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John Banas

John Banas

Writing

Biography

John Banas is a New Zealander writer, director, actor and teacher who has, for over forty years, worked extensively in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. He began as an actor, writer and director in Kiwi theatre during the 1970s, Banas increasingly focused on dramatic writing for television from the 80s on. After relocating to Australia, he established himself as a prolific TV screenwriter with a string of iconic shows, including Blue Heelers and City Homicide. His many New Zealand scripts include Bombshell and award-winning telemovies Siege and How to Murder Your Wife.

Known For

Water Rats
6.3

Water Rats is an Australian TV police procedural broadcast on the Nine Network from 1996 to 2001.

Water Rats

1996
E Street
6.7

An Australian television soap opera, set in a tough fictional inner-city district called Westside. The stories revolve around the local community there. Created by Forrest Redlich and produced by Network Ten from 24 January 1989 to 13 May 1993.

E Street

1989
All Saints
6.2

Medical drama focusing on the working and personal lives of the doctors and nurses working on the front line of a busy inner city Emergency Department at All Saints Hospital.

All Saints

1998
Rafferty's Rules
8.0

Rafferty's Rules was an Australian television drama series which ran from 1987 to 1990 on the Seven Network. Rafferty's Rules was one of the first programs undertaken by the Seven Network's then new in-house drama unit, going into production in May 1985 as "a 15-part courtroom drama". The program had started out as a pilot episode, recorded in early 1984 with the actor Chris Haywood in the lead role. When the pilot episode was remounted later in 1984, Chris Haywood wasn't available and the lead role was re-cast to John Wood. This second recording was eventually broadcast as the program's first episode.

Rafferty's Rules

1987
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
7.7

Our lady sleuth sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of late 1920’s Melbourne, fighting injustice with her pearl handled pistol and her dagger sharp wit. Leaving a trail of admirers in her wake, our thoroughly modern heroine makes sure she enjoys every moment of her lucky life. Based on author Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher Murder Mystery novels.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

2012
City Homicide
5.9

City Homicide follows a group of detectives in the Homicide department of Melbourne's Metropolitan Police Headquarters.

City Homicide

2007
headLand
7.9

Headland is an Australian drama television series produced by the Seven Network which ran from 15 November 2005 to 21 January 2006. The Seven Network filmed 52 episodes in the first series. Production on the second series had begun before any episodes were aired. Set in a university, Headland premiered in Australia on Tuesday, 15 November 2005 at 7.30pm. On 23 January 2006, the Seven Network officially announced that the series has been cancelled. The show aired on weekdays at 7.30pm in the United Kingdom on E4, re-formatted as half-hour episodes. E4 eventually dropped the show but episodes continued to be broadcast on Channel 4 at 12:30pm, this time in the original hour-long format.

headLand

2005
Tricky Business
7.5

Warm, funny and moving, Tricky Business looks at the lengths people go to get themselves out of trouble - financial trouble, emotional trouble, growing up trouble, relationship trouble… things we all have to deal with at some time or other.

Tricky Business

2012
Mirror, Mirror
7.6

When Jo Tiegan is given an oval-shaped mirror, as a gift, by the elderly owner of an antique shop, she is amazed to see another girl's image in the mirror instead of her own reflection. It is also quite obvious that the other girl can see her just as clearly. Jo (from the 1990's) and 'the girl in the mirror', Louisa Iredale (from 1919), later accidently find that they can also travel to each other's times through the mirror - following upon which discovery a relentless sequence of events is set in motion.

Mirror, Mirror

1995
Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud
6.0

Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud is a six-part New Zealand television mini-series. The series originally aired from 17 August 2011 to 21 September 2011. It was the first Underbelly series to be created outside of Australia, and depicts events prior to and concurrent with Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.

Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud

2011
Mirror, Mirror II
N/A

Two families - De Lutrelles and McFarlanes. They both live in the same house, but 130 years apart in time. De Lutrelle's: father Gervaise, mother Violette and daughter Constance. In their age, around the house were goldfields. Family emigrated from France with the remnants of their wealth, and hoping to find gold so they would restore their fortunes. McFarlan's: father Doug, mother Jenny who decided to get in a new business: eco-tourism. Guests will stay with Doug and his family - second wife Jenny, stepson Fergus, daughter Mandy, and sister-in-law Lily, who maked troubles wherever she goes! Doug has also another son, Daniel. When the series begins, Daniel decides he wants to meet the father who left him and his mother Caroline when he was just a baby. He invites himself to stay for the holidays and, with the help of the mirror, he changes everyone's life, his own included.

Mirror, Mirror II

1997
Battletruck
4.6

It's the 21st century, the Oil Wars have made a mess of the planet and the land outside major cities is lawless. After Hunter comes to the aid of Corlie, who has run away from the villainous Straker, he takes her to the peaceful community of Clearwater. Unfortunately for the citizens of Clearwater, Straker fully intends to get Corlie back.

Battletruck

1982
Emma: Queen of the South Seas
3.8

Based on the life of Emma Eliza Coe, known as the "Queen of the South Seas", whose strength and cunning staved off the colonial struggle involving the United States, Great Britain, and Germany while she built her own empire. Emma’s father, the first consul in Samoa, taught his daughter at an early age the bitter truth about the fickleness of men.

Emma: Queen of the South Seas

1988
Straight Forward
N/A

After a family member is murdered, con woman Silvia decides to get even by robbing the crime boss behind the hit. But things go awry, and she has to flee to New Zeeland and start a completely different life.

Straight Forward

2019
Ablaze
N/A

In November 1947 forty-one people died in a massive blaze that gutted the huge Ballantynes Department Store complex in the heart of Christchurch’s business district. This is the tragic story of New Zealand’s worst fire disaster.

Ablaze

2019
Love Knots
5.7

Jodie Carpenter is the owner of 'The Loft', her family's sail-making company located near quaint Redmond's Bay Marina. When luxury developer Charles Prescott purchases the port looking to carry out a lavish expansion, Jodie fears that her business and heritage will be torn down and replaced.

Love Knots

2021
Bad Blood
7.0

During World War 2, a farmer in New Zealand murders seven people. The police, along with local Maori trackers, hunt him in the bush country.

Bad Blood

1982
The Monster of Mangatiti
6.1

When 19 year old Heather Walsh accepts a job on a farm in the Mangatiti Valley, she has no idea paradise will become a nightmare. This true New Zealand story tells of Heather's horrific ordeal.

The Monster of Mangatiti

2015
Toke
N/A

Drama set in the sleepy town of Tokerangi, New Zealand in which three laid-back orchard workers accidentally grow a strong strain of marijuana.

Toke

2020
Bombshell
4.5

How the tragic death of one man triggered a David and Goliath battle between two Allies that echoed around the world and became the catalyst to end nuclear testing in the Pacific.

Bombshell

2016