith

| Heath Velaga

| colspan="9"

| colspan="2"

| Renee Lim

| Suzi Lau

| colspan="10"

| Petra Yared

| Rhiannon Wilson

| colspan="10"

| Donald Sword

| Crewman Paul

| colspan="11"

| Ben Wood

| Troy Sanders

| colspan="11"

| Jonathan Wood

| Elliott Parker

| colspan="11"

Production

After the death of Dr. Mitch Stevens (Erik Thomson) and the departure of Bron Craig (Libby Tanner) in 2003, the producers decided to do something in response to considerable drop in ratings and to prolong the life of the series.

As a result of the shift, several cast members decided to leave the show. Paula Morgan (Jenni Baird), Luke Forlano (Martin Lynes), Alex Kearns (Fletcher Humphrys), and Sterling McCormack (Henry Nixon) were all written out of the show. Former Always Greener star John Howard signed a three-year deal and was added to the cast as the cranky head of emergency, Dr. Frank Campion. Other new faces included Wil Traval as Dr. Jack Quade, Mark Priestley and Natalie Saleeba as nurses Dan Goldman and Jessica Singleton, respectively, and Alexandra Davies as ambulance officer Cate McMasters.

Season eight had one of the biggest changes yet, as Terri Sullivan (Georgie Parker), who until then had been the main character, was written out halfway through the year, leaving Von Ryan (Judith McGrath) as the last remaining original character, and resulting in John Howard being moved into top billing. The last two episodes of the season introduced Chris Vance as Doctor Sean Everleigh.

The ninth season had another large cast turnover. Nelson and Jessica both left, while arriving were Allison Cratchley as Doctor Zoe Gallagher, Andrew Supanz as intern Bartholomew West, Virginia Gay as new nurse unit manager Gabrielle Jaeger, and Jolene Anderson as nurse Erica Templeton. John Waters appeared for a run of episodes as surgeon Mike Vlasek before returning full-time the following season. Season 10 had Vincent and Cate written out, while Sean was killed off. His replacement was Steve Taylor (Jack Campbell), an old boyfriend of Gabrielle's.

The 11th season had more comings and goings as Zoe departed midseason. The latter part of the year saw Erica murdered off-screen, while the death of actor Mark Priestley resulted in Dan Goldman making his last appearance in the season's penultimate episode, in which Jack Quade also departed. As a result, the final run of episodes introduced Kip Gamblin as Doctor Adam Rossi and Ella Scott Lynch as nurse Claire Anderson. Alix Bidstrup, who had appeared for a run of episodes earlier in the year as Amy Fielding, Frank's niece and a newly qualified nurse, returned as a regular.

In 2009, in another attempt to stem the softening ratings and add a bit of excitement to the series, Seven Network executives decided to rejuvenate again, introducing a medical response unit to deal with tricky rescues, which involved a helicopter going to remote locations to rescue patients who needed assistance. They would then bring those patients back to the department and the staff there would assist in their treatments. Along with the addition of the new "department", the show was also renamed to All Saints: Medical Response Unit (MRU); the introduction of Mirrah Foulkes and the new MRU proved to lift the ratings substantially, but then levelled out at where they were prior to the revamp.

In June 2009, after months of rumours that the cancellation of All Saints was imminent, a spokeswoman from the Seven Network informed The Daily Telegraph that the episode order had been trimmed. Season 12 of All Saints would screen 24 episodes instead of the usual 40 episodes, then production would cease in August instead of November.

In July 2009, a month later after the first announcement, Tim Worner, Seven's director of programming at the time, announced that All Saints had been cancelled. He told Michael Idato of the Sydney Morning Herald, "All Saints is a show which Seven and viewers have loved. However, an audience shift and increased production costs are behind this tough decision." He also informed Idato that the episode order trim had been reverted and the season would complete a 37-episode order, finishing on episode 493. After the announcement, the introduction of the MRU in 2009 was reported to have inflated the cost of each episode to $500,000. Many people still argue as to why the MRU was introduced in the first place or should have been removed instead of axing the show if the network were wanting to cut costs.

In the Feb/Mar 2010 GQ magazine, Tim Worner said his one regret was "Axing All Saints, but it was the right call at the time, and we have two new drama projects in development."

Controversy

Episode 265

On 20 April 2004, episode 265, "Brave New World" aired, which saw the introduction of John Howard's character, Frank Campion. It was also the first episode to be set in the emergency department. This episode attracted significant controversy.

One patient came into the triage and tried to get help, but he was told to wait. Later on, Nelson heard a phone ring coming from the patient and asked him to turn off the phone. It was later hinted that he had been using the phone to masturbate and it had gotten stuck in his rectum.

The end of the episode had Frank go introduce himself to Terri (Georgie Parker), who was recovering from heart surgery. During a heated argument about staff members, Frank blatantly said to Terri, "If you ever use your influence with your previous employees to white-ant me again, you will never work in Emergency." Before Terri could get a word in, Frank added, "Can I make it any fucking clearer?"

The next day, Channel Seven announced that they had received more than 100 phone calls in Melbourne alone. Parker told the media, "It's a good response because it's not about the shock words—we've sworn on the show before—but because people clearly feel really protective about Terri. It's like they really feel for her as a character and don't like her being under attack by a very confronting man. It's great to know they care for her so much."

Down Syndrome Australia considered legal action, complained to the media regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, and called for a boycott by the show's advertisers if an apology and correction were not aired on All Saints the following week.

| 4th

|EMI

| style="height:20px; background:#009899; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | The Complete Second Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 43

| style="text-align:center" | 11

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|EMI

| style="height:20px; background:#ff6f79; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | The Complete Third Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 41

| style="text-align:center" | 10

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|EMI

| style="height:20px; background:#6532A9; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | The Complete Fourth Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 43

| style="text-align:center" | 10

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|EMI

| style="height:20px; background:#89AB04; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | The Complete Fifth Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 43

| style="text-align:center" | 10

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|EMI

| style="height:20px; background:#2f3277; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | 2003 Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 43

| style="text-align:center" | 11

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia

| style="height:20px; background:#591b04; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | 2004 Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 40

| style="text-align:center" | 10

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia

| style="height:20px; background:#69665f; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | 2005 Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 41

| style="text-align:center" | 11

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia

| style="height:20px; background:#2397c6; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | 2006 Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 40

| style="text-align:center" | 10

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia

| style="height:20px; background:#3b386d; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | 2007 Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 41

| style="text-align:center" | 10

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia

| style="height:20px; background:#ad4528; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | 2008 Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 40

| style="text-align:center" | 10

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia

| style="height:20px; background:#4d7c6c; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | 2009 Season

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 37

| style="text-align:center" | 9

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia

| style="height:20px; background:#4d7c6c; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | All Saints Collection One (seasons 1–3)

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 125

| style="text-align:center" | 31

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Via Vision Entertainment

| style="height:20px; background:#4d7c6c; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | All Saints Collection Two (seasons 4–6)

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 128

| style="text-align:center" | 31

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Via Vision Entertainment

| style="height:20px; background:#4d7c6c; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | All Saints Collection Three (seasons 7–9)

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 121

| style="text-align:center" | 31

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Via Vision Entertainment

| style="height:20px; background:#4d7c6c; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | All Saints Collection Four (seasons 10–12)

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 118

| style="text-align:center" | 29

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Via Vision Entertainment

| style="height:20px; background:#4d7c6c; width:30px;"|

| style="text-align:center" | All Saints Complete Collection (seasons 1–12)

| style="text-align:center" | DVD

| style="text-align:center" | 493

| style="text-align:center" | 122

| style="padding: 0px 8px"|

|Via Vision Entertainment

References

External links

All Saints at the National Film and Sound Archive
All Saints at the Australian Television Information Archive
Official Channel 7 site

Plot

Cast

Main cast

Recurring cast

Production

Controversy

Episode 265

See also

References

External links