HeadLand
Encyclopedia
headLand is an Australian drama television series produced by the Seven Network
which ran from 15 November 2005 to 21 January 2006. The Seven Network filmed 52 episodes in the first series. Production on the second series had begun before any episodes were aired.
Set in a university, headLand premiered in Australia on Tuesday, 15 November 2005 at 7.30pm. On 23 January 2006, the Seven Network officially announced that the series has been cancelled. The show aired on weekdays at 7.30pm in the United Kingdom
on E4
, re-formatted as half-hour episodes. E4 eventually dropped the show but episodes continued to be broadcast on Channel 4
at 12:30pm, this time in the original hour-long format.
spin-off
with the hope of attracting the UK broadcaster Five as a co-producer. He created a show called Away From Home that told the story of Home and Away characters at the Yabbie Creek University. Five were not interested for various reasons, and a big reworking of the original concept was undertaken and the show was renamed Campus, and later Ten Degrees South — a title eventually rejected due to a possible confusion with UK series 55 Degrees North
.
In early 2005, the show's title was finalised as headLand and filming began with the series earmarked for a July premiere. However, with the pilot reportedly failing initial audience test screenings, some major changes were made and the pilot was reshot. This and other minor production delays pushed the airdate to much later that year.
. A disused psychiatric hospital at the Sydney College of Arts
, Rozelle and the University of Wollongong
, doubled as the fictional South Coast University. Studio scenes are filmed at White Bay Studios in Sydney
, making it the first Seven Network Sydney drama not to be filmed at the ATN-7
studios in Epping
.
. With Home and Away
on summer hiatus, the show was shifted to the earlier 7pm slot and broadcast on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in hope of building up more interest in the show during the non-ratings period. However, ratings failed to pick up and the show even suffered its lowest viewership during the period.
Because of this, on 1 December 2005, Seven announced to industry insiders that headLand would be removed from the schedule after Thursday, 22 December 2005. A day later they reversed their decision, but a little over a week later rumours started surfacing that headLand would be removed from prime time as early as Monday, 12 December 2005. This was confirmed to be just a rumour, as Seven announced headLand would remain in its current timeslot until 12 January 2006. Beginning 16 January 2006, headLand was removed from its Monday-Thursday 7.00 pm slot due to the return of Home and Away and the airing of the Australian Open Tennis Tournament
. Further episodes of headLand were aired in a Saturday timeslot until the start of the 2006 ratings season.
The remaining episodes that have not been broadcast on the Seven Network
are currently being aired on its digital channel 7Two
at 11am weekdays. The series ended with Grace and Luc getting engaged, but many other storylines were left up in the air at the end.
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
which ran from 15 November 2005 to 21 January 2006. The Seven Network filmed 52 episodes in the first series. Production on the second series had begun before any episodes were aired.
Set in a university, headLand premiered in Australia on Tuesday, 15 November 2005 at 7.30pm. On 23 January 2006, the Seven Network officially announced that the series has been cancelled. The show aired on weekdays at 7.30pm in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on E4
E4 (TV)
E4 is a channel on British digital television, launched as a pay-TV companion to Channel 4 on 18 January 2001. The "E" stands for entertainment, and the channel is mainly aimed at the lucrative 15–35 age group...
, re-formatted as half-hour episodes. E4 eventually dropped the show but episodes continued to be broadcast on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
at 12:30pm, this time in the original hour-long format.
Cast
- Sam AtwellSam AtwellSamuel Atwell is an Australian television and movie actor perhaps best known for his role as Kane Phillips in the soap opera Home and Away. Born in Nambour, Queensland, he and his family lived in Indonesia for 6 years before returning to Queensland where he grew up in Brisbane...
as Craig Palmer - Conrad ColebyConrad ColebyConrad Julius Coleby is an Australian actor.-Biography:Coleby is the son of actor Robert Coleby and brother of actress Anja Coleby. He attended Somerset College on the Gold Coast, graduating in 1996. In the same year, he played the role of Colonel Juan Perón in the school's production of Evita...
as Adam Wilde - Brooke HarmanBrooke HarmanBrooke Harman is an American-born Australian actress. Born in Orange County, California and moving to Brisbane, Queensland as a young child, her first television role was at age 11 on the children's television series The Wayne Manifesto...
as Kate Monk - Sophie KatinisSophie KatinisSophie Katinis is an Australian actress who has appeared in many television and theatre roles.-Television:Sophie played the role of university student Mel Bennett on the drama headLand in 2006...
as Mel Bennett - Jody KennedyJody KennedyJody Kennedy ia an Australian actress. Along with an extensive list of theatre credits, including with the Bell Shakespeare Company, she is most notably known for appearing in the television drama headLand, as smart university student Maddie McKinnon...
as Maddie McKinnon - Adrienne PickeringAdrienne Pickering-Biography:Pickering stars in one of the female lead roles of the Australian natural drama-thriller film The Reef.-Television career:She also played the recurring role of Detective Christine Taylor in the BBC-commissioned soap opera Out of the Blue. She appears on Home And Away as Natalie Franklin,...
as Elly Tate - Josh Quong TartJosh Quong TartJosh Quong Tart is an Australian actor who has performed in several television, commercial and film roles.-Biography:...
as Will Monk - Reshad StrikReshad StrikReshad Strik is an Australian actor of Bosnian descent.- Biography and career :Raised on Central Coast of New South Wales, Strik was a surfer and boxer as a youth. His sporting ambitions took a detour after he landed a national commercial and decided to pursue his love of film and theater by...
as Andy Llewellyn - Libby TannerLibby Tanner-Career:Tanner played Zoe Marshall in the short lived Channel 9 soap Pacific Drive from 1996 to 1997. Having appeared in the hospital drama All Saints playing Bronwyn Craig for five years, a role for which she won two Logie Awards, she left to star in the short lived television series Fireflies,...
as Grace Palmer - Rachael TaylorRachael TaylorRachael Taylor is an Australian actress and model. She made her leading role debut in the short-lived Australian program headLand. She then made the transition to Hollywood, appearing in the films Transformers, Shutter, and Splinterheads.-Personal life:Taylor was born in Launceston, Tasmania, the...
as Sasha Forbes - Matthew WalkerMatthew Walker (actor)Matthew Walker is an Australian – New Zealand actor.Walker was born on 11 May 1984 in Hamilton, New Zealand.Towards the end of high school, Walker was cast in the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Dark Night...
as Heath Forbes - Mark Tokutomi as Jeff Wu
- Yvonne StrahovskiYvonne StrahovskiYvonne Strahovski is an Australian actress. Born in Australia to Polish immigrant parents, Strahovski speaks Polish and English...
as Freya Lewis
Development
In 2002, Seven Network's script executive Bevan Lee was asked to create a Home and AwayHome and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...
spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
with the hope of attracting the UK broadcaster Five as a co-producer. He created a show called Away From Home that told the story of Home and Away characters at the Yabbie Creek University. Five were not interested for various reasons, and a big reworking of the original concept was undertaken and the show was renamed Campus, and later Ten Degrees South — a title eventually rejected due to a possible confusion with UK series 55 Degrees North
55 Degrees North
55 Degrees North is a BBC television drama series starring Don Gilet as DS Nicky Cole, a London detective relocated to Newcastle upon Tyne after exposing police corruption. Dervla Kirwan co-stars as Claire Maxwell, an ambitious solicitor....
.
In early 2005, the show's title was finalised as headLand and filming began with the series earmarked for a July premiere. However, with the pilot reportedly failing initial audience test screenings, some major changes were made and the pilot was reshot. This and other minor production delays pushed the airdate to much later that year.
Filming locations
The show's exterior scenes were filmed on location in Austinmer, New South WalesAustinmer, New South Wales
Austinmer is a northern suburb of Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. It sits in the northern Illawarra region, south of Stanwell Park and immediately north of Thirroul....
. A disused psychiatric hospital at the Sydney College of Arts
Sydney College of the Arts
The Sydney College of the Arts in Rozelle, Sydney, Australia is the visual arts faculty of the University of Sydney. It is housed in the Kirkbride complex, a cluster of sandstone buildings designed by James Barnet, the government architect in the late 19th century...
, Rozelle and the University of Wollongong
University of Wollongong
The University of Wollongong is a public university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney...
, doubled as the fictional South Coast University. Studio scenes are filmed at White Bay Studios in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, making it the first Seven Network Sydney drama not to be filmed at the ATN-7
ATN-7
ATN is the Sydney flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The licence, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of Fairfax, was one of the first four licences to be issued for commercial television stations in Australia...
studios in Epping
Epping, New South Wales
Epping is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Epping is located 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde, the City of Parramatta and Hornsby Shire and is located in the Northern...
.
Australian broadcast
HeadLand was originally scheduled to screen at 7:30pm on Tuesday and Thursday nights throughout the summer, continuing into 2006. However, after a strong debut, the show quickly suffered a large slump in the ratingsAustralian television ratings
Television ratings in Australia are collected by three main organisations: OzTAM in metropolitan areas, Regional TAM in regional areas serviced by three commercial television networks, and in areas with two commercial networks, Nielsen Media Research Australia. Ratings are collected for 40 weeks...
. With Home and Away
Home and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...
on summer hiatus, the show was shifted to the earlier 7pm slot and broadcast on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in hope of building up more interest in the show during the non-ratings period. However, ratings failed to pick up and the show even suffered its lowest viewership during the period.
Because of this, on 1 December 2005, Seven announced to industry insiders that headLand would be removed from the schedule after Thursday, 22 December 2005. A day later they reversed their decision, but a little over a week later rumours started surfacing that headLand would be removed from prime time as early as Monday, 12 December 2005. This was confirmed to be just a rumour, as Seven announced headLand would remain in its current timeslot until 12 January 2006. Beginning 16 January 2006, headLand was removed from its Monday-Thursday 7.00 pm slot due to the return of Home and Away and the airing of the Australian Open Tennis Tournament
Australian Open
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
. Further episodes of headLand were aired in a Saturday timeslot until the start of the 2006 ratings season.
The remaining episodes that have not been broadcast on the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
are currently being aired on its digital channel 7Two
7Two
7TWO is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel which was launched by the Seven Network on Sunday 1 November 2009 at 12pm....
at 11am weekdays. The series ended with Grace and Luc getting engaged, but many other storylines were left up in the air at the end.