A Fortunate Life (1985– )

Stars:

Bill Kerr, Dorothy Alison, Dale Randall

Cast

Series cast summary:
Bill Kerr	...	Narrator (4 episodes, 1985)
Dorothy Alison	...	Grandma Carr (3 episodes, 1985)
Dale Randall	...	Roy Facey (3 episodes, 1985)
John Ley	...	Eric Facey (3 episodes, 1985)
Anthony Richards	...	Bert (9 years) (2 episodes, 1985)
Benedict Sweeney	...	Bert (14 years) (2 episodes, 1985)
Dominic Sweeney	...	Bert (2 episodes, 1985)
Pat Bishop	...	Alice McCall (2 episodes, 1985)
Paul Sonkkila	...	Archie McCall (2 episodes, 1985)
Jeffrey Rhoe	...	Jock McKay (2 episodes, 1985)
Maurie Ogden	...	Cop (2 episodes, 1985)
Leslie Wright	...	Jack Lander (2 episodes, 1985)
Donovan Curyer		(2 episodes, 1985)
Sasha Janes		(2 episodes, 1985)
Sandra Eldridge		(2 episodes, 1985)
Raelene Hughes	...	Young Alice McCall (2 episodes, 1985)
Christopher Rice		(2 episodes, 1985)
Jodi Haslinger		(2 episodes, 1985)
Geoff Hutchison		(2 episodes, 1985)
Tanya Heffernan		(2 episodes, 1985)

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

australia | colonialism | tv mini series

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Filming Locations:

Western Australia, Australia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nine Network Australia, PBL Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 95 min (4 episodes)

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Mini-series based on seminal Australian biography.

"A Fortunate Life" is based on the bestselling biography of A.B. "Bert" Facey (1894-1982). This moving four-part television mini series covers the first part of the book. The mini-series stays true to the form of the book: it is somewhat unsophisticated and perhaps overly direct in its storytelling. The series ends with the year 1915, (the book finishes in 1976) after having shown a great deal of Mr. Facey's struggle to survive during hard times.

I would have liked to have seen a bit more of Mr. Facey's return to the life of Western Australia after enduring the punishingly realistic scenes of the Battle of Gallipoli: I thought that the "we lived happily ever after" voice-over at the end was a bit of a cop-out; after all the appeal of the show is the characterization of Bert as a tough, yet moral and easygoing man. The show paints an excellent picture of a typical tough "cobber", and it gives insight into the Australian people of the time.