Crownies

Crownies
Genre	Legal drama Dramedy
Starring	Todd Lasance Hamish Michael Ella Scott Lynch Andrea Demetriades Indiana Evans Marta Dusseldorp
Theme music composer	Lanie Lane
Opening theme	What Do I Do
Composer(s)	Sonar Music Antony Partos
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	22 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Carole Sklan Des Monaghan Greg Haddrick David Ogilvy
Producer(s)	Karl Zwicky Jane Allen Lisa Scott
Production location(s)	Sydney
Cinematography	Bruce Young
Editor(s)	Marcus D'Arcy
Running time	55 mins approx
Production company(s)	Screentime Australia
Distributor	Target Entertainment
Release
Original network	ABC1
Picture format	1080i/25
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	14 July (2011-07-14) – 1 December 2011 (2011-12-01)
External links
Website

Crownies is an Australian television drama series which was originally broadcast on ABC1 from 14 July until 1 December 2011. The series revolves around a group of solicitors fresh from law school, working with Crown Prosecutors, who are the public prosecutors in the legal system of Australia, working for the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Production

ABC1 ordered Crownies for a twenty-two episode run and it was produced by Karl Zwicky. It was the first long-form drama format to be commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation since 2005's MDA. Filming began in January 2011. The location chosen for filming was Sydney, New South Wales. Many scenes were filmed in the business district Parramatta, more predominantly around the Parramatta Justice Precinct for the low financial cost and its accessibility. Alongside the Parramatta river shops, churches and streets were used for location shoots. Every twelve days a Brazilian restaurant located on Church Street would be converted into the set of "Gar's Bar", which served as the "legal hangout" for the characters. To cut costs, scenes requiring countryside settings were filmed a mere fifteen-minute drive away from Parramatta. The series finished filming in September 2011.

It is written by Greg Haddrick, Jane Allen, Kylie Needham, Tamara Asmar, Blake Ayshford, Chris Hawkshaw, Justine Gillmer, Pete McTighe, Stuart Page & Sam Miekle. It is directed by Tony Tilse, Chris Noonan, Cherie Nowlan, Grant Brown, Lynn Hegarty, Garth Maxwell and Jet Wilkinson.

On 24 January 2011, Greg Hassall from The Sydney Morning Herald announced the casting of Todd Lasance, Hamish Michael, Marta Dusseldorp and Jerome Ehlers.

Episodes

Main article: List of Crownies episodes

Cast

Main cast

• Todd Lasance as Ben McMahon
• Hamish Michael as Richard Stirling
• Ella Scott Lynch as Erin O'Shaughnessy
• Andrea Demetriades as Lina Badir
• Marta Dusseldorp as Janet King
• Indiana Evans as Tatum Novak
• Peter Kowitz as Tony Gillies
• Jeanette Cronin as Tracey Samuels
• Lewis Fitz-Gerald as David Sinclair QC
• Jerome Ehlers as Rhys Kowalski

Recurring

• Chantelle Jamieson as Julie Rousseau
• Christopher Morris as Andy Campbell
• Daniel Lissing as Conrad De Groot
• Marcus Graham as Danny Novak
• Aimee Pedersen as Ashleigh Larsson
• Ritchie Singer as The Honourable Mr Justice Rosenberg
• Paul Moxey as Harry
• Petra Yared as Paula Corvini

Spin-off series

Main article: Janet King (TV series)

Before the series finale of Crownies had broadcast, ABC1 Channel Controller Brendan Dahill revealed that he sought the creation of a spin-off and singled out Dusseldorp and Michael for their portrayals. He believed that there were many successful aspects of Crownies to build on and expressed his surprise that the show was not as popular as he had envisioned. On 20 August 2012, ABC TV confirmed that it had commissioned an "8-part legal and political thriller" titled Janet King. The spin-off went into production in early 2013 and featured various cast members from Crownies. The first episode aired on 27 February 2014.

Home media

Crownies was initially released on region 4 DVD in two separate parts. The first eleven episodes were released on 6 October 2011. The remaining episodes were released on 1 December 2011. The two box-sets were later released for region 2.

Reception

Critical analysis

Doug Anderson from The Sydney Morning Herald liked the show for cast, "fresh" writing and good relationship between character. He believed anyone with intelligence could relate to the show. He praised the character of Tatum Novak for being the modern girl and branded the rest as fairly conventional characters, with personal issues blended in with cases. But his colleague Craig Mathieson criticised the show stating "The show is struggling to find an even tone and at various times it's flirtatiously sexy, coolly cynical and blazingly emotional. The problem is that these diverse moods jarringly occur one after the other. It's somewhat messy."

Awards and nominations

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result
Equity Awards	29 March 2012	Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Crownies	Nominated
Logie Award	15 April 2012	Most Outstanding New Talent	Hamish Michael	Nominated
Australian Directors' Guild Awards	11 May 2012	Best Direction in a TV Drama Series	Jet Wilkinson	Nominated

External links

• Official website
• Production website
• Crownies at IMDb
• Crownies at Anything Oz or New Zealand film and television website