Brass Monkeys

Brass Monkeys
Opening title screen
Genre	Sitcom
Based on	Twelve Below by Gary Reilly Tony Sattler
Written by	Gary Reilly Tony Sattler
Directed by	Kevin Burston
Starring	Graeme Blundell Paul Chubb Kev Golsby Ross Hohnen Margie McCrae Colin McEwan Doug Scroope Bill Young
Theme music composer	Mike Perjanik
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producers	Gary Reilly Tony Sattler
Editor	Noel Brady
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	RS Productions
Original release
Network	Seven Network
Release	1984 (1984) – 1984 (1984)

Brass Monkeys is an Australian television sitcom that was first broadcast in 1984 on the Seven Network. The series was written and produced by Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler, who were known for comedy series The Naked Vicar Show and Kingswood Country. The title comes from the colloquial expression "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey", in reference to the cold climate of the Antarctic.

Synopsis

Brass Monkeys is the story of a pretty female doctor who joins a group of men confined to the lonely isolation of an Australian Antarctic expedition station.[1]

Cast

• Graeme Blundell as Noddy
• Paul Chubb as Big Eye
• Kev Golsby as Hugo the OIC ("officer in charge")
• Ross Hohnen as Rex (aka, "the Ferret")
• Margie McCrae as Dr Sally Newman
• Colin McEwan as Nick
• Doug Scroope as Cookie
• Bill Young as Martin "Marty" Lightfoot

Background and production

The series was based on a television pilot titled Twelve Below, written by Reilly and Sattler. The pilot was devised as a vehicle for Noel Ferrier. However, owing to Ferrier's schedule, he proved unavailable to star in the series.[1][2] The pilot starred Ferrier as OIC, Robert Hughes as Noddy, Cornelia Frances as Dr Sally Newman, Colin McEwan as Nick and Jeff Ashby as Rex, aka, "the Ferret".[1] Only McEwan returned for Brass Monkeys.[1]

The series is the only example of a situation comedy set in Antarctica.[3]

An original draft script and a camera script were written for each episode. Each episode was recorded twice before a live studio audience, using the camera scripts. The two recordings were then edited into one recording, using the best audience reaction from each recording.[4]

Owing to exhaustion at having to write the scripts for this series, coupled with those of their previous series, writer Tony Sattler left RS Productions, the company operated by him and writing partner Gary Reilly, leaving Reilly to form his own company, Gary Reilly Productions, in 1984. This was the final series written by Reilly and Sattler as part of their production company RS Productions, until they reunited in 1997 for Bullpitt!.[5]

Episodes

Cameral rehearsals for the thirteen episodes took place between March and June 1983.[6][7] All thirteen episodes exist in the National Film and Sound Archive.[8]

No.	Title [8]	Directed by	Written by	Original release date [5]
1	"Just What the Doctor Ordered"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
2	"The Ring of Confidence Trick"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
3	"Pawn Night Down South"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
4	"Krill of My Dreams"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
5	"My Cut Runneth Over"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
6	"The Spy Who Stayed in the Cold"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
7	"Do You, Cookie, Take Whatsername?"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
8	"Whose Turn in the Hot Seat?"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
9	"Yes, We Have No Tomatoes"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
10	"A Nick Named Sue"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
11	"Penguin Madness"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
12	"Waiting for Noddy"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)
Marty requires a volunteer to accompany him on a short trek across the Antarctic. Noddy, inspired by the antics of famous French yachtsman Jacques Godot, agrees to the trip. Three days later, Marty returns to base alone. He informs the crew that Noddy has disappeared from their tent during a blizzard. After two days's searching, the OIC declares Noddy missing, presumed dead and reads Noddy's will to the crew members, while the Ferret charges Marty with culpable negligence and places him under house arrest. Noddy, meanwhile, returns to his base quarters, where Big Eye is reading Noddy's will. Big Eye convinces Noddy to pretend to remain dead, so they can split the life insurance pay-out stipulated in the will. However, Marty enters their room and instead suggests that together they get revenge on the Ferret. Later in the recreation room, the crew are all gathered listening to the OIC's anecdotes, when Jacques Godot arrives. However, the Ferret discovers that the real Godot had arrived at another Antarctic base that day. Having fooled the Ferret, Godot removes his disguise to reveal himself to be Noddy.[a]
13	"The Cold Gold Rush"	Kevin Burston	Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler	1984 (1984)

References

Notes

1. This episode synopsis has been written based on an off-air recording of an episode currently published on YouTube (see External links below). Owing to the video and episode itself not featuring an episode title, it has been determined that the off-air recording would most likely be this episode, based on the episode's plot and similar runtime to the copy held in the National Film and Sound Archive.[9]

Citations

1. "Brass Monkeys (Twelve Below)". Nostalgia Central. 27 June 2014. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
2. Murphy, Jim (11 March 1981). "Dawn of a comedy era". The Australian Women's Weekly. p. 52. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
3. Leane, Elizabeth (2012). Antarctica in Fiction: Imaginative Narratives of the Far South. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-107-02082-5.
4. "Brass Monkeys. Ep. 01: Camera and Shooting Script". National Film and Sound Archive. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
5. Lever, Susan (2020). Creating Australian Television Drama: A Screenwriting History. North Melbourne, Victoria: Australian Scholarly Publishing. ISBN 978-1-925984-88-0.
6. "Brass Monkeys. Ep. 03, 09.04.83 : Script (Rehearsal)". National Film and Sound Archive. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
7. "Brass Monkeys. Ep. 13, 18.06.83 : Script (Rehearsal)". National Film and Sound Archive. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
8. "Brass Monkeys: Television". National Film and Sound Archive. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
9. "Brass Monkeys. Ep. 12, Waiting for Noddy". National Film and Sound Archive. Retrieved 9 January 2025.

External links

• Brass Monkeys at IMDb
• Off-air recording of Episode 12(?) on YouTube