A Little South of Heaven
A Little South of Heaven is a 1961 Australian live television play that aired on ABC. It was based on a radio play by D'Arcy Niland and Ruth Park, adapted for TV by George F. Kerr, directed by Alan Burke, and stars Owen Weingott. Les Weldon produced it. The program runs 60 minutes and first aired in Sydney on 19 April 1961, with a Melbourne broadcast (taped) on 13 September 1961.
The story is set in Sydney. An Italian widow who has moved to Australia wants her son Primo to marry an Italian woman named Serena, even though Primo loves an Australian named Ruby. To push the match, Primo sends Serena a photo of his more handsome cousin Franki.
The radio play had also been performed in Australia and on the BBC in 1960, whose production starred Ina De La Haye and Robert Rietty. The plot has some similarities to the stage play They Knew What They Wanted.
Reception: The Sydney Morning Herald called it “rather stale fare” because the plot and characters were predictable, though it noted the production was visually fluent. Another critic, Val Marshall, thought it was almost as good as The Big Day, acknowledging some miscasting and moments where the dialogue slowed the action, but overall it came off well.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 12:35 (CET).