Orange Roughies | |
---|---|
Genre | Action Crime Thriller |
Created by | Rod Johns & Scott McJorrow |
Starring | Nicholas Coghlan Zoe Naylor Mark Ruka Caroline Craig Stephen Hall Nick Kemplen |
Country of origin | New Zealand |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 19 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Production location | Auckland, New Zealand |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production company | Screenworks |
Original release | |
Network | TV One |
Release | May 25, 2006 – February 11, 2008 |
Orange Roughies is a New Zealand television drama created by Auckland-based film company Screenworks, the first season of which was screened on TV ONE from May to July 2006. The second season was due to be shown some time between October 2006 and January 2007, but due to poor ratings the programme was taken off the air.
An orange roughy, Hoplostethus atlanticus. is a type of fish.
The show centres around four main characters who are members of an elite taskforce in Auckland combining police and customs officers. Despite being an elite force, they are, as their commander Ron Maddock (Stephen Hall) remind them, underfunded, under-resourced and under the hammer. Because of this the Roughies (as they are called) have to make sure that they perform exceptionally well to avoid being canned, as they are, after all, an experiment. The Roughies are Detective Sergeant Danny Wilder (Nicholas Coghlan), Senior Customs Officer Jane Durant (Zoe Naylor), Detective Constable Zach Wiki (Mark Ruka) and Noel Bullerton (Nick Kemplen).
Each episode concerns a police or customs enquiry carried out by the taskforce, often of a high-risk nature.
The first episode deals with child trafficking from China. Jane decides to adopt one of the trafficked children, Tao Li, but several episodes later Tao is taken back to China, leaving Jane once again childless. There is also a romance that gradually develops between Danny and Jane, culminating in a kiss discovered by Maddock.
The first season ends with Jane being taken hostage by a homosexual Greek criminal and being shot in the stomach. It is uncertain whether she survives. Danny manages to track down the shooter in Melbourne and kills him.
The soundtrack for Orange Roughies was composed mostly by Don McGlashan, who also wrote the music for Screenworks' other major television series, Street Legal. However, the opening credits are accompanied by the song Long White Cross performed by an Auckland band, Pluto.
Orange Roughies was shot in the central business district of Auckland CBD. Locations included:
Prime Suspect is a British police procedural television series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who rises to the rank of Detective Superintendent while confronting institutionalised sexism within the police force.
Da Vinci's Inquest is a Canadian dramatic television series which originally aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2005. While never a ratings blockbuster, the critically acclaimed show did attract a loyal following, and ultimately seven seasons of thirteen episodes each were filmed for a total of ninety-one episodes.
John Arthur Doucette was an American character actor who performed in more than 280 film and television productions between 1941 and 1987. A man of stocky build who possessed a deep, rich voice, he proved equally adept at portraying characters in Shakespearean plays, Westerns, and modern crime dramas. He is perhaps best remembered, however, for his villainous roles as a movie and television "tough guy".
The Feds is a series of Australian television films starring Robert Taylor, which were first broadcast on the Nine Network 1993–1996.
George Murdock was an American character actor, especially prolific on television.
Anthony Pitts is an English actor, most notable for playing Archie Brooks in the long-running British soap Emmerdale Farm between 1983 and 1993.
Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, the second series of the Nine Network crime drama series Underbelly, originally aired from 9 February 2009 to 4 May 2009. It is a thirteen-part series loosely based on real events that stemmed from the marijuana trade centred on the New South Wales town of Griffith. The timeline of the series is the years between 1976 and 1987. Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities primarily depicts the Mr. Asia drug syndicate and its influence on crime in Australia. Among the characters presented are real-life criminals Robert Trimbole, Terry Clark, George Freeman, Christopher Dale Flannery, Alphonse Gangitano and the Kane Brothers. The mini-series is a prequel to the 2008 production Underbelly, which was about the Melbourne gangland killings and forms part of the Underbelly series.
The 2009 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders, and to celebrate the passing of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. They were announced on 31 December 2008.
The 2010 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders, and to celebrate the passing of 2009 and the beginning of 2010. They were announced on 31 December 2009.
The 2011 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders, and to celebrate the passing of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. They were announced on 31 December 2010.
The 2014 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders, and to celebrate the passing of 2013 and the beginning of 2014. They were announced on 31 December 2013. In March 2023, the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Roy as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, not previously made public for security reasons, was published.
The 1999 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders, and to celebrate the passing of 1998 and the beginning of 1999. They were announced on 31 December 1998.
The 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours in New Zealand, celebrating the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, were appointments made by the Queen in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. They were announced on 4 June 2007.
The 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours in New Zealand, celebrating the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, were appointments made by the Queen in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. They were announced on 5 June 2006.
The 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours in New Zealand, celebrating the official birthday of Elizabeth II, were appointments made by the Queen in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. They were announced on 12 June 1982.
The 1991 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II on the advice of the New Zealand government to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. The awards celebrated the passing of 1990 and the beginning of 1991, and were announced on 31 December 1990.
The 1993 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II on the advice of the New Zealand government to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. The awards celebrated the passing of 1992 and the beginning of 1993, and were announced on 31 December 1992.
The 1989 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II on the advice of the New Zealand government to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. The awards celebrated the passing of 1988 and the beginning of 1989, and were announced on 31 December 1988.