:Sea Patrol

All seasons of Sea Patrol have consisted of standalone episodes dealing with serious breaches of Australian law, such as illegal fishing, asylum seekers and other problems the RAN encounter on typical patrols. The premiere of each season usually introduces a larger event which is expanded on and connected as the season goes on, before being resolved in the finale. This format, however, with a storyline running throughout the season, was absent in season 4.

The first season's premiere began with the introduction of Bright Island, which was positioned as a type of mystery island, and the death of a marine biologist. Over the duration of the season, the CO and some of the crew became suspicious and later entwined in a conspiracy involving water containing a deadly toxin.

The second season, known as Sea Patrol II: The Coup, revolved around insurgents on the fictional Samaru Islands attempting to overthrow the current government, and a group of Eastern European mercenaries and smugglers who near-fatally stabbed Charge, tried to kill XO and are in cahoots with the insurgents and Samaruan constabulary.

The third season, known as Sea Patrol III: Red Gold, began with the death of Josh "ET" Holiday, fiancé of Nicole "Nikki" (Nav) Caetano and a crew member of HMAS Hammersley during the first two seasons. The investigation of this death ran throughout the season.

The fourth season, known as Sea Patrol IV: The Right Stuff, returned with most principal cast members, with the exception of Pete "Buffer" Tomaszewski, Nicole "Nikki" (Nav) Caetano, Billy "Spider" Webb and Commander Steven 'Steve' Marshall.

The fifth season, known as Sea Patrol V: Damage Control, was the final season and began with a suicide bombing in an overseas bar.

{{See also|List of Sea Patrol characters}}

"Every hour of every day in all weathers young men and women of the Royal Australian Navy Patrol Boat Service battle the elements and the odds to defend Australia's borders and enforce its economic zone. They provide security, support, and relief for the world's largest island".{{cite web|url=http://www.sea-patrol.com/|title=Sea-Patrol.com|access-date=8 January 2007}} Each episode of Sea Patrol, from the third season begins with the words "Honour – Honesty – Courage – Integrity – Loyalty", which are the Royal Australian Navy Values.

This series shows the gender and cultural diversity of the Navy, and deals with contemporary issues such as illegal fishing, boat people, drug-running, immigration, and people-smuggling, and have an underlying mystery that runs throughout the series.

File:HMAS Hammersley crop.jpg. Portraying vessel is unknown.]]

For the first season of Sea Patrol, the fictional HMAS Hammersley (PTF 202) was portrayed by two real {{sclass|Fremantle|patrol boat|1}}s: {{HMAS|Wollongong|FCPB 206|6}} was used for filming in Sydney, while {{HMAS|Ipswich|FCPB 209|6}} was used for six weeks of filming off Dunk Island in Queensland.{{cite news |first=Rollings |last=Barry |title=Ipswitch switches over |url=http://www.defence.gov.au/news/NAVYNEWS/editions/4920/topstories/story07.htm |work=Navy News |date=2 November 2006 |access-date=30 May 2007}} Hammersley serves under the fictional naval command structure of "NAVCOM", and was decommissioned during the final episode of the first season. HMAS Kingston (PTF 205), a second fictional Fremantle-class boat, is mentioned in several episodes and appears in the ninth episode: Kingston shares her pennant number with real patrol boat {{HMAS|Townsville|FCPB 205|6}}.

File:HMAS Hammersley cap.jpg

When the first season was being filmed, it was predicted that later seasons would replace Hammersley with the newer {{sclass|Armidale|patrol boat|1}}. Subsequent seasons have used an Armidale class ship, also named HMAS Hammersley, with the hull number 82.{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Idato |title=All ship shape |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv--radio/all-ship-shape/2008/03/29/1206207482199.html?page=2 |work=SydneyMorningHerald.com.au, Entertainment (TV and Radio) section |page=2 |date=31 March 2008|access-date=10 April 2008}} For Season 2, footage from two ships was conflated to represent Hammersley: 42 of the 86 days of the series filming were spent aboard {{HMAS|Broome|ACPB 90|6}}, with later pick-up filming aboard {{HMAS|Launceston|ACPB 94|6}}.

• Cairns, Queensland
• Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland
• HMAS Waterhen, Navy Base, Sydney, New South Wales
• Dunk Island, Queensland
• Mission Beach, Queensland
• Cowley Beach, near Innisfail, Queensland
• Tamborine Mountain, Queensland
• Tumbulgum, New South Wales
• HMAS Penguin

{{Main|List of Sea Patrol episodes}}

Before Sea Patrol aired, it was one of the most highly anticipated programmes in Australia, partly due to the episode budget of over A$1 million, twice that of other Australian dramas.{{cite news |last=Warnecke |first=Ross |url=http://www.australiantelevision.net/bh/articles/dramainstrife.html |title=Australian television drama in strife with loss of its most successful product |newspaper=The Herald Sun |date=14 January 2006}} Sea Patrol also marked the return of Lisa McCune to television acting.

Sea Patrol received mixed but generally positive reviews. The first season received an average 1.5 million viewers, which dropped during the early part of season two before returning to 1.5 million viewers for the final five episodes.

Marieke Hardy, for The Age, commented "I don't really get Sea Patrol... the general gist of it leaves me somewhat cold", and further claimed that the scripts were not well written and that the actors were not given the opportunity to shine.{{cite news |last=Hardy |first=Marieke |author-link=Marieke Hardy |url=http://www.australiantelevision.net/sea_patrol/articles/toowet.html |title=Sea Patrol just too wet |newspaper=The Age |location=Melbourne |date=30 August 2007}}

Michelle Over, a reviewer for [http://www.militarypeople.com.au militarypeople.com.au], scored the first episode a disappointing 6.5 out of 10. Over also predicted that the series would begin jumping the shark at episode 5, primarily due to a lack of quality scripts and an unlikeness to the real life of a Navy officer.{{cite web |url=http://www.militarypeople.com.au/mainsite/content/view/185/1/ |title=Sea Patrol Review – disappointing Launch for Channel 9 |date=3 March 2021}}

Shortly after the series began, the Royal Australian Navy created "The Real Sea Patrol", an interactive website about the activities and personnel on board the Australian patrol boat {{HMAS|Larrakia|ACPB 84|6}}, designed as a promotional and recruiting tool to capitalise on the series.{{cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/The_Real_Sea_Patrol |title=The Real Sea Patrol}}

{{Main|List of Sea Patrol episodes}}

{{:List of Sea Patrol episodes}}

From 1 April 2008, full episodes of Sea Patrol were offered as free download, as part of ninemsn's catch-up TV service. This download required a third-party player, advertisements were contained in the downloaded files, and the episodes were programmed to be unplayable after the season finished airing. Due to geo-locational IP blocking, the ninemsn service may not be available outside Australia.

The second season of Sea Patrol was released on the Australian iTunes Store on 25 June 2008.

The first season of Sea Patrol was made available in the United States on the streaming video website Hulu in 2009{{cite web|url=http://www.hulu.com/sea-patrol|title=Sea Patrol|work=Hulu|access-date=30 April 2010}} and the second season was made available in 2012 .{{cite web|url=http://www.hulu.com/sea-patrol|title=Sea Patrol|work=Hulu|access-date=16 August 2012}}

In early January 2013, season 3, 4, & 5 was released on Hulu.

Between 2021 and 2022 all episodes were freely available on the Nine Now streaming service to Australian viewers, but sometime between 16 August 2022 and 19 January 2025 the show was removed from the streaming service.{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815000000*/https://www.9now.com.au/sea-patrol/season-1/episodes|title=Wayback Machine Archive|access-date=19 January 2025}}

As of 2025, all episodes are available on Tubi, Amazon Prime, Youtube Movies, and the Roku Channel in the United States. But have been region locked on those platforms to Australian viewers. Australian viewers are able to access episodes on Apple TV+.

According to an April 2007 Nine Network press release, international rights to the series "in over 100 territories" were sold to Sparrowhawk Media by Nine Network's international distribution representative, Portman Film and Television. This deal gave Sea Patrol the ability to be seen on various international versions of the Hallmark Channel.{{cite web|url=http://www.pblmedia.com.au/Images/pblmediaimages/Document/Sea%20Patrol%20Broadcast%20Deal%20Media%20Release.pdf|title=Nine Network's Sea Patrol Snapped Up by Hallmark Channel to Air in Over 100 Territories Throughout the World|publisher=pblmedia.com.au|page=1|date=19 April 2007|access-date=19 August 2009}} As a part of this initial deal, either one or both of the first two seasons of Sea Patrol were seen on Hallmark Channels in many territories throughout the world. Some of the 61 countries in which these early seasons aired on Hallmark included: the United Kingdom, Serbia, Belgium, Indonesia, India, Russia, Italy, South Africa, Mexico, Vietnam, and Palau.A full list of countries in which Sea Patrol is available as of August 2009, [http://www.hallmarkchannel.co.uk/section_article.aspx?ID=276&ArticleID=531 can be found here]. Clicking on any country will allow searching of that country's schedule for air dates. In Germany, the series aired since 2011 on Das Vierte.{{cite web|url=http://www.das-vierte.de/formate/seapatrol.html |title=Sea Patrol on Das Vierte}} And since 2014 on the new channel Ebru TV.

Later in 2007, NBC Universal Global Networks bought Sparrowhawk.{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2834678120070828 |title=NBC Universal agrees to buy Sparrowhawk Media |date=28 August 2007 |publisher=reuters.com |pages=1 |access-date=19 August 2009}} In 2008, NBC Universal Global Networks extended its inherited commitment to Sea Patrol by purchasing series three of the program from Digital Rights Group, a subsidiary of Portman.{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalrightsgroup.co.uk/viewnews.aspx?id=571 |title=More Portman Drama for NBC Universal Global Networks |date=13 October 2008 |publisher=digitalrightsgroup.co.uk |page=1 |access-date=19 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181645/http://www.digitalrightsgroup.co.uk/viewnews.aspx?id=571 |archive-date=3 March 2016 }} Despite being a US-based company, as of 2009, NBC Universal is yet to broadcast the series in the United States. Instead, Sea Patrol has had limited availability in America through the broadband provider Hulu, arranged directly by Digital Rights Group, and on the Roku Channel.{{cite web |url=http://www.hulu.com/network/digital-rights-group |title=List of Digital Rights Group shows on Hulu |publisher=hulu.com |access-date=19 August 2009}}

{{incomplete list|date=July 2012}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.australiantelevision.net/sea_patrol/ Sea Patrol] at the Australian Television Information Archive
• {{official website|http://seapatrol.ninemsn.com.au/}}
• {{IMDb title|0879688|Sea Patrol}}
• [http://aso.gov.au/titles/tv/sea-patrol-cometh-the-hour/ Sea Patrol – "Cometh the Hour"] at Australian Screen Online

{{Sea Patrol}}

Category:Nine Network original programming

Category:2000s Australian drama television series

Category:Australian military television series

Category:Nautical television series

Category:Television shows set in Queensland

Category:Television shows set in New South Wales

Category:2007 Australian television series debuts

Category:2011 Australian television series endings

Category:Australian English-language television shows