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A Country Practice was an Australian television drama series. At its inception, one of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, who had wrote the pilot episode and entered a script contest for the network in 1979, coming third and winning a merit award. It ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping, Sydney. After its lengthy run on the seven network it was picked up by network ten with a mainly new cast from April to November 1994 for 30 episodes, although the ten series was not as successful as its predecessor . The Channel Seven series was also filmed on location in Pitt Town, while, the Channel Ten series was filmed on location in Emerald, Victoria.

Private Schulz is a six-part 1981 television comedy-drama serial written by Jack Pulman and produced for BBC Two. It stars Michael Elphick in the title role, with Ian Richardson, Tony Caunter, Billie Whitelaw, Billy Murray, and Mark Wingett. Set primarily in Germany, during and immediately following World War II, fraudster and petty criminal Gerhard Schulz is forced to serve in the SS. In a story based on the real, though unrealised, plot by the Germans known as Operation Bernhard, Schulz tricks the Nazis into making counterfeit British £5 notes, millions of which will be used to destroy the British economy.

Wheel of Fortune is an Australian television game show produced by Grundy Television. The program aired on the Seven Network from 1981 to 2004 and November 2005 to July 2006 and is mostly based on the same general format as the original American version of the program. After Wheel of Fortune ended, the format was revived by the Nine Network in 2008 as Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune, until it was cancelled in June 2008 due to low ratings following arguments from long-time host John Burgess concerning why he did not like the show. An earlier unrelated show also titled Wheel of Fortune had been broadcast on the Nine Network. That version had been developed by Reg Grundy as a radio game show before it transferred to television in 1959.

Based on real-life experiences, Tenko remains one of the most fondly remembered and acclaimed BBC dramas of the early 1980s. It follows a group of women, formerly comfortably well-off ex-pats living in Singapore, as they are captured by the Japanese during World War II.

Set against the brutal chaos of World War II, a love story begins that will take two lovers through a living nightmare of captivity, across three continents and two decades.

Punishment is an Australian television soap opera made by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the Ten Network in 1981. Set in a fictional men's prison, the series attempted to present a male version of the successful soap Prisoner. Attempts by the show's makers to differentiate the series from Prisoner saw Punishment imbued with greater realism; however, the formula did not attract high viewing figures. Network Ten deemed the new series a failure after only three episodes had gone to air, and it was quickly removed from the schedules. The remainder of the 26 episodes produced were shown out-of-ratings later that year. Unusually for a soap opera, the series was taped using the single camera technique. The regular cast featured many notable Australian actors including Brian Wenzel, Barry Crocker, Michael Preston, Ross Thompson, Anne Haddy, George Spartels, Cornelia Frances, Lisa Peers and Julie McGregor. Mel Gibson played a prisoner in the first episode. Kris McQuade played the girlfriend of Gibson's character and was phased out of the series after the first few episodes due to Gibson's departure. The programme was produced and directed by Alan Coleman.

Levkas Man is a 1981 mini series about a doctor who goes to the Greek island of Levkas to prove a theory about prehistoric man. It was shot on location in Greece. Paul Gerrard is a man in search of his missing father - a wayward archaeologist who has disappeared from Greece.

Bellamy is an Australian television series made by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the Ten Network in 1981. The series focused on a maverick cop named Steve Bellamy. His partner was Detective Mitchell. Recurring characters in the series were the disapproving Daley who appeared in 21 episodes, the forensics technician Clem who was in 15 of the episodes. Adam Garnett as Ginger, a street-wise child who befriended Bellamy, appeared in six early episodes but was phased-out of the series. Later in the run Tom Richards appeared as Detective Burns over five episodes. In the story Burns was ultimately revealed to be corrupt. The series was noticeably more violent than previous Australian police series such as those made by Crawford Productions during the 1970s. Bellamy attracted only mediocre ratings and was shifted around the schedules several times. The series was not renewed beyond the initial series of 26 one-hour episodes.

I Can Jump Puddles is a 1981 Australian television mini-series based on the 1955 autobiographical series of the same name by author Alan Marshall. Adapted for television by screenwriters Cliff Green and Roger Simpson, the series starred Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Adam Garnett, Tony Barry, Julie Hamilton, Ann Henderson, Lesley Baker, Olivia Brown, Debra Lawrance and Darren MacDonald. Several prominent television actors also had supporting roles including Lisa Aldenhoven, Kaarin Fairfax, Maurie Fields, Terry Gill, Reg Gorman, Matthew King, Julie Nihill, Maureen Edwards and Dennis Miller and Jason Donovan and Cliff Ellen. A large part of supporting and minor roles also featured cameo appearances by cast members of Prisoner such as Esme Melville, Peter Curtin, Ian Smith, Christine Amor, Fiona Spence, Edward Hepple, Sigrid Thornton, Leila Hayes, Sandy Gore, Mary Ward, Anne Phelan. Future cast members included Billie Hammerberg and Pepe Trevor.

Daily at Dawn was an Australian sitcom that screened in 1981 on the Seven Network. The series was written and produced by Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler, the team behind other popular Australian comedy series such as Kingswood Country, Hey Dad..! and The Naked Vicar Show.

Falcon Island is a 1981 Australian children's TV series set in Western Australia.

The series follows the adventures of a brother and sister as they try to discover the whereabouts of their scientist father, whilst being pursued by an evil woman and her henchman.

Personal account of Australian history by former South Australian politician and premier Don Dunstan including reflections on European settlement of Australia and the treatment of Aboriginal people and their land rights.