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The Dismissal (miniseries)

The Dismissal is an Australian television miniseries, first screened in 1983, that dramatised the events of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.

The Dismissal

Ron Blair

Australia

English

3

270 minutes

$2.6 million[1]

6 March 1983 (1983-03-06)

It was partly written and directed by the noted film makers George Miller and Phillip Noyce as well as Mad Max screenwriter Terry Hayes, with cinematography by Dean Semler.


The miniseries comprised six one-hour episodes. It was originally broadcast by Network Ten, beginning on 6 March 1983 (the day after the 1983 federal election), and was also broadcast in the United Kingdom.


It was voted the 19th-best Australian television show on the 50 Years 50 Shows list.


In the 1970s there were several attempts to make a film based on the same story called King Hit written by Erwin Rado and Bruce Grant. Phillip Noyce and Paul Cox were both attached as directors for a time.[2]

as the dismissed Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam

Max Phipps

as the appointed Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser

John Stanton

as Whitlam's Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns

John Hargreaves

as Labor politician Rex Connor

Bill Hunter

as Margaret Whitlam, the prime minister's wife

Ruth Cracknell

as Labor Senator Jim McClelland

George Ogilvie

as Treasurer Bill Hayden

Peter Sumner

as Labor Senator Justin O'Byrne, President of the Senate

Vincent Ball

as Phillip Lynch

Ed Devereaux

as Eric Robinson

Arthur Dignam

as Billy Snedden

Stewart Faichney

as Anne Kerr, Lady Kerr

Robyn Nevin

as Liberal Senator Reg Withers

Tom Oliver

as Doug Anthony

Sean Scully

as independent Senator Albert Field

Martin Vaughan

as Barry Cohen

John Clayton

(uncredited) as George Harris as President of Carlton Football Club

Lucky Grills

as Gordon Scholes / The Second Speaker

Dennis Miller

as Narrator

Peter Carroll

Reception[edit]

The series was a huge ratings success in Australia, getting a 42% viewing share.[3]

The Dismissal (musical)

at IMDb

The Dismissal

at Australian Screen Online

The Dismissal