McLeod's Daughters

The first three seasons follow the lives of half-sisters Claire McLeod and Tess Silverman McLeod, farmhands Jodi Fountain and Becky Howard, Jodi's mother and Drover's housekeeper Meg Fountain, and their affluent neighbors, the Ryan family.

The cast remained the same until the third season, when it was announced that Jessica Napier would be leaving. Her character, Becky Howard, initially decided to take a job at another farm with her boyfriend Jake, but then changed her mind and went back to school on the Agricultural Scholarship she had won during the young farmers competition. News of a second major cast change hit when it was announced that Lisa Chappell, who played Claire McLeod, would be leaving the series. Claire, Tess, and baby Charlotte were involved in car accident, with Tess and Charlotte making it to safety before their vehicle slid over a cliff, killing Claire.

Simmone Jade Mackinnon's character, Stevie Hall, was introduced to replace Chappell.[5]

Season four began with the promotion of Brett Tucker to series regular. A new farm-hand, Kate Manfredi, was introduced in the fourteenth episode of season four. The introduction of Kate was to accommodate the departure of Meg, who left to pursue a writing job in Melbourne. She remained credited as a main character until the end of season 5.

When the show began to decrease in ratings in the fifth season, producers decided to introduce several new characters to try and liven up the show. They brought in the no-nonsense, secretive Rob Shelton who was employed as the overseer at Killarney; the geologist cousin of Tess and Jodi, Regan McLeod; and the troubled brother of Dave, Patrick Brewer. Even with these cast changes, the show suffered another major blow when Myles Pollard announced that he was leaving the show to pursue other opportunities in the USA.[6] His character, Nick Ryan was supposedly killed in a plane crash.

Ratings started to rise in the sixth season, when it took on a more soap opera-type style, while staying true to the original premise of the show. This was the last season before show began its downhill slope. After four seasons, recurring character Moria Doyle (played by Doris Younane) was promoted to series regular to replace Meg Fountain. Myles Pollard returned briefly when it was revealed that Nick had not died in a plane crash, but had actually been unconscious in a hospital in Argentina. Bridie Carter also decided to leave the show, departing with Pollard when their characters returned to Argentina. This saw the return and promotion to the main cast of Regan McLeod. Another blow was dealt when Jonny Pasvolsky decided to quit. His character, Rob Shelton/Matt Bosnich, had to leave Gungellan when he was found by the hitmen who had been pursuing him. The return of Zoe Naylor's character, Regan McLeod was to accommodate the departure of Tess, however this had no impact. The ratings started to slip and two more characters were introduced: the replacement overseer for Killarney, Riley Ward, and the immature Tayler Geddes, whose father died in an explosion at a mine where Regan worked. The final episode saw Brett Tucker's character Dave Brewer depart the series to work as a vet in Africa and the temporary departure of Michala Banas's character, Kate Manfredi.

The seventh season saw the introduction of Marcus Turner, who was employed as an account manager by Bryce Redstaff, Alex's biological father. It was later revealed that Marcus was Alex's half-brother. The seventh season also saw the return of Matt Bosnich, who was free to continue his life outside of witness protection. The news, however, that Rachael Carpani was departing the show and her character Jodi McLeod, along with Matt, would be written out was soon announced and Matt and Jodi were "killed" in a car explosion. It later turned out that they were alive, but used a car explosion to cover up this fact so they could go into witness protection. To compensate for Carpani's departure, Abi Tucker's character Grace Kingston McLeod was introduced as the feisty sister of Regan and cousin of Jodi. Michala Banas's character Kate was written back in as was Sonia Todd's character Meg Fountain, however the latter departed soon after. It was announced that not only would Zoe Naylor be leaving, but so would the last remaining original cast member, Aaron Jeffery, though they would both return. Regan left to run a mine, while Alex left to help Nick and Tess in Argentina. A new vet, Ingrid Marr, was introduced to stir up trouble between Grace and Marcus. Dustin Clare's character Riley Ward was killed in a car accident at the end of season seven.

The departure of Michala Banas rocked the crew of McLeod's Daughters and her character was written out to work on a farm for at-risk youth. Aaron Jeffery returned for one episode in season eight, where his character Alex Ryan was killed when a large tree branch fell on him. Regan returned for the christening of baby Xander, who was born the day after Alex died. Stevie's fun-loving cousin Ben Hall was introduced as the new overseer of Killarney, replacing Riley, while the vivacious sister of Regan and Grace, Jaz McLeod returned to Drover's Run after making a guest appearance in season four.

The series finale saw Sonia Todd and Rachael Carpani return as Meg Fountain and Jodi McLeod respectively.

• Drovers Run – Drovers Run is the main setting for the show. Drovers Run has been in the McLeod family for years, passed down to father, son, and now daughters. Claire McLeod, Tess McLeod, Jodi McLeod and Grace McLeod all have run Drovers Run along with part owners Stevie Ryan and Regan McLeod.
• Killarney – Killarney is also known as the Ryan Empire. At the start of the series Harry Ryan owned the property, and as he grew older his sons Alex and Nick took over. After Nick and Tess married, marrying then left to run a ranch in Argentina. Alex ran Killarney for a couple of years, until his biological father (Bryce) became part owner of the property. On Bryce's death, half-brother Marcus became part owner of the property. In the final years of the show both Alex and Marcus own and run Killarney, although Alex became a largely absentee owner as he also began to spend much of his time on the ranch in Argentina.
• Kinsellas – Kinsellas is a local farm that was run by Sandra Kinsella from 2003–2006. The name was changed after Heath Barret bought it.
• The Local Pub – The Local Pub is where everyone goes for a drink after a hard days labour. Becky worked there in 2001, Jodi worked there briefly in 2005 and Tayler also worked there briefly in 2007. The pub is most likely the only pub in Gungellan.
• The Truck Stop – The Truck Stop is where most of town buy their supplies and when they need fuel. It was first owned by Ken Logan then Harry Ryan. When Harry was owner Terry Dodge managed it then Moira Doyle, Later on Moira and Regan McLeod went into business supplying the fuel, Phill Rakich was the last owner.
• The Town Hall – The Town Hall is where most major events are held, such as the Miss Gungellan contest, plays, and the town's birthday celebration.
• Fisher – Gungellan's closest neighboring town.

McLeod's Daughters is filmed on location at Kingsford, a 35-acre (55 ha) property which is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register and is located in the locality of Kingsford north of Gawler.[7] Gawler is north of Adelaide, which Posie Graeme-Evans refers to as "our very own backlot". Kingsford was originally part of a 30,000-acre (12,245ha) property. Kingsford had been used in the years prior to filming by the South Australian Government as a wheat research station then by a Montessori school as a primary school campus. The property was purchased by The Nine Network in 1999. The historical house was built from Edinburgh sandstone, transported to Australia as a ship ballast. The house took over 30 years to build and was finished by 1856. Although Kingsford was a grand property at the time, it is now quite run down - a look that was important for the production design of the series, as the McLeod family has no money for maintenance.

The interior scenes set at Drover's Run are all filmed inside the house. It not only added authenticity to the production, but the large rooms and high ceilings were ideal for filming. Kingsford was a working farm in the past.[8]

The show was shot on Super 16 mm film,[9] and is the first Australian drama series to be delivered in HDTV format. Three cameras were used, two on main unit and the third on second unit. Director of photography, Roger Dowling created the illusion that the series is shot on a 50,000 hectare property in the Australian bush, instead of on a heritage estate about the size of a hobby farm.[10]

The final season began airing in the UK on the Hallmark Channel (now Universal Channel) on 12 October 2008 with double episodes every Sunday morning from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. The final two episode aired in the UK on Sunday 21 December 2008, a month before the episodes aired in Australia.[19]

In Germany the final two episodes aired on 4 November 2008 in a German-dubbed-version, a month before airing in the UK in the original language.

In Ireland, RTÉ Two began airing the final season in mid-2010 in a late-night time slot, with the final episode airing early 2011. This was the first time season 8 had been shown on the channel, as RTÉ had long period gaps between each season. In early 2011, the channel began airing the series from the beginning, but was stopped less than halfway through the first season.

In the US, the series debuted on the WE tv (Women's Entertainment) cable channel, and ran for several seasons. Netflix made all 8 seasons available to US subscribers in 2009.

• McLeod's Daughters: Songs from the Series Volume 1 – 26 August 2002
• McLeod's Daughters: Songs from the Series Volume 2 – 25 April 2004
• McLeod's Daughters: Songs from the Series Volume 3 – 1 September 2008