About this season
Rafferty's Rules was an Australian television drama series which ran from 1987 to 1990 on the Seven Network. Rafferty's Rules was one of the first programs undertaken by the Seven Network's then new in-house drama unit, going into production in May 1985 as "a 15-part courtroom drama". The program had started out as a pilot episode, recorded in early 1984 with the actor Chris Haywood in the lead role. When the pilot episode was remounted later in 1984, Chris Haywood wasn't available and the lead role was re-cast to John Wood. This second recording was eventually broadcast as the program's first episode.
Episodes (30)
1. Nine Tenths of the Law
Aired 4 February 1989 • 45 min
Michael wrestles with the concept of possession after the discovery of Aboriginal remains creates a conflict of ownership between the state and the Indigenous community.
2. Freedom
Aired 11 February 1989 • 46 min
Michael is caught between a rock and a hard place when he is forced to decide the fate of a young boy whose doctors believe is sick, but whose parents are refusing further tests on religious grounds.
3. Those Who Can
Aired 18 February 1989 • 47 min
Fulvio learns that his teacher and idol isn't quite the perfect magistrate that he thought after he takes over when Michael falls ill.
4. Sense of Duty
Aired 25 February 1989 • 46 min
The courthouse becomes the centre of the fallout from a Secret Intelligence Agency training exercise.
5. One for the Road
Aired 10 March 1989 • 46 min
Gibson faces his past after a series of alcohol-related prosecutions force him to confront the reasons he gave up drinking.
6. Confessions
Aired 17 March 1989 • 46 min
A series of sexual assaults has consequences for the courthouse when the police fit up suspects and Paulyne is attacked in her own home.
7. Horse Play
Aired 24 March 1989 • 46 min
Pauline finds that her personal life is mirroring her professional life when her former lover Gavin reappears and announces that he is getting married, just as she is defending a woman who refuses to accept that her marriage is over.
8. Truth's a Dog
Aired 31 March 1989 • 46 min
Paulyne accuses an insurance company of racism when they report a Lebanese man to the police after he claims his precious rings were stolen just days after taking out a policy.
9. The Great Divide
Aired 7 April 1989 • 45 min
Michael, Paulyne and Gibson find their ethics challenged when they deal with a man accused of raping his wife; however, it soon becomes apparent to all that the case is far more sinister than they ever could have imagined.
10. Quanity of Mercy
Aired 14 April 1989 • 46 min
Rafferty is confronted with the limitations of the law when it comes to dispensing justice.
11. Peace of Mind
Aired 21 April 1989 • 46 min
The courthouse finds itself becoming caught up in the deadly web of a cult. Michael is shocked when he goes on an early morning run and discovers the body of a young woman washed up on the beach.
12. Thursday the Twelfth
Aired 28 April 1989 • 45 min
Michael takes responsibility for a foreign woman after she shows up on his doorstep.
13. Friends and Neighbours
Aired 5 May 1989 • 46 min
A heatwave frays tempers at the courthouse when everyone arrives at work to find the air-conditioning broken.
14. The Fleet's In
Aired 12 May 1989 • 46 min
The personal and the professional converge for Flicker when the anti-nuclear group his son is involved in begins protesting the arrival of nuclear warships.
15. Family
Aired 19 May 1989 • 46 min
Rafferty's 6-year-old son goes missing.
16. Crispin's Day
Aired 26 May 1989 • 44 min
The Bard comes into the courtroom when an elderly man reciting Shakespeare is arrested for busking without a licence.
17. Mum's the Word
Aired 2 June 1989 • 45 min
Michael's hopes of reuniting with his estranged wife are dashed when Joanne reveals that she has come to visit to end their relationship, and then their son falls ill.
18. Brief Candles
Aired 9 June 1989 • 45 min
An unexpected tragedy forces Paulyne to re-evaluate her life; meanwhile she struggles to remain objective while defending a man accused of manslaughter over the death of a pedestrian.
19. The Deep End
Aired 16 June 1989 • 45 min
New Legal Aid solicitor Lisa Blake starts work at the courthouse; however, she soon finds herself coming into conflict with Michael when she grandstands in the courtroom, then fails to fully prepare a case in mitigation for a defendant.
20. A Matter of Circumstances
Aired 23 June 1989 • 46 min
A journalist sets out to prove that corruption exists in Rafferty's court.
21. Waifs and Strays
Aired 30 June 1989 • 45 min
Lisa continues to have problems settling in, with her abrasive nature putting Michael offside.
22. The Beast
Aired 7 July 1989 • 46 min
Lisa begins to wonder whether evil does exist when she defends a sociopath.
23. Systems
Aired 14 July 1989 • 46 min
The entire courthouse struggles to cope when Michael is forced to decide whether a man accused of murder has a case to answer.
24. Those Who Can't
Aired 21 July 1989 • 46 min
Lisa defends a young man who seems to be heading for the same life of crime as his father once did, but she refuses to believe Ray Brown's claims that the father's intentions are anything but honourable.
25. Blood Relations
Aired 28 July 1989 • 46 min
Michael's world is turned upside down after learning that he has a twenty-two year old daughter from a previous relationship.
26. Star Quality
Aired 4 August 1989 • 45 min
Flicker's prosecution against a young policeman who has broken the law is complicated when he begins to recognise that something even more suspicious is going on.
27. Private Lives
Aired 11 August 1989 • 45 min
More than one life is on the line after a former children's television performer is charged with propositioning young boys for sex in the changing rooms of a local swimming pool.
28. You Can Never Tell
Aired 18 August 1989 • 45 min
A criminal nicknamed 'The Hairy Bandit' is causing havoc and the courthouse is feeling the impact.
29. The Affair That Never Was
Aired 25 August 1989 • 45 min
Michael's divorce from Joanne officially comes through, just as former Public Solicitor Paulyne Gray reappears in his life after a six month absence.
30. Curtains for Ringo
Aired 1 September 1989 • 46 min
Michael considers his attitudes towards both politics and rural life after his cousin comes to the city, having now been elected to Parliament and holding very different opinions to Michael.