McLeod's Daughters | |
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McLeod's Daughters season 5-7 title card
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Also known as | Drovers Run, McLeod's |
Genre | Drama |
Created by |
Posie Graeme-Evans Caroline Stanton |
Developed by | Posie Graeme-Evans |
Starring |
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Theme music composer | Chris Harriott |
Opening theme | |
Composer(s) | Chris Harriott Alastair Ford |
Country of origin | Australia |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 8 |
No. of episodes | 224 and Telemovie (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Kris Noble (season 1–2) Posie Graeme-Evans (season 3–8) Sandra Levy (season 6) Jo Horsburgh (season 7–8) |
Producer(s) |
Posie Graeme-Evans (season 1–2) Susan Bower (season 3-4) Karl Zwicky (season 4–8) |
Location(s) | Kingsford between the townships of Gawler and Freeling, one hour north of Adelaide |
Camera setup | Single-camera setup; Film (Super 16) |
Running time | 45 minutes |
Production company(s) |
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Distributor | Southern Star |
Release | |
Original network | Nine Network |
Picture format | |
Audio format | Dolby Digital 5.1 |
Original release | 8 August 2001 – 31 January 2009 |
External links | |
Website | web |
McLeod's Daughters is an Australian television drama series created by Posie Graeme-Evans and Caroline Stanton. It was produced by Millennium Television and later Southern Star for the Nine Network, premiered on the Nine Network on 8 August 2001, becoming one of the most successful series on Australian television as it was met with critical acclaim. Initially, the series starred Lisa Chappell and Bridie Carter as two main protagonists, with Sonia Todd, Jessica Napier, Rachael Carpani, Aaron Jeffery and Myles Pollard in leading roles. Following the third season, the series took a different direction as main cast members began to depart, with a high cast turn-over occurring throughout the remaining years. After eight seasons and 224 episodes, the series was cancelled and the final episode was broadcast on 31 January 2009.
The origins of the series go back to the early 1990s, when Graeme-Evans had the ideas of creating a television series set in rural Australia with women in the leading roles. A television film was produced and aired on 11 May 1996 and was extremely successful and remains the most successful telemovie in Australian history. The series was intended to follow the film soon after but failed to do so when the Nine Network refused to pick it up. It eventually went into production in 2000. The film starred Jack Thompson as Jack McLeod, Kym Wilson as Tess Silverman McLeod and Tammy MacIntosh as Claire McLeod.
The series was an instant success in Australia, averaging at 1.51 million viewers for its first season and continued to achieve high ratings until it peaked during its fourth season, averaging at 1.52 million viewers. Although the series was slowly declining in the popularity, it remained somewhat successful in the ratings. It declined dramatically during its seventh season and eventually it was announced that the series would be cancelled following its eight season, which only averaged at 0.63 in the ratings. The series was sold internationally via Southern Star to many countries around the world where it has endured enormous success and developed a devoted fan base in the United States, Canada, Ireland and several European countries. It has a moderate success in the United Kingdom. The series has been nominated for forty-one Logie Awards, winning eight in total including Most Popular Actress, Most Popular actor and Most Popular Australian Drama Series. In addition to Logie Award nominations, it has received an APRA Award for its music.