Sara Dane

Sara Dane
Directed by Gary Conway
Rod Hardy
Produced by Jock Blair
John Barningham
Written by Alan Seymour
Based on novel by Catherine Gaskin
Starring Juliet Jordan
Harold Hopkins
Brenton Whittle
Cinematography Ernie Clark
Editing by Philip Reid
Budget $1.5 million[1]
Country Australia
Language English
Original channel Network Ten
Original airing 10 June 1982
Running time 248 mins
No. of episodes 2

Sara Dane is a 1982 Australian television miniseries about a woman transported from England to Australia for a crime she did not commit.[2]

Original novel

The mini-series was based on the best-selling 1954 novel of the same name by Catherine Gaskin. Gaskin had spent two years researching the book, which was inspired by the true story of Mary Reibey, a woman convict who married an officer while travelling to Australia, went on to become a successful businesswoman in her own right, and whose image has been featured since 1994 on the Australian $20 note.[3]

The novel was Gaskin's most successful, selling over two million copies.[4] Film rights were sold and Gaskin announced in 1955 that a movie version would be made at Elstree Studios the following year, but this did not occur.[5]

Production

In 1980 it was announced the South Australian Film Corporation would make a mini-series of the novel for Network Ten, possibly starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill.[6] Eventually Juliet Jordan was cast.[7]

Gaskin later said that Juliet was "not at all what I expected in Sara... but I'm more than delighted Juliet was cast... My young Sara was supposed to be a very strong character. You would have had to have been, to have survived and succeeded in the early days of Australia. If anything, the television Sara is even stronger than the novel's leading character in the end."[8]

References

  1. ↑ "For 'Taurus Rising', success is in the stars.". The Australian Women's Weekly (National Library of Australia). 11 August 1982. p. 26. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  2. ↑ Ed. Scott Murray, Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995, Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p231
  3. ↑ "BOOKS AND AUTHORS.". The Advertiser (Adelaide: National Library of Australia). 11 September 1954. p. 11. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  4. ↑ Obituary of Catherine Gaskin at The Age accessed 14 July 2013
  5. ↑ "Writing is just a job to noted author.". The Australian Women's Weekly (National Library of Australia). 5 October 1955. p. 20. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  6. ↑ "SOAPIE STAR'S ALL BOOKED UP.". The Australian Women's Weekly (National Library of Australia). 30 July 1980. p. 21 Supplement: FREE Your TV Magazine. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  7. ↑ "'Sara Dane' opened new horizons for me.". The Australian Women's Weekly (National Library of Australia). 28 July 1982. p. 33. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  8. ↑ "Catherine Gaski[?]eets "Sara Dane".". The Australian Women's Weekly (National Library of Australia). 5 May 1982. p. 8. Retrieved 14 July 2013.

External links