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Friday Flashback: Carson’s Law

In this classic 1980s drama Lorrine Bayly and Kevin Myles went toe to toe in ripping scenes.

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One of my favourite 1980s dramas was 10’s period legal drama Carson’s Law which ran from 1982 – 1984

The series starred Lorrine Bayly, post-The Sullivans as progressive solicitor Jennifer Carson, alongside the great Kevin Miles (as short-tempered father-in-law Godfrey Carson).

“It was written for me. Ian Crawford told me. I was very flattered,” Bayly once told TV Tonight.

“I really enjoyed doing it. A lot of the courtcases were paralleled in society…. drugs, rape… and I remember being shocked that homosexuality was a crime, and I defended a character who was gay and I remember being dumbfounded he was found guilty and got 10 years hard labour. And it was based on truth.

“It was hellishly difficult to do, because I had long closing and opening speeches.

“I loved working with Kevin Miles, working off each other. They were such strong characters.”

See for yourself in this exchange…

9 Responses

  1. We regularly watched Carsons Law on its first run. A great show, excellent writing, acting and direction.
    To my mind it is one of the great Australian produced dramas.

  2. I remember how dumb-founded we were when Mrs Carson’s husband – the lawyer – was killed off in episode one. Bud Tingwell told me how hard Crawford’s fought to keep that spoiler a secret until the show premiered.

  3. I worked on this show as a cameraman.
    When we first started on the set, the floor manager, Dixie Duncan, told us all ‘never get in Kevin Miles eye line’ he’ll yell at you saying ‘get out of my eye line!!’ And he did.
    It was a great cast and wonderful scripts.
    Then you would go and do a couple of day working on the other drama at that time. Prisoner.
    They were fun, busy times.

  5. I watched Carson’s Law. It was set in the 1920s and we were still hanging people until 1967. They did churn out a lot of episodes. I remember waiting for the final episode in Sydney. Seems drama wasn’t always treated well in the 1980s either.

  6. This show was simply brilliant. Great writing, acting and directing. The final episode (“Daylight”) ranks as one (if not the) best episode of any Australian-made scripted show. Lorraine Bayly made it but the investment Crawfords made with the sets, costumes and writing lifted it to another level. And to think they filmed 184 episodes in just two years!!! With all the questionable junk that appears across free-to-air, Carson’s Law deserves a prominent replay slot.

  7. It was one of my favourites too David. I’m just over half way rewatching it and I think it holds up well. Out of curiosity, do you know if Kevin Miles is still with us? He was born in 1927 but I can’t find any details on whether he passed.

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