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Sea Patrol (TV series)
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Sea Patrol is an Australian television drama, set onboard a fictional Royal Australian Navy Armidale class patrol boat, the HMAS Hammersley. The series focuses on the ship and the lives of its crew members.
The first season debuted on 5 July 2007 on the Nine Network, who invested $15 million into the programme. A second season of Sea Patrol, titled Sea Patrol II: The Coup began airing on 31 March 2008, and ended in June 2008. Executive producers of the show, Hal and Di McElroy, hope to see at least six seasons of the show produced and have a ten-year plan for the series.
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Encyclopedia
Sea Patrol is an Australian television drama, set onboard a fictional Royal Australian Navy Armidale class patrol boat, the HMAS Hammersley. The series focuses on the ship and the lives of its crew members.
The first season debuted on 5 July 2007 on the Nine Network, who invested $15 million into the programme. A second season of Sea Patrol, titled Sea Patrol II: The Coup began airing on 31 March 2008, and ended in June 2008. Executive producers of the show, Hal and Di McElroy, hope to see at least six seasons of the show produced and have a ten-year plan for the series. Most recently, the confirmation for a third season, titled Sea Patrol III: Red Gold has been confirmed for 2009.
This series is intentionally not a follow-on to the 1979 series, Patrol Boat. The Nine Network intends to air at least three seasons of Sea Patrol, with an upgrade from the Fremantle class to a newer Armidale class boat at the start of the second season.
Before its debut in 2007, Sea Patrol was one of the most anticipated shows in Australia and marked many monumentous events: Lisa McCune's return to television and Nine's attempt to reclaim the market with this, the most expensive television programme produced in Australia. Over its broadcast in Australia, Sea Patrol has received a variety of reviews and a mix of good and bad opinions.
Cast
Current main cast
Former main cast
Semi-regular cast
Upcoming cast
Plot
Both seasons of Sea Patrol have consisted of standalone episodes dealing with serious breaches of Australian law, such as illegal fishing, asylum seekers and other problems the navy encounter on typical patrols. The premiere of each season usually introduces a larger event which is expanded on and connected as the season goes on, before being resolved in the finale.
The first season's premiere began with the introduction of Bright Island, which was positioned as a type of mystery island, and the death of a marine biologist. Over the duration of the season, the CO and some of the crew became suspicious and later entwined in a conspiracy invloving water containing a deadly toxin.
The second season, known as Sea Patrol II: The Coup, has so far revolved around insurgents on the fictional Samaru Islands attempting to overthrow the current government, and a group of Eastern European mercernaries and smugglers who near-fatally stabbed Charge and are in cahoots with the insurgents and Samaruan constabulary.
Production
Origins
"Every hour of every day in all weathers young men and women of the Royal Australian Navy Patrol Boat Service battle the elements and the odds to defend Australia's borders and enforce its economic zone. They provide security, support, and relief for the world's largest island..."
This series has been said to show the gender and cultural diversity of the Navy, and deal with contemporary issues such as illegal fishing, boat people, drug-running, immigration, and people-smuggling, and have an underlying mystery that runs throughout the series.
Filming for "Sea Patrol II: The Coup" started in late September, 2007, and wrapped up on 8 February 2008.
Ships
The first season features two real Fremantle class patrol boats, whose appearance have been conflated to become HMAS Hammersley (PTF 202). HMAS Wollongong was used for filming in Sydney, while HMAS Ipswich was used for six weeks of filming off Dunk Island in Queensland. Hammersley serves under the fictional naval command structure of "NAVCOM", and was decommissioned during the final episode of season one. A second fictional Fremantle is mentioned in several episodes and appears in the ninth episode: HMAS Kingston (PTF 205). Kingston shares her pennant number with real patrol boat HMAS Townsville.
When the first season was being filmed, it was predicted that later seasons would replace Hammersley with the newer Armidale class patrol boat. The second season did use an Armidale, also named HMAS Hammersley, with the hull number 82. Again, footage from two ships was conflated to represent Hammersley: 42 of the 86 days of the series filming were spent aboard HMAS Broome (ACPB 90), with later pick-up filming aboard HMAS Launceston (ACPB 94).
Locations
Reception
Before Sea Patrol started airing, it was one of the most highly anticipated programmes in Australia, partly due to the episode budget of over AU$1 million, twice that of other Australian dramas. Sea Patrol also marked the return of Lisa McCune to television acting.
Sea Patrol received mixed but generally positive reviews. The debut episode received the second highest ratings for an Australian drama premiere, behind 2001 series Always Greener. Ratings were not as strong for later episodes, with the first season receiving a 1.2 million viewer average, however during the second season ratings picked up to a healthy 1.5 million viewers for the final five episodes which bodes well for the third season.
Many critics claim that the scripts are not well written and that the actors are not given the opportunity to shine.
Michelle Over, a reviewer for , scored the first episode a disappointing 6.5 out of 10. Over also predicted that the series would begin jumping the shark at episode 5, primarily due to a lack of quality scripts and an unlikeness to the real life of a Navy officer.
Shortly after the series began, the Royal Australian Navy created "The Real Sea Patrol", an interactive website about the activities and personnel on board the Australian patrol boat HMAS Larrakia, designed as a promotional and recruiting tool to capitalise on the series.
| Season | Average
Weekly Audience | Average
Weekly Rank | Average
Nightly Rank | Peak
Audience |
|---|
| Season 1 | 1,528,500 | 10 | 2 | 1,980,000
5 JUL | | Season 2 | 1,375,000 | 15 | 6 | 1,505,000 |
Episodes
| Season | Ep # | Season premiere | Season finale |
|---|
| Season 1 | 13 | 5 July 2007 | 4 October 2007 | | Season 2 | 13 | 31 March 2008 | 23 June 2008 | | Season 3 | 13 | May 2009 | 2009 |
Internet download
Starting of 1 April 2008, full episodes of Sea Patrol are offered as a free download, as part of ninemsn's catch-up TV service. But to view them the viewer must download a third-party player which includes advertisements in the file, and will disable view after the season is over on free-to-air television.
The second season of Sea Patrol was released on the Australian iTunes music store on the 25 June 2008. Only the first six episodes are available online as of 27 June 2008. This is despite the season finale going to air on the 23 June 2008.
Awards
Logie Awards
| Year | Nominee | Award | Result |
|---|
| 2008 | Lisa McCune | Most Popular Personality on Australian Television | Nomination | | Lisa McCune | Most Popular Actress | Nomination | | David Lyons | Most Popular New Male Talent | Nomination |
DVD release
The first season of thirteen episodes has been released on DVD and was released in Australia by Roadshow on 17 October 2007. The DVD was classified M by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.
The second season of Sea Patrol - Sea Patrol II: The Coup - was released on Region 4 DVD on 6 November 2008.
Broadcasting
On 26 March 2007, Portman Film & Television acquired the international broadcast rights to Sea Patrol.
See also
External links
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- , official webpage for full episode download of "Sea Patrol"
- at The TV IV
- at the Australian Television Information Archive
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