Australian TV
Last Of The Australians (Channel 9 1974-1975 with Alwyn Kurt and Rosie Sturgess)
Australia / Channel 9 – Crawford / 26×30 minute episodes / Broadcast 1974-1975 2 Seasons
Producer: Terry Stapleton / Executive Producer: Ian Crawford
An Australian sitcom in the mould of Till Death us do Part and based on the play “The One Day Of The Year” by Alan Seymour.
Lead character was middle aged Ted Cook who was convinced that Australia was on a downward spiral , a total bigot of a man Cook hated everything about the world today and believes a woman’s place is in the home.
Ted’s much put upon wife was Dot and the pair had a 19 year old son called Gary. A lot of the comedy came from the fact that Gary was progressive and trendy and of course Ted couldn’t bear that.
Other characters included Ted’s pals Blue, Fred and Barney and the Cook’s neighbour Mr King.
Alwyn Kurts who played Ted was more known as a serious actor and had previously appeared as Inspector Fox in Homicide. Interestingly the role of Gary had to be recast for season two because Richard Hubbard who played the role in season one decided to quit acting to become a Hari Krishni.
cast
ALWYN KURTS as Ted Cook
ROSIE STURGESS as Dot
RICHARD HIBBARD as Gary (season one)
STEPHEN THOMAS as Gary (season two)
TERRY NORRIS as Blue
MAURIE FIELDS as Barney
KEITH EDEN as Mr King
JOHN EWART as Fred