Advanced search

"Aweful Movies with Deadly Earnest" was a hosted horror movie show with Ralph Baker as "Deadly Earnest" screened on ATV-0 between 20 October 1967 until 2 February 1973.

"Aweful Movies with Deadly Earnest" was a revival of the hosted horror movie show from the 1967 show, with Ralph Baker returning as "Deadly Earnest".

When two riderless horses return to their stables, the Matlock police start a search for the honeymoon couple who hired them. They uncover more than they expected.

When William Morgan escapes from prison a farm he heads for Matlock seeking the aid of a friend, but his friend's wife informs him that her husband has been jailed, and it is the fault of Det Sgt. Maddern. She supplies him with a rifle and he flees to the rangers.

An aboriginal knacker's worker, Humphrey, who is always seen with a bag in his hand is branded as a 'bogey-man' by local kids, and parents are alarmed by rumor's that he makes children 'disappear'. When a child does go missing, he stands accused of throwing him in the 'çrunch-munch' machine at work, and some townspeople reach hysteria. The Matlock police embark on a search for the missing child in the storm-water drains beneath the local abattoirs.

Matlock police become involved with a domestic problem, racial trouble and personal tragedy when an itinerant Aboriginal worker returns to his wife Betty and son Marty after several years of chasing work, and a half-cast woman who, through ignorance, had mistreated her child and thereby provoked the bigots in the community to burn her house down.

A couple with marital problems take a holiday in the bush and disaster strikes.

A sniper is loose in Matlock and he has murder on his mind - or does he? After shooting holes in his neighbor's water tank, a gunman takes to the river in his canoe, pursued by Sen. Det. York and Const. Hogan.

Dingoes are attacking the flocks of Eagle Run, a sheep station just out side Matlock. But the wild dogs aren't the only killers loose in the rangers.

Jill Perry, Sen Det. York's current girlfriend, pays no heed to the advice of the police in her efforts to convert the Matlock towns people into accepting an ex-convict into their town.

When the Matlock police investigate a robbery and fatal bashing, they uncover the secret double life of a young businessman who has a mistress.

A chance involvement in a minor crime leads Jimmy Wade, who turned to stealing to support his deserted mother, and his friends into a nightmare situation ending in violence and death.

Matlock police have a problem on their hands when a young boy is struck down by a car driven by a mentally disturbed youth, and the child's mother refuses police access to her house.

Sustaining heavy injuries after a trail bike accident, Sen. Const. Gary Hogan is held to ransom by an eccentric rabbit-er.

Three drunken youths force a young girl, Lynda Wilson, into their car a knifepoint and trigger off an explosive situation that involves Det. Alan Curtis personally. Her father, Charles Wilson, talks her out of telling the police about the assault in order to save the embarrassment of appearing in court. He doesn't realise his information is vital to the police, who believes the same youths are also responsible for bashing Constable. Young. Library books found at the scene of the attack provide a vital clue in tracking down yobbos.

Lee Gibson is convinced that bad luck follows him about and that he can never win - but this time he is determined to do or die when he carries out an armed robbery.

When a dead body is found in an old shack it leads to the uncovering of some crooked deals by senior members of the Matlock police.

A rich stranger, Ben Peterson, arouses the curiosity of the Matlock police, which turns to hatred when he is suspected of a violent sex crime. The battered, molested body of teenager Doreen Henderson is found in the bush and police discover that Peterson was the last person to see her alive.

Ron Grey, an ex-Spitfire pilot embarks on a dubious mission as a courier to gain some quick money, because he only has a few years of active life lift - he is a chronic diabetic who keeps coma and semi-blindness at bay with insulin shots. While flying a light aircraft with his girlfriend Betty Holmes, the plane strikes trouble and they have to crash land in the Candowie Rangers. When the plane is found by a police search party, they discover that Gray and Holmes both fled into the bush.

Lack of understanding by the townspeople of bindi towards a commune leads to a case of arson.

Investigations of a large scale hijacking operation from transport trucks leads to a small time criminal 'Buttercup' Sands. At his home, shared with his de facto wife Edie, the police discover an autistic child, Monty who is confined to his room by a leg rope. His mother tells police it is the only way she can control him. The child also has a crippled leg which the mother believes is due to the child's autism, but a chiropractor, Tony Carboni, is convinced there is a spinal complaint later, the boy runs away and inadvertently helps police stumble on a vital clue when they have to rescue him from an abandoned mine shaft.

A raid on a two-up school in the bush results in the discovery that someone is making illicit moonshine in Matlock. Investigations lead the police to a payroll robbery and the strange relationships between two fathers and their sons.

21-year-old Roy and 18-year-old Liz leave Melbourne looking for excitement. They are a violent couple. They find there way to Matlock where they are involved in a hit-and-run, murder, Robbery and kidnapping.

15-year-old Jill Evans has fallen in love with Det. Snr. Sgt. Vick Madden because she sees him as a direct contrast to her father. she corners Madden in the Matlock police station, rips open her blouse and throws her arms around his neck, and at that moment they are discovered. Jill accuses Madden of seducing her and claims he is the father of her unborn child, but Madden later manages to clear his name.

The Matlock police find themselves personally involved in a wave of violent robberies when Const. Hogan's younger brother becomes an unwilling disciple of a religious fanatic.