Luke's Kingdom - The Complete Series [DVD]

Product Information

When the Disney Channel contracted the UK ITV broadcaster HTV Wales to bring to the screen this major drama series, it realised a legacy left by Robert Louis Stevenson when he wrote his classic thriller more than a hundred years ago. Luke’s illegal activities in establishing a squatter’s ranch allow plenty of opportunity for conflict with the penal colony’s governing body who refuse to recognise his claim to the land. Set in Australia in 1829, follow the tale of a family led by a retired naval lieutenant recently widowed who take his two sons Samuel and Luke and his daughter Jassy to New South Wales. Oliver Tobias Freitag, known professionally as Oliver Tobias, is a Swiss-born UK-based film, stage, and television actor and director. This co-production between Yorkshire Television and the Nine Network (Australia) was based on the novel Pages From a Squatter’s Diary by E.

Genteel Jason, kind-hearted Samuel (Gerard Maguire), fiery Luke (former Arthur of the Britonsstar Oliver Tobias) and their sister Jassy (Elisabeth Crosby) are to establish a sheep farm on land which has been bequeathed to Jason. The arrival of an uninvited guest causes complications for Luke because of an association he builds up with Jassy. As quintessentially British as the location for its deceptively simple, but brilliantly effective premise, Fawlty Towers ranks as one of the most consistently hilarious thirty-minutes of comedy to have ever graced the television screen. The quality of the film used, then, and its colour was not as good as today's film but that is soon forgotten as the stories unfold. Filmed entirely on location, it is a tale of pioneering and achievement against bitter odds, in which a family struggles to carve out an existence in a land more dangerous and more brutal than the West at its wildest.

By episode four, Jason concedes that his son's more brutal view is the right one and he somehow falls in line.

By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. V. Timms, a dramatic exploration of early Australian settlement and the tremendous hardships that helped to shape the nation.In 1829, following the tragic death of his wife, retired naval officer Jason Firbeck (James Condon) takes his three adult children – two sons and a daughter – from their home in Yorkshire and heads for the new land of Australia, determined to build a new life for themselves in New South Wales – which at the time was also still a penal colony. All in all I can say I am glad I watched it, as it was an interesting series that made some attempts to cover the colonisation more truthfully than the general rose-coloured versions of difficult stories that appear on the small screen, but I can't say that I really enjoyed it. As they face the struggles of fitting into this strange new world, the family equip themselves with arms and supplies, and set off across the sweltering plains only to strengthen Luke's resolve to become the leader of the land. The way the natives are treated almost seems to be an over zealous approach to a normal stereotypical one of either ignoring them of making them out to be the baddies, but although it shows some ill-treatment and injustice, they appear to sit in groups waiting for white man to bring grog or work until they fight or are attacked.

Oh well - you can't have everything, and I guess if it wasn't for Network's admirable 'release it anyway' policy there would be many gems which would never see the light of day. The site carries no advertising, and I rely on donations to help with running costs and to keep the site running for your entertainment and education.

Other regular characters included Moll the innkeeper (Shirley Cameron), Kate Bell (Helen Morse), a former inmate of the notorious Female Factory at Parramatta, and former comic Willie Fennell as a shepherd who the Firbeck family befriends. He also has to contend with rustlers, travelling con men, escaped prisoners, aboriginal raids and cut-throat gangs. Women are used as a barometer for the brutal toughness of the task, with many reduced to whoring or the equivalent as the mistresses of much older men. To begin with, these opposing views cause great tension as it is unclear who will be the eventual patriarch.

More Hamburger icon An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. Any sales or other uses of this document are expressly forbidden, without the specific consent of the author(s). Interesting series which unusually features early colonial Australia, something I've not really seen visualized before.

Amid redcoated soldiery, yellow-jacketed convicts and a tanned peasantry governed by a wealthy elite, the Firbecks equip themselves with arms and supplies, and set off across the sweltering plains; the hardships and hazards they face confirm Luke's resolve to become the leader of his family of pioneers. The series starred Oliver Tobias as an Englishman who, in 1829, emigrates to Australia with his father and siblings to settle on a land grant in New South Wales.