The Thorn Birds

1983

The Thorn Birds

7.9 | en | Drama

The story based on a novel by Colleen McCullough focuses on three generations of the Cleary family living on a sheep station in the Australian outback.

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Seasons & Episodes

EP4 Part 4

Mar. 30,1983

Meggie has repeated the mistakes of her past by favoring her son over her daughter. She finally admits the truth about Dane's paternity to Ralph and reconciles with both her mother Fee and her daughter Justine.

EP3 Part 3

Mar. 29,1983

Now married, living on a sugar cane plantation, and working as a maid in Queensland, Meggie finds her new husband is more interested in his own work and dalliances than in her. She bears him a child but is still unable to change his ways. Meanwhile, Father de Bricassart has moved up in the Church hierarchy and eventually returns to Australia as a Cardinal. And in yet another uneasy reunion between himself and Meggie, he finally succumbs to temptation by consummating forbidden love and breaking his vow of chastity.

EP2 Part 2

Mar. 28,1983

Having left Australia with a significant sum of holdings in hand willed to the Catholic Church by the wealthy socialite and sheep farmer Mary Carson, Father Ralph de Bricassart finds himself courted by power brokers within the Vatican. Meanwhile, the Drogheda Ranch suffers a devastating brush fire that spawns more tragedy in the Cleary family, and eventually leads to an uneasy reunion between Meggie and Father de Bricassart. However Meggie soon meets a young suitor who captures her heart.

EP1 Part 1

Mar. 27,1983

When the wealthy but now elderly owner of a large sheep farm in the outback of Australia realizes that her affections towards a banished but ambitious young priest will never be returned, she sets out to manipulate his life and career from the grave once she discovers him giving his attention to her young niece instead.

7.9 | en | Drama | More Info

Released: 1983-03-27 | Released Producted By: Warner Bros. Television , Edward Lewis Productions Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:

Synopsis

The story based on a novel by Colleen McCullough focuses on three generations of the Cleary family living on a sheep station in the Australian outback.

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Cast

Richard Chamberlain , Rachel Ward , Christopher Plummer

Director

Robert MacKichan

Producted By

Warner Bros. Television , Edward Lewis Productions

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Cast

Richard Chamberlain

as Ralph de Bricassart

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Rachel Ward

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Christopher Plummer

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Reviews

padraigjoseph1979 I have watched 'The Thorn Birds' several times and it is a well made show and deserves all the praise it has received. However I can't help wondering if there should be a remake like there was with 'Roots' made in Australia with Australian actors and with Australian accents. Just an idea. Well Australian actors are everywhere at the moment so a dramatization of one of their most popular novels wouldn't be that big. Look no disrespect to the original but I think an Aussie version of an Aussie novel which 'The Thorn Birds' happens to be. I think that Colleen McCullough never liked the mini series. Would she have liked it if it had been made in Australia with Australian actors. Who Knows?

Charles Poynton As an Australian who knows the country and sheep stations well, I found this TV series IMPOSSIBLE to watch.1) The landscape is not Australian. Australia is flat, scrubby, has red soil and certainly does not have North American tree species growing in the wild. The grass is usually spinifex, a really distinctive species which I am sure the director knew nothing about.2) The architecture was in keeping with Southern California, not Australia. Station homesteads in Australia are always of a single story and built with corrugated iron, mud brick (maybe) and bush timber poles. 3) Australians drive on the left hand side of the road.4) The flocks of sheep are anywhere between 2,000 and 10,000 head, comprised entirely of merinos, and are herded with dogs. The dogs are of quite specific breeds - kelpies and border collies - and are quite valuable. You don't shoot them because they fight.5) In the 1920s, fences were of timber poles with 6 - 8 plain wires topped by a single strand of barbed wire. Gates were generally made of the same materials and known as "cocky" gates. 6) Australians speak with Australian accents, not American ones. Sure, Irish immigrants might have Irish accents (but I did not notice too much of that) but their children will certainly speak with Australian or New Zealand accents (as the case may be).7) New Zealanders who have lived on farms will certainly have some idea about the handling and shearing of sheep.

ga-bsi I love this mini-series because it was beautifully true to Colleen McCullough's creation. It is such a rich and complex tale because it spans over such a long time period, but they did it wonderfully in this adaptation. I loved to hate Meggie at times, as I did in the book, and I also wanted her to finally be with Ralph. But what really impressed me was the way in which they took such a poetic book and lost none of that when they put it on the screen. The casting was absolutely amazing, from the sensitive and torn manner in which Richard Chamberlain portrayed Ralph, and although he didn't have the colouring that Ralph had in the book, I couldn't imagine any other actor playing this character. To Rachel Ward, who brings the passionate and obsessive Meggie to life with such poise and lovliness, how I mourned with her and hated her at the same time, for the way in which her selfish and strong nature cripples Ralph. But I admired her ability to love. I will always adore this mini series, that proved that love, even denied, can bloom into the most precious treasure two individuals can own.

tikidoll I've only watched the first side of disc one and am so far enjoying it, but what is with the accents? They are supposed to be in Australia and everyone is either Irish or American. The Irish makes sense, but not the American everybody! I'm Australian so I find it disappointing and distracting. I think poor immitations would have been better than effortless American accents.Meggie goes from being an American accented child of an Irish accented father and non-descript accented mother, and grows up into a British/Australian accent.Mary sounds like she's a New Yorker with an Irish brother, but the killer was at the fair when the emcee said to the girl who won something "Good on you!" awkwardly because if he was Australian, it would have been "Good on ya!" I am enjoying it, but this accent issues is quite abominable! I can't wait until Bryan Brown hits the scene to sets things straight. Oi!

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