Gallipoli (miniseries)

Gallipoli is a seven-part Australian television drama miniseries that was telecast on the Nine Network from 9 February 2015, the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign. It is adapted from the best-selling book Gallipoli by Les Carlyon, and produced by Endemol Australia.

Premise
The seven-part series centres on 17-year-old Thomas "Tolly" Johnson (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who lies about his age so he may enlist with his brother Bevan (Harry Greenwood) and ends up fighting at Gallipoli in the campaign that helped create the ANZAC legend.

The story depicts the ten-month campaign in Turkey, highlighting the landing on 25 April 1915 by ANZAC troops who go into battle on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Landing in the dark, Tolly, Bevan, and their fellow soldiers of Australia's 4th Battalion endeavor to establish a defensible foothold beneath the treacherous slopes of the peninsula. The series follows both the battle and its aftermath.

The soldiers spend eight months learning combat skills while trying to survive in the most difficult of circumstances. By the time of their final evacuation they have learnt much about themselves and their mates.

Cast

 * Kodi Smit-McPhee as Thomas "Tolly" Johnson
 * Harry Greenwood as Bevan Johnson
 * Sam Parsonson as Dave Klein
 * Tom Budge as Cliff Sutton
 * James Callis as Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett
 * John Bach as General Sir Ian Hamilton
 * Nicholas Hope as General Sir Walter Braithwaite
 * Paul English as Colonel Cecil Faber Aspinall-Oglander
 * Anthony Hayes as Anthony Chandler
 * Matt Nable as Sergeant Harry Perceval
 * Leon Ford as Charles Bean
 * Ashleigh Cummings as Celia Houghton
 * Justine Clarke as Noah Johnson
 * Lincoln Lewis as Chook Dutton
 * James Stewart as Billy Sing
 * Dion Williams as Two-Bob King
 * Gracie Gilbert as Staff Nurse Tessa


 * Andy McPhee as Major General John Antill
 * Alex Tsitsopoulos as Mehmet Ozkan
 * Anthony Phelan as General Sir William Birdwood
 * David Whiteley as General Sir Cyril Brudenell White
 * John Fillingham as General Sir Alexander Godley
 * Travis Jeffery as Henry "Stewie" Stewart Watson
 * Grant Bowler as Lieutenant Colonel William Malone
 * Lachy Hulme as Lord Kitchener
 * Jeremy Lindsay Taylor as Captain Eric Taylor
 * Yalin Ozucelik as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
 * Damon Gameau as Keith Murdoch
 * Nicholas Hammond as Henry Nevinson
 * Brendon Nolan as Darryl 'Doon' Lincoln

Production
The series is adapted from the best-selling book Gallipoli by Les Carlyon.

Gallipoli was produced by Endemol Australia and was shot over a three-month period commencing on 17 March 2014. Cast members undertook some military training in Melbourne before filming began. Filming took place in Melbourne and surrounding areas, including Bacchus Marsh and Werribee. The 25 April 1915 landing was recreated on the Mornington Peninsula.

John Edwards and Robert Connolly were the producers; the Nine Network's co-heads of drama, Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan, along with Endemol Australia CEO Janeen Faithfull were the executive producers. The series was directed by Glendyn Ivin, and the scriptwriter was Christopher Lee. The production employed around 750 local people and was expected to generate an estimated $14.6 million in production expenditure, with Film Victoria providing significant financing for the project through its Production Incentive Attraction Fund (PIAF).

Gallipoli is distributed internationally by Endemol Worldwide Distribution.

Release
The series premiered on 9 February 2015 on the Nine Network, and concluded four weeks later. All seven episodes of Gallipoli were made available on the streaming service Stan during the television premiere, as part of a promotion deal.

Reception
The series was a ratings disaster, described by David Gyngell, head of Nine Entertainment at the time, as the network's "biggest disappointment". Despite being launched as a flagship program for the network in 2015, Gallipoli lost half of its audience between the first and second episodes, down from 1.1 million to 580,000. In response, the network reduced the series' schedule from seven weeks' broadcast to five weeks, with episodes 4 & 5 and 6 & 7 airing back-to-back. Ratings continued to fall.