Bodyline (miniseries)
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Bodyline is an Australian 1984 television miniseries which dramatised the events of the 1932–1933 English Ashes cricket tour of Australia.
The producers were George Miller and Terry Hayes. The directors were Denny Lawrence, Lex Marinos, George Ogilvie and Carl Schultz. The scriptwriters for the mini-series were Robert Caswell, Lex Marinos, Denny Lawrence and Terry Hayes. The music for the mini-series was written by Chris Neal and Phillip Scott. Photography was by Dean Semler and Andrew Lesnie.
The seven-part mini-series was a ratings success, and was shown over a four-week period; however, it was regarded by those still alive who took part in the 1932-33 series or remembered it as a ludicrous travesty of the real events.
'I can't help feeling, with Jardine as captain ... we may win the Ashes ... but we may lose a dominion!' Pelham Warner
'Can't we ask him to use a smaller bat ...' One of the Lords (on Don Bradman) at Lord's Cricket Ground.
The UK premiere of the 5 million dollar Bodyline mini-series was originally broadcast on BBC2 Television in 4:3 picture ratio on consecutive evenings at 9.00pm from Monday 3rd June – Friday 7th June 1985 and was shown in the significantly longer, original, extended and uncut version. BBC2 divided the series into 5 parts of slightly varying lengths.
The individual original BBC2 episode run-times of the Bodyline mini-series were:
- 3/6/1985: Part 1 – 85 minutes
- 4/6/1985: Part 2 – 89 minutes
- 5/6/1985: Part 3 – 88 minutes
- 6/6/1985: Part 4 – 89 minutes
- 7/6/1985: Part 5 – 85 minutes
Total extended run-time: 436 minutes – 7 hours 16 minutes.
When originally shown on Channel 10 Australia in July 1984 over 4 consecutive nights - including extensive advert-breaks - the run-time was approx. 10 hours. Excluding advert breaks: the actual run-time is 7 hours 16 minutes. IMDb and Amazon give the total run-time of the official extensively cut, re-edited and picture-cropped - from the original 4:3 picture ratio to a 16:9 picture ratio - widescreen presentation DVD version as 330 minutes – 5 hours 30 minutes – 7 episodes of approx. 47 minutes each - a total of 329 minutes.
Therefore the original version transmitted in it’s entirety by BBC2 Television in June 1985 is approximately 1 hour 46 minutes longer than the official Australian DVD version of Bodyline. BBC2 had licence for UK premiere broadcast and one repeat showing before transmission rights reverted back to Australian TV Network 10 and Kennedy-Miller for DVD production.
The title refers to the bodyline cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team during their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia. The correct English cricketing term for Bodyline is Leg theory.
Plot
The events leading up to the England Cricket Team's 1932-1933 Ashes tour of Australia and the tactics, of bowling directly at the batsman, used by the English cricket team to counteract the batting prowess of Australian cricketer Donald Bradman during the Ashes series.
Cast
- Gary Sweet as Donald George Bradman
- Hugo Weaving as Douglas Jardine
- Jim Holt as Harold Larwood
- Rhys McConnochie as Pelham Warner
- Ryan Long as Bill Ponsford
- Frank Thring as Lord Harris
- Heather Mitchell as Edith (Jardine's Egyptologist girl-friend)
- Ashok Banthia as Nawab of Pataudi
- Jane Harders as Alice Jardine (DR Jardine's mother)
- Julie Nihill as Jessie Bradman (Donald Bradman's wife)
- John Gregg as Percy George Herbert Fender
- John Walton as Bill Woodfull
- Max Cullen as Chooka (the reporter)
- Vincent Ball as the Prime Minister of Australia (Joseph Lyons)
- Colin Croft as Sir Stanley Jackson
- Leslie Dayman as Bert Oldfield
- John Doyle as George "Gubby" Allen
- George Whaley as Lord Hawke
- Celia De Burgh as Mrs. Larwood
- Reg Gillam as Sir Clive Wigram
- Edward Howell as Lord Hailsham
- Paul Chubb as "Yabba"
- Alan David Lee as Eddie Paynter
- Arthur Dignam as Mr Jardine (DR Jardine's father)
- John Clayton
- Peter Whitford as Robertson
References
- "The Dictionary of Performing Arts in Australia — Theatre . Film . Radio . Television — Volume 1" — Ann Atkinson, Linsay Knight, Margaret McPhee — Allen & Unwin Pty. Ltd., 1996
- "The Australian Film and Television Companion" — compiled by Tony Harrison — Simon & Schuster Australia, 1994
- Bodyline TV mini-series 1985 – original BBC2 Television transmission recording 3-7 June 1985
- Don Bradman: Challenging the Myth - Chapter 4: Bodyline and Myth – Page: 62 - Brett Hutchins 2002
External links