Ed Devereaux
Ben Chifley
TV SERIES
The True Believers
War & PoliticsDrama
The True Believers is a 1988 Australian mini series which looks at the history of the Australian Labor Party from the end of World War Two up to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955. It was co-written by Bob Ellis who focused on three characters "Chifley, the unlettered man of great dignity; Menzies, who used to stand for something but eventually stood only for Menzies; and Evatt, the grand idealist... It's almost like Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. It's a chunk of national history during Australia's great era of change after the war."
Top cast
John Bonney
Robert Menzies
Simon Chilvers
H.V. Evatt
JD
John Derum
B.A. Santamaria
Graham Rouse
Arthur Fadden
Nick Tate
Les Hayden
Gary Files
Fred Daly
SM
Stuart McCreery
Allan Dalziel
MS
Mary-Lou Stewart
Joanna Malcolm
DS
Dorothy St. Heaps
Elizabeth Chifley
LS
Leonie-Martin Smith
Ethel Casey
HM
Hec Macmillan
Sir William McKell
Creative team
John Lonie (Writer) • Matt Carroll (Writer) • Peter Fisk (Director) • Bob Ellis (Writer) • Stephen Ramsay (Writer)
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Episodes
8 Episodes
011. Episode 1
Just before the end of WWII, John Curtin lays on his deathbed. Who will fill the position? Brilliant legal mind, "Doc" Evatt or unschooled train driver Ben Chifley? With an election to face in 1946, the Labor Party needs to choose wisely.
022. Episode 2
With a supposed Communist uprising in the coal industry moves are afoot to abolish the party from the Liberal side, but also to nationalise the banks from Labor. The High Court finds that nationalising the banks is not constitutional.
033. Episode 3
After Chifley wins the election, Evatt spends much time overseas and is elected third President of the United Nations. The Miners' Union gets more concessions, but wants even more. Evatt argues to the Privy Council for bank nationalisation.
044. Episode 4
Communist demands become so great even the ALP feels the need to oppose them leading to the coal miners' strike of 1949, gaoling of some union members and sending in the army to work the mines.
055. Episode 5
Menzies is now Prime Minister and starts naming alleged Communists in parliament, subjecting them to gaol and sackings. Chifley's heart is giving up the ghost, and Doc Evatt becomes acting Opposition Leader.
066. Episode 6
Menzies calls a double-dissolution over his Communist Party prohibition bill in April 1951, which he wins, but loses five seats. On 13 June 1951, Chifley dies following a heart attack in his Canberra hotel room.
077. Episode 7
Doc Evatt is elected Opposition Leader after Chifley's tragic death, but the odds are stacked against him. Menzies uses the Communist menace as a stick to beat him and milks the Petrov affair for all it's worth.
088. Episode 8
Following the Petov Affair, Evatt promises pension rises, the abolition of means tests and tax cuts. Noone believes him (even in his own party) and Menzies wins again. Disaffected Victorian ALP members split the party to form the DLP.