''The Truckies'' is an Australian television drama which first screened on 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 ...

in 1978.

Premise

''The Truckies'' was about the pressures of life on the road for transport driver Chris and his wife Carol.

Cast

Michael Aitkens Michael Aitkens (born 1947) is a British actor and writer of drama scripts for movies, television and stage. His BBC situation comedy '' Waiting for God'', first shown in 1990, was BAFTA nominated. Early life Michael Aitkens was educated at H ...

as Chris * John Wood as Stokey, Chris' friend *

Colleen Hewett Colleen Hewett (born 16 April 1950) is an Australian singer and actress. Hewett's top 40 singles on the Kent Music Report include " Super Star", " Day by Day" (both 1971), " Carry That Weight" (1972), "Dreaming My Dreams with You" (1980 ...

as Carol, Chris' wife *

Michael Carman Michael Carman (born 10 November 1951) is an Australian film, television, and theatre actor. He trained at St Martins Theatre from 1969 to 1971 and attended Swinburne Film and Television School Swinburne Film and Television School was a film ...

as Jeff * Frank Wilson as Wally *

John Ewart John Reford Ewart (26 February 1928 – 8 March 1994) was an Australian actor of radio, stage, television and film. Ewart was a double nominee (and one/time winner) of the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Early life Ewart was ...

as Spanner *

Lois Ramsey Lois June Ramsey (; 18 June 1922 – 22 January 2016) also billed as Lois Ramsay, was an Australian actress, best known for her regular roles on television series '' The Box'' and ''Prisoner''. She often played quirky, eccentric old ladies on ...

as Dora *

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 ...

and

Tommy Dysart Thomas Gibson Dysart (24 December 1935 – 7 June 2022) was a Scottish-born Australian actor, known for his appearances on television dramas and comedies and in character roles in films and miniseries. Early career Dysart graduated from NIDA ...

as the Devlin brothers *

Denise Drysdale Denise Anne Christina Drysdale (born 5 December 1948) is an Australian television presenter, variety entertainer, actress, singer, dancer and comedian. She is often affectionately known as "Ding Dong", a nickname invented by fellow performer Er ...

Sigrid Thornton Sigrid Madeline Thornton (born 12 February 1959) is an Australian film and television actress. Her television work includes ''Prisoner'' (1979–80), '' All the Rivers Run'' (1983), '' SeaChange'' (1998–2019) and '' Wentworth'' (2016–2018) ...

Production

It was executive produced by

Oscar Whitbread Oscar Ralph Whitbread (26 November 1929 – 16 May 2016) was an English-Australian producer who worked extensively in television. He moved to Australia in the late 1940s. Whitbread started his career at the ABC in 1956, where he served as the ...

and was made by several of the team behind the TV show ''

Power Without Glory ''Power Without Glory'' is a 1950 historical novel written by Australian author Frank Hardy, following the life and ambitions of John West, a politician born into a working-class family who rises to prominence in Australian federal politics. ...

''.

Episodes

#Running In (31 July 1978) - w Keith Thompson dir John Gauci. Chris and Stokey deal with the Devlin brothers. #Prime Movers (7 Aug 1978) - w Keith Thompson d Douglas Sharp. #Short Haul (14 Aug 1978) #Rear Vision (21 Aug 1978) #Country Music (28 Aug 1978) - w Michael Aitkens d John Gauci. #Road Games (4 Sept 1978) - w Everett de Roche, d Michael Ludbrook. #Hitching Up (11 Sept 1978) #Heat Wave (18 Sept 1978) #Brumby Run (25 Sept 1978) #Road to Naragoona (2 Oct 1978) - Chris and Stokey both find romance when they break down in a small town. #Thunderplain Stallion (9 Oct 1978) - Chris and Stokey escort a racehorse. #Final Payment (16 October 1978) - Chris finds out Carol is pregnant.

Reception

Reviewing the first episode the ''Sun Herald'' said "the ABC has gone down market... the people at whom this series is aimed would rarely turn to the ABC."

Critique

John Wood later recalled: "I thought it was a tremendously innovative show, but it came aground on the reef of ABC internal politics. Obviously there were things wrong with it, and I guess by going for truthfulness they stuffed up in a sense, because one of the problems in driving along in a truck and doing different angles and two shots and reverses is that it's totally impossible to match the engine revs at any time. But apart from that problem of not being able to match the soundtrack, I thought it was a wonderful show. Unfortunately it caused a lot of havoc, because the guy who took over as head of drama in Sydney had been an ex-sound recordist, and he regarded it as beneath his 'golden standard', so he was very willing to sabotage it. And it was a great excuse for the Sydney mob to say you stuffed up down there."

References

External links

''The Truckies''
at Australian Television Information Archive
''The Truckies''
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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Truckies, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming 1978 Australian television series debuts 1970s Australian drama television series Australian English-language television shows