''Tandarra'' is an Australian television series which screened on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

in Australia in 1976 and on ITV (including the

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

and Anglia regions) in the UK. It was a follow-up series to '' Cash and Company'' which screened in 1975 and consisted of 13 one-hour episode. ''Tandarra'' and ''Cash and Company'' were set during the Victorian

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...

period of the 1850s. The change in format and title was necessitated by the departure of

Serge Lazareff Serge Constantine Lazareff (7 August 1944 - 20 August 2021) was an Australian actor and screenwriter/editor, who was born in Shanghai, China. He appeared in 54 roles from the late 1960s until 1999, before starting a second career as a writer fo ...

who played the title character Sam Cash in the original series ''Cash and Company''. Two of the original characters continued in ''Tandarra'': Joe Brady (

Gus Mercurio Augustino Eugenio Mercurio (10 August 19287 December 2010) better known as Gus Mercurio, was an American-born Australian character actor who appeared in radio, television, and film. Early life Mercurio, the eldest child of Vincent A. Mercurio ...

) and Jessica Johnson (

Penne Hackforth-Jones Penne Hackforth-Jones (5 August 194917 May 2013) was an American-born Australian actress and biographer. Early life Penelope Beatrix Hackforth-Jones was born in August 1949 in Greenwich, Connecticut, to Paul and Susan Felicity (née Gullett) H ...

). The other main character was Ryler (

Gerard Kennedy Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...

). who had been introduced in the final episode of ''Cash and Company''. He had been a bounty hunter who was later convinced of Joe's innocence and decided to join him. The title was taken from the name of the

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...

owned by Jessica, and the series primarily dealt with the adventures of running the large farming property.http://www.australiantelevision.net/tandarra.html The premise of the first series, namely that Joe and Sam were fugitives from the law and were being assisted by Jessica, was totally removed. No reference to the Sam Cash character was ever made in this series. The previous antagonist, the corrupt police trooper, Lieutenant Keogh ( Bruce Kerr) only appeared in the first episode of ''Tandarra'', and the character of Jessica's servant, Annie (

Anne Scott-Pendlebury Anne Scott-Pendlebury (also known as Anne Pendlebury) is an Australian television, film and theatre actress. She played the role of Hilary Robinson in the soap opera '' Neighbours''. Career Scott-Pendlebury is the daughter of L. Scott Pendle ...

) only appeared in the second. Patrick Edgeworth said later he felt the series was hurt by the fact the leads were no longer fugitives from the law, which reduced the tension. The series was released in Australia on DVD in May 2015 by Umbrella Entertainment.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0159919
Classic Australian Television website

Watch the opening of ''Tandarra''

Umbrella Entertainment website listing
Australian drama television series Television series set in the 1850s Seven Network original programming Television shows set in Victoria (Australia) Television shows set in colonial Australia 1976 Australian television series debuts 1976 Australian television series endings Australian Western (genre) films