Genre | drama serial |
---|---|
Running time | 15 mins (6:40 pm – 6:55 pm) |
Country of origin | Australia |
Language(s) | English |
Syndicates | ABC |
Written by | Rex Rienits |
Original release | December 1948 – 1949 |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 70 |
Stormy Petrel is a 1948 Australian radio serial about the career of William Bligh by Rex Rienits. It aired Mondays to Thursdays at 6.40pm on the ABC.
It was very popular and was produced again in 1953 [1] and 1959. [2] [3]
Rienits sold it to the BBC. [4]
It was adapted into a 1960 mini-series and a novel.
Rex Rienits was a writer who wrote a number of scripts set in Astralia's past. Rienits said he believed Bligh "was a great man." [5]
He later said that Bligh had "been grossly maligned" and "that Hollywood did a terrible thing in representing him, in the person of Mr. Laughton, as a cruel and brutal despot... However, Bligh undoubtedly had a quick and blustering temper, and it was this temper, rather than any deep-seated viciousness that got him into trouble,both on the 'Bounty' and as Governor of New South Wales'". [4]
The story of Bligh was told through the eyes of his wife Elizabeth, then John Hallet, then his daughter Mary. [3] It went for seventy episodes. [6]
Brian James was an Australian radio, stage, television and film actor.
Eureka Stockade is a 1949 British film of the story surrounding Irish-Australian rebel and politician Peter Lalor and the gold miners' rebellion of 1854 at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria, in the Australian Western genre.
Assassin for Hire is a 1951 British crime film directed by Michael McCarthy and starring Sydney Tafler, Ronald Howard and Katharine Blake. Its plot follows a contract killer who becomes stricken with remorse when he is led to believe he has murdered his brother.
Wide Boy is a 1952 British crime film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Susan Shaw, Sydney Tafler and Ronald Howard.
Muriel Myee Steinbeck was an Australian actress who worked extensively in radio, theatre, television and film. She is best known for her performance as the wife of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in Smithy (1946) and for playing the lead role in Autumn Affair (1958–59), Australia's first television serial.
Rex Rienits was an Australian writer of radio, films, plays and TV. He was a journalist before becoming one of the leading radio writers in Australia. He moved to England in 1949 and worked for a number of years there. He later returned to Australia and worked on early local TV drama.
Anthony Scott Veitch was an Australian writer of radio, films, novels and TV. He worked for a number of years in British film and TV. His feature credits include The Kangaroo Kid (1950) and Coast of Skeletons (1964). He wrote more than 100 novels, including westerns and historical fiction.
The Outcasts was a 1961 Australian television serial. A period drama, it was broadcast live, though with some film inserts. All 12 episodes of the serial survive as kinescope recordings. It was a sequel to Stormy Petrel.
Stormy Petrel is an early Australian television drama. A period drama, the 12-episode serial told the story of William Bligh and aired in 1960 on ABC. It was the first live TV serial from the ABC.
The Patriots was an Australian television drama mini-series. A period-drama, it aired for 10 episodes on ABC in 1962.
The Hungry Ones was an Australian television mini-series. It was a period drama about a pair of husband and wife convicts trying to go straight, consisting of 10 30-minute black-and-white episodes, which aired on ABC. Unlike previous serials it was videotaped rather than performed live to camera.
The Purple Jacaranda was an Australian television mini-series which aired on ABC in 1964 based on a novel by Nancy Graham. Cast included James Condon, Margo Lee, Ronald Morse, Diana Perryman, Walter Sullivan and John Unicomb.
Close to the Roof is a 1960 Australian live television play which aired on ABC. Broadcast 14 December 1960 in Sydney, it was kinescoped ("telerecorded") and shown in Melbourne on 25 January 1961. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.
The Sergeant from Burralee is an Australian television play written by Phillip Grenville Mann. The play was also broadcast by the BBC and screened for West German television.
Delia C. Williams was a British-born Australian actor.
Bligh Had a Daughter is a 1948 Australia radio play by Rex Rienits about Mary Bligh, daughter of William Bligh, who was living with her father at the time of the Rum Rebellion.
Margaret Catchpole is a 1945 Australian radio drama by Rex Rienits about Margaret Catchpole. It was one of several dramatisations of Australian historical figures by Rienits.
Fulfilment is a 1948 Australian radio drama by Rex Rienits about Mary Reibey that aired on the ABC. The play was popular and was performed again in 1951.
Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1938 Australian radio serial about the Mutiny on the Bounty. It was written by Anthony Scott Veitch and directed by Harvey Adams, who also starred.
Stormy petrel is an alternate term for Storm petrel, the name for two families of petrels