The Sullivans is an Australian period drama television series which broadcast on the Nine Network from 15 November 1976 until 10 March 1983. and was produced by Crawford Productions

The series tells the story of a fictional average middle-class Melbourne family and the effect that the Second World War and the immediate post-war events had on their lives. It covers the period between 1 September 1939 to 22 August 1947. It was a consistent ratings success in Australia, and also became popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Greece, Malaysia and New Zealand.

Pre-production

The show was purchased by Channel Nine without a television pilot program being produced. They commissioned 34 hours with a view to extension. Fourteen writers were assigned to the thirteen plot lines which had been devised. Authentic 1930s furniture was located and used on sets, while kitchen pantries and the corner store were stocked with packaged goods of the era.

The set designer Nick Rossendale said it was a "fascinating job" to find these items. He went on to say that the big companies would say to him they didn't have anything for him but he persisted by asking if he could look through their warehouses. "When I got in, I usually found something", he said. "It's amazing what a bit of research and looking around will dig up. The forgotten stuff that was lying around was unbelievable. No one knew it was there."

The show's popularity waned somewhat after 1979 following the departure of Lorraine Bayly. When she asked to leave the series the show's producers instead offered her six months' leave. Her character Grace was sent to London to care for her injured son John, and a series of pre-taped segments were used in her absence to maintain her presence. The London scenes featured actors imported from New Zealand so Australian viewers would not recognise familiar actors. When Bayly refused to return after six months, she was written out of the series and Grace was killed by a V1 bomb during a London air raid.

Despite Bayly's departure ratings remained high enough for the series to remain in production. In 1981 the war ended in the storyline and there were plans for the series to continue with examinations of elements of post-war Australian history such as the Snowy River hydro-electric scheme. However, the decision of Paul Cronin to leave the series at this time prompted the show's cancellation before any of this could come to fruition. The final scenes were shot on 19 July 1982.

Logie Awards

In the first full year of production, The Sullivans won five Logies in 1978. Paul Cronin was Most Popular Australian Actor, Lorraine Bayly was Most Popular Australian Actress, Michael Caton won for Best Sustained Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Vivean Gray won for Best Sustained Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role and, finally, the show won Most Popular Australian Drama. It would win the latter award for the next two years running.

The John Sullivan Story

The John Sullivan Story is a 1979 telefilm spin off from the series. It was used to explain what happened to John Sullivan in the years in which he went missing on the show. It was first shown on GTV9 Melbourne and TCN9 Sydney on Sunday 5 August 1979.

It was to be the first of a series of films based on characters from the show though due to moderate ratings the idea was shelved making it the only official TV film spin-off from the series.

Premise

After his troopship is sunk in 1941, John Sullivan is saved by Yugoslav Chetniks, whose leader Marko forces John to travel with him up through Greek Macedonia to a village where he has to practice as a doctor. He saves the life of a Jewish girl, Nadia, with whom he falls in love.

John is then captured by the Gestapo but escapes. He meets British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents Major Barrington and Captain Meg Fulton. He goes to live with the Partisans. John leaves Yugoslavia.

Production

According to Alan Hardy, who was an executive at Crawfords at the time:

<blockquote>We developed the story in order to come up with a backstory which would justify Grace Sullivan leaving. Lorraine Bayley, who played Grace, wanted out. What if John Sullivan was alive… and screenwriter Brian Wright came up with the idea that John had been rescued from a shipwreck by the Partisans in Yugoslavia and had information but was injured and only his mother might be able to get him to remember. It was such a good story that we did it as a television movie shown on a Sunday night as the next ep in the series. David Stevens was to direct and one of his favourite ever actors was the dashing Ronald Lewis. He was cast on that basis but arrived, much to everyone’s shock and horror, a broken-down drunk with a drunk wife. No longer the handsome young Welshman. Somehow, he staggered unimpressively through it, went back to the UK and never worked again.</blockquote>

Reception

Vera Plevnik won the Logie for Best New Talent for her performance.

International success

The series enjoyed success outside Australia when it was broadcast by networks in the United Kingdom, Ireland and continental Europe, usually as a daytime filler. The series was sold to over 45 countries worldwide.

Actors

DVD releases

The first 26 episodes of the series were initially released on DVD in the Netherlands. The DVD audio is in English with removable Dutch subtitles. By October 2016 in Australia, all 1,114 episodes are available to purchase through Crawfords DVD (Region 0) over 23 volumes. A bonus DVD is also available with volume six of "The John Sullivan Story" which was a stand-alone TV film. In the UK (Region 2), Volume 1 (episodes 1–50) was released on 12 March 2012 followed by Volume 2 (episodes 51–100) on 30 July 2012. Volume 3 (episodes 101–150) and Volume 4 (episodes 151–200) were released on 27 May 2013 and then Volume 5 (episodes 201–250) and Volume 6 (episodes 251–300) on 28 April 2014. Volume 7 (episodes 301–350) and Volume 8 (episodes 351–400) were released on 26 May 2014. From November 2015 all volumes can be purchased in the UK through Crawford's distributor, Eaton Films Ltd.

See also

  • Irish Australians

References

  • Crawford Productions
  • Audio discussion on Whatever Happened to The Sullivans cast
  • A number of cast interviews
  • Classic Aussie Soaps:The Sullivans
  • The Sullivans at the National Film and Sound Archive
  • Kitty Sullivan: Susan Hannaford