Local scenes to feature in Surf Patrol TV series
Local beaches will be on show when Channel Seven’s new documentary series, Surf Patrol, begins screening on Monday at 8pm.
The 13-part series will follow the brave men and women of Australia’s surf lifesaving movement as they patrol our most popular and treacherous beaches.
Executive producer Dan Meenan believes the program will follow in the footsteps carved by its predecessors. He says: “Using the techniques that have made series such as Border Security and The Force a success, we’ve been able to apply that same winning formula to one of our most treasured resource - our volunteer lifesavers.
“The show is a tribute to the volunteer lifesavers around the country. It showcases their incredible heroism and athleticism. It’s a show that has everything — drama, action, humour, as well as tragedy.”
The show will explore the lives and work of these real Aussie heroes as they perform some of the most remarkable rescues ever seen on Australian television. Watch in awe as they help hapless overseas visitors and locals handle the perils and pleasure of the surf. Sadly, their rescue efforts sometimes end in tragedy. Many missing swimmers, often feared drowned, are young children. Amidst dramatic search efforts, they’re forced to comfort frantic parents who are praying for their safe return.
Viewers will observe how volunteer lifesavers risk their own lives for the safety of others time and time again. The series captures a dramatic mass rescue, where an inflatable rescue boat (IRB) flips while avoiding a collision with a jet ski. One of the lifesavers is carried motionless from the water. Will he survive? In another story, an IRB flips and tips all the lifesavers into the water, leaving one of them missing. Will he make it out alive?
Other stories involve an entire family getting caught in a rip and being swept out to sea; dramatic cliff face falls; shark attacks; swimmers struck by jet skis; life-threatening blue bottle stings; heated arguments between beachgoers; and inexperienced surfers causing havoc as they battle the waves at some of Australia’s most iconic ocean locations.
Amidst the action and drama, there’ll be plenty of stories that will warm your heart. You’ll see emotional reunions between parents and their young children after they’re plucked from the water and saved. Then there’s the inspirational tales. Watch young outback children specially selected to learn what it takes to be a nipper.
And finally there’s the bizarre. In one story, a lifesaver rescue chopper is forced to take up the chase of an armed robber in a stolen car when it becomes too dangerous for police cars to follow him.
Made with the full co-operation of Surf Life Saving Australia, film crews have spent the past year capturing their every move on many of Sydney’s beaches, Queensland’s Gold Coast, the Far North Coast of NSW and Victoria.
