''Crownies'' is an

Australian television Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the ''Radiovision'' system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Bris ...

drama series which was originally broadcast on

ABC1 ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC TV channel an ...

from 14 July until 1 December 2011. The series revolves around a group of solicitors fresh from law school, working with Crown Prosecutors, who are the public prosecutors in the legal system of New South Wales, working for the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Production

ordered ''Crownies'' for a twenty-two-episode run and it was produced by Karl Zwicky. It was the first long-form drama format to be commissioned by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

since 2005's '' MDA''. Filming began in January 2011. The location chosen for filming was Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Many scenes were filmed in the business district

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

, more predominantly around the

Parramatta Justice Precinct The Parramatta Justice Precinct (PJP) is located in the western part of the Parramatta () central business district. The precinct houses the corporate headquarters of the New South Wales Department of Attorney General and Justice. Other legal of ...

for the low financial cost and its accessibility. Alongside the Parramatta river shops, churches and streets were used for location shoots. Every twelve days a Brazilian restaurant located on Church Street would be converted into the set of "Gar's Bar", which served as the "legal hangout" for the characters. To cut costs, scenes requiring countryside settings were filmed a mere fifteen-minute drive away from Parramatta. The series finished filming in September 2011. It is written by Greg Haddrick, Jane Allen, Kylie Needham, Tamara Asmar, Blake Ayshford, Chris Hawkshaw, Justine Gillmer, Pete McTighe, Stuart Page & Sam Miekle. It is directed by Tony Tilse, Chris Noonan, Cherie Nowlan, Grant Brown, Lynn Hegarty, Garth Maxwell and Jet Wilkinson. On 24 January 2011, Greg Hassall from ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' announced the casting of

Todd Lasance Todd James Lasance (born 18 February 1985) is an Australian actor, best recognised for his roles in Australian television including Aden Jefferies on ''Home and Away'', Cam Jackson on '' Rescue: Special Ops'', Ben McMahon on ''Crownies'' and Maj ...

, Hamish Michael, Marta Dusseldorp and

Jerome Ehlers Jerome Ehlers (20 December 1958 – 9 August 2014) was an Australian actor and writer. He graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1987. Ehlers died in Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New So ...

Episodes

Cast

Main cast

as Ben McMahon * Hamish Michael as Richard Stirling * Ella Scott Lynch as Erin O'Shaughnessy * Andrea Demetriades as Lina Badir * Marta Dusseldorp as Janet King *

Indiana Evans Indiana Rose Evans (born 27 July 1990) is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in ''Home and Away'' as Matilda Hunter, '' H2O: Just Add Water'' as Bella Hartley, and '' Blue Lagoon: The Awakening'' as Emmaline Robinson. Early lif ...

as Tatum Novak * Peter Kowitz as Tony Gillies * Jeanette Cronin as Tracey Samuels *

Lewis Fitz-Gerald Lewis Fitz-Gerald (born 15 November 1958) is an Australian actor, screenwriter and television director, who lectures in Screen and Media Studies at Australia's University of New England. Filmography As actor * '' Breaker Morant'' (1980) ...

as David Sinclair QC *

as Rhys Kowalski

Recurring

* Chantelle Jamieson as Julie Rousseau * Christopher Morris as Andy Campbell * Daniel Lissing as Conrad De Groot *

Marcus Graham Marcus Graham (born 11 October 1963) is an Australian film, television (including both serials and mini-series) and stage actor and director, with roles including ''Mulholland Drive'' and ''Josh Jarman''. He was known as a teenage heartthrob in ...

as Danny Novak * Aimee Pedersen as Ashleigh Larsson * Ritchie Singer as The Honourable Mr Justice Rosenberg * Paul Moxey as Harry * Elias Joukhdar as Tariq Badir *

Petra Yared Petra Georgina Yared (born 18 January 1979) is an Australian actress. She has also been credited as Petra Jared. Early life Yared was born in Melbourne to Rick and Shelley, having an older sister, Sara, and younger brother, Nicholas. Yared is ...

as Paula Corvini

Spin-off series

Before the series finale of ''Crownies'' had broadcast, ABC1 Channel Controller Brendan Dahill revealed that he sought the creation of a spin-off and singled out Dusseldorp and Michael for their portrayals. He believed that there were many successful aspects of ''Crownies'' to build on and expressed his surprise that the show was not as popular as he had envisioned. On 20 August 2012, ABC TV confirmed that it had commissioned an "8-part legal and political thriller" titled '' Janet King''. The spin-off went into production in early 2013 and featured various cast members from ''Crownies''. The first episode aired on 27 February 2014.

Home media

''Crownies'' was initially released on region 4 DVD in two separate parts. The first eleven episodes were released on 6 October 2011. The remaining episodes were released on 1 December 2011. The two box-sets were later released for region 2. Although the series has never been shown in the UK, it is available to view on the STV Player, the video on demand service owned by STV, the ITV affiliate in North and Central Scotland.

Reception

Critical analysis

Doug Anderson from ''

'' liked the show for the cast, "fresh" writing and good relationship between character. He believed anyone with intelligence could relate to the show. He praised the character of Tatum Novak for being the modern girl and branded the rest as fairly conventional characters, with personal issues blended in with cases. But his colleague Craig Mathieson criticised the show stating "The show is struggling to find an even tone and at various times it's flirtatiously sexy, coolly cynical and blazingly emotional. The problem is that these diverse moods jarringly occur one after the other. It's somewhat messy."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website

Production website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crownies 2011 Australian television series debuts 2011 Australian television series endings Australian drama television series Australian legal television series English-language television shows Australian LGBT-related television shows Lesbian-related television shows Television shows set in New South Wales Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Television series by Screentime Television series about prosecutors