McLeod's Daughters

June 6, 2014 12:36 PM

The award-winning Australian television series McLeod's Daughters aired from 2001 – 2009. A drama, the story begins by following the lives of half sisters Claire and Tess McLeod, reunited after they inherit a vast outback cattle farm (“Drover’s Run”), that has been handed down through the men in their family for generations. 224 episodes were produced, and all are available on YouTube.

Background
The show was known for its predominantly female cast, intelligent storylines, beautiful, picturesque scenery of the Australian countryside, in-depth characterizations and smart, contemporary, self-sufficient leading ladies. The farm is set 180km from the nearest town and 400km from the nearest city, so the hardships that Australian farmers face are spotlighted. Season three brought some changes and while ratings for subsequent seasons (except the last) remained high, there were audience complaints about cast turnover and a drop in the quality of the storylines.

Episode Playlists
* Season One (22 episodes)
* Season Two (22 episodes)
* Season Three (30 episodes)
* Season Four (32 episodes)
* Season Five (32 episodes)
* Season Six (32 episodes)
* Season Seven (32 episodes)
* Season Eight (22 episodes)

posted by zarq (11 comments total)

All I know about this show is that half the cast of Spartacus started out there so I naturally look upon it quite favourably.
posted by elizardbits at 1:12 PM on June 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

One night I did a huge binge on this show for some reason. Kind of a mediocre soap opera. That McLeod guy sure did get around.
posted by bleep at 1:12 PM on June 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

Well, he was born over 400 years ago in the Highlands of Scotland and he cannot die unless you take his head, so it stands to reason, really.
posted by George_Spiggott at 1:42 PM on June 6, 2014 [9 favorites]

I was introduced to this show by a friend and found it awesome crack viewing, tho' I've only seen the first 2 seasons.
posted by lesbiassparrow at 1:55 PM on June 6, 2014

I didn't really watch it, but I remember thinking that Drover's Run was located in worst place in the world - remote enough to be difficult, but well travelled enough that random-ex-lovers-of-the-week would unexpectedly drop by to cause trouble.
posted by AndrewStephens at 2:02 PM on June 6, 2014 [10 favorites]

And someone now needs to release all the episodes of 'the man from snowy river' . I've only ever seen a few and they were the most awesome hilarious crack. There was a 10 minute scene of Hugh Jackman buying a hat that I remember with fond delight, but not as much as the episode with the gay Romany dancers.
posted by lesbiassparrow at 2:08 PM on June 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

It appears to be a dramatization of this Eric Idle number.
posted by George_Spiggott at 2:12 PM on June 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

Despite having lived in Australia all my life I'd never watched an episode of McLeod's Daughters. Until the day I was stuck in a hotel in Hanoi, naked, with no clothes.

I had been assured that my meager bundle of travelling clothes would be washed overnight and returned to me the next morning, but there I was at nearly midday, still naked, still getting 'just 5 more minutes' from the hotel manager, and watching episode after episode of McLeod's Daughters. Dubbed into Vietnamese. It would be difficult for me to watch it now in any other context I think.
posted by tim_in_oz at 3:07 PM on June 6, 2014 [14 favorites]

After this you can watch the entire Dance Academy series on Netflix, in which Australian farm girl moves to the big city to learn ballet! (It has the benefit of a school principle you may remember from Strictly Ballroom)
posted by chapps at 4:00 PM on June 6, 2014

Apparently it made its way to Germany; I saw a DVD of “McLeods Töchter” in a Berlin flea market some years ago.
posted by acb at 4:09 PM on June 6, 2014

It was on cable at some point, and I liked it a lot. Great find, thanks, zarq
posted by theora55 at 7:47 PM on June 6, 2014 [1 favorite]