| Love Patrol | |
|---|---|
| Genre | soap opera, edutainment (HIV-AIDS) |
| Created by | Wan Smolbag Theatre |
| Starring | Noel Aru, Lucy Seresere, James Langdale, Annette Charlie, Bob Homu, Yvette Vatu and others |
| Country of origin | Vanuatu |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 80 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Wan Smolbag Theatre |
| Production location | Vanuatu |
| Original release | |
| Release | April 2007 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Love Patrol is a ni-Vanuatu television series. It is the first ever locally produced television series in Vanuatu.[1] Produced by Wan Smolbag Theatre with financial assistance from AusAID, NZAID and the Asian Development Bank, it is a soap opera with a serious message, intended primarily to educate viewers on the topic of AIDS.[1][2][3] It also tackles "youth unemployment, police brutality and the hypocrisy of keeping youth uninformed about sex".[4] UNAIDS reported that it explores "the growing issues of high rates of STIs among young people, high teenage pregnancy, lack of discourse on sex and risk taking behaviours in [...] Pacific communities".[5] It has been described as an "edutainment" series.[6]
A review in the Fiji Times explained that the series
- "centres on the life of a detective who works in a police station in an urban centre somewhere in the Pacific. The detective, named Mark, desperately wants his wife to have a child but gets caught up with Rita, a singer in a bar. The series also involves a gang of boys who steal from a minister's house and the search for the boys exposes the other side of paradise. The mini-series aims to look at the causes for the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region."[7]
The series is written by Jo Dorras, and directed by Peter Walker, with Danny Phillips as cinematographer. It stars Noel Aru, James Langdale, Lucy Seresere, Annette Charlie, Bob Homu, Yvette Vatu, Elsie Apia, Morinda Tari, Danny Marcel, Titus Taripu, Florence Vira, Albert Tommy, Betio Albert, Charleon Falau and Gloria Lango. Each episode lasts about 21 minutes.[8]
- ^ a b "Wan Smolbag History in Pictures" Archived 22 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Wan Smolbag official website
- ^ Love Patrol - The Pacific’s own HIV prevention TV series"[permanent dead link], Secretariat of the Pacific Community, 22 January 2008
- ^ "Love Patrol hits the silver screen in New Zealand" Archived 4 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, NewZAID, n°44, March 2008
- ^ "A Dramatic Education" Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Currents, n°5, 2007, NZAID, p.17
- ^ "TV Mini Series on HIV premieres in Fiji" Archived 20 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, UNAIDS, May 2007
- ^ "Health: LOVE PATROL" Archived 6 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Nicole Gooch, Islands Business
- ^ "Village Six screens series on HIV/AIDS" Archived 4 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Fiji Times, 25 April 2007
- ^ “Love Patrol” Archived 6 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Australian Catholic University