Ed Devereaux
as Ben Chifley
0%
0/8
The True Believers
1988
•
7.0
•
War & Politics, Drama
•
60m
AU
• English
Director: Peter Fisk
Writers: John Lonie, Matt Carroll, Bob Ellis, Stephen Ramsay
The True Believers is a 1988 Australian mini series which looks at the history of the Australian Labor Party from the end of World War Two up to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955. It was co-written by Bob Ellis who focused on three characters "Chifley, the unlettered man of great dignity; Menzies, who used to stand for something but eventually stood only for Menzies; and Evatt, the grand idealist... It's almost like Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. It's a chunk of national history during Australia's great era of change after the war."
Cast
John Bonney
as Robert Menzies
Simon Chilvers
as H.V. Evatt
No image
John Derum
as B.A. Santamaria
Graham Rouse
as Arthur Fadden
Nick Tate
as Les Hayden
Gary Files
as Fred Daly
No image
Stuart McCreery
as Allan Dalziel
No image
Mary-Lou Stewart
as Joanna Malcolm
No image
Dorothy St. Heaps
as Elizabeth Chifley
No image
Leonie-Martin Smith
as Ethel Casey
No image
Hec Macmillan
as Sir William McKell
No image
Peter Corbett
as John Dedman
No image
Michelle Marzo
as Rosalind Evatt
No image
Paul Hunt
as John Burton
Harold Hopkins
as Edgar Ross
Paul Sonkkila
as Ron Tate
Bill Young
as Jim Cooper
Valerie Bader
as Mary Alice Evatt
Ray Meagher
as Tom Burke
No image
Ron Blanchard
as Arthur Calwell
John Ewart
as Fred Daley
Bryan Marshall
as Richard Casey
No image
Malcolm Robertson
as Idris Williams
Joan Bruce
as Pattie Menzies
Kevin Golsby
as Narrator
No image
Tim Elliott
as Radio Announcer
Kenneth Radley
as Bill Parkinson
Danny Adcock
as Lloyd Ross
Diane Craig
as Elsie
No image
Jeff Ashby
as Garfield Barwick
Robin Bowering
as Mr. Purcell
No image
Neil Fitzpatrick
as H.C. Coombs
Tracy Mann
as Tess Ross
No image
Alan McQueen
as Jim Healy
Norman Kaye
as Archbishop Mannix
Rob Steele
as Clyde Cameron
Bob Baines
as Stan Keon
No image
Scott McGregor
as Jim Comerford
Gerry Duggan
as Wally
No image
Ron Hackett
as Les McConnan
Colin Borgonon
No image
Laurie Butler
as Speaker of the House
Episodes
No image
Episode 1
E1 60mJust before the end of WWII, John Curtin lays on his deathbed. Who will fill the position? Brilliant legal mind, "Doc" Evatt or unschooled train driver Ben Chifley? With an election to face in 1946, the Labor Party needs to choose wisely.
No image
Episode 2
E2 60mWith a supposed Communist uprising in the coal industry moves are afoot to abolish the party from the Liberal side, but also to nationalise the banks from Labor. The High Court finds that nationalising the banks is not constitutional.
No image
Episode 3
E3 60mAfter Chifley wins the election, Evatt spends much time overseas and is elected third President of the United Nations. The Miners' Union gets more concessions, but wants even more. Evatt argues to the Privy Council for bank nationalisation.
No image
Episode 4
E4 60mCommunist demands become so great even the ALP feels the need to oppose them leading to the coal miners' strike of 1949, gaoling of some union members and sending in the army to work the mines.
No image
Episode 5
E5 60mMenzies is now Prime Minister and starts naming alleged Communists in parliament, subjecting them to gaol and sackings. Chifley's heart is giving up the ghost, and Doc Evatt becomes acting Opposition Leader.
No image
Episode 6
E6 60mMenzies calls a double-dissolution over his Communist Party prohibition bill in April 1951, which he wins, but loses five seats. On 13 June 1951, Chifley dies following a heart attack in his Canberra hotel room.
No image
Episode 7
E7 60mDoc Evatt is elected Opposition Leader after Chifley's tragic death, but the odds are stacked against him. Menzies uses the Communist menace as a stick to beat him and milks the Petrov affair for all it's worth.
No image
Episode 8
E8 60mFollowing the Petov Affair, Evatt promises pension rises, the abolition of means tests and tax cuts. Noone believes him (even in his own party) and Menzies wins again. Disaffected Victorian ALP members split the party to form the DLP.
