Australian tv shows to check out

The Montebello Family are not your average Australian family; modern day smugglers, their family business is transporting drugs into Australia, and guns and exotic wildlife out, making use of ties of blood and loyalty in the Torres Strait Islands.

When Josephine Newton's low-flying solicitor's practice is incinerated by a disgruntled client, she is persuaded by her old uni friend and not-so-secret admirer, Lewis Hughes, to trade the benefits of her brilliant mind for a berth in the lofty glamour of Knox Chambers. With her office destroyed, her marriage collapsing and motherhood fast losing its charm, Josephine decides it's time she took her own aspirations off the back burner and resumed her barrister's robes. If only it were that easy to leave her old life behind.

Murder Call centers on homicide detective, Tessa Vance, and her partner Steve Hayden. Hyperactive and emotionally volatile, Tessa is an almost exact opposite of Steve, a laconic, casual-seeming man's man. Together this powerful team must overcome intrigue, fear and shattered lives, which murder leaves in its wake. Murder Call combines mystery and suspense with humor, romance and a touch of the bizarre. Based on the works of author Jennifer Rowe.

Police Rescue is a unique blend of character driven drama and fast paced action adventure. The Police Rescue Squad are the real heroes of the Police Service and handle a strikingly wide range of work from road accidents to train disasters to the prevention of suicides - the Squad are constantly laying their lives on the line to save others. The series deals with the dramas that surround rescue work, the unique characters attached to it and the humour of the after-hours lives of the Squad's colourful personalities. Stunningly filmed action sequences in and around Sydney, tender and engaging personal stories at it's centre, Police Rescue is a series that will keep you on the edge of your seat - and touch your heart.

When his best mate is killed in a seemingly random attack, Detective Gary Hyde vows to bring the killers to justice. Together with his new partner Claire McKenzie, Gary uncovers a criminal underbelly of murder, identity fraud, chaos and intrigue where no-one is safe and no-one can be trusted. In a world where crime has no borders and everyone has something to hide, Gary and Claire risk it all to catch the criminals but will they lose their loved ones in the process?

Detective Sergeant Roger "The Dodger" Rogerson got fame because he knew how to take care of most dangerous and violent criminals. His success was, however, also due to the sinister alliance with violent underworld figures like Neddy Smith who got police protection in exchange for tips and money.

Dean and Chase Gallagher are brothers. Competitive alpha males, they argue over everything, agree on nothing, but defend each other from outsiders no matter what. They're also members of the Special Operations Rescue Unit. Experienced paramedics in peak physical condition, they're called in for complex search and rescue operations. With the latest in tools and training, they can access anyone, anywhere, under any conditions.

After surviving a shark attack, homicide detectives Dan Cooper and Zoe Rawlings join forces to hunt the ultimate predator - a serial killer who is also hunting them. Not only are they survivors but also ex-lovers. Exceptional at what they do, together they're a force like no other. Zoe is happy in a new relationship, but after three years away Dan knows Zoe was the one he let go and wants her back. Will Dan and Zoe be able to work together to hunt down the serial killer or will they become the killer's next victims?

This is an Australian medical drama set in the fantasy All Saints Western General Hospital. It focuses on what happens in ward 17 (affectionately known as the garbage ward) and the lives of the nurses on the ward and two doctors that spend a lot of time there. In also has the paramedic team of Bron and Ben.

The most popular local production on Australian television, Blue Heelers is a weekly police drama based on a fictional bush town called Mount Thomas. Every week there is a different case for Sergeant Tom Croydon, Senior Constable Nick Schultz, Senior Detective PJ Hasham, and Constables Maggie Doyle, Dash McKinley and Adam Cooper to solve. Continuing storylines about the personal lives and relationships of these characters filter into each episode.

Beneath its surface exists a playground for the murky underworld, a place of illicit rubbish dumps. pollution hazards, the remnants of huge drug hauls, and a graveyard of bodies from years of suicides, accidents and murders. That's the world of the WATER RATS, and elite bunch of 70 brave men and women guarding the harbour against all the elements that threaten to foul the blue waters. With the breathtaking actions stunts, thrilling races against time, chases across both waves and wharves, intrigue mystery, triumphs, heartbreak, love, lust and laughter, WATER RATS is a compelling drama from Southern Star and the Nine Network.

Rush follows the lives of members of the prestigious Tactical Response team (TR), which is based on the real life Victoria Police Critical Incident Response Team, a highly mobile unit that fills the operational gap between general duties police and the SWAT-like Special Operations Group. The team is seen responding to violent incidents such as carjackings, suicides and armed offences. Rush focuses on the TR officers, their intelligence officer, Leon Broznic and Superindendent Kerry Vincent, head of the TR administration. It explores both the working and personal lives of the team.

Follows five very modern women juggling the big issues of love, family, careers, infidelity - and murder. When their lives collide following a series of shocking events, the Bad Mothers will learn that life can get a whole lot more complicated, more outrageous and a whole lot more fun than they ever imagined.

An acclaimed series set around a group of people who deal with the endless array of problems, crimes and triumphs that tumble onto the streets of a city bursting with life. The action focuses on the men and women who work in a downtown police station and a renegade crisis centre in the tough red light district of the city. The characters are intensely swept up in the issues that confront, frighten, thrill and obsess today's world. Their approach, by enforcing the law or through care and understanding, will bring them into conflict, but ultimately their belief in natural justice is what binds them inextricably together.

When history teacher Matt Bashir is promoted to Principal of a notoriously violent Boys' school in Sydney's south-west suburbs, his radical approach brings him into conflict and leaves his personal life dangerously exposed. Just when he seems to be making progress, a 17-year-old student is found dead on school grounds.

Peter Phelps stars in this drama series from producers Roger Simpson and Roger LeMesurier. Inspired by the life of a real undercover operative, Stingers is about undercover cops: people with covert lives and constantly changing identities. It reveals the shadowy and ambiguous life of police who work behind enemy lines, always without a badge and frequently without protection. Inspired by true events, Stingers reveals the shadowy and ambiguous world of undercover cops - people with covert lives and constantly changing identities. They are police who defeat crime from within the criminal world - always without a badge and frequently without protection. The series follows the lives of the operatives as they befriend and betray those on the other side of the law. For these select few, it is a deadly way of life.The undercover cops of Stingers are a unique breed. They must juggle their own lives - love, laughter, family and humanity - with the tension of the criminal personas they adopt in their passion for justice.

A four-part drama that follows two detectives as they set out to investigate a killer with whom they both share a history. The two feuding cops, experienced detective Grace Gibbs and trainee Charlie Fung, are called in when a share-house of international students, a pair of corrupt shop owners, a grieving widow and a gunman all collide, leaving one dead and another missing.

A 10-part crime drama following the story of Andrew Fraser's rise from small time lawyer to successfully defending the most infamous criminals this country has ever seen, and then his ultimate downfall and imprisonment for five years in maximum security. His clients included Dennis Allen, Jimmy Krakouer, Alan Bond and those accused of the Walsh Street murders. At the top of his game, Fraser commanded a huge salary and lived the dream. But when his cocaine addiction spiralled into a thousand dollar-a-day habit, he lost everything and his life became intertwiined with villains, larrikins and soldiers of justice. He was disbarred, discredited, broken financially and his marriage was destroyed. Caged amongst serial killers and psychopaths, Fraser is forced to reflect on where it all went so wrong, and try to salvage his shattered reputation.