Alison Nisselle

Alison Nisselle (26 April 1943 - 15 November 2023) was an Australian writer and producer best known for co-creating the crime drama TV series Phoenix and Janus (with Tony McDonald), creating the children's TV series Zoo Family and writing the feature films Curtin, Healing and Parer's War.

Career Before beginning her career as a filmmaker, Nisselle worked as a journalist for the Herald Sun and Channel 7 and then as a military researcher on period drama TV series The Sullivans. While working on The Sullivans, Nisselle's depth of research on cryptographic techniques employed by the classified Z Special Unit resulted in an inadvertent breach of the Official Secrets Act.

Nisselle drew local and international acclaim for her role as co-creator and writer of the groundbreaking crime dramas Phoenix and Janus, which depicted complex and realistic relationships between police and criminals and has been identified as an early forerunner to later dramas like The Wire.

Nisselle worked as a screenwriter, producer, script editor and script producer across a career spanning over four decades, drawing particular praise for the research-driven realism and accuracy she brought to her work.

Filmography Film Title Year Credited as Notes The Interview 1998 Script editor Healing 2014 Co-writer with Craig Monahan

Television Title Year Credited as Notes The Box 1977 Writer (1 episode) The John Sullivan Story 1979 Researcher TV Movie Skyways (TV series) 1979-1981 Writer (5 episodes) Carson's Law 1983 Writer (3 episodes) Zoo Family 1985 CreatorWriter (3 episodes) Prisoner (TV series) 1986 Writer (9 episodes)Story editor (6 episodes) Series finale Sons and Daughters 1987 Story editor (1 episode) Series finale The Flying Doctors 1985–1988 Writer (2 episodes)Story development (3 episodes) G.P. 1990 Story development (3 episodes) Street Angels (1991 film) 1991 Writer TV movie Phoenix 1992–1993 Co-creatorWriter (6 episodes) with Tony McDonald Janus 1994–1995 Co-creatorCo-producerWriter (1 episode) with Tony McDonald The Feds: Betrayal 1996 Writer with Tony McDonaldTV movie as part of The Feds (miniseries) The Feds: Deadfall 1996 Writer TV movie as part of The Feds (miniseries) Ocean Girl 1994–1996 Writer (3 episodes) Ship to Shore 1996 Writer (3 episodes) Thunderstone 1999 Writer (2 episodes) Marshall Law 2002 Co-creatorWriter (17 episodes) with Rick Held and Bevan Lee Blue Heelers 2004 Writer (1 episode) headLand 2005 Writer (1 episode) Home and Away 1988–2006 Writer (39 episodes) Curtin 2007 Writer TV movie Bed of Roses 2010 Script editor (7 episodes) Hawke 2010 Script editor TV movie The Mystery of a Hansom Cab 2012 Script editor TV movie Reef Doctors 2013 Story producer Parer's War 2014 Writer Newton's Law 2017 Script executive (ABC) Seven Types of Ambiguity 2017 Script executive (ABC) Bloom 2019 Story editor (6 episodes)Writer (1 episode)

Awards and legacy

Awards and commendations for works created or written by Nisselle include TV Week Logie Awards for Phoenix, Janus (which also received a Human Rights TV Drama Award from the Australian Human Rights Commission) and Curtin and a Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Healing. In 2016, Nisselle received the inaugural Jan Sardi Award as part of Film Victoria's 2016 Screen Leader Awards for her significant achievement as a screenwriter and was recognised in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).

Following her death in November 2023, the Australian Writers' Guild released a statement praising Nisselle as "...a towering figure among the generation of writers without whom today's film and television industry would not exist. She will be remembered not only for her vast and varied body of work, and her numerous accolades and awards, but also for her warmth and wit. She was a brilliant writer, editor, creator, producer and, to many of us, a wise and generous mentor."