Sea Patrol

After watching season one which was so refreshing to watch because not only Australian but an action drama set in on a navy ship and best of all the cast are all quality actors- which i remember watching Jeremy as Kurt in HeartBreak High! I was so happy to hear nine had comissioned a second series and you can tell that channel nine has put in more money into this show as each episode goes along there's more and more action and not to mention the guest stars like Alan Dale and Ditch Davey among others.

I've been tuned into every episode so far- which is on the same time as Desperate Housewives which i've dumped cos it's getting tiring- I also look forward to seeing who else makes a guest spot.

Given that you have to cram a lot more story into a TV show than happens in real life, they did an excellent job here. I relived the smell of hot oil in the engine room and salt spray on the bridge wings in a storm. The smell of coffee on the mid-watch, sunrise on the bridge during the morning watch. It brought back a lot of the best memories, especially in the brief glimpses of the frigates such as I served many years aboard, although the Aussies seem to consider FFGs as the LARGE combatants!

Small ships have tight crews, and I saw a very realistic portrayal of life aboard a warship (given plot constraints). Second season was much improved over the first in showing realistic chain of command relationships.

Nothing but great things to say about this show. After a bit of a slow start in Series One, Series Two is off to a cracking start - improved pace, improved writing and the actors have clearly settled into their roles.

In particular, I'd single out Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor (Buffer) and Sacha Burmiester (Nav) for great performance characterisation. The romantic tension between Flynn (Ian Stenlake) and Kate (Lisa McCune) is much more believable this time around.

There's obviously some suspension of belief required: in the second series at least one crew member gets into an extreme life-threatening situation each episode, and almost everyone on the crew is a heck of a lot prettier than any soldier I've come across, but you take these caveats at the outset and sit down to enjoy the drama.

One thing that the show could work on is a better calibre of guest actors - while there have been some standouts (well-known actors like Ditch Davey and Alan Dale) there have been a few guests this series that have really let the writing and the regular actors down.

If you haven't checked out series 2 of Sea Patrol I would highly recommend it.

Sea Patrol has its faults - from painfully obvious story lines to some dicey acting - but all in all, I enjoy it and never miss an episode. It's far from realistic but that's actually a good thing, because that's what makes this show so entertaining. And all the characters have their own space to develop through both series, despite some cast changes and questionable acting.

The ship itself and the locations are the real stars of Sea Patrol, and it's nice to see an Australian show with a half decent budget for once. Nothing beats some local scenery and themes, considering how many overseas shows flood the television market here.

I love Sea Patrol and I'm certainly going to keep watching.

I have to laugh sometimes at their clumsiness, like oh no, don't do that, don't go there, don't say anything, dummy! I hope it doesn't reflect the real Australian Navy! Apart from that, Sea Patrol is a highly entertaining show, casting is spot on, and the acting superb.