For the Term of His Natural Life is a 1983 Australian three-part, six-hour television miniseries based on the classic 1874 novel of the same name by Marcus Clarke.
To protect his mother's reputation, he leaves home to take ship to India, but is arrested after Lord Bellasis is murdered.
Dawes is shipped to Van Diemen's Land on the Malabar, which also carries Captain Vickers, who is to become the new commandant of the penal settlement at Macquarie Harbour, his wife Julia and child Sylvia, Julia's maid, Sarah Purfoy and Lieutenant Maurice Frere, During the voyage, Dawes starts to tutor an illiterate young convict boy, known as ‘Blinker’, in the basics of arithmetic.
As punishment for being involved in an attempt to escape, he is sent into solitary confinement on Grummet rock, a small island off the coast.
Sylvia, now a young woman of sixteen, marries Frere, who has lied about the events and painted Dawes as a would-be murderer.
Rex reaches Sydney and travels on to London with Sarah, now his wife, where he presents himself as Richard Devine.
John Rex leads a life of debauchery, much to the disapproval of Lady Ellinor, and wishes to sell off the family estate.
Lady Ellinor's suspicions have reached the point where she attempts to test her alleged son's knowledge of family secrets.
The mini series was a passion project for Patricia Payne, who had wanted to adapt the novel since she read it in high school.
She had been an assistant to Harry Wren, then moved to the US and Canada where she had worked as a casting agent, writer and producer.
[1] The series was an early lead role for Colin Friels who had made only two films, Hoodwink and Monkey Grip.
It's glossy and expensive looking with good sets and costuming but the pace lags at times and there's a sense of unevenness about it.