Sea Patrol (season 2)
Encyclopedia
The second season of the Australian drama Sea Patrol
Sea Patrol (TV series)
Sea Patrol is an Australian television drama, set on board HMAS Hammersley, a fictional patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy . The series focuses on the ship and the lives of its crew members....

premiered on the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

 on 31 March 2008 and aired on Monday nights at 8:30 PM. The thirteen-episode season ended on 23 June 2008.

The season introduced a new patrol boat, following the decommissioning of the original, Fremantle class
Fremantle class patrol boat
The Fremantle-class patrol boats were coastal patrol vessels operated by the Royal Australian Navy from 1979 to 2007. Designed by British shipbuilder Brooke Marine and constructed in Australia by North Queensland Engineers and Agents, the Fremantle class were larger, more powerful, and more...

 boat in the final scenes of season one. The new HMAS Hammersley (hull number
Hull number
Hull number is a serial identification number given to a boat or ship. A lower number implies an older vessel. The precise usage varies by country and type....

 82) was of the Armidale class
Armidale class patrol boat
The Armidale class is a class of patrol boats built for the Royal Australian Navy . Planning for a class of twelve vessels to replace the fifteen Fremantle class patrol boats began in 1993 as a joint project with the Royal Malaysian Navy, but was cancelled when Malaysia pulled out of the process...

, reflecting the real-life changeover in the Australian fleet. The second season also featured the debut of a new main character, Able Seaman Rebecca "Bomber" Brown
Rebecca Brown (TV character)
Able Seaman Rebecca Brown is a fictional TV character on the show Sea Patrol. She is portrayed by Kirsty Lee Allan.- History :Rebecca is a young Navy sailor who became the new chef of the new Armidale-class HMAS Hammersley when the previous chef, Toby Jones left after the decommissioning of the...

, as the boat's new cook.

Though advertised by the Nine Network as Sea Patrol II: The Coup, episodes themselves bore no title other than Sea Patrol, and the ISAN
Isan
Isan is the northeastern region of Thailand. It is located on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Prachinburi mountains south of Nakhon Ratchasima...

 number indicated that the episodes were merely episodes 14-26 of Sea Patrol.

Continuing the format from the first season
Sea Patrol (season 1)
The first season of the Australian drama Sea Patrol premiered on the Nine Network on 5 July 2007. The 13-episode season concluded 4 October 2007.-Main cast:-Recurring/semi-regular cast:-Plot:...

, episodes generally moved a season-long story arc
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...

 along. As the Nine Network marketing indicated, this arc involved a coup on the Samaru Islands, a fictional island nation
Island nation
An island country is a state whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. As of 2011, 47 of the 193 UN member states are island countries.-Politics:...

 close to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. In many ways, the story was evocative of Operation ANODE, a peacekeeping mission to the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

 that has been called "the [operational] pinnacle for the Freemantle class" by the Australian Department of Defence.

Main cast

Actor Character Rank Position
Ian Stenlake
Ian Stenlake
Ian Edward Stenlake is an Australian actor.-Television:Stenlake is perhaps best known for the role of Constable Oscar Stone which he played in the Australian police drama series Stingers from 1998 to 2002...

Mike "CO" Flynn
Mike Flynn (TV character)
Captain Michael "Mike" Flynn, CSC, RAN, is a fictional TV character on the show Sea Patrol, and is portrayed by Ian Stenlake. In the first episode of 'Sea Patrol' season 4 Mike is promoted to Commander and in season 5 is promoted to Captain and is transferred to NAVCOM.-History:Mike, also known as...

 RAN
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

Lieutenant-Commander Commanding Officer
Lisa McCune
Lisa McCune
Lisa McCune , is a four-time Gold Logie Award winning Australian actress, best known for her role as Senior Constable Maggie Doyle in Blue Heelers, and as Lt...

Kate "XO" McGregor
Kate McGregor (TV character)
Lieutenant Kate McGregor is a fictional TV character from the show Sea Patrol. She is portrayed by Lisa McCune.-History:Lieutenant Kate McGregor, the Executive Officer of HMAS Hammersley, is cool, beautiful, reserved, always aiming for a perfect 10 in everything she does. She was nicknamed...

 RAN
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

Executive Officer
Executive officer
An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...

Saskia Burmeister
Saskia Burmeister
Saskia Burmeister is anAustralian actress. She is most known for her roles in Hating Alison Ashley and Sea Patrol....

Nikki "Nav" Caetano
Nikki Caetano (TV character)
Lieutenant Nicole "Nikki" Caetano is a fictional TV character on the show Sea Patrol. She is portrayed by Saskia Burmeister.- Personal life:In season one Nikki started a relationship with fellow shipmate ET....

Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

Navigator
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...

John Batchelor
John Batchelor (Australian actor)
John David Batchelor is an Australian television and film actor. He is most known for portraying Chief Petty Officer Marine Technical / Chief Engineer Andy 'Charge' Thorpe on the Australian drama series Sea Patrol, and Peeto in the Australian feature film Red Dog.-Career:Beside portraing Andy...

Andy "Charge" Thorpe Chief Petty Officer
Chief Petty Officer
A chief petty officer is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards.-Canada:"Chief Petty Officer" refers to two ranks in the Canadian Navy...

Chief Engineer
Matthew Holmes
Matt Holmes
Matthew Theodore Holmes is an Australian actor.-Early life:Holmes attended Newington College . He gained an Advanced Diploma in Acting at the Actors College of Theatre and Television....

Chris "Swain" Blake
Chris Blake (TV character)
Petty Officer Christopher "Chris" Blake, CV was a fictional TV character on the show Sea Patrol. He was portrayed by Matthew Holmes.-Season one :...

Petty Officer
Petty Officer
A petty officer is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotion OR-6. They are equal in rank to sergeant, British Army and Royal Air Force. A Petty Officer is superior in rank to Leading Rate and subordinate to Chief Petty Officer, in the case of the British Armed...

Coxswain
Coxswain
The coxswain is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives us a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from cox, a coxboat or other small vessel kept aboard a ship, and swain, which can be rendered as boy, in authority. ...

/Chief Medic
Medic
Medic is a general term for a person involved in medicine, especially emergency or first-response medicine, such as an emergency medical technician, paramedic, or a military member trained in battlefield medicine. Also the term is used toward a Nurse in pre-hospital care and/or emergency...

Jeremy Lindsay Taylor
Jeremy Lindsay Taylor
Jeremy Lindsay Taylor is an Australian actor. He finished his education at Newington College in 1991 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a major in drama and sociology, from the University of Newcastle...

Pete "Buffer" Tomaszewski
Pete Tomaszewski (TV character)
Petty Officer Bosun Peter "Pete" Tomaszewski is a fictional TV character on the show Sea Patrol. He is portrayed by Jeremy Lindsay Taylor.- History :...

Petty Officer
Petty Officer
A petty officer is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotion OR-6. They are equal in rank to sergeant, British Army and Royal Air Force. A Petty Officer is superior in rank to Leading Rate and subordinate to Chief Petty Officer, in the case of the British Armed...

Boatswain
Buffer (navy)
Buffer is the colloquial title for the senior seaman sailor in a Commonwealth of Nations Navy ship. The formal title is Chief Boatswain's Mate....

Kristian Schmid Robert "RO" Dixon Leading Seaman
Leading Seaman
Leading seaman is a junior non-commissioned rank or rate in navies, particularly those of the Commonwealth. When it is used by NATO nations, leading seaman has the rank code of OR-4. It is often equivalent to the army and air force rank of corporal and some navies use corporal rather than...

Radio Operator
David Lyons
David Lyons (actor)
David Lyons is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role on the Australian drama series Sea Patrol, in which he played the Leading Seaman Josh Holiday.-Early life and education:...

Josh "ET" Holiday
Josh Holiday (TV character)
Leading Seaman Joshua "Josh" Holiday was a fictional TV character on the show Sea Patrol. He is portrayed by David Lyons.- Personal life :ET at the end of Season 1 began a relationship with the Navigator, Nikki Caetano...

Leading Seaman
Leading Seaman
Leading seaman is a junior non-commissioned rank or rate in navies, particularly those of the Commonwealth. When it is used by NATO nations, leading seaman has the rank code of OR-4. It is often equivalent to the army and air force rank of corporal and some navies use corporal rather than...

Electronics Technician
Electronics Technician
Electronics Technician is a common enlisted occupation in many Militaries. Common duties for ETs include repair, calibration, and basic maintenance of most electronic equipment.-US Navy:...

Kirsty Lee Allan
Kirsty Lee Allan
Kirsty Lee Allan is an Australian actress and former fashion model. She is most known for portraying Able Seaman Rebecca 'Bomber' Brown in Sea Patrol.-Career:...

Rebecca "Bomber" Brown
Rebecca Brown (TV character)
Able Seaman Rebecca Brown is a fictional TV character on the show Sea Patrol. She is portrayed by Kirsty Lee Allan.- History :Rebecca is a young Navy sailor who became the new chef of the new Armidale-class HMAS Hammersley when the previous chef, Toby Jones left after the decommissioning of the...

Able Seaman
Able Seaman (rank)
In the British Royal Navy in the middle of the 18th century, the term able seaman referred to a seaman with at least two years' experience at sea...

Chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...

/Assistant Medic
Medic
Medic is a general term for a person involved in medicine, especially emergency or first-response medicine, such as an emergency medical technician, paramedic, or a military member trained in battlefield medicine. Also the term is used toward a Nurse in pre-hospital care and/or emergency...

Jay Ryan
Jay Bunyan
Jay Ryan is a New Zealand actor who resides in Australia.-Career:Under his birthname of Jay Bunyan, he appeared as "Glen" in the "Scallywag Pirates" and had a minor role in Xena. He is known for his portrayal of Jack Scully in the Australian soap opera Neighbours from late 2002 until January 2005...

Billy "Spider" Webb
Billy Webb (TV character)
Seaman William "Spider" Webb is a fictional character on the Australian television show Sea Patrol. He is portrayed by Jay Ryan.-Personal life:Webb is portrayed as rather immature and rash on occasions...

Seaman
Seaman
Seaman is one of the lowest ranks in a Navy. In the Commonwealth it is the lowest rank in the Navy, followed by Able Seaman and Leading Seaman, and followed by the Petty Officer ranks....

Boatswain's Mate
Boatswain's Mate
A Boatswain's mate is a job classification in Navies and Coast Guards.*Boatswain's mate , a job classification in the United States Navy*Boatswain's mate , a job classification in the United States Coast Guard...


Recurring cast

Actor Character
Steve Bisley
Steve Bisley
Steve Bisley is an Australian film and television actor, who attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art .-Acting career:...

Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 Steven 'Steve' Marshall
Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...

Ray Walsman
Ditch Davey
Ditch Davey
Ditch Davey is an Australian actor.He was born Kristian Lind, but legally changed his name to Ditch when he was 18. Ditch came about because his older sister could not pronounce Christian, so instead she ended up calling him 'Ditchin'...

SAS
Australian Special Air Service Regiment
The Special Air Service Regiment, officially abbreviated SASR but commonly known as the SAS, is a special forces unit of the Australian Army...

 Captain Jim Roth
Dajana Cahill
Dajana Cahill
Dajana Cahill born in is an Australian actress who is best known for her role in the children's television series Mortified, which has screened on the Nine Network, ABC1 and the Disney Channel, and on the BBC in the UK.-Career:...

Carly Walsman
Geoff Morrell Lieutenant-Commander Jack Freeman

Main plot

The season-long story arc revolved around a political conflict in the fictional Samaru Islands, which was ultimately shown to be located approximately due east
East
East is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.East is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of west and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the right side of a map is east....

 of Cairns. Starting somewhere during a political campaign
Political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...

 to elect the nation's president, the season ended literally on the day of the election. Throughout the season, the crew of Hammersley encountered an increasing number of clues that someone was using the waters off northeast Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 to stage a paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....

 coup of the sitting Samaran government. Ultimately, it became clear that someone meant to stop the impending election from proceeding according to the will of voters. Over the course of the season, Australian businessman, Ray Walsman — an apparent victim of the anti-government forces in the premiere episode — emerged as the leader of the insurgency
Insurgency
An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...

. His aim was to secure lucrative mining rights from the government which would have been formed had the coup succeeded.

In the season opener, the writers allowed one of the characters to directly reference the real-life events that inspired the story line. Following an initial rescue mission to the Samaru Islands in "The Dogs of War", Hammersleys captain
Mike Flynn (TV character)
Captain Michael "Mike" Flynn, CSC, RAN, is a fictional TV character on the show Sea Patrol, and is portrayed by Ian Stenlake. In the first episode of 'Sea Patrol' season 4 Mike is promoted to Commander and in season 5 is promoted to Captain and is transferred to NAVCOM.-History:Mike, also known as...

 tells his department heads that the Australian government has finalised a peacekeeping arrangement with the Samaran government, and that return visits are therefore likely. Charge says, "Great. That'd be the Solomons
Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands
The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands , also known as Operation Helpem Fren, was created in 2003 in response to a request for international aid by the Governor-General of the Solomon Islands...

 all over again."

Ongoing subplots

All main characters had at least one subplot which appeared in more than one episode. Among them were: Nav and ET's increasing problems in keeping their romantic relationship a secret, Bomber's anger-management issues, Spider's relationship with Carly Walsman, the negative impact of a naval career on Swain's marriage, the differing ways in which Buffer and Charge dealt with near-death experiences, Kate's relationship with SAS officer Jim Roth, Mike's struggle to choose the best way to proceed his career, and ROs continued social isolation from his shipmates..

Production

The season was filmed on the Royal Australian Navy's new Armidale class patrol boat
Armidale class patrol boat
The Armidale class is a class of patrol boats built for the Royal Australian Navy . Planning for a class of twelve vessels to replace the fifteen Fremantle class patrol boats began in 1993 as a joint project with the Royal Malaysian Navy, but was cancelled when Malaysia pulled out of the process...

. 42 days of the filming schedule were spent aboard HMAS Broome
HMAS Broome (ACPB 90)
HMAS Broome , named for the city of Broome, Western Australia, is an Armidale class patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy .-Design and construction:...

, with pickup shooting later performed aboard HMAS Launceston
HMAS Launceston (ACPB 94)
HMAS Launceston is an Armidale class patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy .-Design and construction:The Armidale class patrol boats are long, with a beam of , a maximum draft of , and a displacement of 270 tons...

. The remainder of the 86 days of filming were at studios, and on location at the Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...

.

Storylines controversies

The series caused controversy among some officers of the Royal Australian Navy when they came to believe that "its raunchy storylines" were "making a mockery of the navy". Controversy was caused when, in some episodes, there were hints of romance between RAN officers and seamen. These were said to make a mockery of the navy's strict non-fraterisation policy.
Some controversy was also caused with the storylines of the second season of Sea Patrol which feature a political coup in the fictional islands of Samaru. While some critics embraced the new storylines of the show, some were worried that "It's a tricky business when TV dramas stray into real-world politics".

Critical response

Reviews of the season were mixed. One reviewer said that the show had learned from its mistakes of "simplicity and stiffness" during its freshman season to deliver a season whose "most striking aspect" was its "naturalness".

Another reviewer recommended the season to his readers as an overall improvement on the first, especially praising the dramatic possibilities inherent in the bigger Armidale-class bridge and the "more contemporary, plot-driven" story arc. But he still highlighted areas of possible improvement. Making the point that the show's dependence on the Australian Navy sometimes made it difficult for the show to indulge in interesting usage of dramatic license, he said that "McElroy All Media appears to have taken a "steady as she goes" approach to change rather than taking hold of the wheel and firmly jumping the shark with a tougher, grittier tone."

Ratings

Ratings for this season successfully reversed the trend of the first season. Whereas the freshman year had been plagued by a generally downward trend, season two was characterised by gradually improving ratings. Only the Brisbane region exhibited a strong fall-off of viewers in the season's final weeks. Although no episode of the season scored as highly as season one's first week, the final five weeks held steady at 1.5 million viewers nationally. The last two episodes of the season gained well over half a million more viewers over the last two installments of season one.

Episode number
Production number
Title 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...

Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

TOTAL WEEKLY
RANK
NIGHTLY
RANK
14
2-01
The Dogs of War 407,000 327,000 227,000 144,000 142,000 1,247,000 21 7
15
2-02
Fortune Favours 321,000 379,000 218,000 158,000 146,000 1,222,000 26 12
16
2-03
Takedown 345,000 318,000 252,000 156,000 196,000 1,267,000 20 7
17
2-04
Heaven Born Captains 387,000 422,000 244,000 153,000 156,000 1,362,000 18 7
18
2-05
Giving Up The Dead 361,000 352,000 217,000 162,000 169,000 1,260,000 26 9
19
2-06
Birds 389,000 332,000 237,000 161,000 168,000 1,287,000 21 6
20
2-07
Hidden Agendas 396,000 405,000 270,000 166,000 157,000 1,394,000 10 5
21
2-08
Heart of Glass 418,000 361,000 252,000 153,000 196,000 1,380,000 12 6
22
2-09
Shadow Line 427,000 461,000 252,000 163,000 194,000 1,505,000 6 4
23
2-10
Rules of Engagement 411,000 413,000 304,000 170,000 174,000 1,471,000 10 5
24
2-11
A Brilliant Career 354,000 449,000 321,000 184,000 183,000 1,491,000 8 4
25
2-12
Friends Close, Enemies Closer 415,000 426,000 277,000 169,000 203,000 1,489,000 8 3
26
2-13
Soldiers of Fortune 430,000 467,000 239,000 159,000 191,000 1,486,000 8 4

Episodes

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! style="background-color: #FFA000;"| Series
episode
! style="background-color: #FFA000;"| Season
episode
! style="background-color: #FFA000;"| Title
! style="background-color: #FFA000;"| Directed by
! style="background-color: #FFA000;"| Written by
! style="background-color: #FFA000;"| Original air date
|}

DVD release

The second season of Sea Patrol - Sea Patrol II: The Coup - was released on Region 4 DVD on 6 November 2008.

See also

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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