| Patrol Boat | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Action/Drama series |
| Created by | James Davern |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 55 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC TV |
| Release | 28 June 1979 – 11 August 1983 |
Patrol Boat is an Australian television drama series that screened on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Patrol Boat was created by James Davern and two series were produced, in 1979 and 1983, with a total of 26 episodes.
Patrol Boat was about the activities of the crew of a Royal Australian Navy patrol boat which patrolled Australia's coastline. The series was produced with the co-operation of the Royal Australian Navy.
Two fictional RAN patrol boats were depicted in the series. Attack-class patrol boat HMAS Ambush (portrayed by HMA Ships Advance and Bombard) was used in the first season, with filming taking place during 1978 and 1979 around Sydney Harbour, Pittwater, Ku-ring-gai Chase, and the Hawkesbury River.[1] For the second season, the crew transferred to the newer Fremantle-class patrol boat HMAS Defiance (portrayed by HMA Ships Launceston, Townsville, Warrnambool, Whyalla, and Wollongong).[2]
The series is similar to the BBC series Warship, made with the co-operation of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy and screened by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1976. This was before Patrol Boat which was influenced by Warship.[3] Although the 2007 drama Sea Patrol is based on the same subject, it is not intended to be a follow on to Patrol Boat.[4]
Although ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) originally screened both seasons of the TV series Patrol Boat, during 1992 Channel Ten in Sydney replayed a select few episodes of the 1979 first season of the series weekly on Saturday nights at 7.30pm to capitalise on the nostalgia period that the network was trialling at the time.
