Beaconsfield

The Nine Network today ends the official ratings period for 2012 as Australia’s number one primetime network for people 25-54, 18-49 and 16-39 across the 5 Cap City. Delivering more weekly wins for key demographics than any other network, Nine has delivered 14 out of the Top 20 programs, including the highest rating program in primetime – The Voice Winner Announced recording 3.325 million viewers across the 5 Cap City. Continue reading »

On Sunday April 22, The Voice will air for two hours (or more likely more) for the fourth Blind Audition episode. It will be followed by Beaconsfield at 8.30pm-ish (if recording, best beef up your PVR overrun – The Voice has a bad habit of going overtime). 60 Minutes is out for the week.

Monday April 23 sees The Block continue at 7 O’Block, followed by The Voice at 8pm. At 9.30 we get two Big Bang repeats (Syd/Bris/Adel/Per), followed by the season finale (and most likely last ever episode) of Alcatraz at 10.30pm. Alcatraz airs at 9.30pm in Melbourne. Continue reading »

Beaconsfield, one of the greatest rescue stories ever told, premieres Sunday, April 22, at 8.30pm on Channel Nine.

On Anzac Day 2006, Todd Russell (Lachy Hulme) and Brant Webb (Shane Jacobson), along with fellow miner Larry Knight (Simon Lyndon), were trapped deep inside the Beaconsfield gold mine in Tasmania after a cave-in.

Todd and Brant were enclosed nearly 1000 metres underground, caged in a space so small they couldn’t sit up straight or lie down.

Most Australians know that Todd and Brant survived the mine collapse that killed their mate Larry. However, they don’t know much more than that. Now Beaconsfield tells the whole story.

After discovering the two men were alive, the search became a dramatic rescue mission. Working in conditions that could see another cave-in at any moment, colleagues worked tirelessly to get them out alive.

It was an event Australia and the world watched unfolding with bated breath. As every news outlet in the country scrambled to cover the story, the frantic work of the rescuers continued.

Beaconsfield recounts the story of two very different men who were trapped together while their wives, Carolyn Russell (Michala Banas) and Rachel Webb (Sacha Horler), waited anxiously above ground.

It tells how Matthew Gill (Cameron Daddo), Pat Ball (Anthony Hayes) and their resourceful teams rescued Todd and Brant.

But most of all, it is the story of how two amazing survivors, who had nothing in common, kept their heads together and their hope alive for 15 days and nights – and how Todd Russell and Brant Webb were finally freed from their own version of hell.

BEACONSFIELD: Sunday, April 22, at 8.30pm on Channel Nine

Steve Vizard will play the late Richard Carleton in the forthcoming Beaconsfield telemovie for Channel Nine.

Carleton was a 60 Minutes reporter who collapsed from a heart attack at a press conference during the Beaconsfield mine rescue in 2006.

Vizard will take a break from his morning radio show on Melbourne’s MTR to film the role in the three-hour drama.

In the past he has played the journalist before in comedy sketches for Fast Forward in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Shane Jacobson and Lachy Hulme will play the two rescued miners  Brant Webb and Todd Russell with Michala Banas and Sacha Horler on board to play their wives.

Source: The Spy Report

The Nine Network announced today that Beaconsfield, the telemovie based on the dramatic rescue of Tasmanian miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb, goes into production next month.

Shane Jacobson (Kenny, Top Gear Australia) and Lachy Hulme (Matrix Trilogy, Let’s Get Skase, Offspring) head an outstanding cast in the three-hour telemovie which tells the story of the amazing rescue of Todd Russell and Brant Webb from the collapsed Beaconsfield mine in Tasmania five years ago.

On Anzac Day 2006 the Beaconsfield mine collapsed, trapping Russell, Webb and fellow miner Larry Knight one kilometre underground. When it was revealed that two of the men were alive, Australia prayed and the world waited in hope that the miners would make it out alive. But the rescue was far more complex than anyone ever imagined.

Beaconsfield recounts this riveting story of mental and physical fortitude and two very different men who were trapped together for 14 days under rubble in a cramped, pitch-black metal basket no bigger than a dog kennel.

It tells the story from the perspective of rescuers Matthew Gill and Pat Ball, who with their expert teams, were required to devise a failsafe plan for a rescue unlike anything attempted before.

Gill and Ball set about developing a meticulous strategy that would bring Russell and Webb to the surface. The telemovie also involves the miners’ wives and children who waited anxiously to find out if they would see their husbands and fathers again.

On May 9, 2006, at 5.58am, Australia celebrated as Todd Russell and Brant Webb emerged from the mine shaft. Tragically their colleague, Larry Knight, was laid to rest the same day.

Other cast include Michala Banas (Winners and Losers and McLeod’s Daughters) and Sacha Horler (Offspring, Hawke and Love My Way).

Beaconsfield is being produced for the Nine Network by Southern Star John Edwards (Paper Giants, Love My Way) and Jane Liscombe (Last Ride, Cracker Bag). It has been written by Judi McCrossin (The Secret Life of Us, The Surgeon) and will be directed by Glendyn Ivin (Last Ride, Offspring).

Jo Horsburgh, the Nine Network’s Head of Drama, said: “Beaconsfield is a drama that touched the hearts of all Australians.

“We were all glued to our TVs throughout the 14 days for news on the miners and prayed they would make it out alive. Beaconsfield is an inspirational story of the amazing rescue effort and the incredible will of the miners’ survival.”

Southern Star producer John Edwards said: “The mechanics of the rescue were complex and intriguing – the tension of The Great Escape combines with the compelling detail of Apollo 13.”

Production on the telemovie begins on July 11.

Shane Jacobson has been named alongside Lachy Hulme as the stars of the new telemovie for Channel Nine that centre son the Beaconsfield mine rescue.

The Kenny actor and Top Gear presenter will play Brant Webb in Beaconsfield, one of the two miners who were trapped 1km underground for 14 days back on ANZAC Day 2006.

“To be asked to tell a story that is part of Australian history, a headline event, is very special,” said Jacobson.

“I got to know Brant when we were doing the Celebrity Grand Prix, so I’ve spent some time with him and have met Rachel (Brant’s wife).

“I have had another chat to Brant about doing this and the story is mind-blowing.

“He was convinced he was going to die every minute he was down that hole.”

Todd Russell, who was trapped alongside Webb in the mine, says he supports the project fully.

“I hope the mini-series puts the truth out there to the general public, because there are a lot of things that weren’t reported properly,” he said.

“People think we were able to sit up in the cage, with plenty of room, but we didn’t have that at all.

“The room we had was minimal, quite uncomfortable. People will see that, plus the dangers.

“It is also critical that Larry is played as the gentleman he was.”

Beaconsfield will also pay tribute to Larry Knight, who died in the rock-fall that day.

Source: Herald Sun