Top Mates

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox television | image = | caption = | genre = mini-series | writer = Anne Brooksbank<br />Margaret Kelly | based_on = | director = Chris Thomson | starring = Michael McGlinchey<br />Patrick Matthews | composer = | country = Australia | language = English | num_episodes = 5 | producer = Noel Price | company = | camera = | runtime = 1 x 1 hour, 4 x 30 min | network = ABC | first_aired = {{Start date|1979|7|16|df=y}} | last_aired = {{End date|1979|07|20|df=y}} }} '''''Top Mates''''' is a 1979 Australian TV mini-series.<ref name="scott">Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford University Press, 1996 p241</ref>

==Synopsis== The series centres on two boys, Paul Jackson and Brett Towers. Paul starts attending a new school, where he meets Brett, and both run away from school.<ref name="BFI">{{cite web | title=Top Mates (1989) | website=British Film Institute | url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b79a1643c | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106064947/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b79a1643c | url-status=dead | archive-date=6 November 2022 | access-date=6 November 2022}}</ref> Also featured are Liz Towers and her best friend Rachel Marsh and the boys schoolmate Tony Fabiani.<ref>{{Citation | last= Morris | first= Jill | title= Runaway pair are top mates | url= | periodical= The Age | date= 24 January 1981 }}</ref>

==Cast== *Michael McGlinchey as Brett Towers *Patrick Matthews as Paul Jackson *Angela Gauci as Liz Towers *Justine Saunders as Mrs. Jackson *Candy Williams as Mr. Jackson *Tessa Mallos as Mrs. Towers *Ray Meagher as Mr. Towers *John Ewart as the derro *Bronwyn Clarke *Kelly Dingwall

==Production== The script was written by Anne Brooksbank and Margaret Kelly, and the series was made by ABC Television.

==Release== It was aired by the ABC in Australia in 1979, and on BBC TV in the UK in 1989.<ref name="BFI"/>

==Reception== ''Top Mates'' won a Sammy Award and a Penguin Award.<ref>{{Citation | last= Morris | first= Jill | title= ABC hits home with new drama | periodical= The Age | date= 6 August 1981}}</ref>

Looking back at the series, Jill Morris of The Age said the series saw "modern issues met head-on".<ref>{{Citation | last= Morris | first= Jill | title= Children are stuck in a 30's treehouse | periodical= The Age | date= 19 February 1981}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0080034}}

Category:Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Category:1970s Australian television miniseries Category:1979 Australian television series debuts Category:1979 Australian television series endings Category:Television shows set in Sydney