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The Thorn Birds (TV miniseries)

The Thorn Birds
The Thorn Birds (miniseries).jpg
DVD cover
Written by Carmen Culver
Lee Stanley
Colleen McCullough (novel)
Directed by Daryl Duke
Starring Richard Chamberlain
Rachel Ward
Barbara Stanwyck
Christopher Plummer
Jean Simmons
Bryan Brown
Philip Anglim
Richard Kiley
Theme music composer Henry Mancini
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 4
Production
Cinematography Bill Butler
Editor(s) Robert F. Shugrue
David Saxon
Carroll Timothy O'Meara
Running time 467 minutes
Release
Original network ABC
Original release March 27 (1983-03-27) – March 30, 1983 (1983-03-30)

The Thorn Birds is an American television miniseries broadcast on ABC from March 27 to 30, 1983. It starred Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Jean Simmons, Richard Kiley, Bryan Brown, Mare Winningham and Philip Anglim. It was directed by Daryl Duke and based on a novel by Colleen McCullough. The series was enormously successful and became the United States' second highest-rated miniseries of all time behind Roots; both series were produced by television veteran David L. Wolper.

Set primarily on Drogheda, a fictional sheep station in the Australian outback named after Drogheda, Ireland, the story focuses on three generations of the Cleary family and spans the years from December 1920 to December 1962.

The novel begins in New Zealand on December 8, 1915, Meggie Cleary's fourth birthday. The miniseries begins in Australia five years later.

In the novel, Meggie Cleary's "titian" (red) hair is mentioned frequently, and used as a plot device. Rachel Ward, who played Meggie in the miniseries, had auburn hair which is a reddish brown. In the miniseries, Meggie and Stuart visit Frank in prison, where Frank eventually dies. In the novel, Ralph acts as a go-between and no one in the Cleary family sees Frank until he is released from prison after 30 years.


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