Line #25 Series/McLeodsDaughters


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mcleods_daughters_784.jpg]]
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3	''[=McLeod's Daughters=]'' is an Australian SoapOpera revolving around the [=McLeod=] family farm, Drovers Run. (No relation to [[Franchise/{{Highlander}} that]] [=McLeod=] family.) The series ran for eight seasons from 2001 to 2009. Its focus began on two sisters, Claire and Tess, attempting to run the family farm after the death of their father.
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5	!![=McLeod's=] Tropes:
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7	* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: The series' ultimate conclusion. It just ended on a particularly good day. Because it's a business and their livelihood, the work on Drovers will never be finished.]]
8	* AnyoneCanDie: Averted with [[spoiler:Nick]], who was presumed dead at one point but played tragically straight with [[spoiler: Claire]] and much later [[spoiler: Alex]] and that was just the main cast. Many of the characters' lives were in danger at some point or another and some supporting characters like [[spoiler:Harry]] also died.
9	* ArtifactTitle: All of Jack [=McLeod=]'s daughters had left the series by the final season, leaving the farm to be run by his nieces, who admittedly were the daughters of ''Hugh'' [=McLeod=]
10	* AttemptedRape: It's implied with [[spoiler:Leo on Rose. Stevie and Regan]] come to her rescue.
11	* BackForTheFinale: Sonia Todd and Rachael Carpani. Bridie Carter did a voiceover.
12	* BelligerentSexualTension: Claire and Alex.
13	* BookDumb: Jodi completely flunks her high-school finals exam having not studied and much to her chagrin has to take up work at the farm.
14	** Becky is near-illiterate at the start of the show.
15	* BrainyBrunette: Kate Manfredi.
16	* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Jodi in the first season. She failed her HSC and constantly moaned about how she would rather be living a glamorous life in the city than be on the farm. She also looked to Becky as a role model (for the wrong reasons).
17	** Rose, especially for some time after it's revealed that Stevie is [[spoiler: her Mother, not her Aunt]].
18	* BruiserWithASoftCenter: Alex.
19	* CharacterDevelopment: The most notable is probably Tess, who at first as a city girl only came to Drovers to claim a share of inheritance and dreamed of running a cafe in the city. She ended up switching allegiance to the country completely and ran Drovers after [[spoiler: Claire died]].
20	* TheCharmer: Dave Brewer is a major flirt but really a one-woman kind of guy.
21	* TheCityVsTheCountry: The basic premise of the first season.
22	* CockFight: Nick and Alex had this a bit over Tess. At its worst, they had a full-on punch-up.
23	* CrouchingNiceGuyHiddenJerkass: Leo Coombes.
24	* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler: Xander Ryan]].
25	* DeadPersonConversation: The episode after [[spoiler: Claire's]] death centres around [[spoiler: Tess]] accepting it and saying goodbye, with help from her ghost.
26	* DeathByChildbirth: Claire's mother, Prudence, when giving birth to Claire's little brother, Adam. In addition to Prudence dying in childbirth, the baby was stillborn.
27	* DefrostingIceQueen: Claire to Tess at the start. Meg to Becky by the end of the latter's development.
28	* DyingDeclarationOfLove: Both [[spoiler: Claire and Alex]] managed to give one to [[spoiler: Tess and Stevie]] respectively.
29	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Becky Howard.
30	* EatingLunchAlone: In some of the earlier episodes, this trope is used to demonstrate Claire's loneliness since Jack died (though she'd never admit it). Tess was shocked that Meg and Jodi would eat dinner in their own house, leaving Claire to eat alone. Of course, once Tess moved in, this was no longer an issue.
31	* EmbarrassingNickname: Brick. Because he can't swim and would sink like one if he tried.
32	* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Alexander '''Marion''' Ryan.
33	* EnsembleCast
34	* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: After Becky is raped and Claire takes her in at Drovers and employs her, she self-cuts her long blonde hair extremely short, shedding her previous ReallyGetsAround image.
35	* EvilMatriarch: The word ''evil'' might be a bit harsh, but Liz Ryan certainly thinks she knows what is best for her boys. Particularly when it comes to women.
36	* FakePregnancy: [[spoiler: Fiona]] secretly learns she's unable to have children and does this out of fear [[spoiler:Alex]] will leave her.
37	* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: [[spoiler: Stevie and Rose]]. She's not her Aunt but her Mother.
38	** Alex also learns that [[spoiler:Harry]] is not his biological father in season 3.
39	* FarmersDaughter
40	* FieryRedhead: Stevie Hall.
41	* FinallyFoundTheBody: [[spoiler: Becky finding Brick's body in a particularly sad episode. It coupled with the confirmation in-universe that he even was dead in the first place]].
42	* FlashForward: [[spoiler: Part of the series' conclusion has]] a brief look at adult Xander and Charlotte on the farm in true GenerationXerox fashion. Could also be a DistantFinale, but appears to lean more towards being a figment of Stevie's imagination.
43	* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Both Claire and Tess are desperate to prove that they have what it takes to run Drovers.
44	* FishOutOfWater: Played for laughs when Claire has to visit the city in season 3. She's so unaccustomed to city life she can't even figure out how to use the TV remote in her hotel room.
45	* FortuneTeller: Moira's introduction. It turns out she has real, uncontrolled precognitive abilities in the form of flashes.
46	* GratuitousItalian: Alberto is somewhat stereotypical.
47	* GrumpyOldMan: He's not ''that'' old, but Harry Ryan mostly fits the trope.
48	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: All of the blonde women on the show are the good guys, but Tayler fits the trope best as she has both the unabashed sweetness and youth. [[spoiler:This isn't her initial impression however]].
49	* HeelFaceTurn: Regan [=McLeod=] who originally wanted to mine Drovers for gold and destroy much of the land to do so.
50	* HerHeartWillGoOn: Stevie [[TalkingToTheDead visits the grave of]] [[spoiler:Alex]] in one of the last scenes in the series and tells him that she's learned to be strong without him.
51	* TheHeroDies
52	* HeroicBSOD: Claire after learning Peter was already married with kids while they were together spun out for some time. She almost sold Drovers to Harry Ryan.
53	* HonorBeforeReason: There's a bit of this on the show.
54	** Claire backs out of a lucrative contract with Peter that she also worked very hard for because [[spoiler:she found out she was his mistress rather than girlfriend and]] working with him would've been too painful.
55	** Becky stops competing during the final event of a Young Farmers competition sacrificing any possibility of winning because Jake gets hurt during the event and she decides to help him.
56	* HorsebackHeroism: Used often, just one example being Claire rescuing Becky from a group of men harassing her.
57	* {{Housewife}}: [[spoiler:Jodi]] has a FlashForward moment on her wedding day of herself as this and realizes she's not ready to get married.
58	** Liz Ryan is a straight example.
59	* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Nick and Tess.
60	* IChooseToStay: Tess. At least until she [[spoiler: lives with Nick in Argentina, never to return]].
61	* INeverGotAnyLetters: Craig hides Alberto's letters to Jodi, despite being the postman. Somehow, he did not get fired for it. Also, Tess finds out that Jack sent her birthday and Christmas cards when she was a child. Her mother returned to sender without ever telling her.
62	* IronLady: Claire most notably, but most of the women that end up bosses on the farm show traits when they need to given the mostly male-dominated farming community.
63	* TheLostLenore: Dave's deceased wife Leanne. His unfinished grief for her ends his and [[spoiler:Tess']] relationship.
64	* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbour: Too many pairings of the Drovers girls/Killarney boys to mention here.
65	* LukeIAmYourFather: Jodi learns that [[spoiler: Jack [=McLeod=]]] was her biological father via an affair with Meg.
66	* LukeYouAreMyFather: [[spoiler: Alex to Bryce Redstaff, in the season 3 episode ''The Ties that Bind'']]
67	* MamaBear: All of the Mothers, but mostly Stevie to [[spoiler:Rose]] when she begins dating the evil Leo Coombes.
68	* ManipulativeBastard: Fiona Webb manipulates to some length to marry and keep Alex.
69	** Sandra has plenty of moments, as well as Ashleigh Redstaff.
70	* MayDecemberRomance: Harry and Sandra.
71	* MeaningfulFuneral: [[spoiler: Claire's]].
72	* MysteriousStranger: Stevie when she first shows up appears a bit shady and when she first stays at Drovers is shown secretively hiding a small mysterious bag, implying she might be some kind of criminal. [[spoiler:Major RedHerring though]].
73	* MustHaveCaffeine: Tess blows up the house's electricity and gets her car stuck in the mud respectively in her quest for a decent coffee.
74	* NaiveNewcomer: Tess.
75	* NakedFirstImpression: Nick walking into the bathroom and seeing Tess' bum in the mirror.
76	* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler: Riley.]]
77	* NiceGuy: Most of the men can be described roughly as this that aren't outright villains, with the notable exception of Harry. Alex could occasionally be more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but overall given the focus was on the women, they tended to have more variance in personality.
78	* OffIntoTheDistanceEnding: [[spoiler: Becky leaving with Jake]], leaning out the car window waving goodbye, sad to be leaving but excited for the future.
79	* PlentyOfBlondes: Jodi, Meg, Becky, Nick, Tayler, Jaz, and Ingrid. While these characters were never all on the show at the same time, there's always been plenty at one time. Tess, Grace and Marcus also count as dirty-blonde's.
80	* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Nick, Tess, Meg, Jodi, Kate, Dave. Meg and Jodi]] actually did return for the final episode.
81	* RapeAsDrama: Becky is raped by Brian, the publican. He thinks he can get away scot-free and tells her that if she reports it, no-one will believe her anyway due to the fact that she {{really gets around}}.
82	* RedOniBlueOni: Tess being red, Claire blue.
83	* RevolvingDoorCasting: Due to the show's turnover, ways writers kept a '[=McLeod's=] Daughter' in the show included childbirth, having [[spoiler: Jodi]] been a [=McLeod=] all along without realizing, and previously unmentioned relatives being introduced in the later seasons.
84	* RomanticFalseLead: [[spoiler:Fiona Webb-Ryan]] for Alex, and [[spoiler: Dave Brewer]] for Tess.
85	* RunawayBride: Subverted with [[spoiler:Jodi]], who went through with her vows (however doubtful she was) to [[spoiler: Alberto]] but broke up with him later that day, telling him she wasn't ready to be a wife. A 'running away' part was still filmed.
86	* SanitySlippage: Prior to Season 6, Sandra was merely [[NoSocialSkills socially aloof]] and [[IceQueen cold]].
87	* SceneryPorn: There are constant shots of beautiful South Australian farmland. Both Drover's Run and Killarney are breathtaking.
88	* SecondLove: Both Becky and Alex find happiness with another [[spoiler:after their first loves tragically die]].
89	* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Nick and Alex Ryan, respectively.
90	* SexyCoatFlashing: Becky gave Jodi this idea to do to Nick when she had a [[SmittenTeenageGirl short-lived crush]] on him. She almost goes through with it but backs out embarrassed.
91	** Tess steals the idea later in the episode to do to Dave.
92	* SexyPriest: Dan, the new priest in town. Kate first meets him as an SES volunteer and thinks he's hitting on her.
93	* SheCleansUpNicely: Claire is a tomboy who usually dresses in rugged farm clothes but when she does dress up she looks beautiful and other characters comment on it.
94	* ShrinkingViolet: Kate Manfredi.
95	* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Stevie was heavily pregnant with his baby when [[spoiler: Alex]] died.
96	* StaircaseTumble: Just one of many ways the main characters get injured. At worst someone falls off a horse, a windmill, stairs, ATV, etc about every other episode.
97	* StraightGay: [[spoiler: Vernon in the season one episode "Ducks on the Pond". Everyone thinks he is an axe murderer who killed his wife and children. Until he reveals to Tess that the reason his wife is not in the picture is because he is gay]].
98	* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: Tess leaves Drovers and begins to live her original plans of running a cafe in the city, but when one of her business partners hides her mail from Drovers coinciding with Claire needing her and she finds out, she realizes that it's no longer her dream.
99	* SugarAndIcePersonality: Claire.
100	* TakingUpTheMantle: [[spoiler: Claire's death]] saw Stevie take up the co-leading role on the show. After [[spoiler:Tess]] left as well, she was the show's primary focus.
101	* TeenPregnancy: Stevie gave birth to [[spoiler:Rose]] when she was very young and irresponsible, and gave her to her (older) sister to raise.
102	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Tough as nails, Claire has been on the farm her whole life and knows very well how things work in the bush as opposed to Tess, the idealist city girl who initially struggles to adapt to life on the farm.
103	* WhiteStallion: Tess' horse Oscar.
104	* WitnessProtection: [[spoiler:Jodi is written out this way]]. She strikes up a relationship with [[spoiler:Rob Shelton]], who is then found by the men who are after him and she becomes a target as well. In the series finale, she returns heavily pregnant and happily informs everyone that the men who were after them have been incarcerated.

Context Series / McLeodsDaughters