Directed by Mario Andreacchio First episode date 1988 Written by Rob George | Budget $1.235 million Director Mario Andreacchio | |
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Awards International Emmy Award for Children & Young People Similar The Last Bastion, The Four Minute Mile, On the Beach, Sky Trackers, Spit MacPhee | ||
Touch the Sun was a television series commissioned by the Australian Children's Television Foundation in 1988 as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations. It may have been intended that seven feature-length episodes were produced, one for each State, plus the Northern Territory, but only six were completed. Executive producer was Patricia Edgar in association with the ABC and production company Revcom.
Contents
Scope
The six telemovies (each 95 minutes' duration) deal with issues important to children: adoption, multiculturalism, country life, fame, running away and deafness. They are set in a different States and depict children overcoming problems in different family and social situations.
Captain Johnno
(South Australia) A deaf boy makes friends with an Italian fisherman.
cast included Damien Walters, Joe Petruzzi, John Waters, Rebecca Sykes, Michele Fawdon, Elspeth Ballantyne, Vivienne Graves, Sam Sowton, Phoebe Salter, Peter Green, Henry Salter and Grant Piro.Devil's Hill
(Tasmania) City boy and country cousin get lost in the mountains
cast included Cameron Atkins, Peter Hehir, Mary Haire, John Flaus, Alexander 'Matthew' Jacobs, Emma Pugh and Jane McArthurThe Gift
(Victoria and Western Australia)
cast included Nicholas Hatjiandreau, Vicki Serbos, Alexis Anthopolous, Con Laras, Rena Frangioudakis, Peter Felmingham, Margaret Ford, Bill McClusky, Ken James and Susanne ChapmanPeter and Pompey
(Queensland) Three Queensland children find Latin inscriptions in a cave. This leads them to discover an authentic Roman boat.
It was shot on location in North Queensland.
Cast
Princess Kate
(New South Wales)
Plot
Kate, 14, the adopted daughter of wealthy couple searches for her birth mother.
Cast
Top Enders
(Northern Territory) Alice and her Aboriginal friend get lost while fleeing to Kakadu
Cast
Recognition
Captain Johnno won the International Emmy Award in 1988.
Publication
VHS copies were made available for general release and at least one, Captain Johnno appeared in a subtitled classroom edition.
Originally only one of the six movies, Princess Kate, was released on DVD in Australia.
Echo Bridge Entertainment once offered Devils Hill, Captain Johnno and The Journey on 1 disk, and The Gift, Top Enders and Peter and Pompey as part of a 2-disk compilation with Rabbit Proof Fence and Secret of the Andes. In 2014 this title was no longer in their catalogue.
Australian Children's Television Foundation subsequently released Touch the Sun - Top Enders and Peter & Pompey, and Touch the Sun - Devil's Hill and Captain Johnno as two separate DVDs.