''The Damnation of Harvey McHugh'' was an Australian television miniseries made by the ABC. The series consists of 12 episodes and was first broadcast on the ABC in 1994 from 2 June to 18 August of that year.

Overview

Cast and crew

The series was created by

John Misto John Misto (born 13 October 1952) is an Australian playwright and screenwriter. He graduated with an Arts/Law degree from the University of New South Wales, and then practised as a lawyer before changing his career to concentrate on working as a ...

and co-written by Misto, Graeme Koetsveld and Ray Kolle It was produced by

Penny Chapman Penny Chapman is an Australian television producer. Her work includes the award-winning ''Brides of Christ,'' '' RAN Remote Area Nurse'' and ''My Place''. Penny received the Maura Fay Award for Services to the Industry at the 2013 Screen Produce ...

and the episodes were variously directed by Michael Carson,

Robert Klenner The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, ho ...

, Geoffrey Nottage and Amanda Smith The series starred Aaron Blabey as Harvey, Monica Maughan as his mother, Mrs McHugh and

Philip Quast Philip Mark Quast (born 30 July 1957) is an Australian actor and singer. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical three times, making him the first actor to have three wins in that category. He is perhaps best known f ...

as "the Minister", Michael Muldoon.

Supporting cast

The supporting cast included: * Ronald Faulk (Dr. Voysner) * Richard Piper (Gordon Robertson) * Roger Oakley (Bernard) * Daniel Rigney (Frank) *Jane Borghesi (Gina) * Bruce Myles (Father Healy) *Emma Strand (Diane) *Michael Burkett (Morris)

Synopsis

This sharp

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

, with strong elements of

political satire Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where s ...

, follows the misadventures of a naive young clerk, Harvey McHugh, as he tries to secure a permanent position in the

Australian Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the ...

. As his quest progresses, Harvey gains many startling insights into how the Australian government and bureaucracy operates behind the scenes, especially through his dealings with the powerful and manipulative politician, Michael Muldoon—invariably referred to simply as "The Minister"—who heads the department where Harvey is employed. The production of the series received considerable coverage in the press at the time it was being made. After production had begun, the ABC took the unusual (and costly) step of scrapping several completed episodes, because it was felt that the mood was too 'dark'.

Critics response

The series was well received by critics. Quast was widely praised for his portrayal of the Minister, Blabey won the 1995 AFI Best Actor Award for his portrayal of HarveyABC-TV, ''MDA''
/ref> and Monica Maughan won a Silver Logie and an AFI Best Actress Award for her performance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damnation Of Harvey Mchugh 1990s Australian television miniseries 1994 Australian television series debuts 1994 Australian television series endings Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming