A Country Pals,

We've loved making this podcast for you over the last two years, but this is our last episode for the foreseeable future. We hope you've loved it as much as we have. Joining Mel & Kim this week is our formidable Social Media Manager Chez Robbie, who is pretty much the world's foremost ACP expert. And, Great Podcast Talent, as you'll discover. Thank you for listening, we hope you love our chat about the series finale of ACP. ACP Finale Ep 1 & ACP Finale Ep 2 A COUNTRY PODCAST on FacebookHost/ Producer: Melanie Tait on Twitter Host/ Producer: Kim Lester on Twitter Social Media Editor: Chez Robbie 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's here: the episodes we lose Shirley Gilroy in a plane crash. 

This is a brilliant episode from Season 12 - it shows the beginning of Tom and Anna's romance, Esme falls a little in love with Percy... and young journalist Max Blair comes to town, dying of HIV AIDS. 

The thing is - Mel and Kim aren't great on the later series and this ep is going to hurt for the purists. So, we've got Chez Robbie in as our fact checker, thank goodness. 

Watch A Kiss Before Dying Part 1 &  A Kiss Before Dying Part 2

A COUNTRY PODCAST on FacebookHost/ Producer: Melanie Tait on Twitter Host/ Producer: Kim Lester on Twitter Social Media Editor: Chez Robbie 

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This week, it's the complete interview we did with the extremely lovely Shane Withington. 

You'll hear so much about the beginning of ACP, the friendships he made, being part of that scene, life after Molly, and life after ACP. 

A COUNTRY PODCAST on FacebookHost/ Producer: Melanie Tait on Twitter Host/ Producer: Kim Lester on Twitter Social Media Editor: Chez Robbie 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's 1985 in Wandin Valley and this is a big episode that many of you have suggested we talk about: it has both a trans storyline, and deals with childhood obesity.

We meet Alice McKenna, a woman living in the Valley with a secret that comes out when she goes into hospital with diabetes. Alice is a trans woman. 

And, we gave her friend, Gavin, a little boy teased for being fat. 

How does Wandin Valley treat these people? Like the leftie Utopia we think it is? Or is it more complicated, and, well, 1980s? 

Kim finds some personal accounts of being trans in the 1980s, Melanie looks into the incredible life of Bunney Brooke. 

A COUNTRY PODCAST on FacebookHost/ Producer: Melanie Tait on Twitter Host/ Producer: Kim Lester on Twitter Social Media Editor: Chez Robbie 

All It Takes Ep 1 & All It Takes Ep 2 

https://medium.com/@allisawash/quora-asked-me-about-my-experience-during-the-trans-dark-ages-648f060fa458 

https://au.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-trans-fight-18765/

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After getting to know A Country Practice a lot better, by watching it as adults, we're both mad for Maggie Sloan and Esme Watson. 

So, here we are watching the episode where Maggie Sloan comes to Wandin Valley. She's a bit of a punish, we don't see the softness in her that we come to love, but she's still a bit of legend. 

What has ACP got to say about being a middle aged woman? These eps seem to have a lot to say. 

In today's episode, Kim looks at the Dutch Reform Church and Melanie takes a peak into the life and career of the legendary Joan Sydney. 

A COUNTRY PODCAST on FacebookHost/ Producer: Melanie Tait on Twitter Host/ Producer: Kim Lester on Twitter Social Media Editor: Chez Robbie 

A Woman's Place Ep 1 & A Woman's Place Ep 2 

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Welcome to the first ep of our last season!

These eps offer an opportunity to look at how the national conversation has changed around autism when little Daniel is taken in to Lucy and Matt's house. And, there's also a look at what sexual harassment looked like in the early 1990s. 

We're joined by Australian actor and podcaster John Leary (The Newsreader, Glitch,The Letdown) to talk about his very first TV performance and what it taught him, going forward in his career which endures until today. 

A COUNTRY PODCAST on FacebookHost/ Producer: Melanie Tait on Twitter Host/ Producer: Kim Lester on Twitter Social Media Editor: Chez Robbie 

Episodes: Ain't Misbehavin' Part 1 and Ain't Misbehavin' Part 2 

Listen to John Leary's fab podcast THE SATURDAY QUIZ 

Far From The Tree by Andrew Solomon 

Ps. We have a new podcast coming out next week called WEEPIES! Keep your eyes out for it. 

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This year's summer special looks at the 1982 Australian classic The Man From Snowy River. How does it hold up? Is it a feminist film? Are you team I love Jim Craig or team I love Clancy of the Overflow? 

Plus Melanie and Kim have some big news about A Country Podcast as we go into 2021. 

A COUNTRY PODCAST on FacebookHost/ Producer: Melanie Tait on Twitter Host/ Producer: Kim Lester on Twitter Social Media Editor: Chez Robbie 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1985. Brendan and Chloe are playing in the paddock with a kite, while Molly watches on from a lounge. The screen fades to black as Brendan yells 'Molly!'. 

And, just like that - after a 13 episode arc, Molly is dead of leukaemia. 

Over the years, the episode gathers legendary status in the history of Australian TV, with people wanting to talk about how they felt watching it, where they were and how they never got over it. 

What about the woman at the centre of it? The woman who played the beloved Molly? How did she feel watching it? Did she ever get over it? 

Anne Tenney is one of Australia's most respected actors, and has been in a string of iconic Australian TV and film roles from The Castle to Brides of Christ to Always Greener. 

Yet to many, she'll always be the tragic and eccentric Molly Jones from ACP. Is it a gift, or a burden? 

Kim and Melanie find out, finally, in this episode of A Country Podcast, as Anne chats to us from her home in Sydney. A COUNTRY PODCAST on FacebookHost/ Producer: Melanie Tait on Twitter Host/ Producer: Kim Lester on Twitter Social Media Editor: Chez Robbie 

Episodes: Molly Part 1 and Molly Part 2 

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We all remember the moment - Molly's death scene. Do we really need to start revising it and remembering that it's also Brendan's grieving scene? He's the one who has the line ("Molllllllllly!"), remember? 

We're so excited to have Shane Withington on the show today, who played Brendan Jones for five years on A Country Practice - the way he talks about the show will have you wanting to jump into a time machine and audition to be part of the cast. 

We'll be watching the very first episodes of ACP for today's ep - Wednesday's Child Part 1 and 2, from Season 3. 

Guest: Shane Withington (Brendan 1981 - 1986) A COUNTRY PODCAST on FacebookHost/ Producer: Melanie Tait on Twitter Host/ Producer: Kim Lester on Twitter Social Media Editor: Chez Robbie 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.