Stay in this ANZAC Day
You don't have to be standing at the Cenotaph in Martin Place to remember the ANZACs this Friday 25 April. As chosen by Resli Buchel.
The Sullivans (1976–1983) Nine
This long running drama told the story of an Aussie family in 1939 and the effect WWII had on their lives. The show – starring Paul Cronin, Lorraine Bayly, Andrew MacFarlane, Michael Caton, and Maggie Dench – ran twice as long as the actual war.
Gallipoli (1981) Fox
Directed by Peter Weir, this epic story of friendship between two Aussie boys before and during the fateful Gallipoli campaign is told with harrowing poignancy, mesmerising cinematography and tear-jerking use of ‘Adagio in G Minor’.
Come In Spinner (1990) ABC
A mini-series adaptation of a 1940s novel written by Dymphna Cusack and Florence James and starring Kerry Armstrong and Rebecca Gibney as staff at a Sydney hotel in 1944 – an era when the town was flooded with American soldiers – it offers a rare insight into the lives of the women who stayed at home.
Changi (2001) ABC
Written by John Doyle (aka Rampaging Roy Slaven), this Logie winning mini-series is about the mateship of young Aussie soldiers in the notorious Changi POW camp in WWII. Black humour, stoicism and mateship were considered a key reason Aussies survived the Japanese cruelty camps in disproportionately high numbers. Real life vet and TV favourite ‘Bud’ Tingwell shone in an all-star cast.
Colour of War: The ANZACs (2004) Film Australia/Channel 9
Narrated by Russell Crowe, Colour of War is the story of the ANZACs using only colour footage and paints a vivid picture of war via rare newsreels, home movies and first-hand accounts to capture the thoughts and feelings of people during war time.