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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 246702" data-attributes="member: 23">There&#039;s no time to waste in Paterson&#039;s Ridge. Among other events, episodes Nine to Eleven have featured the series&#039; first significant onscreen death, its first big wedding, another marriage proposal, a holdup or two, a burglary and a bitterly fought election. The bigger events have played out well and I&#039;ve especially enjoyed how interwoven the threads are. There&#039;s an eye for detail. The gold strike, for instance, led to a bushranger holding up a carriage which contained four key characters, each already at odds over romantic differences. One of the occupants fired a shot at the bushranger then became paranoid over a feared retaliation which led to them shooting a loved one in their own home because they were startled. Meanwhile, young Michael befriended the injured bushranger, only to be &quot;rescued&quot; by Colin and Rob. Which led to a moral dilemma when Michael pleaded against them taking the bushranger to face probable hanging. It&#039;s been great fun to see Oliver Blackwood&#039;s Machiavellian string-pulling as he&#039;s manipulated Matt and Luke into running against one another for state parliament (just as he&#039;d earlier manipulated Luke by propagating the idea that Matt had cheated Luke&#039;s father out of the station in which Matt now lives). Oliver&#039;s also &quot;helped&quot; Luke with loans and mortgages which he&#039;s now threatening to call in after Luke&#039;s proposal to Oliver&#039;s daughter Victoria. Oh, and he&#039;s presented Victoria with papers signing away her inheritance should she marry Luke. Oliver is such a great character. He&#039;s fairly arch, but very robustly played with great screen presence and is such fun to boo and hiss at while secretly rooting for him. The big stuff&#039;s been a thrill, but as the palette broadens I find myself impressed by the smaller touches. The dialogue is almost lyrical at times, without being flowery. It&#039;s the kind of common sense prosaic stuff that you might hear on early Corrie. Then there&#039;s the strength of the supporting cast. The town mayor has had the tiniest of roles, but is played by Sergeant Jack from The Flying Doctors. Then there are the Fowlers who run the town shop. Like H&amp;A&#039;s Floss and Nev they&#039;re ex-carnies who add colour by simply being part of the fabric. But the casting is so strong. There&#039;s a kind of running gag where Mr Fowler looks as though he&#039;s about to say something and then is interrupted - usually by his chatty wife. I&#039;m not clear if he&#039;s meant to be mute or henpecked but either way he hasn&#039;t spoken a word that I can remember. And yet he&#039;s played by Reg Gorman whose acting credentials are up there with any other Aussie actor (he&#039;s probably best remembered for being in just about every episode of The Sullivans). The more I stop to take in the small details of the town and the series, the more I like it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 246702, member: 23"] There's no time to waste in Paterson's Ridge. Among other events, episodes Nine to Eleven have featured the series' first significant onscreen death, its first big wedding, [I]another[/I] marriage proposal, a holdup or two, a burglary and a bitterly fought election. The bigger events have played out well and I've especially enjoyed how interwoven the threads are. There's an eye for detail. The gold strike, for instance, led to a bushranger holding up a carriage which contained four key characters, each already at odds over romantic differences. One of the occupants fired a shot at the bushranger then became paranoid over a feared retaliation which led to them shooting a loved one in their own home because they were startled. Meanwhile, young Michael befriended the injured bushranger, only to be "rescued" by Colin and Rob. Which led to a moral dilemma when Michael pleaded against them taking the bushranger to face probable hanging. It's been great fun to see Oliver Blackwood's Machiavellian string-pulling as he's manipulated Matt and Luke into running against one another for state parliament (just as he'd earlier manipulated Luke by propagating the idea that Matt had cheated Luke's father out of the station in which Matt now lives). Oliver's also "helped" Luke with loans and mortgages which he's now threatening to call in after Luke's proposal to Oliver's daughter Victoria. Oh, and he's presented Victoria with papers signing away her inheritance should she marry Luke. Oliver is such a great character. He's fairly arch, but very robustly played with great screen presence and is such fun to boo and hiss at while secretly rooting for him. The big stuff's been a thrill, but as the palette broadens I find myself impressed by the smaller touches. The dialogue is almost lyrical at times, without being flowery. It's the kind of common sense prosaic stuff that you might hear on early [I]Corrie[/I]. Then there's the strength of the supporting cast. The town mayor has had the tiniest of roles, but is played by Sergeant Jack from [I]The Flying Doctors[/I]. Then there are the Fowlers who run the town shop. Like H&A's Floss and Nev they're ex-carnies who add colour by simply being part of the fabric. But the casting is so strong. There's a kind of running gag where Mr Fowler looks as though he's about to say something and then is interrupted - usually by his chatty wife. I'm not clear if he's meant to be mute or henpecked but either way he hasn't spoken a word that I can remember. And yet he's played by Reg Gorman whose acting credentials are up there with any other Aussie actor (he's probably best remembered for being in just about every episode of [I]The Sullivans[/I]). The more I stop to take in the small details of the town and the series, the more I like it. [/QUOTE]

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Who played JR Ewing?