The third and most contentious section is the ‘who’s who’ of Australian film and television. Every Aussie cinéaste will bemoan notable omissions, and Harrison pre-empts this in his apologetic preface. If, like myself, your weakness is for this country’s great film editors, you will be disappointed. Our current crop of screenwriting successes – Cate Shortland, Jacquelin Perske, Sarah Watt – also fail to garner a mention. But even seeking out these absences amongst the 450 entries in this section makes for a pleasing pastime for anyone fascinated with our cultural history. It is an enlightening labyrinth, and Harrison’s humorous and insightful observations on the most notable aspects of each entry make for great reading. Geoffrey Rush’s introduction is also enjoyable.

The Australian TV & Film Companion’s rigorous agenda of inclusion makes it a different encyclopaedic species from The Oxford Companion to Australian Film (1999), which was broader in scope, elaborately expounding thematically, institutionally, culturally and historically on various aspects of film in this country, though this is perhaps an unfair comparison given the latter volume’s three editors and more than eighty contributors. Harrison’s work is a worthy contribution to the record of Australian television and film culture, and an illuminating pop-culture reference guide.