I Can Jump Puddles

I Can Jump Puddles is a 1981 Australian television mini-series based on the 1955 autobiography of the same name by author Alan Marshall. Adapted for television by screenwriters Cliff Green and Roger Simpson, the series starred Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Adam Garnett, Tony Barry, Julie Hamilton, Ann Henderson, Lesley Baker, Olivia Brown, Debra Lawrance and Darren MacDonald.^[1]

Several prominent television actors also had supporting roles including Lisa Aldenhoven, Kaarin Fairfax, Maurie Fields, Terry Gill, Reg Gorman, Matthew King, Julie Nihill, Maureen Edwards and Dennis Miller and Jason Donovan and Cliff Ellen.

Based on Alan Marshall's three-part autobiography I Can Jump Puddles (1955), This is the Grass (1962) and In Mine Own Heart (1963), the film tells of Marshall's childhood growing up in rural Victoria around the turn of the century. Contracting polio soon after attending school, the story retells the obstacles he faced as a child in trying to overcome his disability. Later as an adult, he encounters prejudice due to his debilitating disease while looking for work in Melbourne.

The series was first aired on 7 June 1981 and ran for nine episodes. It was shown again two years later before being released on DVD by Roadshow Home Entertainment in August 2005.

The series ran in the UK on BBC2 in 1983, and in the Soviet Union in the late 1980's.

Adam Garnett, who played the 11-year-old Alan Marshall, won a Logie Award for Best Performance by a Juvenile in 1981.

• I Can Jump Puddles at Screen Australia
• I Can Jump Puddles at IMDb
• I Can Jump Puddles at Australian Screen Online