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Brothers come to Nine’s Rescue

Nine's new 2009 drama, now simply titled Rescue, will centre around two competitive brothers, who argue over everything, and agree on nothing.

Nine’s new action drama for 2009 appears to have had a subtle title change from Rescue Squad to just Rescue now.

To be made by Southern Star Entertainment its producers are Sarah Smith (The Alice, McLeod’s Daughters) and Julie McGauran (Out of the Blue). Casting for the show was underway earlier this month, which will lead to actors undergoing an extensive “boot camp” training.

According to the funding approval by Screen Australia, the series will hinge around the characters of ‘Dean Gallagher’, 29, and ‘Chase’, 26, brothers. “Competitive alpha males, they argue over everything, agree on nothing, but defend each other from outsiders no matter what. They’re also members of the Special Operations Rescue Unit. Together they go about their everyday jobs of saving lives.”

Nine’s drama is expected to allow it to traverse a variety of crisis situations spanning everything from police, medical, hostage, trauma, terrorist, sieges and more.

Also under development betweek Nine and Southern Star Entertainment is a new kids series, Chatroom Chicks, following three young teenage girls – one German, one Singaporean and one Australian – who become friends while studying together at an international school in Singapore. The girls are united by their bright, lively personalities and by their common interests in contemporary dance – an activity in which they all excel.

Meanwhile the ABC and German Broadcaster ZDF are behind another kids series, Dance Academy. Its synopsis indicates, “When Tara Webster leaves her home in the country to be a student at the National Academy of Dance, she is sure all her dreams are about to come true. But does Tara have what it takes to make it in this high-pressured world when sometimes being an ordinary teenager can be difficult enough?”

SBS is also developing Law and Disorder,  a three part series delving deep into the murky world of government misconduct, crime, corruption and the ordinary citizens who try to expose it all.

Other new, one-off documentaries to be produced include:

– Addicted to Money (ABC): Everything you need to know about what caused the financial meltdown, what lies ahead, and what we all need to do to survive in the New Economy.

Loggerheads: The Lost Years (ABC / National Geographic): The films follows the life story an individual female Loggerhead Turtle from when her mother lays the clutch of eggs, to when, thirty years later, she struggles ashore to lay her first clutch of eggs in the beach sands from which she hatched.

Penguin Island (ABC):  The Little Penguins of Phillip Island, Australia, are ‘A list’ celebrities. Each year a half-a-million tourists come to watch their nightly parade – but it’s their private lives that are really interesting. With the help of a dedicated team of scientists we lift the lid on a world where relationships are fraught, affairs commonplace, and danger lurks around every corner.

Salam Father (SBS): Salam Zuizudras’ father’s remains were recently found in a mass grave in Iraq 26 years after he mysteriously disappeared. Knowing nothing about his father – or what happened – Sam embarks on a mission from Australia to Iraq desperate for answers. What he discovers is a world of underground politics, spies, friendship, betrayal and a box of super 8 footage that uncovers a past undoubtedly responsible for shaping Salam – and his life – to this very day.

Blank Canvas (Foxtel): The Sydney Dance Company has one year to secure its long term survival, to find a new leader and to create magic from a blank canvas. From the award winning team that brought the documentary 4 to the screen.

Kill or Die (SBS): A humorous examination of a cross cultural mid-life crisis. Simon Palomares of Wogs out of Work fame, must go back to Spain to care for his ailing cantankerous father, juggle his family commitments back in Australia, whilst struggling to find out where he truly belongs. Is it Spain or Australia? To find out he enters the bloody gladiatorial arena of Spanish stand up comedy and, not unlike a bullfight, he must kill or die trying.

A Pacific Solution (SBS):  A group of Islanders from the tiny pacific nation of Kiribati affected by severe climate change are imported as guest workers to rural Australia.

Shintaro (SBS):  In 1964 a sensation swept through Australian lounge rooms leaving an indelible impression on the children of that generation. That sensation was The Samurai, the first foreign language cult television series from Japan to be seen in Australia.

Source: Screen Australia

15 Responses

  1. this is sounding more and more like Rush, rush is a great show and only got 800k’s so i can’t imagine how they think this will perform. i 2nd what zambora siad, even if it does have a talented crew, i’m sure 9 will storm in and change it all to their crap standards like they did with the strip.

    looks like the carbon copier is getting a good workout at 9 with, missing pieces, animal emergency, deadly surf, 000 heroes, dancing on ice and now this.

    i sense another canal road/strip with here.

  2. Out of all the aussie dramas on nine, they only gave 1 a chance to run in the same timeslot in its whole run – underbelly. Chances of it happening again – slim.

  3. Oh come on John – Sea Patrol was awsome during its second season, first season not so much! You also seem to forget that it and Underbelly are ratings winners. Any network has its share of flops and BTW Out of the Blue is on Network Ten.

  4. The Alice,McLeod’s Daughters,Out Of The Blue…not a very good resume is it?
    Channel 9’s programming is absolutely appaling.Sea Patrol anyone?What a load of bollocks.Some of the worst acting i have seen on any australian show.Gee Jeremy Lindsay Taylor i love seeing you back on screen & i guess you’ve got to work but you are so wasted in this tripe.What a shame 9 pulled out of the Young Doctors revival.Could have had a multitude of great actors on our screen again & give us some trashy soap that we did so well in the 70’s & 80’s.
    Rescue is such an inspired name.Sometimes you can just feel a show is going to bomb.I suppose you will have the typical (fake) ocker males,complete with chauvanistic traits.
    Take a leaf out of 7’s schedule…..Packed To The Rafters…need i say more?

  5. Any chance of it being good is ruined by likelyhood of Nine interfering in casting and script. Then we have their programming and promotions departments to really screw it up.

  6. These rescue shows seem to be the flavour of the month. Rescue,Rush and now All Saints with its medical response unit.
    Where will this be produced? Sydney,Melbourne or the Gold Coast?

  7. So is Rescue based on the Cops or the Paramedic Rescue Squad?

    Despite the boring title, hopefully the producers don’t screw this one up because it sounds like it could be really good and I like the aspect of the two brothers.

    In fact – it sounds a lot like Police Rescue which hopefully it can be as good as.

    Finally, I wonder who will be cast in it – personally I wouldn’t mind seeing Libby Tanner in a role like this again, maybe even Simone Jade McKinnon from McLeod’s. Can’t really think of any guys though…

  8. “Competitive alpha males, they argue over everything, agree on nothing, but defend each other from outsiders no matter what. They’re also members of the Special Operations Rescue Unit. Together they go about their everyday jobs of saving lives.”

    So, err… it’s “Rush”, then? 😀

    Except Rush did it with a pairing of alpha male and alpha female. Somehow, I don’t think a show that’s willing to name a character “Chase” (what is this, a Stephen King novel?) is going to quite pull it off. Especially since it’s on Nine, so it’ll have just enough of a lighting budget to make the cardboard sets look a small step above Home And Away standard.

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