4.8 /10 1 Votes
Original language(s) English First episode date 1960 Genre History | 4.7/10 TV No. of seasons 1 Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Similar Consider Your Verdict, Homicide, Division 4, E Street, Sons and Daughters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leatherface the stormy petrel promo
Stormy Petrel was an early attempt at Australian television drama. A mini-series/period drama, the 12-episode series told the story of William Bligh> and aired in 1960 on ABC.
Contents
It was based on a script by Rex Rienits adapted from his 1948 radio serial. The radio serial was rebroadcast in 1953.
Other period drama series produced by ABC in the early 1960s included The Outcasts (1961), The Patriots (1962), and The Hungry Ones (1963). Additionally, in 1964 the broadcaster aired The Purple Jacaranda, a mini-series/serial with a contemporary setting. Telerecordings (also known as Kinescope recordings) of the series are held by National Archives of Australia.
Cast
Production
The series was based on a radio play which Rex Rienits had written in 1948. Rienits said he believed Bligh "was a great man." The play was a great success when broadcast. Rienits sold it to the BBC and the ABC rebroadcast it in 1953.
Reception
Coming at a time when Australia produced few dramatic television series, The Age called it a "successful serial" and commented "These colorful - and factual - Australian series are a "must" for Australian television"
The Woman's Weekly called it "an outstanding production."
According to director Colin Dean "I got the results from Audience Research - the average audience for Stormy Petrel was the same as a years run in her Majesty's Theatre including matinees. I thought to myself - that is unbelievable. That is what we have been missing. We never had audiences like that before. What a great thing we done!"
It was repeated by the ABC in 1974.