Crownies

Crownies
Genre	Legal drama Dramedy
Starring	Todd Lasance Hamish Michael Ella Scott Lynch Andrea Demetriades Indiana Evans Marta Dusseldorp
Theme music composer	Lanie Lane
Opening theme	What Do I Do
Composer(s)	Sonar Music Antony Partos
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	22[1] (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Carole Sklan Des Monaghan Greg Haddrick David Ogilvy
Producer(s)	Karl Zwicky Jane Allen Lisa Scott
Editor(s)	Marcus D'Arcy
Location(s)	Sydney[1]
Cinematography	Bruce Young
Running time	55 mins approx
Production company(s)	Screentime Australia[1]
Distributor	Target Entertainment[1]
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC1
Picture format	1080i/25
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	14 July 2011 (2011-07-14) – 1 December 2011 (2011-12-01)
External links
Website
Production website

Crownies was an Australian television dramedy series that first screened on ABC1 in 2011.^[2] The series revolved around a group of solicitors fresh from law school, working with Crown Prosecutors, or Crownies, who are the public prosecutors in the legal system of Australia, working for the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The series was filmed and set in Sydney, New South Wales. Many scenes were filmed in Parramatta, around the Parramatta Justice Precinct for financial reasons.^[3]

The first series ran for 22 weeks, with a one hour instalment every Thursday night. It is written by Greg Haddrick, Jane Allen, Kylie Needham, Tamara Asmar, Blake Ayshford, Chris Hawkshaw, Justine Gillmer, Pete McTighe, Stuart Page & Sam Miekle. It is directed by Tony Tilse, Chris Noonan, Cherie Nowlan, Grant Brown, Lynn Hegarty, Garth Maxwell and Jet Wilkinson.

Instead of a second series, the spin-off program Janet King is being produced that will focus more on the legal aspects.^[4][5]

Episodes

Cast

• Todd Lasance as Ben McMahon: A generally lazy Solicitor who often gets others to do his work. His father is a high profile corporate law barrister and his grandfather was a policeman. After his grandfather was beaten and left for dead, he was not able to rightly identify the suspect. He mentions in one episode that he attended the University of Sydney.
• Hamish Michael as Richard Stirling: A genuinely nice guy whose witnesses often fail to show up in court, much to the annoyance of the judge. After finally getting the person who was renting his house to move out, the ceiling collapsed and he was compelled to move in with Tatum and her boyfriend Conrad. To keep Conrad from being jealous, Tatum insisted the Richard pretend to be gay. He originally came from New Zealand, and according to the testamur on his wall, he graduated from the University of Otago in New Zealand with a Bachelor of Science before coming to Australia and completing a graduate-level Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney.
• Ella Scott Lynch as Erin O'Shaughnessy: A former solicitor at a corporate firm whose problems with alcohol often find her in trouble – usually with men. While drunk, she slept with a reporter who stole a confidential brief from the office of the DPP, while on another occasion she slept with Ben McMahon. Always regrets the consequences, but appears to do nothing to change her behaviour. She had a crush on Rhys, kissed him once, but when she realises that his wife is pregnant, refuses to go any further. She attended the University of Sydney.
• Andrea Demetriades as Lina Badir: A non-practicing Muslim, she is a dedicated lawyer who is in an ongoing (but secret) relationship with police detective Andy Campbell. She attended the University of Sydney.
• Indiana Evans as Tatum Novak: Her father was a notorious gangster – although will not hear a bad word said against him. She is often more pre-occupied with planning her wedding than in the law. She attended the University of Sydney. Tatum appears to be completing a legal traineeship as opposed to being a solicitor.
• Jeanette Cronin as Tracey Samuels: The office's case manager. She loves her pet finch (named Atticus after the main character in To Kill A Mockingbird). She is a practicing Catholic. At times she comes across as hard and uncaring. As mentioned in the last episode by Tony, she has a law degree from the University of New South Wales but chooses not to practice law.
• Marta Dusseldorp as Janet King: A senior crown prosecutor. Although not stated, she appears to be the NSW Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions. She is in an ongoing lesbian relationship and is expecting twins. The pregnancy has put strain on her relationship, however both parties are looking forward to the birth. She attended the University of Sydney, before being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford.
• Lewis Fitz-Gerald as David Sinclair SC: The New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions. He is often caught between the need for justice, the public appearance of justice, and the politics of justice. He attended the University of Wollongong, as shown by his alumni tie and the University of Sydney, as shown by his testamur. The character was based on former NSW DPP Nicholas Cowdery.^{[citation needed]}
• Jerome Ehlers as Rhys Kowalski: A private barrister, usually specialising in criminal defence, brought into the DPP to prosecute certain cases. His pregnant wife is also a defence barrister, but they are having marriage problems and seeing a counsellor.
• Chantelle Jamieson as Julie Rousseau: A recent law graduate and Judge's Associate who sometimes dates Ben.
• Peter Kowitz as Tony Gillies: A hard bitten, even embittered, senior lawyer who still gets drunk on the anniversary of the date he lost a particularly brutal case. He is a realist, and seeks to give the young, idealist lawyers an understanding not so much of what is "right", but what is "best" in the circumstances. He attended the University of Sydney.
• Christopher Morris as Andy Campbell: A police detective and Lina's secret boyfriend. He often gets fed up with lawyers who botch the cases that the police have worked hard to bring them.
• Daniel Lissing as Conrad De Groot: Tatum's fiance and manager of a car yard. He was very suspicious of Richard until Tatum mentioned that he was gay, although he is heterosexual and infatuated with Tatum. Conrad is now happy for Richard to live in their unit and has, on occasion, sought to find Richard a date.

Reception

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Crownies at the Internet Movie Database