# Grass Roots (TV series)

Grass Roots is an Australian television series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 2000 and 2003.

## Synopsis

The series is set around the fictional Arcadia Waters Council (LGA) near Sydney, and was primarily a satirical look at the machinations of local government. It was written by Geoffrey Atherden.

## Production

Part of the series was filmed in the inner west Sydney suburb of Concord. Many external shots of Arcadia Waters Council chambers used Concord Council Chambers as a setting. The Council Chambers themselves (external shots, and the "Site Shed" Scenes, plus a couple of other external scenes) were filmed in a Factory at the end of Mars Road Lane Cove. Other various locations around Concord, particularly in the shopping centre and cafes in Majors Bay Road were used. Beach scenes were filmed at Mona Vale, New South Wales on Sydney's northern beaches, while the location "Cemetery Point" was filmed at the Mona Vale headland reserve.

## Series overview

| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Series | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 8 | 8 | 2 July 2000 (2000-07-02) | 20 August 2000 (2000-08-20) |
| 2 | 10 | 10 | 19 March 2003 (2003-03-19) | 21 May 2003 (2003-05-21) |

## Cast
### Main / regular

* Geoff Morrell as Col Dunkley
* Zoe Carides as Liz Murray
* John Clayton as Harry Bond
* Rhondda Findleton as Karin Schumaker
* Sophie Heathcote (Season 1) and Jodie Dry (Season 2) as Biddy Marchant
* Sacha Horler as Helen Mansoufis (Season 1, Season 2 - 2 episodes)
* Rhys Muldoon as Greg Dominelli
* Chris Haywood as George Hasnakov
* Michael Craig as Gordon Mahon
* Sandy Gore as Salwah Mandinkis
* Matthew Newton (Season 1) as Derek Garner
* Lucy Bell (Season 2) as Emily Bell
* Pauline Chan (Season 1) and Theresa Wong (Season 2) as Irene Cheung
* Melissa Jaffer (Season 1) and Kerry Walker (Season 2) as Fran Smith
* Nicholas Papademetriou as Victor Trujillo
* Judi Farr as Janice Corniglio
* Tara Morice as Julie Dunkley
* Mary Coustas as Ava Strick (Season 2)
* John Gregg as Morgan Bartok
* Tammy MacIntosh as Marilyn Hennessy (Season 1)
* Peter Kowitz as Warwick Marchant / Rev. Peter Summerhaze (10 episodes)
* Alan Cinis as Justin Thyer
* Mitchell Butel as Max Werring

### Guests

* Aaron Blabey as Sandy Maxwell (1 episode)
* Aaron Pedersen as Joe Ventimiglia (2 episodes)
* Arky Michael as Des (1 episode)
* Chelsea Brown as Stephanie Gruen (2 episodes)
* Penne Hackforth-Jones as Lani Leonard (1 episode)
* Rachel Szalay as Judith (1 episode)
* Russell Dykstra as Bill Hooks (1 episode)

## Episodes
### Season 1 (2000)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "A Week In September" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 2 July 2000 (2000-07-02) |
| 2 | 2 | "Late September" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 9 July 2000 (2000-07-09) |
| 3 | 3 | "October to March" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 16 July 2000 (2000-07-16) |
| 4 | 4 | "February To May" | Peter Andrikidis | Katherine Thompson | 23 July 2000 (2000-07-23) |
| 5 | 5 | "January To April" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 30 July 2000 (2000-07-30) |
| 6 | 6 | "April To July" | Peter Andrikidis | Michael Brindley | 6 August 2000 (2000-08-06) |
| 7 | 7 | "Late July Friday 4:00 pm To 10:30 pm" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 13 August 2000 (2000-08-13) |
| 8 | 8 | "The Whole Year" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 20 August 2000 (2000-08-20) |

### Season 2 (2003)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "Art" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 19 March 2003 (2003-03-19) |
| 2 | 2 | "Prostitution" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 26 March 2003 (2003-03-26) |
| 3 | 3 | "Garbage" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 2 April 2003 (2003-04-02) |
| 4 | 4 | "Crime" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 9 April 2003 (2003-04-09) |
| 5 | 5 | "Dogs" | Peter Andrikidis | Michael Brindley | 16 April 2003 (2003-04-16) |
| 6 | 6 | "Egomania" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 23 April 2003 (2003-04-23) |
| 7 | 7 | "Youth" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 30 April 2003 (2003-04-30) |
| 8 | 8 | "Cars" | Peter Andrikidis | Michael Brindley | 7 May 2003 (2003-05-07) |
| 9 | 9 | "Investigation" | Peter Andrikidis | Michael Brindley | 14 May 2003 (2003-05-14) |
| 10 | 10 | "By-election" | Peter Andrikidis | Geoffrey Atherden | 21 May 2003 (2003-05-21) |