Ron Saunders

Ronald Victor Saunders is an Australian film and television producer, writer, and director. He has worked in almost every genre of film and his career has spanned over 30 years. He is particularly known for specialising in children's television and for co-creating the successful Australian children's television series Johnson and Friends, with director Ian Munro and writer John Patterson.

Saunders was also instrumental in building race relations between Australia and China, and he has been responsible for many co-productions between the two countries, including Magic Mountain, Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord, and The Dragon Pearl. Other children's programs he was involved with include The Adventures of Sam, and the 1990s version of The Toothbrush Family, Ketchup: Cats Who Cook.

Early life and education Ronald Victor Saunders was born in South Australia. His father was a Protestant minister and the family travelled from town to town until Saunders was 18, when the family settled in Adelaide.Saunders did not have a television as a child, and recalls that in his early childhood years, it was a common occurrence for 20-30 people to gather by the window of a hardware shop simply to watch whatever was on the television on display. He was later appointed general manager for Beyond Screen Production, the division of Beyond which includes children and adult drama, game shows, specialist factual programs and sport. "The Incredibly Magic Super Fantastic Library Resource Centre Kit" (1974) "Teaching Reading in the Upper Primary School" (1974) "Only Two Wheels" (1974) "An Open Space Secondary School at Work" (1974) "Yorke Peninsula" (1975) "The Expressive Arts: Everyone Succeeds!" (1975) "Violoncello and Double Bass" (1975) "Violin and Viola" (1975) "Untuned Percussion" (1975) "Tuned Percussion" (1975) "Trumpet and Cornet" (1975) "Trombone and Tuba" (1975) "The French Horn" (1975) "Olga de Amaral" (1975) "Oboe and Coranglais" (1975) "Flute and Piccolo" (1975) "Clarinet and Bass Clarinet" (1975) "Bassoon and Contrabassoon" (1975) "Basic Music Techniques" (1975) "Getting it all Together: The Mansfield Park Pre-School" (1975) "A Reason to Read" (1975) "A Conceptual Approach to Teaching" (1975) "What About Alcohol?" (1976) "Water Management" (1976) "The Great Coastal Dune Show" (1976) "Outback Festivals of Australia" (1976) "Less Hours Working" (1976) "I Taught Them But They Didn't Learn" (1976) "The Fourth Wish" (1976) "Leisure" (1976) "The Conductor: Parts 1 & 2" (1977) "The Conductor: Part 1" (1977) "The Conductor: Part 2" (1977) "It's Easy When You Know How" (1977) "Bridging the Gap" (1977) "This Little Pig Went to Market" (1977) "Moments in Time" (1977) "Misconceptions" (1977) "How to Gromble a Flub" (1977) "Wheat Today" (1978) "Wheat Australia" (1978) "Noise Annoys" (1978) "I Hate Holidays" (1978) "Hector's Roadshow" (1978) "It's the Quality That Counts" (1978) "An Approach to Infant Education" (1978) "The Great Grain Robbery" (1979) "Pesticides: Friend or Foe?" (1979) "First Days" (1979) "You Can't Always Tell" (1979) "The Cubbies" (1979) "Art Makes People" (1980) "The Care We Take" (1980) "The Parks: A Community Centre" (1981) "Drugs: It's Up to You Really" (1981) "The Janet Gardiner Case: Forensic Science at Work" (1981) "The Great Artesian Basin" (1981) "Staying Alive" (1981) "Bush Corridors" (1981) "Braking and Balance: Motor Cycle Safety" (1981) "Fatty and George" (1981) "Home is Where You Live" (1982) "Just the Job" (1982) "The Teacher and Technology" (1982) "Dangermen" (1982) "Cityscape" (1982) "Taken by Storm" (1983) "Parent Involvement in Schools" (1983) "Break-In" (1983) "When Initiation Stopped, History Stopped" (1984) "Run Chrissie Run!" (1984) "Fair Game" (1986) "Mary Mackillop" (1987) "The Australians" (1987-1988) "Fever" (1988) Out of Control" (1988) "Alice" (1989) "Johnson & Friends" (1990) [Series 1] "The Girl from Tomorrow" (1990) "The Girl from Tomorrow" (1990) [Telemovie] "Johnson & Friends" (1991) [Series 2] "Act of Necessity" (1991) "The Girl from Tomorrow Part II: Tomorrow's End" (1991) "The Girl from Tomorrow Part II: Tomorrow's End" (1991) [Telemovie] "People of Parliament" (1991) "After the Warming" (1991) "Photographers of Australia: Dupain, Sievers, Moore" (1992) "Who Killed Malcolm Smith?" (1992) "Australian Biography" (1992) [Series 1] "A Place to Belong" (1992) "Australian Biography" (1993) [Series 2] "Village of Jars" (1993) "Mini Dragons" (1993) "Dream House" (1993) "Johnson & Friends" (1994) [Series 3] "Escape from Jupiter" (1994) "Escape from Jupiter" (1994) [Telemovie] "Flowers and the Wide Sea" (1994) "Johnson & Friends" (1995) [Series 4] "Gorgeous" (1994) "Napoleon" (1995) "Spellbinder" (1995) "Sun on the Stubble" (1996) "Return to Jupiter" (1997) "Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord (1997) "The Adventures of Sam" (1997) "Ketchup: Cats Who Cook" (1997) "Magic Mountain" (1997) "The Toothbrush Family" (1998) "Wild China" (1998) "Backyard Science" (2003) "New MacDonald's Farm" (2004) [Series 1] "Rustbuckets" (2004) "Australians at Work" (2005) "New MacDonald's Farm" (2006) [Series 2] "New MacDonald's Farm" (2007) [Series 3] "Emerald Falls" (2008) "Lab Rats Challenge" (2008) "Double Trouble" (2008) "Toybox" (2010) [Series 1] "The Silent Epidemic" (2010) "Toybox" (2011) [Series 2] "The Dragon Pearl" (2011) "Toybox" (2012) [Series 3] "Toybox" (2013) [Series 4] "hoopla doopla!" (2014) "Buzz Bumble" (2014) "Quest" (2014) "Prison Songs" (2015) "Manny Lewis" (2015) "Blood and Thunder: The Sound of Alberts" (2015) "Beat Bugs" (2016) "Fanshaw & Crudnut" (2016) "Fanshaw & Crudnut - Attack of the Slug Santas" (2016) "Pulse" (2017) "Nyoongar Footy Magic" (2017) "Indigo Lake" (2017) "Motown Magic" (2018) "Backburning" (2020)