''Marking Time'' was an Australian television mini-series, consisting of four one-hour episodes. It first aired on 9 and 10 November 2003 on ABC-TV. Directed by

Cherie Nowlan Cherie Nowlan (born Singleton, New South Wales, Australia)

and written by John Doyle, it was the first mainstream television/film project to address the issue of the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national Executive (government), executive government of Australia, a federalism, federal Parliamentary system, parliamentary con ...

' refugee policy, a topic it approaches by chronicling the emotional journey of one young man during his year off after graduation, in his fictional rural home-town of Brackley, Australia. The storyline of ''Marking Time'' was inspired by the real-life experiences of

Afghan refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were forced to flee from their country as a result the continuous wars that the country has suffered since the Afghan-Soviet war, the Afghan civil war, the Afghanistan war (2001–2021) or either p ...

and their hosts in the rural town of Young; however much of the outdoor scenes of the series were actually shot at Singleton.

Plot

An Afghan father and his daughter, Randa ( Bojana Novakovic), arrive in Australia to escape the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

. At school Randa is teased for her religion and wearing a

hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...

. The main character who finished secondary school the previous year, Hal (

Abe Forsythe Abraham Forsythe (born 26 July 1981) is an Australian film and television actor, director, writer and producer. He is the son of actor and comedian Drew Forsythe. Career He first appeared on the TV series ''The Miraculous Mellops (TV series), T ...

) begins to feel sorry for her and over a course falls in love with her. Although her father initially allows them to date, there is a lot of tension with their culture differences (Randa is a practising

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, Hal an atheist). Soon after the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, Randa's father's house is destroyed by an intentionally lit fire. Hal's father (Morrell) offers them shelter in his house. Later that night, Randa, afraid, sneaks into Hal's room seeking comfort. The two sleep together and are later found in bed by her father. Upset by what has happened, he leaves and refuses to let Hal see Randa. Hal and Randa continue to see each other in secret, Randa admitting she 'did not regret' what she did with Hal. Eventually their refugee status is rejected and they are ordered to return. Hal and his father try valiantly to think of a way to keep them there, but come up empty handed. Finally Hal, decides that he loves Randa and offers to run away from the law with her. He tells his plan to his father who initially disapproves, but after seeing how much they love each other, allows. He also tells Randa's father, who is initially reluctant. Hal promises to take care of her and her father agrees, realising that Randa will be deported with him unless she leaves. Randa is initially reluctant to leave her father, but ultimately agrees. They leave on the night of Randa's deportation. Stopping off in a hotel room, they make love tenderly one last time. When Hal awakes, Randa is gone. She leaves him a note explaining she can not leave her father or get him or her father into trouble. He returns, but is too late as he sees Randa and her father on a bus for deportation. Eventually he decides to go overseas to look for her. He uses the money his mother left to him to buy a plane ticket and the series ends with Hal unsure about what will happen in his search for his love.

Cast

- Hal Fleming * Geoff Morrell - Geoff Fleming * Elena Carapetis - Gemma * Bojana Novakovic - Randa * Matthew Le Nevez - Bullet Sheather *

Abbie Cornish Abigail Cornish (born 7 August 1982) is an Australian actress. In film, Cornish is known for her roles as Heidi in ''Somersault (film), Somersault'' (2004), Fanny Brawne in ''Bright Star (film), Bright Star'' (2009), Sweet Pea in ''Sucker Punch ...

- Tracey * Katie Wall - Belinda * Gyton Grantley - Shane Sheather * Scott Swalwell - Jamie * Lech Mackiewicz - Hassan *

Graeme Blundell Graeme Blundell (born 7 August 1945) is an Australian actor, director, producer, writer, playwright, lyricist and biographer. Early life Blundell was born on 7 April 1945 in Melbourne; he grew up in the suburb of Clifton Hill. He was educated ...

- Ralph Dare * Anthony Simcoe - Scott Seaton * Brian Meegan - Ross Ferguson * Matthew Lilley - Todd Paynter * Barbara Morton - Marie Stockard *

Ian Bliss Ian Bliss (born 30 June 1966) is an Australian film, television, and stage character actor, he has appeared in numerous Australian television dramas including ''Heartbreak High'', '' Wentworth'' and as several characters in the '' Underbelly uni ...

- Col Bryant * Paul Pantano - Remus Migotso * Thea Gumbert - Katey * Arianthe Galani - Mrs. Spiro * Sharin Contini - Constable Welch * Dave Rondo - Cos * Rhonda Doyle - Aunt Holly * Ben Tate - Troy * Adam Cahill - Troy's mate * Sueyan Cox - Aunty Sarah * Andrew Harris - Salesman * Cecil Parkee - Billy Chan * Shauna Jensen - Wedding Singer * Megan Dickinson - Flower Girl * Arianthe Galani as Mrs Spiro Abe Forsythe and Bojana Novakovic already knew each other as they went to primary school togethe

Awards and nominations

Awards

Won a record 7 AACTA Awards, AFI Awards in 2004

Nominations

References

External links

''Marking Time''
at the National Film & Sound Archive * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2019 2000s Australian drama television series 2000s Australian television miniseries 2003 Australian television series debuts 2003 Australian television series endings Films directed by Cherie Nowlan