McLeod's Daughters is an Australian drama television series created by Posie Graeme-Evans and Caroline Stanton for the Nine Network, which aired from 8 August 2001, to 31 January 2009, lasting eight seasons.

It stars Lisa Chappell and Bridie Carter in the leading roles as two sisters reunited after twenty years of separation, thrust into a working relationship when they inherit their family's cattle station in South Australia.

An instant success, McLeod's Daughters enjoyed critical acclaim, ultimately reaching the number one drama spot during its fourth and fifth season.

Following the death of Jack McLeod, his daughter, Claire, has inherited Drover's Run, a substantial cattle station, situated in South Australia.

While trying to keep her home and business moving forward, the future of the property is suddenly placed in jeopardy when her estranged half-sister, Tess, whom Claire has not seen for 20 years, arrives and announces that she has inherited half the land and intends to sell her share.

Claire is forced to get rid of her current employees due to a deceitful discovery, until Tess agrees to remain on Drover's Run for the time being to help her sister, despite her inexperience.

Posie Graeme-Evans developed the idea for McLeod's Daughters in the early 1990s for her company Millenium Pictures in conjunction with the South Australian Film Corporation.

She developed the idea from stories from friends who grew up in the country and from the love of South Australian landscapes as shown in the paintings of Hans Heysen.

Following the success of the telemovie shown on Mother's Day 1996, the Nine Network board agreed to commission a 22-episode series, but the project was left on the shelf for four years.

It was finally revived in late 2000 after the opening ceremony for the 2000 Sydney Olympics featured a The Man from Snowy River theme, which highlighted the cultural significance of the bush to Australians.

The role of Claire was initially intended to go to actress Laurie Foell, for which was on hold for four months prior to the beginning of production, when Chappell, who was, at the time, in the process of setting up a theatre company, was invited to audition and received the part.

[3] Bridie Carter, a NIDA graduate, was virtually unknown to audiences, having only appeared in few guest roles in drama series which included Home and Away, Water Rats and All Saints.

[4] Jessica Napier was cast in the supporting role of Becky Howard, a promiscuous young woman from a broken family, who is raped and finds refuge on Drover’s Run.

Napier was recognised by executive producer Kris Noble while she was working on Wildside and considered her for a part on the series, for which Posie Graeme-Evans agreed.

Although Kingsford was a grand property in its time, it is now quite run down - a look that was important for the production design of the series, as the McLeod family has no money for maintenance.

[7] Mostly fictional settings: The show was shot on Super 16 mm film, and is the first Australian drama series to be delivered in HDTV format.

Director of photography, Roger Dowling created the illusion that the series is shot on a 50,000 hectare property in the Australian bush, instead of on a heritage estate about the size of a hobby farm.

[9] Notable guest appearances include: Chris Haywood, Max Cullen, Alexandra Davies, Murray Bartlett, Deborah Kennedy, Celia Ireland, Tim Campbell, Brooke Harman, Peter Cousens, Stephen Curry, Xavier Samuel, Gabby Millgate, Belinda Bromilow, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Tasma Walton, Glenda Linscott, Neil Melville, Josh Quong Tart, Rachael Taylor, Jeremy Sims, Sonja Tallis, Orpheus Pledger, Simone Buchanan, Rebecca Lavelle, Todd Lasance, Kain O'Keeffe, Adam Saunders, Liam Hemsworth, Jay Laga'aia, Luke Arnold, Spencer McLaren, Callan Mulvey, Craig Stott, Leah Purcell, Carole Skinner, Peter Howitz and Nicholas Bishop.

Her character, Becky Howard, initially decided to take a job at another farm with her boyfriend Jake, but then changed her mind and went back to school on the Agricultural Scholarship she had won during the young farmers competition.

News of a second major cast change hit when it was announced that Lisa Chappell, who played Claire McLeod, would be leaving the series.

They brought in the no-nonsense, secretive Rob Shelton who was employed as the overseer at Killarney; the geologist cousin of Tess and Jodi, Regan McLeod; and the troubled brother of Dave, Patrick Brewer.

Ratings started to rise in the sixth season, when it took on a more soap opera-type style, while staying true to the original premise of the show.

After four seasons, recurring character Moria Doyle (played by Doris Younane) was promoted to series regular to replace Meg Fountain.

The ratings started to slip and two more characters were introduced: the replacement overseer for Killarney, Riley Ward, and the immature Tayler Geddes, whose father died in an explosion at a mine where Regan worked.

To compensate for Carpani's departure, Abi Tucker's character Grace Kingston McLeod was introduced as the feisty sister of Regan and cousin of Jodi.

Stevie's fun-loving cousin Ben Hall was introduced as the new overseer of Killarney, replacing Riley, while the vivacious sister of Regan and Grace, Jaz McLeod returned to Drovers Run after making a guest appearance in season four.

Cast turnover was high, and increasingly far-fetched stories were used to explain the sudden departure of formerly important characters, such as Rachael Carpani, who departed in 2007 and Aaron Jeffery, who left in 2008.

On 23 October 2017, Posie Graeme-Evans announced she had ended negotiations with Nine as creative differences for a new series remained, but has not ruled out potentially crowd-funding her project.