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Series One of East West 101 focuses on two men whose destinies are irrevocably intertwined. Malik is driven by a hunger for justice. He was twelve when a masked gunman held up the family shop. Malik refused to hand over the money and his father was subsequently shot and injured. He later joined the police force and has been looking for the shadowy figure who pulled the trigger. When he finally finds him, Malik's belief in the justice system is challenged by a powerful desire for revenge. As he hunts down the truth, it is revealed that one of his colleagues, Crowley, had a part to play in the original investigation. Crowley is a man whose vision has been blighted by pain and prejudice. His son, Paul, was found dead of an overdose on drugs sold to him by a Lebanese dealer. When the drug dealer who sold Paul the heroin is found murdered, Internal Affairs come asking questions.
In Season Two, East West 101 expands to seven episodes as the Major Crime Squad investigate crime and murder in all quarters of multicultural Sydney. But overarching all is the quest for Detective Zane Malik to find the truth behind a car bomb attack which kills two men. The Major Crime Squad form a joint task force with the NSO (National Security Organisation) to deal with the crime. There is paranoia in the city and fallout on the Muslim community. Malik knows that in order to stop the circle of hate, he must solve the crime. Was the bomb really an act of extremists, as the media suggest, or a sophisticated killing by a career criminal? Malik doggedly pursues the truth until he, too, becomes a target. Inspector Patricia Wright questions his motives but her vision is clouded by personal issues that she wants to keep hidden from the squad. Crime has touched her own family.
Season Three : The Hero's Journey. 'In [this] third season of East West 101, the Major Crime Squad investigates a 36 million dollar robbery in Australia and its connections to the murder of 17 people in Afghanistan. Is the robbery to fund an act of terror by military trained radicals, or the work of sophisticated criminals? For Detective Zane Malik the case has savage personal and professional ramifications. Malik is obstructed in his quest to find those responsible by the interference of newcomer Detective Neil Travis. Travis has fought in Iraq and his attitude and approach to the investigation cause conflict with Malik. In the hunt for an elusive foe, ultimately both men are forced to confront what makes a man a hero, or a coward...'
(Source: East West 101, SBS website)
Notes
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International awards for this series include, Winner [February] 2011 The Accolade Competition Award of Excellence: Miniseries [for Season Three] and Winner 2010 New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards Gold World Medal: Best MiniSeries [for Season Two].
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Individual award-winning episodes in this series are listed below and are separately indexed.
Includes
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1.02form y Death at the Station Australia : Knapman Wyld Television , 2007 Z1824191 2007 single work film/TV 'Bad drugs are being sold on the streets of Redfern. Addicts are dying. Local Aboriginal leader and anti drug crusader, Adam King, is trying to get the drugs off the street when he is shot. Some say he has been assassinated. Malik and his partner, Pacific Islander, Detective Sonny Koa, try and get to the truth. Why are King's colleagues so unhelpful? And his family downright hostile? Is it just a distrust of police... or is it something more sinister? The conflict worsens between Malik and Crowley as Malik asks for his help with sources and informers and is rejected. Crowley's rage is more personal. Although the rest of the Squad are not aware of it, Crowley's son was one of the drug statistics.' (Australian Television Information Archive record) Australia : Knapman Wyld Television , 2007
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2.13form y Atonement Knapman Wyld Television , 2009 Z1643482 2009 single work film/TV 'When a truck driver is killed and a haul of fertiliser stolen, Detective Zane Malik and Agent Skerritt fear a possible terrorist attack. The race is on to find the men responsible.'
Source: SBS series website http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/eastwest101/ (Sighted 17/2/12)
Knapman Wyld Television , 2009 -
3.1form y The Hero's Standard Australia : Knapman Wyld Television , 2011 Z1768097 2011 single work film/TV crime
'Detective Zane Malik of the Major Crime Squad, faces the toughest challenge of his life when a very public crime has very personal ramifications.
'The sophisticated hold up of an armoured vehicle, leaves four dead. One of them is an armed robber, with an enigmatic identity, leaving Major Crime to ponder the possibilities. Is this an ordinary bunch of thieves looking to get rich quick, or is there a more sinister motivation behind the robbery?
'Malik clashes with new cop, Travis, in his impassioned pursuit of those who have hurt him and his family. When a man is left dead, in a police shoot out, Malik wonders just what kind of cowboy he's working with.'
Source: SBS Television website, http://www.sbs.com.au/
Australia : Knapman Wyld Television , 2011
Sighted: 22/03/2011
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Reel Bad Lebs
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 5 December no. 94 2019; 'Up until I was nine years old, my favourite film was Blood Sport. Frank Dux, who was played by Van Damme in the prime of his career, competed against the world’s best fighters in the underground martial arts tournament called the Kumite. Early in the film, a brown-skinned man in a traditional Saudi headdress named Hossein tries to force the white female lead, Janice, upstairs to his hotel room for an ‘interview’. When she refuses, Hossein raises his open hand to slap her. Fortunately, Frank Dux intervenes, grabbing Hossein’s arm and winning a bet against him, which spares the blonde-haired damsel from imminent physical and sexual assault. As a result, Frank gets the girl the consensual way – they take a friendly walk, making fun of Hossein as they meander, they have a romantic dinner and then they head back to Frank’s hotel room for a wholesome night of procreation.' (Introduction) -
Red Dog Nips Awards, but Frocks Rile Red Carpet
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 1 February 2012; (p. 3) -
'I'd Like to Thank the Academy...'
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 22 December 2011; (p. 38) 'The television nominees for the Samsung AACTA Awards showcase some of the best programs and talent in Australian film institute history.' -
East West 101 as Edgy Text : Television Police Drama and Australian Multiculturalism
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 25 no. 4 2011; (p. 573–582) 'East West 101 is a television show that bears the traces of the highly charged social and cultural fields in which it is embedded. At one level, the show bears the traces of recent events such as the war on terror. At another interrelated level, we also find traces of a more long-standing and deeply embedded fantasy of White supremacy that marks Australian culture, even the official policy of multiculturalism. These traces are also entangled with yet another level, the industrial and political context of the show's production through the SBS network. My aim in this paper is to explore these complex entanglements in order to reveal how the challenge to the vilification of Muslims in the show is limited by the production context. Put another way, my aim will be to temper the celebration of the show as 'edgy text'.' (Author's abstract)
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Cultural Threats, Cop Drama, and 'Community PR' : Diversity and Security Cultures in EastWest101
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 25 no. 2 2011; (p. 177 - 188) 'This study seeks to explore the ways viewers generate meanings and understandings of 'mediated reality' through television drama. It tests out the idea that drama programmes intended to reflect contemporary cultural diversity can assist viewers to negotiate anxieties about cultural difference. The analysis draws on viewer responses to SBS drama series EastWest101, including from Arabic-speaking backgrounds. EastWest101 is a cop show, set in Sydney's west and based on a real (self-titled) 'wog squad' police team, which centralizes cultural difference as the context and, often, the source of the drama. Analysis of responses explores the ways viewers interpret fictionalized portrayals of issues of belonging, personal security, and state authority and use them to negotiate their own responses to contemporary security cultures. (Author's abstract)
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Crossing the Great Divide
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 16 - 17 April 2011; (p. 16)
— Review of East West 101 2009-2011 series - publisher film/TV -
Film is the New Black
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Australian Financial Review , 6-7 June 2009; (p. 28) -
101 Ways to Fight Crime
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 18 April 2011; (p. 4) Harriet Alexander reports on the background to East West 101 and the filming of series three. -
Cops Who Capture Terror of the Times
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 20 April 2011; (p. 19) -
Cultural Threats, Cop Drama, and 'Community PR' : Diversity and Security Cultures in EastWest101
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 25 no. 2 2011; (p. 177 - 188) 'This study seeks to explore the ways viewers generate meanings and understandings of 'mediated reality' through television drama. It tests out the idea that drama programmes intended to reflect contemporary cultural diversity can assist viewers to negotiate anxieties about cultural difference. The analysis draws on viewer responses to SBS drama series EastWest101, including from Arabic-speaking backgrounds. EastWest101 is a cop show, set in Sydney's west and based on a real (self-titled) 'wog squad' police team, which centralizes cultural difference as the context and, often, the source of the drama. Analysis of responses explores the ways viewers interpret fictionalized portrayals of issues of belonging, personal security, and state authority and use them to negotiate their own responses to contemporary security cultures. (Author's abstract) -
East West 101 as Edgy Text : Television Police Drama and Australian Multiculturalism
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 25 no. 4 2011; (p. 573–582) 'East West 101 is a television show that bears the traces of the highly charged social and cultural fields in which it is embedded. At one level, the show bears the traces of recent events such as the war on terror. At another interrelated level, we also find traces of a more long-standing and deeply embedded fantasy of White supremacy that marks Australian culture, even the official policy of multiculturalism. These traces are also entangled with yet another level, the industrial and political context of the show's production through the SBS network. My aim in this paper is to explore these complex entanglements in order to reveal how the challenge to the vilification of Muslims in the show is limited by the production context. Put another way, my aim will be to temper the celebration of the show as 'edgy text'.' (Author's abstract)
Awards
- 2012 winner Equity Awards — Equity Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a Television Drama Series
- 2011 shortlisted AWGIE Awards — Television Award — Mini-series - Original
- 2011 winner Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards — Best Television Drama Series For Season Three.
- 2010 winner Logie Awards — Most Outstanding Drama Series
- 2009 winner Australian Film Institute Awards — Best Television Drama Series For Season Two.