Hanlon drama

Press, 3 February 1984, Page 15

Hanlon drama

A major drama series that T.V.N.Z. had postponed until next year will now be produced this year as planned. The series, “Hanlon,” is about the life of a colourful Dunedin lawyer, Alf Hanlon, K.C., who defended the child murderer Minnie Dean among others at the turn of the century.

The series was to have been postponed because design facilities were not available. T.V.N.Z.’s head of drama John Mcßae says work on Hanlon can now continue because production of another series. “Terry and the Gun Runners,” had been passed over to an independent company, Logan Brewer Production Design. T.V.N.Z. staff have been working on “Hanlon” for 18 months, and were disappointed by last week’s announcement that production was to have been postponed. Mr Mcßae says filming will now begin in July and finish sometime before Christmas. The series will be shown on television next winter after some post-production work. Hanlon was a raconteur and Shakespearian actor who used oratory rather than technicalities to win cases." He defended clients who could not pay, and challenged crown forensic evidence in painstaking detail, carrying out his own experiments to uncover weaknesses in it. Hanlon was defence lawyer in more than 20 murder trials, and in all of them he got acquittals or reductions to manslaughter — except for one defendant, Minnie Dean. The series, which will consist of four 90-minute episodes, is being written by Ken Katran.