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- 1983-1984 - 184 x 60 minute episodes - produced by Crawford Productions for Network Ten - |
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Carson’s Law was a period legal-drama designed as a
vehicle for Lorraine Bayly, former star of The Sullivans. Carson’s Law gave her a strong character with
an important career, a large extended family of interesting characters, and
an excellent co-star in Kevin Miles. The show gave Network Ten – best known
for outwardly commercial fare targeting a young audience - a critically
acclaimed, high quality production. It also gave it decent ratings in several
cities for two years. Overview
Created
by Terry Stapleton, the show was produced by Crawford Productions which was
mostly known for successful and well regarded police dramas. Crawford
Productions had also previously created straight soap operas. Their first was
the outwardly commercial The Box (1974-1977). This was followed by
the critically acclaimed The Sullivans (1976-1982) which had also became a conspicuous popular success. Carson’s Law began production in June 1982. Its on screen
debut came in January 1983, by which time a backlog of 35 episodes were in
the can. [1] Through the six months prior to
the show’s debut, episodes had been produced at a rate of two one hour
installments each week. At the time of the Carson’s Law debut it had been announced that The Sullivans had been cancelled. The closing
episodes of The Sullivans were still being screened on
Channel Nine at the time Carson’s Law started. [2] Carson’s Law was set in The biggest criticism of the original premise might be the scant regard paid to real life legal practice. The cases were all quick but interesting, often involving community outrage and newspaper headlines. Jennifer acted as a criminal solicitor doing the main interviewing and investigating work, before switching over to act as barrister, presenting the same case in court. Main
Characters
Bayly
played Jennifer Carson,
a modern-thinking mother of three children and a former lawyer. Jennifer was
married to William Carson (Jon Sidney), the dashing oldest son of a wealthy
family of lawyers, and had an uneasy relationship with William’s bombastic
and old-fashioned father Godfrey (Kevin Miles). She still called him Mr.
Carson. He called her a menace and a nuisance. Godfrey ran his own legal
practice, Carson and Carson, which employed his sons. Aside from William they
were the phlegmatic Robert (Ross Thompson), married to snobbish
social-climber Margery (Louise Pajo), and the
raffish Thomas (Chris Orchard). Charming and lazy, Thomas was a
womanising playboy, but found
himself coerced by Godfrey into pursuing a political career. Thomas lacked
the strength to resist this openly. Godfrey’s youngest child was the free
spirited Amy (Christine Harris), a flapper who snuck liquor and played modern
music that irritated her father. Usually, however, he ignored her. William
and Jennifer’s children are Billy ( In
casting the roles producer John Barningham and
casting director Bunney Brooke had seen about 350
actors in John Barningham explained that one character was rewritten to
fit a standout actor who tested for the part. “Of all
the people we saw, there was one actor - and I don’t really want to say who
it was - who was so different to the character we had scripted that we
actually changed the role to suit him. His performance was the best. It was
one of those interesting occasions where someone brought into play so much
that we had not seen in the character. It was a case for the character to be arranged
for the actor.” [4] Premise
The
character of Godfrey Carson had firm ideas on how women should behave, and
disapproved of Jennifer’s progressive ways. Dowdy Robert was bossed around by both his father
and his wife Margery, and was rarely able to stand up for himself. Ironically
Margery was always nagging him to stand up for himself within the family.
Meanwhile the charismatic Thomas became a firm favourite with viewers. Apart
from the legal component there was also a heavy dash of Upstairs Downstairs,
with various servants and legal staffers given prominent roles in the series.
Godfrey’s ever-faithful but rather sinister butler Gerard Kent was played by
Noel Trevarthen while Irene Inescort
shone in the role of Jennifer’s garrulous and rather bossy Irish housekeeper
Eileen Brennan. Carson and Carson’s junior partner was Arthur Simpson
(Patrick Dickson) and he boarded with Carson and The story
opened with Godfrey summoning the family to an elegant soiree at his Now she
wants to return, a request a pompous Godfrey gleefully rejects, however
William is soon able to convince him otherwise. Back to the party and Godfrey
puts the cat amongst the pigeons by suddenly announcing his engagement to the
elegant Felicity (Christine Amor), a young widow and daughter of Godfrey’s
friend and wealthy business associate Sir Humphrey Moore (Kevin Healy). Amy
is put out that she wasn’t asked, Margery worries about the family
inheritance and is put out that Robert wasn’t consulted, although Tommy seems
more than happy to welcome Felicity into the fold. Despite
Godfrey’s dislike of Jennifer and his belief that a woman’s place is in the
home, he soon appoints her to Carson and Carson. Eventually, it is hoped, he
will even find her a proper desk to sit at. However Godfrey is enraged by
Jennifer’s first forays into the world of law and justice when she becomes
embroiled in the case of accused child murderer, saloon owner George Royston
(Trevor Kent). Jennifer had begun to suspect that he had been framed by police
under pressure to wrap up the case that had enraged the community, observing
that he had no legal counsel or any supporters at all. Visiting him in remand
Jennifer offered legal counsel – even though this was her first case since
returning to the profession and despite the fact the Carson and Carson no
longer handled criminal matters. Jennifer
eventually convinced William to take the case, further enraging Godfrey.
However when William flew of to retrieve a witness for the defense it was the
last time Jennifer saw him. On the return flight the plane crashed killing
Bill and the witness. Jennifer herself took over the case, with Arthur
Simpson defecting from Carson and Carson to assist her. The Royston case was
well defended by Jennifer, although she frequently tried the patience of the
Judge, played by Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell.
Unfortunately Royston was found guilty, and promptly hanged himself in
prison, leaving Jennifer devastated and wondering if any of it had been worth
it. Deciding against continuing her career Jennifer was visited by a
distraught woman who had been turned down by a string of lawyers, begging
that Jennifer represent her. In other
developments it is found that a large sum of money has mysteriously been
embezzled from Carson and Carson. It is assumed Bill must have taken the
money as he and Godfrey had the only keys to the safe. Though Jennifer is
adamant that he couldn’t have, until proof of this is uncovered she agrees
she will pay back the money, necessitating her return to the work force. After
several weeks it emerged that Tommy had stolen the money. Episode
two of the series had introduced a slick opening titles sequence in which the
Bill’s
Death
The
producers of the series had faced an early dilemma when William’s death
provoked a storm of protest from the show’s shocked fans. The demise of the
charming and easy-going oldest Bill’s
early death eschewed the popular soap opera clauses such as missing bodies or
unidentified remains; clearly William was meant to die. However the character had proved
popular in his few episodes and the protest so strong that the writers were
tempted to concoct a way of bringing Jon Sidney back somehow - a long-lost
son perhaps? Certainly he couldn’t return as William as he had been confirmed
dead and this would have ruined the planned future storylines of the series. Of course
such far-fetched ideas were totally foreign to the Crawford’s product and
ultimately the writers had to face the fact that viewers would probably not
have accepted the return, so William never was reincarnated. Jon Sidney, who
had played assorted roles in Australian film and television drama prior to Carson’s Law, seemingly missed his big break
in showbiz by taking the role of the character destined to die. Though he
would continue to take guest roles on TV programs such as Prisoner,
the outpourings over his premature death in Carson’s Law remained his closest brush with fame. It does
seem to have been a mistake to kill Bill. The opening scenes with Bill,
Jennifer and Godfrey are brilliant and full of conflict. While Bill is
somewhat a middle man in the drama, there is still plenty of drama there.
With his absence something does seem to be missing. Ongoing
Storylines
Each week
there would be a new legal drama with special guest stars – frequently well
known Australian television actors. Responsible for the expert casting was
former celebrity soap actor Bunney Brooke. The
series frequently challenged accepted beliefs and explored social issues
through the court cases it presented. Early in the show’s run popular actress
Julieanne Newbould guest
starred as a single girl who fell pregnant. Because of the morals of the day
unwed mothers were ostracised while abortions were illegal, forcing the girl to seek a highly
dangerous backyard abortion. Flamboyant
American-born actor and entertainer John O’May
later appeared in the prominent role of John Kendall, an up-and-coming solicitor at Carson and Carson
whose career was ruined when proof emerged that he was a homosexual. This
revelation led to his being disowned by his family, imprisoned, and subjected
to a humiliating court battle. A later
case involved the rape of a naïve young girl whose prior sexual experiences
were brought before
the court, “proving” that she had invited the advances. Bunney
Brooke herself was even a guest actor in one legal storyline. She played a
character accused of running an illegal betting ring. All these cases, while
providing courtroom suspense, also allowed a thoughtful exploration of the
issues involved. Jennifer generally remained forgiving and tolerant while
Godfrey stuck steadfastly to the old-fashioned conservative view, with the
other characters falling at various points between these two poles. While
ostensibly a historical drama, the issues explored were frequently relevant
to 1980s audiences too. The
series was certainly well written and somehow managed to mingle the large and
disparate cast of regular characters with the week’s guest characters and
particular storyline quite successfully. There was certainly a wide range of
stories explored by the series given that at any time we might be dealing
with a school drama of Sarah’s, a marital squabble between the childless
Robert and Margery, a big legal case with Godfrey and Jennifer opposing one
another in court, a romance with an “unsuitable” man for Amy, and tensions
between Felicity and Thomas caused the illicit attraction he had for his new
step-mother. Series
Format
The first
six episodes are in the form of a single miniseries essentially focused on
the Royston trial. After that the series shifted to the regular format of
stories self contained to the two one-hour episodes aired each week. In The two
episodes of any given week formed a self-contained narrative block; new guest
characters and the week’s particular storyline were introduced in the first
episode of the week, things would be brought to a dramatic cliffhanger at the
end of that episode, and the story would be resolved in the week’s second
episode. Usually
the story in hand was a legal drama or some sort, though this was not always
the case, and there was also often a particular sub-plot introduced for the two episodes as well.
Alongside the week’s self-contained stories there would be assorted on-going
story threads concerning the show’s regular characters. In this way the
series could be considered as a soap opera, and it was certainly not possible
to screen the episodes out of order due the ongoing component of the script. Carson’s Law rated strongly in In an
attempt to attract more The 100th
episode went to air January 1984 and featured Amy being caught by Robert in delicto flagrante with Philip. Also featured in this
episode was former Number 96 regular Chard Hayward as artist
Randolph Seaton, one of Amy’s By March
1984 Godfrey had fired Gerard. Then, distracted, he accidently started a
waste paper basket fire at home. The flames spread, trapping Felicity and their
new baby Edward, though they were quickly rescued in the following episode. Revamp
Sadly the
show’s The show underwent a dramatic revamp with many
subsidiary characters abruptly written out of the series and a new range of
racy new plotlines introduced in an attempt to attract more viewers. This
included an increased emphasis on Thomas, with storylines involving his
gambling and mob connections, along with a long-running Jack the Ripper style
serial killer storyline in which he was implicated. Tommy started Lucky’s nightclub in partnership with journalist Russell
Burns (Hu Pryce) who had initially been introduced
as Jennifer’s new love interest. Unfortunately Burns disappeared, only to
later turn up dead, and Tommy was suspected of being involved in his demise. The At this
point the show’s storyline jumped forward 17 months. When things resumed
Gerard had just been released from prison. Jennifer’s three children, her
father Vic, and her legal clerk Arthur had all disappeared. Marion Heathfield was written out of the series and her
secretary character Esme, now retired, had been
replaced by new secretary Julia, played by Constance Lansberg.
Jennifer Carson now lived in a small art deco apartment. Jennifer’s former
housekeeper Eileen had moved across to work in Godfrey’s mansion, and
Gerard’s replacement was fiery Spanish servant Carlos Sanchez (Tony Alvarez),
who clashed frequently with Eileen. Later Kate (Rowena Mohr), an attractive
young maid, joined the Unfortunately
all these changes had been for nothing. Before these episodes had even gone
to air in May 1984, Crawford’s announced that production would end in July
and the final episodes transmitted at the end of the year. [6] In any event, according to
Lorraine Bayly, she and Kevin Miles had both told
Hector Crawford that they would not continue with the series beyond their
original two year contracts. Both actors had lead roles in the program’s
storylines, and both had long legal speeches to give in the show’s courtroom
dramas. The work load for the two was monumental, prompting their decisions
to leave. In the end both actors agreed to work one extra week to tie up the
storyline with a fitting conclusion. [7] The
End
The
show’s The final
episodes hurriedly tie up loose ends for the remaining characters, although
none of Jennifer’s departed family members make return appearances. Robert
and Margery finally have a child when they take in a young girl abandoned by
her mother (played by Jane Clifton in a cameo appearance). The redemption of
the popular Gerard character is made complete and he is revealed to have been
related to basically every other regular character in the show. Gerard had
previously been revealed as the secret love child of Godfrey’s deceased first
wife. In the finale it is learned his father was the late Sir Humphrey,
meaning that he was also the half-brother of Felicity. He gained a large
inheritance, but it was immediately lost in the stock market crash. Meanwhile
Tommy’s network of mob connections was closing in on him. In desperation he
kidnapped baby Edward, the son of Godfrey and Felicity, but was arrested.
Tommy soon escaped to confront Godfrey and Felicity, shooting himself in
front of them. Amongst this turmoil Godfrey had allowed Carson and Carson to
be swindled by a confidence trickster; his business and his fortune seemed
lost. In the
end Jennifer called a gathering at the |
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Page originally uploaded June 2000 Last updated 3 January 2010 |
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