It’s 25 years since McLeod’s Daughters first rode into our hearts. And now we’re going back to Drover’s Run for the long-awaited McLeod‘s reboot, airing on Stan in 2027.
Where did it all begin? On the Nine Network on 8 August 2001, McLeod‘s opened with Claire McLeod (Lisa Chappell) driving cattle while above, a helicopter pilot, Alex Ryan (Aaron Jeffery) watched on. Soon, the two characters would become fan favourites, as would city girl Tess Silverman McLeod (Bridie Carter).
Created by Posie Graeme-Evans, and based on a 1996 telemovie, the original series saw half-sisters Claire and Tess inherit equal shares of cattle station Drover’s Run after their father passed away. Tess, who’d been estranged from the family, initially had no interest in sticking around – but the reunited sisters overcame their differences and worked together to keep the property.
Over eight seasons and 224 episodes, McLeod’s became one of Australia’s favourite TV dramas of all time, scooping eight TV WEEK Logie Awards along the way. And now, 25 years later, the show about strong women making a go of it in outback Australia remains as beloved as it ever was.
McLeod’s ranked sixth in TV WEEK’s recent Top 70 Australian Shows readers’ poll.
The show was filmed on location – “There were no studio days!” Bridie notes – in South Australia at an historic 1856 property in Kingsford, about an hour’s drive north of Adelaide. While it wasn’t their first rodeo for most of the stars, it was the show that turned them into household names. Bridie remembers filming her first scene, and being so incredibly nervous.
“We were near the shearing sheds and it was the five of us – beautiful Rachael [Carpani], Jess [Napier], Lisa, Sonia [Todd] and me,” Bridie, 55, tells TV WEEK. “And we were trying to get frigging sheep into the shearing shed and none of us knew what on earth we were doing, but we were trying to look like we did!
“I was lucky because I didn’t have to know what I was doing, but they all did. And there was the excitement and the nerves and the adrenaline of being a part of something really big, but we didn’t know what it was.”
Australians fell in love with McLeod’s overnight, with 1.89 million viewers watching that first episode. It’s worth remembering the series began just weeks before the horrific events of September 11 that year. Viewers were crying out for familiarity in uncertain times.
“The core of the show is family, resilience, the ups and downs of life,” Bridie says.
“Our show offered people love and hope and a nurturing of the spirit.”
A quarter of a century later, the show “still feeds that hunger people have for human connection”.
Over the years, McLeod’s has aired in more than 200 territories worldwide – and still does. “I just love that people still love the show so much today,” Bridie says.
As Tess and Claire’s relationship flourished, the actresses bonded off screen.
“If that friendship wasn’t there, I don’t think the show would have worked,” Bridie says. “The heart of the show was this love between two very different sisters, which started with great animosity, difficulty and grief.”
And that closeness between the two actresses has only strengthened, years after they finished on screen together. “I speak about it openly, we both do – we are each other’s sister,” Bridie says.
“McLeod’s has been the gift that never stops giving,” Lisa adds. “The public still tell me what the show and, in my case, what Claire meant to them, and no other show in my 40-year career has created that impact or legacy.”
Bridie agrees: “McLeod’s was a gift, but there were really challenging times. We always had each other’s backs together. So, we have a shared experience that no one else knows but Lisa and me.”
In 2003 the show tore out our hearts when Claire unexpectedly died after her car plunged off a cliff. It remains one of the most harrowing episodes of Australian television drama.
For Bridie, Claire’s death was the ultimate representation of what the show could achieve.
“We needed Claire’s goodbye to honour this incredible iconic character and it really did,” Bridie says. “The writers and the production team did an extraordinary job with that episode, and we all worked our butts off.”
Of course, the McLeod‘s family were left devastated when beloved actress Rachael Carpani, who played Jodi Fountain, passed away on December 7 last year at 45, after a battle with chronic illness.
Bridie still struggles to process her co-star’s death at such a young age.
“For all of us, she was our baby,” she says. “She was the youngest cast member. It felt like losing a sister.”
Bridie and Lisa recently reunited on screen for a Tipping Point special to honour 70 years of TV. The former chose to play for anti-bullying charity Dolly’s Dream, for which she’s an ambassador. It was established to honour teenager Amy ‘Dolly’ Everett, who took her own life following prolonged bullying in 2018.
The Nine Network special was also an opportunity for a reunion with Lisa.
“We had a night together in Melbourne and shot Tipping Point and ate dinner and talked way too much,” Bridie recalls.
“I gained another sister for life with Bridie,” Lisa says.
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