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Rafferty's Rules
1987 - 1990 6.0 (1 votes) 4 Seasons
Genres
Drama Crime Comedy
Networks
Seven Network
Created By
Ben Lewin

Rafferty's Rules

Overview

Rafferty's Rules was an Australian television drama series which ran from 1987 to 1990 on the Seven Network. Rafferty's Rules was one of the first programs undertaken by the Seven Network's then new in-house drama unit, going into production in May 1985 as "a 15-part courtroom drama". The program had started out as a pilot episode, recorded in early 1984 with the actor Chris Haywood in the lead role. When the pilot episode was remounted later in 1984, Chris Haywood wasn't available and the lead role was re-cast to John Wood. This second recording was eventually broadcast as the program's first episode.

Top Cast

John Wood
John Wood

Michael Rafferty

Arky Michael
Arky Michael

Fulvio Frangellomini

Simon Chilvers
Simon Chilvers

Sgt. Julian Flicker

Katy Brinson
Katy Brinson

Lisa Blake

Seasons

Season 1 (1987)

No overview available.

15 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Pilot
1987-02-12

Michael Aloysius Rafferty starts his new job as Stipendiary Magistrate of Manly Local Court.

Runtime: 47 min
Episode 2: Win Some, Lose Some
1987-02-19

Rafferty's estranged wife Joanne arrives in Sydney to discuss a few things and he is anxious. Meanwhile, Paulyne has a crisis of conscience when she has to act for a man in an assault case.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 3: Truth to Tell
1987-02-26

Rafferty deals with a young prostitute and U.S. government officials apply to extradite one of their citizens.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 4: The Free Life
1987-03-05

Rafferty is angry when a drugs case he was listed to deal with is suddenly moved to another court and confronts the Chief Magistrate about the matter.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 5: The Women
1987-03-12

Rafferty is forced to examine his attitude towards women.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 6: Rafferty and the Srangers Among Us
1987-03-19

Rafferty feels alone with his recent move to the city.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 7: Sin with Gold
1987-03-26

Rafferty has no choice but to dismiss a big drug case.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 8: Looking Good
1987-04-02

Rafferty hears two cases about people's desire to look good.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 9: Reason to Believe
1987-04-09

A young prostitute decides to defend herself against a soliciting charge.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 10: Mates and Brothers
1987-04-16

An Italian father and his brother plant a bomb in Rafferty's chambers.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 11: Sticks
1987-04-23

Rafferty investigates what appears to be an accidental death by drowning.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 12: Stray Cat
1987-04-30

A young drifter comes before Rafferty's court for being in possession of a cat skin.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 13: Invasion of Privacy
1987-05-07

Rafferty's cases reflect people invading other people's privacy.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 14: Rafferty and the Rough Diamond
1987-05-14

Rafferty finds that people and things are not always as they seem.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 15: Public Image
1987-05-21

Rafferty realises that the media makes innocent people look like monsters.

Runtime: N/A min
Season 2 (1988)

No overview available.

11 episodes

Episodes
Season 3 (1989)

No overview available.

30 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Nine Tenths of the Law
1989-02-04

Michael wrestles with the concept of possession after the discovery of Aboriginal remains creates a conflict of ownership between the state and the Indigenous community.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 2: Freedom
1989-02-11

Michael is caught between a rock and a hard place when he is forced to decide the fate of a young boy whose doctors believe is sick, but whose parents are refusing further tests on religious grounds.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 3: Those Who Can
1989-02-18

Fulvio learns that his teacher and idol isn't quite the perfect magistrate that he thought after he takes over when Michael falls ill.

Runtime: 47 min
Episode 4: Sense of Duty
1989-02-25

The courthouse becomes the centre of the fallout from a Secret Intelligence Agency training exercise.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 5: One for the Road
1989-03-10

Gibson faces his past after a series of alcohol-related prosecutions force him to confront the reasons he gave up drinking.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 6: Confessions
1989-03-17

A series of sexual assaults has consequences for the courthouse when the police fit up suspects and Paulyne is attacked in her own home.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 7: Horse Play
1989-03-24

Pauline finds that her personal life is mirroring her professional life when her former lover Gavin reappears and announces that he is getting married, just as she is defending a woman who refuses to accept that her marriage is over.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 8: Truth's a Dog
1989-03-31

Paulyne accuses an insurance company of racism when they report a Lebanese man to the police after he claims his precious rings were stolen just days after taking out a policy.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 9: The Great Divide
1989-04-07

Michael, Paulyne and Gibson find their ethics challenged when they deal with a man accused of raping his wife; however, it soon becomes apparent to all that the case is far more sinister than they ever could have imagined.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 10: Quanity of Mercy
1989-04-14

Rafferty is confronted with the limitations of the law when it comes to dispensing justice.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 11: Peace of Mind
1989-04-21

The courthouse finds itself becoming caught up in the deadly web of a cult. Michael is shocked when he goes on an early morning run and discovers the body of a young woman washed up on the beach.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 12: Thursday the Twelfth
1989-04-28

Michael takes responsibility for a foreign woman after she shows up on his doorstep.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 13: Friends and Neighbours
1989-05-05

A heatwave frays tempers at the courthouse when everyone arrives at work to find the air-conditioning broken.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 14: The Fleet's In
1989-05-12

The personal and the professional converge for Flicker when the anti-nuclear group his son is involved in begins protesting the arrival of nuclear warships.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 15: Family
1989-05-19

Rafferty's 6-year-old son goes missing.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 16: Crispin's Day
1989-05-26

The Bard comes into the courtroom when an elderly man reciting Shakespeare is arrested for busking without a licence.

Runtime: 44 min
Episode 17: Mum's the Word
1989-06-02

Michael's hopes of reuniting with his estranged wife are dashed when Joanne reveals that she has come to visit to end their relationship, and then their son falls ill.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 18: Brief Candles
1989-06-09

An unexpected tragedy forces Paulyne to re-evaluate her life; meanwhile she struggles to remain objective while defending a man accused of manslaughter over the death of a pedestrian.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 19: The Deep End
1989-06-16

New Legal Aid solicitor Lisa Blake starts work at the courthouse; however, she soon finds herself coming into conflict with Michael when she grandstands in the courtroom, then fails to fully prepare a case in mitigation for a defendant.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 20: A Matter of Circumstances
1989-06-23

A journalist sets out to prove that corruption exists in Rafferty's court.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 21: Waifs and Strays
1989-06-30

Lisa continues to have problems settling in, with her abrasive nature putting Michael offside.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 22: The Beast
1989-07-07

Lisa begins to wonder whether evil does exist when she defends a sociopath.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 23: Systems
1989-07-14

The entire courthouse struggles to cope when Michael is forced to decide whether a man accused of murder has a case to answer.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 24: Those Who Can't
1989-07-21

Lisa defends a young man who seems to be heading for the same life of crime as his father once did, but she refuses to believe Ray Brown's claims that the father's intentions are anything but honourable.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 25: Blood Relations
1989-07-28

Michael's world is turned upside down after learning that he has a twenty-two year old daughter from a previous relationship.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 26: Star Quality
1989-08-04

Flicker's prosecution against a young policeman who has broken the law is complicated when he begins to recognise that something even more suspicious is going on.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 27: Private Lives
1989-08-11

More than one life is on the line after a former children's television performer is charged with propositioning young boys for sex in the changing rooms of a local swimming pool.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 28: You Can Never Tell
1989-08-18

A criminal nicknamed 'The Hairy Bandit' is causing havoc and the courthouse is feeling the impact.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 29: The Affair That Never Was
1989-08-25

Michael's divorce from Joanne officially comes through, just as former Public Solicitor Paulyne Gray reappears in his life after a six month absence.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 30: Curtains for Ringo
1989-09-01

Michael considers his attitudes towards both politics and rural life after his cousin comes to the city, having now been elected to Parliament and holding very different opinions to Michael.

Runtime: 46 min
Season 4 (1990)

No overview available.

30 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Security
1990-02-09

Michael sees the law from another perspective after he becomes the key witness in Flicker's prosecution against an arsonist.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 2: That Old Black Magic
1990-02-16

Michael begins to wonder if someone is trying to put a spell on him after a number of suspicious run-ins with a member of a religious commune.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 3: The Plague
1990-02-23

Lisa confronts the prejudices of society when she defends a man with AIDS who has committed an armed robbery in order to ensure his wife's future following his death.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 4: In For a Penny
1990-03-02

Michael is drawn into the world of a struggling young family after he witnesses a woman being hit by a car.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 5: Out of Line
1990-03-09

Lisa finds herself at odds with her colleagues when she defends an anti-nuclear activist whose family and the police are determined to have detained for his own safety.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 6: One for Us
1990-03-16

Rafferty decides to expose a Chilean military attaché following charges for torturing political dissidents in Chile.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 7: Politburo
1990-03-23

Flicker is horrified after he discovers just what conditions are faced by those in the police cells awaiting trial.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 8: One Consideration With Another
1990-03-30

Racial tensions erupt when two Asian men are accused of murder, while Michael questions his capacity as a magistrate after an act of leniency has dire consequences.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 9: Home
1990-04-06

Flicker and Lisa find themselves dealing with a particularly challenging court case when a girl alleges that she was raped by her father four years earlier.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 10: The Book of Love
1990-04-13

Lisa defends a singer who has beaten his wife, but her personal involvement in the case is made more difficult when he brings a gun into the courthouse.

Runtime: 44 min
Episode 11: On the Barricades
1990-04-20

Michael revisits his past as a university radical and conscientious objector when he is forced to decide the fate of a man who he once protested alongside.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 12: Funny Peculiar
1990-04-27

Flicker confronts his own prejudices when he prosecutes a case involving the assault of a female impersonator; however, it is Michael who finds himself at the centre of a controversy after the verdict is given.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 13: Whatever Gets You Through the Night
1990-05-04

Lisa is drawn into an organisation known as Life Force after a man is arrested for break and enter and assault.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 14: Whistling in the Dark
1990-05-11

Flicker finds himself wandering into a murky world of corruption when he prosecutes a case against a police officer who has broken the law and where the key witness is a serial whistleblower.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 15: Blood, Sweat and Paycheques
1990-05-18

Fulvio and Sandra's marriage comes close to breaking point after Sandra is arrested for shoplifting.

Runtime: 44 min
Episode 16: Home Again Kathleen
1990-05-25

Michael, Flicker and Lisa are dragged into a murky political world when they discover that the conflict between the British and the Irish is alive and well in Sydney.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 17: Driven to It
1990-06-01

An act of vandalism by the member of an animal rights group leaves Michael becoming emotionally involved with the accused's mother.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 18: A Fair Day's Work
1990-06-08

A man seeks Lisa's help when he is sacked after complaining about the work conditions; however, she soon finds herself defending him when he assaults his former boss.

Runtime: 44 min
Episode 19: Lies
1990-06-15

Lisa is drawn to an attractive young lawyer; however, she is forced into an ethical dilemma when his personal life unravels.

Runtime: 44 min
Episode 20: Consciousness Raising
1990-06-22

The feminist movement comes to the courthouse when a prominent feminist runs a group of pigs through the shop of a man accused of sexual harassment.

Runtime: 44 min
Episode 21: Free of Passion
1990-06-29

Flicker finds himself at the crossroads of a major life decision after he falls in love with a young female Constable, but his excitement at finding new love may see him lose it all.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 22: Many Happy Returns
1990-07-06

A convicted criminal whose ex-wife is about to marry a police officer comes before the court accused of assault.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 23: In Custody
1990-07-13

Lisa assists a young woman whose boyfriend has been arrested; however, she is horrified when she learns that he has been detained without charge and suspects that the police are fitting him up because he is Aboriginal.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 24: Lost Empires
1990-07-20

Lisa fights to save an Indian couple who are facing deportation, only to discover that the collapse of the British Empire means that they have no real home to go back to.

Runtime: 44 min
Episode 25: The Sea, the Sea
1990-07-27

Michael and Flicker befriend the beachcomber and poet, Snowy White; however, their admiration is crushed when it begins to appear that Snowy may be guilty of murder.

Runtime: 44 min
Episode 26: Up, Up and Away
1990-08-03

Lisa is charmed by a client accused of appropriating money from elderly women; however, Michael and Flicker cause conflict when they question her judgement.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 27: Punch Ups
1990-08-10

A prominent radio host has been charged with brawling. Michael is faced with the consequences of his judgements when he sentences a man accused of assault, only to later learn that the man's employer has sacked him.

Runtime: 44 min
Episode 28: Best and Brightest
1990-08-17

Michael is reunited with an old classmate in the lead-up to a school reunion; however, he is left wondering if they've come very far at all since the schoolyard.

Runtime: 44 min
Episode 29: Unaccompanied Bark
1990-08-24

An elderly journalist is arrested for shoplifting.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 30: Guilty
1990-08-31

Michael is consumed by guilt after he hits a man with his car; however he starts to wonder if maybe there are deeper issues at play when he seeks guidance on how to deal with his feelings.

Runtime: 46 min

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