''Ben Hall'' is a 1975 Australian TV series based on the bush ranger Ben Hall.Albert Moran, ''Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series'', AFTRS 1993 p 74 It stars

Jon Finch John Nicholas Finch (2 March 1942 – 28 December 2012) was an English stage and film actor who became well known for his Shakespearean roles. Most notably, he starred in films for directors Roman Polanski (''Macbeth'', 1971) and Alfred Hitchc ...

as Ben Hall,

Evin Crowley Evin Crowley (born 5 December 1945) is an actress from Northern Ireland. She started as a Lyric Player at the home of Mary O'Malley and her husband (later to become the Lyric Theatre, Belfast). Career Crowley first appeared on stage from the ...

as Biddy Hall, John Castle as bushranger

Frank Gardiner Frank Gardiner (1830 – c. 1882) was an Australian bushranger who became notorious for his lead role in the largest gold heist in Australian history, at Eugowra, New South Wales in June 1862. Gardiner and Gardiner-Hall gang, his gang, which in ...

, Brian Blain as Sir Frederick Pottinger, Jack Charles as Billy Dargin and John Orcsik as John Gilbert. Neil McCallum was the creator-producer and the series editor was Colin Free. It was a co-production between the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, BBC-TV, and

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

. It was called the most ambitious drama production of the ABC with a budget of $1 million. The series was filmed in the Megalong Valley,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and in the suburb of Belrose. McCallum said "The series is not an accurate story of the life of Ben Hall. It is impossible in 13 one-hour programs to reconstruct a man's life over a period of ten years. What we have done is to be meticulous in reconstructing the period in which he lived so that the series represents, I think, a very real picture of Australia in the 1860s."

Cast

Source:

Main

as Ben Hall *

as Biddy Hall (née Walsh) * John Castle as

* Brian Blain as Sir Frederick Pottinger *

Vincent Ball Vincent Martin Ball, (born 4 December 1923) is an Australian retired actor of film, theatre and radio active in the industry for nearly 55 years (with a brief return) firstly in Britain starting in the late 1940s and then his native Australia ...

as Sergeant Garland * Sandra Lee Paterson as Kate Owen (née Walsh)

Support

* Tom Farley as Pa Walsh * Alistair Smart as Jack Taylor * Jack Charles as Billy Dargin *

Hugh Keays-Byrne Hugh Keays-Byrne (18 May 1947 – 2 December 2020) was a British-Australian actor. He began his career on stage in his native England, where he was member of the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1968 and 1972. After emigrating to Australia in 1 ...

as Piesley * Alfred Bell as Jack McGuire *

Frank Gallacher Frank Gallacher (7 April 1943 – 23 February 2009) was a Scottish-Australian actor. Early life Gallacher was born in Glasgow in 1943. In 1962, aged 19, he was working in London when his parents and younger sister decided to emigrate to Austra ...

as 'Goobang' Mick Connolly * Diana McLean as Helen McGuire (née Walsh) *

Ruth Cracknell Ruth Winifred Cracknell AM (6 July 1925 – 13 May 2002) was an Australian character and comic actress, comedian and author. Her career encompassed all genres, including radio, theatre, television, and film. She appeared in many dramatic as wel ...

as Ma Walsh * Paul Bertram as Patsy Daley * Ian Dyson as George Owen * John Orcsik as John Gilbert *

Judy McBurney Judith McBurney (19 May 1948 – 1 December 2018) was an Australian actress and model. She is best known for serial ''The Young Doctors'' in 1,300 episodes as Tania Livingstone and also appeared in cult series'' Prisoner'' as Sandra" Pixie" Ma ...

as Alison Buchanan / Rebecca *

Melissa Jaffer Melissa Jaffer (born 1 December 1936) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her stage and television roles, but has also appeared in many films. Career Jaffer started her career in theatre productions in the mid 1950s, and has made m ...

as Mrs Daley * Elizabeth Alexander as Angela Mitchell *

Tom Oliver Tom Oliver (born 12 June 1938) is a British naturalised Australian retired actor. Oliver is best known locally and internationally for his long-running role in TV soap opera ''Neighbours'' as Lou Carpenter, a role he played for 25 years bec ...

as Long Tom Coffin *

Justine Saunders Justine Florence Saunders (20 February 1953 – 15 April 2007) was an Australian stage, television and film actress. She was a member of the Woppaburra, an Australian Aboriginal people, from the Kanomie clan of Great Keppel Island in Queenslan ...

as Jununju *Martin Phelan as Fordyce * Vince Martin as Bow *Chris King as 'Warrigal' Walsh * Les Foxcroft as 'Saucepan' Billy *Adrian Bernotti as James Dunleavy *Scott Humphries as Mickey Burke * Harold Hopkins as

John Vane Sir John Robert Vane (29 March 1927 – 19 November 2004) was a British pharmacologist who was instrumental in the understanding of how aspirin produces pain-relief and anti-inflammatory effects and his work led to new treatments for heart ...

*Roger Thwaites as Trooper Havillandd *Stephen Brown as Baby Hall *Marge Timberay as Aboriginal Woman *Barry Hill as John O'Meally *Alexandra Hynes as Mary Connelly *Michelle Morgan and Jennifer Brown as McGuire Children * Jennifer Cluff as Catherine

Production

Filming started 30 December 1974. It took six months to film.

Release

A documentary was made to promote the series ''Ben Hall in the Making''.

Episodes

#Nobody's Man (UK 6 July 1975, Aust 7 September 1975). It promises to be a good year for cattleman Ben Hall until ex-convict bushranger Frank Gardiner escapes from a road gang to the Wheogo district, bringing the New South Wales Mounted Police after him and his ruthless companions, Piesley and Troy. w Ted Roberts d Don Chaffey. #The Vow (UK 13 July 1975, Ast: 4 September 1975). A cattle muster becomes a shambles when Gardiner and his friends arrive. Escaped convict John Piesley Is out to kill Ben Hall. Piesley and Gardiner arrive at the cattle muster at the McGuires'. w Frank Nesbitt d Don Chaffey. #The Promise (UK: 20 July 1975, Aust: 21 September 1975). Gardiner plans to use Ben Hall's wedding as a diversion to rescue Johnny Gilbert from Wheogo prison. w Allan Prior d Don Chaffey. #The Cruel Season (UK: 27 July 1975, Aust: 28 September 1975). Hall loses most of his stock in drought. His wife asks him to sell his horses and move. w Eleanor Witcombe d Frank Arnold. #Blind Justice (UK: 3 Aug 1975, Aust: 5 Oct 1975). Bushranger Saucepan Bill shoots an armed guard. Ben Hall's horse is recognised and Ben is arrested for murder. w

Tony Morphett Anthony David Morphett (10 March 1938 – 2 June 2018) was an Australian screenwriter, who created or co-created many Australian television series, including ''Dynasty (Australian TV series), Dynasty'', ''Certain Women (television series), Cert ...

d Frank Arnold. #Going Home (UK: 10 Aug 1975, Aust: 12 Oct 1975). Struggling financially due to drought, Ben leaves his pregnant wife to go work in the gold rush. w: Tony Morphett. #The Rock (UK: 17 Aug 1975, Aust: 19 Oct 1975). Feeling he has nothing to lose, Hall joins Frank Gardiner and his gang to rob a coach at the rock. w Tony Morphett d Peter Maxwell. #Yellowback (UK: 24 Aug, Aust: 26 Oct 1975). The police organise a manhunt in the mountains and arrest Ben's wife as a ploy. w Jesse Lasky Jr & Pat Silver d Don Chaffey. #A Greater Love (UK: 31 Aug 1975, Aust: 2 Nov 1975). Many innocent homesteaders are arrested in the campaign against the bushrangers. w Lindsay Galloway d Don Chaffey #The Attack (UK: 7 Sept 1975, Aust: 9 Nov 1975). Ben Hall disguises his men as troopers in command of a convict road-gang to surprise an army coach and later Sir Frederick Pottinger.w Ted Roberts d Don Chaffey. #The Legacy (UK: 14 Sept 1975, Aust: 16 Nov 1975). Ben plans to use Pottinger in a daring rescue scheme on behalf of the valley settlers to obtain legal rights to their land. w Ray Johnson d Frank Arnold. #The Pursued (UK: 21 Sept 1975, Aust: 23 Nov 1975). Ben is outlawed under the Felons Act and has a price on his head. w Ray Johnson d Don Chaffey. #Once Upon a Time (UK: 28 Sept 1975, Aust: 30 Nov 1975). Ben Hall plans to leave but won't go without his wife and child. Sgt Garland is determined to capture and kill him. w: Ted Roberts d: Don Chaffey.

References

External links

''Ben Hall''
at Australian Television
''Ben Hall''
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

''Ben Hall''
at AustLit Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming 1970s Australian drama television series 1975 Australian television series debuts 1975 Australian television series endings Television shows set in New South Wales Television shows set in colonial Australia {{Australia-tv-prog-stub