- 2 years ago
SEVEN LITTLE AUSTRALIANS - Episode 1 - "Fowl For Dinner"
Originally broadcast 26th August 1973
SEVEN LITTLE AUSTRALIANS was a 10 part television mini-series based on Ethel Turner's best selling 1894 novel that aired on ABCTV in 1973 between 26th August to 28th October 1973 winning a Gold Logie for Best New Drama in 1974.
Story synopsis - Klassic 1880s Australian drama concerning a strict army widower taking on a new wife & attempt to control difficult situations caused by seven mischievous children.
Cast - Barbara Llewellyn as Meg Woolcot
Mark Clark as Pip Woolcot
Anna Hruby as Nell Woolcot
Jennifer Cluff as Judy Woolcot
Tania Falla as Baby Woolcot
Mark Shields-Brown as Bunty Woolcot
Christian Robinson as The General
Leonard Teale as Captain John Woolcot
Elizabeth Alexander as Esther Woolcot
Ruth Cracknell as Martha
Produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in association with ETHEL TURNER PRODUCTIONS and the AUSTRALIAN FILM DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTION
Television soundtrack composed by Bruce Smeaton
Arranged by Geoff Hales and Bruce Smeaton
Played by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Original story by Ethel Turner & Adapted by Eleanor Witcombe
Executive Producer - Charles Russell
Directed by Ron Way
Originally broadcast 26th August 1973
SEVEN LITTLE AUSTRALIANS was a 10 part television mini-series based on Ethel Turner's best selling 1894 novel that aired on ABCTV in 1973 between 26th August to 28th October 1973 winning a Gold Logie for Best New Drama in 1974.
Story synopsis - Klassic 1880s Australian drama concerning a strict army widower taking on a new wife & attempt to control difficult situations caused by seven mischievous children.
Cast - Barbara Llewellyn as Meg Woolcot
Mark Clark as Pip Woolcot
Anna Hruby as Nell Woolcot
Jennifer Cluff as Judy Woolcot
Tania Falla as Baby Woolcot
Mark Shields-Brown as Bunty Woolcot
Christian Robinson as The General
Leonard Teale as Captain John Woolcot
Elizabeth Alexander as Esther Woolcot
Ruth Cracknell as Martha
Produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in association with ETHEL TURNER PRODUCTIONS and the AUSTRALIAN FILM DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTION
Television soundtrack composed by Bruce Smeaton
Arranged by Geoff Hales and Bruce Smeaton
Played by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Original story by Ethel Turner & Adapted by Eleanor Witcombe
Executive Producer - Charles Russell
Directed by Ron Way
Category
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TVTranscript
00:30StSq3 3.30 (-0.99)"
00:35LSp4 2.70 (-0.50)"
01:00CCoSp4 3.50 (-0.50)"
01:17Long ago, in another country, for one day a year, the people used to elect a child as king.
01:23He was called the Lord of Misrule, King of Topsy-Turviedon.
01:28On that day, all order and logical behavior were thrown to the winds.
01:33Is everything all right, Martha?
01:35Just say your prayers.
01:41It's too high!
01:44This is Misrule.
01:47That's not its real name, but seven little Australians live here, and since I'd married their father, so did I.
01:54And believe me, this was indeed the kingdom of Topsy-Turviedon.
01:58Here, anything could happen, and it usually did.
02:11Oh, baby, look at the mess you're in!
02:13Bunty! Tidy yourself up!
02:17Why, Pippin Judy!
02:24Hurry up, Judy. Father said six o'clock.
02:27Oh, Pippin, it'll just be the same old lecture.
02:43You, sir, are late!
02:45Sorry, Father.
02:46We were on the river.
02:47Father said six!
02:49You, sir, are late!
02:50Sorry, Father.
02:51We were on the river.
02:52Father said six!
02:53Stop it, Bunty, that hurts!
02:55John, it's getting late, and there are other preparations.
02:58Indeed.
03:00I shall overlook your lateness this time.
03:04As you are aware, in approximately one hour, my new commanding officer and his wife will be arriving for dinner.
03:10I intend that they will find us at least moderately civilized, with due regard for order and discipline.
03:18Possibly this can only be achieved by your silence and invisibility.
03:23You know my orders. I expect them to be obeyed. Is that understood?
03:25Yes, Father.
03:27Esther, you will see to it?
03:28Yes, John.
03:29Upstairs.
03:48Really, the roads were better in India.
03:52Where is this wretched house?
03:54Oh, just along the river a bit, my dear.
03:57Such an outlandish place to reach.
04:00I take it they don't live in some native encampment?
04:03Wolcott's not exactly a wild colonial, you know.
04:06Good old English family and all that.
04:08Hardly comforting.
04:10We always sent our drunkards and lunatics to the colonies, didn't we?
04:13Oh, come, my dear.
04:14I've yet to meet here a person of real refinement.
04:18Dining out in Sydney is like going to a beer baiting.
04:22I presume, in usual native style, we'll be expected to dine en famille with the entire tribe.
04:27Good Lord, you shouldn't think so.
04:29Old Wolcott's English to the bootstraps, you know.
04:32So, I believe, is the first word.
04:34He was married before, did you know?
04:36Well, very keen on the right thing and all that.
04:39Great instinct of a discipline, and the barracks carries out like a Prussian guard.
04:43I'll wager that family is the best disciplined unit in New South Wales.
04:49βͺ
05:03Kathleen, Bethune, in the grey dawn is breaking
05:09The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill
05:16The luck from her light winged the bright
05:25My dear, E-flat, surely?
05:27I'm sorry, John. Don't you think...
05:29Please, Esther, start at the beginning.
05:30We should finish dressing.
05:31I am already dressed.
05:32But, John...
05:33My dear Esther, tonight there will be no hitches,
05:36no panics, crises, disasters or mistakes in anything, please.
05:47Kathleen, Bethune, in the grey dawn is breaking
05:54The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill
06:00The luck from her light winged the bright
06:08Kathleen, Bethune, what slumbering still?
06:17Oh, ask the forgotten, how soon...
06:22Oh, ask the forgotten, how soon...
06:46Everyone, please be quiet.
06:47Julie, did you start this?
06:48Honestly, Esther, I only threw a piece of bread at Bunty. I missed.
06:51Well, it weren't my fault.
06:52I just come in that door and this thing hit me square in the face.
06:56Naughty Judy threw it at Bunty.
06:58It was Bunty's fault anyway. He started throwing things.
07:01I did not.
07:02Oh, Bunty, you thief.
07:07Why did you all keep quiet?
07:09Talk about starting it.
07:11I don't care.
07:14Esther.
07:19Children, please.
07:20Esther.
07:21Children.
07:22Now, listen, I don't care who started what.
07:25You did, you know, just because Judy took you off of being circumfounded.
07:28Start up and show me lately.
07:29I did not.
07:30I did not.
07:34Will you be silent or shall I come up?
07:37It's all right, John.
07:39Bridget, go downstairs. The guests will be arriving.
07:41And do try to remember all I told you.
07:43I won't remember nothing.
07:46What is going on?
07:48Oh, Meg, do help clean up this mess.
07:50Esther, it wasn't my fault.
07:53Oh, no, it wasn't your fault.
07:55Esther, I don't think it's fair to blame me just because I'm...
08:09I can't.
08:11Go on.
08:12I can't remember nothing. I can't.
08:14I messed this up, my girl.
08:15And it's straight back to Mudgee on the next train.
08:17Just remember that.
08:21And better ring again.
08:25Good evening, sir.
08:26Good evening.
08:28Good evening, madam.
08:45This way, if you please.
08:49The colonel and Mrs. Bryant.
08:53Good evening, Mrs. Bryant.
08:55Good evening, sir.
08:56Good evening, Wolcott.
08:58My wife will be down in a moment.
09:00The exigencies of female adornment, you know, sir.
09:03I trust you didn't find the room too restless.
09:07My dear colonel, Mrs. Bryant, how good of you to come.
09:15Back to the kitchen.
09:19Where do you think you're going?
09:21Aren't we getting anything else to eat?
09:23No, you aren't.
09:24Now just go on upstairs and behave.
09:26It's not fair.
09:27Get...
09:28out of here.
09:29Out.
09:30Out.
09:31Out.
09:32Out.
09:33Out.
09:34Out.
09:36Out.
09:50You needn't throw it all out.
09:51I'll eat it.
09:52Oh, don't be disgusting.
09:54It's all right for you.
09:55Just because you don't like rice pudding.
10:00Pig.
10:01Lady Isabel leaned back,
10:03panting with emotion.
10:05Let's see.
10:06There in the bright moonlight,
10:08slowly paced arm in arm,
10:10drawn close to each other,
10:12her husband and Barbara with a choking sob.
10:16Be avenged on that false hound, Isabel.
10:19Yes, yes.
10:20Take me.
10:21Take me away from all this.
10:25Fancy Lady Isabel throwing things
10:27and upsetting rice pudding.
10:29I didn't.
10:30You did.
10:31You deliberately aimed that bread at Bridget.
10:32I saw you.
10:33Give me back my book.
10:37Translation.
10:38Aren't you cold without your pond?
10:39Shut up.
10:41Really, you two.
10:42As if it isn't bad enough
10:43just having bread and butter for tea
10:45while they're having roast fowl.
10:48We didn't get no roast fowl.
10:50I like roast fowl.
10:52Wouldn't it be nice to have just a teeny bit?
10:56I'd like a big lot.
10:58Me too.
10:59I've a good mind to go down and ask for some.
11:01Oh, you wouldn't.
11:02Who says I wouldn't?
11:04I dare you.
11:05Judy.
11:06Go on, I dare you.
11:08All right.
11:09If you get some, I begs a piece.
11:11Right.
11:14Yes, I like quite a good yes.
11:19Have you had an opportunity yet, Mrs. Bryant,
11:21to see anything of our countryside?
11:23I'm afraid Sydney, Mrs. Woolcott, is quite enough.
11:27Oh, really, the heat.
11:29The dust, the insects.
11:31How anyone but the kangaroo can survive in such a climate,
11:34heaven only knows.
11:36Yes, well, I suppose it must be rather a terrible change for you
11:39after the frosts, the rain, the fogs in England.
11:43My wife's people, you know, have a station in the northwest.
11:46A railway?
11:47Must say I rather enjoy the heat myself.
11:50Wife preferred to stay back in Hampshire,
11:52but I remember in 88, stationed at Dare at Doon.
11:55Barely hotter summer on record.
11:57Smythe Johnson was commanding officer at the time.
11:59Might have known him.
12:00Old rugby man too, you know.
12:03Well, hello, young fellow.
12:07Excuse me, Father.
12:11My eldest son, Philip.
12:13Colonel and Mrs. Bryant.
12:15Good evening, sir.
12:16Ma'am.
12:17Good evening, Philip.
12:18What is it, Philip?
12:19I beg your pardon, sir,
12:20but I remember you saying that Colonel Bryant had been to India
12:23during the Afghan war.
12:24That's right, my boy.
12:25Oh, great, sir.
12:26We've been asked to write this essay for homework.
12:29Oh, I say.
12:30You're having the most foul.
12:32Homework, Philip?
12:34Friday night?
12:35I say, doesn't it smell terrific?
12:37Actually, the second war, you know, listen, Miss Gigi,
12:40there were all these Ruskies coming down from the north.
12:43Devilish, ticklish situation.
12:45Now, you've got to know the geography of it, of course.
12:48There was old Abdul Rahman
12:50and his ballygrain horse on one side beyond the Khyber.
12:53There we were, like sitting ducks per shower.
12:56Well, that idiot Mulgrove...
12:59No, no, no.
13:00It was Bobby Smythe.
13:03Remember, he later went to the 33rd.
13:06No, of course you wouldn't have known them.
13:08Well, there we were.
13:10Oh.
13:16Oh, I thought you'd been murdered.
13:28You didn't?
13:29Of course I did.
13:30That bit's yours.
13:31Delicious.
13:33But how did you do it?
13:34Natural charm and a superior intelligence.
13:37Pip, give me a piece too.
13:38Not like you. You go down and get your own.
13:40It looks awfully nice.
13:41You didn't just ask for it.
13:43Hardly.
13:44Got the old boy talking about India.
13:46Who does he talk?
13:47Father gave it to me to get rid of me.
13:49Walk up, walk up.
13:50Who's next for the guillotine?
13:52Well, if he can do it.
13:53Oh, no, don't be an idiot.
13:55Father says I have more charm than the rest of you put together.
14:00Gil!
14:02Oh.
14:04If I remember rightly,
14:05Belanger was commanding officer at the time.
14:07Might have known him.
14:09Seemed to have gone here again and said to...
14:11No, no, no, that was Meredith.
14:14Yes, well, we got this tale about the Pathans rising in the northwest and...
14:23Oh.
14:25Welcome to our sunny strand from far across the sea.
14:28You come from our dear motherland
14:30and oh, so pleased are we.
14:32Oh, hail to great Britannia's sons,
14:34the noblest and the best.
14:36On land and sea they are the ones who succor the oppressed.
14:39Thank you, Eleanor.
14:41What a sweet child.
14:43No!
14:48Oh!
14:49No!
14:50She was here.
14:51What did you do?
14:52What about father?
14:53Was he angry?
14:55You've got some wrist.
14:57Mrs Bryant thinks I look delicate.
14:59You fraud.
15:00I think father was saving it for himself.
15:02Oh, no.
15:04Megsie dear, I asked for a wing, especially for you.
15:07Oh, you darling.
15:08What did he say?
15:10Well, I went in and Mrs Bryant was sitting there,
15:12so I said this poem.
15:13Yes, on second thoughts.
15:14Of course it was Bollinger.
15:16You must have known him.
15:17Jolly decent fellow.
15:19Great admiration for him.
15:20Of course, we started about the same time.
15:22We were together for...
15:24I want some too.
15:26Some too?
15:28But it's not fair.
15:30Upstairs, out.
15:49Bunty!
15:56Bunty, you didn't.
15:58Now we really will catch it.
16:00Potato.
16:01Bunty, you pig.
16:03Pig yourself.
16:04He's not.
16:05He's very brave.
16:06And he's nice.
16:07Well, into the morrow.
16:09Well, in for a penny.
16:13You know, the only one who hasn't got a thing
16:15out of father's dinner party is the poor old general.
16:18Now, Judy, don't make things worse.
16:21Me?
16:22How?
16:23You always go too far.
16:25Pooh, I just think the whole business is entirely disgusting.
16:28Having to go down there and ask our own father for food.
16:31Go on, Fiz.
16:32We didn't have to.
16:33You dared me.
16:34Still, I think it's awful.
16:35Buying roast fowl for visitors
16:37and letting us starve on bread and butter.
16:39Poor little starved bubba.
16:42See, Chook Chook?
16:44You're mad.
16:45Now, Judy!
16:46Jenny would, Chook Chook.
16:48He won't say it.
16:56Kathleen Mavorneen
17:00The grey dawn is breaking
17:03The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill
17:09The luck from her light wing
17:13The bright dew is shaking
17:16Kathleen Mavorneen
17:19What's slumbering still?
17:24Chook Chook
17:26Chook Chook
17:28Chook Chook
17:30Oh, ask the forgotten
17:33How soon we...
17:35Chook Chook
17:53In all my life, I have never known a more disastrous evening.
18:05But the colonel didn't...
18:07If Bryant hadn't, for some extraordinary reason, found the whole thing funny,
18:11I would have whipped the lot of them to within an inch of their lives.
18:14The children didn't realize.
18:16A fine fool I must have looked to him.
18:18An army officer who cannot control his own children.
18:22Although they may have escaped a well-deserved thrashing through the good graces of the colonel,
18:26they must be disciplined, Esther.
18:28Oh?
18:30They will not go to the pantomime.
18:32Oh, but John, you know how they've been looking forward to the pantomime.
18:35Last night, I was humiliated by my own children in front of my new commanding officer
18:39and that dreadful vulgar wife of his.
18:41Oh, John.
18:42Tonight, I have no doubt the story of poor Wolcott's children,
18:44all looking like gypsies, begging for food,
18:46will be the highlight of the regimental dinner.
18:49They did apologize.
18:51My decision stands.
18:57Your father cannot allow such conduct to go unpunished,
19:00especially as you have all been unusually tiresome lately.
19:03Therefore...
19:04We're going to be hung by the neck until dead.
19:06Be quiet, Judy.
19:07Can't you do anything, Esther?
19:09He says you are the most unruly, untidiest lot of children in Sydney town,
19:13and he will punish you.
19:15There'll be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
19:18And let's hear.
19:20None of you are going to the pantomime.
19:23What? But we've waited three months.
19:25And he's brought the tickets.
19:26Your father plans to give them to the Digby Smiths.
19:28Them?
19:29Can't you get round him, Esther?
19:31Please.
19:32Come on, Esther.
19:33Very well.
19:34I'll try again.
19:36Thank you.
19:37But you have to make amends.
19:38Oh, we will.
19:39We promise.
19:40Honestly.
19:49Mrs. Wilcott?
19:51Yes, Bridget.
19:52Will I have to go back to Mudgee?
19:54Oh, no.
19:55You did very well last night.
19:57Nobody's going anywhere.
19:59Except a little later,
20:01the captain wants you to take these tickets over to Mrs. Digby Smith.
20:07I'll just keep them for a while.
20:09Just in case.
20:11Thank you, Bridget.
20:14Helen!
20:16What the devil is this?
20:18You'll cut your legs off.
20:20Oh, no, Father.
20:21I'm quite a deaf hand at mowing.
20:24See?
20:25Stop it immediately.
20:26I'm only after pleasure, aren't you, Captain, sir?
20:29It will serve you right, Helen.
20:31Oh, no, Father.
20:32I'm quite a deaf hand at mowing.
20:34See?
20:35Stop it immediately.
20:36I'm only after pleasure, aren't you, Captain, sir?
20:39It will serve you right, Helen.
20:41Thank you, Captain, sir.
20:42It will certainly not pleasure me
20:44if I have to restock the garden and buy you a cork leg.
20:47Sure, but don't I love you and delight to please you?
20:54Very well.
20:55You may finish.
21:11Thank you.
21:42Practising?
21:44Yes, Father.
21:45Unusual?
21:46Yes.
21:47By coincidence, my favourite prelude.
21:50Excuse me, Father.
21:52This copy of Among the Pines, it's badly torn.
21:55Do you wish to keep it?
21:57Of course.
21:58Thank you, Father.
22:12If that girl were a boy,
22:14she'd be the raw material for a first-rate general.
22:17Oh.
22:22Oh, Judy.
22:23Helen.
22:24Isn't she always the organising brain?
22:27They might also be simply trying to say they're sorry.
22:30My dear Esther...
22:31Oh, Judy.
22:32Helen.
22:33Isn't she always the organising brain?
22:36They might also be simply trying to say they're sorry.
22:39My dear Esther...
22:40I think the punishment is a little harsh.
22:43You want her to go to the pantomime too?
22:46Well, we don't go anywhere much, do we?
22:49Of course you will go if you wish.
22:51How could I?
22:55All I ask in this house is some sort of discipline,
22:59some sort of order and respect.
23:01Well, I think you expect too much of everyone.
23:05Esther, when I was a child...
23:06That was a long time ago, in a different country,
23:08with different ideas.
23:10John, if you try to make the children into something they're not,
23:13of course things will happen.
23:15My dear, I can only do what I believe to be my duty,
23:19and right, and fair.
23:26Look, Martha, I washed my face.
23:28Heavens, poor Paul.
23:29Who's that doing a good turn to?
23:31Bridget, did the missus tell you about varnishing the captain's boots?
23:33Oh, I can't do everything.
23:35You better, or there'll be hell to pay.
23:36I did it for father.
23:38He'll die.
23:39Have to do more than that to impress him today.
23:40Don't just stand there.
23:41You've got work to do.
23:43Well, you get out of here.
23:50Good God, woman, what else is there?
23:53There's nothing wrong with those washers.
24:23Oh, my God.
24:54What?
25:00Elsa!
25:02What is happening in this house?
25:04Drenched.
25:06Drenched to the skin.
25:08I'm sorry, John.
25:09Please, father.
25:11Oh, dear.
25:12John, please.
25:14Trying to wash the windows.
25:16Great Caesar, what are these children, imbeciles, suicides?
25:19I was doing my job.
25:21Saturated.
25:22She was only trying to...
25:23Oh, get her out.
25:29John, she's only a baby.
25:31She thought she was helping.
25:33There seems to be a conspiracy in this house
25:35to send me out of my mind.
25:38What's that?
25:46Oh!
25:49Oh!
25:53You unmitigated scoundrel!
25:55My dress uniform!
25:57I didn't, I didn't!
25:59It's not fair!
26:00Daddy said so we could go to the penthouse.
26:03Esther, hand me that strap at once!
26:06Oh, please, stop it.
26:07Stop it.
26:08Oh, stop.
26:10Out.
26:18Oh, John, help him.
26:20Forgive him.
26:22My dear, my poor, poor little girl, forgive me.
26:26Please, please forgive me.
26:29Seven of them.
26:31And I'm only 20.
26:48Oh, my God.
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