A Chronological History of Australian Soap

[Alison Carr]

I love this thread, some real gems are being thrown back up. A few years ago things were looking very good for Australian drama, Neighbours and Home & Away were coasting along securely, Prisoner had a rebirth in the form of Wentworth and there was much talk of a revival for The Young Doctors and a remake of Return to Eden. Sadly this was not to be, the latter two were pulled, Wentworth has now finished, Neighbours is heading towards it's end point and it feels as if Home and Away is not a pinch of what it once was and that people are starting to fall out of love with it. In the same way the American super soaps (Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing, The Colbys) died out it now seems the Aussie soaps are going the same way. I cannot see any new soaps being launched moving forward, times have changed.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I love this thread, some real gems are being thrown back up. A few years ago things were looking very good for Australian drama, Neighbours and Home & Away were coasting along securely, Prisoner had a rebirth in the form of Wentworth and there was much talk of a revival for The Young Doctors and a remake of Return to Eden. Sadly this was not to be, the latter two were pulled, Wentworth has now finished, Neighbours is heading towards it's end point and it feels as if Home and Away is not a pinch of what it once was and that people are starting to fall out of love with it. In the same way the American super soaps (Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing, The Colbys) died out it now seems the Aussie soaps are going the same way. I cannot see any new soaps being launched moving forward, times have changed.

I'm glad you're enjoying the thread @Alison Carr It certainly does feel like we're at a turning point in the history of Aussie soaps. When Neighbours ends, this will be the first time in a very long time that there's only been one Australian soap on the air. I was hopeful when The Heights premiered, that we were seeing the start of a new wave of soaps that would carry on the genre for another generation in Australia, but I'd be very surprised if we see it return for another season at this stage.

 

[AndyB2008]

Ref the 1994 version of Valley of The Dolls (from New World), it did get an airing in interestingly, Russia, just like Chances had. It did not get a UK airing as far as I'm aware (although may have suited C5 in the early days given they were showing Hotline, Red Shoe Diaries, Compromising Situations and the Shannon Tweed films).

In the US, VOTD was aired late night, but only 13 markets picked it up, so it wasn't aired in all.

As one example, WJW, which was affiliated to CBS prior to switching to Fox, broadcast VOTD after their newscast, delaying The Late Show with David Letterman to 12 midnight. (Probably helped WJW was owned by New World, the company distributing Valley of The Dolls, and which was part of the Fox deal, hence the affiliation switch).

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Breakers - 1997 to 1999

​

And now, another favourite of mine that is mostly forgotten. Breakers was the brainchild of Scottish born journalist turned TV writer Jimmy Thomson. Originally, Thomson was planning to write a sitcom as his debut project but when he heard that a new production company were on the lookout for a soap, he pitched a Bondi based serial that would be a blend of the existing Aussie soaps and their edgier British counterparts like EastEnders. Thomson wanted to tackle heavier issues that the other soaps had only touched on including drug abuse, homeless youth, anorexia and the struggles of gay youth. Producer Andrew Howie echoed his feelings, saying that Breakers would have "a real edge to it, some social relevance. A little grittier than what we're used to." The Ten Network came onboard, albeit cautiously. Recognising that there was a late night audience for a soap, they followed the recently abandoned programming strategy that Nine had used for Pacific Drive and scheduled Breakers to premiere at 11.30pm every weeknight, with a 4.30pm daytime repeat the following day. Burned by Echo Point, they opted for a low key launch and in line with Ten's policy of not promoting shows that screened outside of primetime, Breakers didn't receive any on-air promotion during it's entire run.

The show revolved around the eponymous Breakers building in Bondi, which housed apartments, a café, a newspaper, a modelling school and a youth drop-in centre. Central to the action, were two sisters - café owner Kate (Helen O'Connor) and newspaper boss Eve (Julie Haseler). They acted as mother figures to their various children and young staff that populated the building. Eve had two teenage kids - Terri (Emily Perry) and Danny (Ben Tate) with ex-husband Paul (Richard Healey), who ran the BMS Modelling Agency along with Monique (Simone Robertson), who's young daughter Lara's mysterious parentage proved to be the source of much gossip. Monique would soon fall for Kate's recently returned wild child son Alex (James Stewart) who'd run off to England a few years prior, leaving behind girlfriend Lucy (Louise Crawford) who now worked at Eve's newspaper alongside Maggie (Ling Hsueh Tang). Others making up the Breakers denizens included Danny's best friend, gay teen model Vince (Simon Munro), café chef Boris (Jean-Marc Russ), waitress Fiona (Ada Nicodemou), drop-in centre manager Steve (John Atkinson) and his protégé, former tearaway Reuben (Heath Bergerson). Reuben's reformation was threatened when his old friend from the streets Cheree (Angela Keep) showed up to wreak havoc but she soon had troubles of her own when she discovered she'd contracted HIV while sharing needles with her ex. Producers told TV Week that Breakers would be the new face of Australian soap "visually our show reflects much more of the types of people that we now see in the street. Reuben was not created as an Aboriginal character and Maggie was not Australian-Chinese, but when we saw their auditions we had no doubt they were the ones for the characters. I think Breakers is much more representative of what Australians are all about now."

Initial press coverage of the show in Australia was mixed. The press kit described it as being "set amid the cosmopolitan bustle of Bondi Beach. It is all about what happens to young people when they are offered both opportunity and temptation - having to learn that the best choice is rarely, if ever, the easiest" which The Sydney Morning Herald said would mean it would be "deliciously blatant with a lot of young spunks getting their togs off". They were also "sceptical about the cosmopolitan aspect of Bondi's café strip". Press in the UK approached the show much more salaciously. A throwaway comment from Jimmy Thomson to a Scottish newspaper about it being "an edgy show featuring a young gay guy" resulted in the headline "The Man Who Wants To Bring Underage Gay Sex To Afternoon TV". This was despite the fact that Vince never kissed or slept with another man during the show's entire run (a nipple piercing and a trip to Sydney Mardi Gras was about as gay as it got for Vince). Salacious or not, the show didn't hit the heights that they hoped for in the UK. Originally airing twice a day on BBC One (including a post-Neighbours slot in the afternoon), the show was soon pulled from the schedules. Australian producers hoped it would eventually return to BBC One and continued to produce a "safe" show for English daytime audiences, a move which they now regret. "Given that the show was attracting two audiences at home, during the afternoon and late at night, we should have taken advantage of our PG timeslots and made it much sexier and quirkier" says Thomson. As it happened, the show never returned to the BBC One schedules, instead being dumped on their tiny digital channel BBC Choice to see out it's days.

Back in Bondi, the drama rumbled on as opposites Eve and Steve fell for each other, nearly marrying, until Terri ran amok at the thought of acquiring a new stepfather. Nina thought she'd found love with French Canadian Serge (Jason Crewes) only to discover that he was already engaged and was using her to get a visa and Cheree wrote a book about her life on the streets. The mystery of Lara's parentage was resolved when it was revealed that Alex was the father. Tragically, the new family didn't have much time to bond as Lara died in a drowning accident at the beach. Monique and Alex later married in a dramatic wedding that saw soap legend Paula Duncan guest star as Monique's mother Karen and which ended with Alex's mother Kate collapsing and going into a coma. Duncan didn't have much good to say about her guest stint on the show "Young people would be late on set, two days running, by five to six hours. I couldn't understand why it was tolerated. Hector Crawford would have sacked them immediately. Nobody is indispensable". While his onscreen mother Kate did eventually recuperate from the wedding, actor James Stewart didn't survive it and Alex returned from honeymoon, now played by Don Hany.

The biggest burst of press coverage that the show got in Australia was when Lucy fell for Terri's tutor Kelly (Gabrielle Maselli) and the two shared an onscreen kiss that was aired in both the late night and afternoon slot (Breakers was airing at 3.30pm by this point). A politician complained to the ABA, the show was discussed in parliament and the little show was suddenly tabloid fodder. The publicity came too late though, as it had just been announced that production would cease on Breakers. The show had been sold to 17 countries but struggles with international sales, particularly the UK, were cited as reasons for the show winding down. In the final months, Alex and Monique's relationship was on the rocks after she'd caught him kissing newcomer India (Tirana Hassan), Steve found love with Kate, just as his long lost son showed up while Danny found love with terminally ill Sam (Jessica Hill). The show ended on a cliffhanger, as Cheree's new friend Stuart (Adrian Jarrett) was revealed to viewers to be the stalker that had been terrorising Cheree for months. As mentioned before, the show is largely forgotten these days and there's only a couple of episodes online in addition to a few clips. The two biggest stars to emerge from it were Ada Nicodemou (Fiona) who went straight from Bondi to Summer Bay, where she's been playing Leah on Home & Away for the last 22 years while James Stewart would hit the big time on Packed To The Rafters in the late 00's before joining Ada on H&A in 2016.

 

[AndyB2008]

Simon Munro, who played Vince, later hit the headlines off screen in a story akin to a Breakers plot.

Breakers to add starred John Atkinson, who had replaced Gerry Sont as Cal Lawrence on Chances in the final few months of the soap. The poor guy must have a curse on soap operas. I think he was in Out of The Blue as well and.... you know the rest.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Simon Munro, who played Vince, later hit the headlines off screen in a story akin to a Breakers plot.

Breakers to add starred John Atkinson, who had replaced Gerry Sont as Cal Lawrence on Chances in the final few months of the soap. The poor guy must have a curse on soap operas. I think he was in Out of The Blue as well and.... you know the rest.

I remember the Simon Munro story being in the press when I lived in Australia. He’d apparently dated Ada Nicodemou in their Breakers days, so it was framed in the tabloids as “Ada’s Ex in Drugs Shocker” and so on, because her profile was obviously higher at the time, with her being in H&A.

 

[AndyB2008]

To add, Breakers was co-funded by the TV production arm of the Chrysalis Group, and the failure of it caused Chrysalis to later write down their funding of it at a loss.

The ownership of it is a bit complex - Banjay acquired Screentime, while Chrysalis's TV arm was taken over later by All3Media. So not sure what the ownership rights of Breakers would be negotiated if it was to end up on TV again or Via Vision decided to release it on DVD.

(The latter part with ViaVision is probably what would hold the first season of Pacific Drive back, due to Disney co-owning the series with Nine and Village Roadshow, so VV has to negotiate with 3 companies. Ditto Paradise Beach for the same reason. It's been easier for VV to release the other soaps they've released due to one company handling it)

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

To add, Breakers was co-funded by the TV production arm of the Chrysalis Group, and the failure of it caused Chrysalis to later write down their funding of it at a loss.

The ownership of it is a bit complex - Banjay acquired Screentime, while Chrysalis's TV arm was taken over later by All3Media. So not sure what the ownership rights of Breakers would be negotiated if it was to end up on TV again or Via Vision decided to release it on DVD.

(The latter part with ViaVision is probably what would hold the first season of Pacific Drive back, due to Disney co-owning the series with Nine and Village Roadshow, so VV has to negotiate with 3 companies. Ditto Paradise Beach for the same reason. It's been easier for VV to release the other soaps they've released due to one company handling it)

It had a rerun here on two very small digital channels in the 00’s - City Channel in Dublin and another on Sky (possibly FTN) - so I’m presumed the rerun fees are pretty minuscule. In saying that, it unfortunately is probably a bit too niche a show for Via Vision to commit to DVD, but if they did, I’d be buying it.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Above The Law - 2000

​

In 1999, Network Ten went looking for the "Aussie Melrose Place" hit that had eluded the networks for much of the 90's. Enter veteran soap writer Tony Morphett (creator of Certain Women and whose writing credits included The Sullivans and The Young Doctors) and the newly formed production partnership of McElroy Television and Columbia Tristar. Together with Inga Hunter, Morphett came up with a concept for a show after reading about a community police station being built into an apartment block in Bondi. Above The Law would be set in The Metro apartment block that housed a police station on the ground floor and a shady gangster in the penthouse (hence the puntastic title). The latest in digital camera technology would give the show a look like no other show seen on Australian TV and Columbia Tristar would handle the anticipated major international sales.

Producer Hal McElroy (Return to Eden) auditioned 250 actors for the show before E Street's Alyssa Jane Cook was cast as the show's supposed Amanda Woodward-esque lead Olivia Murray. Talking up the show to TV Week before it aired, Cook said "It's a new direction for Australian drama and tackles something that has never been done before. It's got the apartment, the police station, the paramedics coming and going, a restaurant.....There's so much to tap into, storywise". Cook seemingly had never watched or had forgotten about the original apartment block sex and sin saga that was Number 96. The publicity department didn't do themselves any favours either by comparing the show to The Sopranos, which was the height of prestige TV at that time.

The show began with the imprisonment (offscreen) of gangster 'Vegas' Pete Murray, leaving his penthouse apartment to the care of his estranged daughter, corporate headhunter Olivia, who up until now, was seemingly oblivious to the fact that Daddy was a criminal. Keeping an eye on her while Pete was inside, was his gun toting bodyguard Bill (Scott Burgess). Downstairs in the cop shop, officers Debbie Curtis (Bridie Carter) and naive Con Stavros (Jolyon James) ran the show, regularly crossing paths with paramedics Vicki (Ingrid Ruz) and her married colleague and secret lover Sean (Tim McCunn). Vicki also lived in the Metro with her law school dropout turned DJ brother Skeez (Teo Gerbert). Kristy Wright, newly sprung from Home & Away, played model Chloe Richards, who worked in Us2u, the Metro's Italian cafe that was run by Matt Bridges (Nicholas Bishop) who'd soon become Olivia's love interest.

The show premiered on February 1st 2000, in Melrose Place's old 8.30pm Tuesday timeslot but faced stiff competition as it was scheduled up against the season returns of established dramas Water Rats and All Saints. The following week, it was pushed back to the 9.30pm timeslot under the guise of taking advantage of the more adult timeslot. Viewers weren't buying Olivia as the show's vixenish lead as the supposedly ballbusting businesswoman mostly came across as clueless, particularly when it came to her father's criminal endeavours. Hal McElroy said "We were ordered in July, shooting in October and on air in February. With the benefit of hindsight, we should've said we needed six more months to get it right". Shooting clashed with Kristy Wright's panto commitments in the UK, so Chloe was written as having to flee to London from a stalker and would send video postcards to keep her presence onscreen, albeit not in the midst of the action in Sydney (shooting in Bondi proved difficult, so they set the show somewhere close to Parramatta). Ratings didn't pick up, particularly among the 18-39 audience that Ten wanted, and moves were made to revamp the show. The gangster element was to be phased out, Chloe, Vicki and Debbie were due to move in together and in the time honoured move to bridge the Sydney - Melbourne rivalry ratings gap, Olivia was to be shipped off to Melbourne, where the action would follow her new romance with Chloe's cousin Chris (Ditch Davey). Before any of this could play out onscreen, Above The Law was moved to 10.30pm, and was then dropped from schedules completely in May, with only 19 of the 30 produced episodes making it to air. Hal McElroy stated "We had a mix of storylines that wasn't quite right. The storytelling wasn't as good as it should have been". He also pointed to Ten's insistence at keeping the budget as low as possible "We delivered the cheapest show on television at the time. With a low budget, if you don't get it right there's no more money to throw at it to get it right. And if you've got high expectations and a low budget, you have problems".

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Something In The Air - 2000 to 2001

​

In 1999, ABC's evening ratings were on the decline, so they set about commissioning a new soap to air Monday to Thursday at 6.30pm, as a lead in to their faltering 7pm news bulletin. Seven production companies were shortlisted and were then tasked with submitting scripts for four episodes. The victor to emerge from this process was production company Simpson LeMesurier (Halifax FP, Good Guys Bad Guys and Stingers) and the soap was Something in the Air. It would be the production company's first foray into soap opera and they looked back to ABC past soap success Bellbird (incidentally, SITA would be the first homegrown soap to air on ABC since Bellbird went off the air in 1977) for inspiration. "There hadn't been a rural soap since A Country Practice and there was no need for a city based show like Neighbours. We also knew at the time that the ABC was very sensitive about their regional viewers not being serviced" explained creator Roger Simpson. ABC's Sue Masters echoed his thoughts "In our hearts we felt a rural based serial would give us great freedom to create a new TV world audiences would warm to - and we liked the idea of tipping our hats to the ABC's rich tradition of long running country dramas. We have real hopes that Something in the Air will become the sort of show that families grow up with". Roger Simpson further explained the show's premise "The rural recession was a big problem at the time so we set it in a town which the railway didn't run to anymore and that became the metaphor for the show. The theme song referred to the line being closed but you can still hear the train - which harked back to the good times when the bush was profitable. The new guy to arrive from the city would become a pied piper in leading them all to a rebirth of their town. So there was as strong political agenda behind it, even though the first thing you do is bury that within the drama as that's not why people watch soaps".

The "new guy" was radio shock jock Tom Dooley (Colin Moody) who fled from the city to rural Emu Springs, a former gold mining town, after a radio stunt gone wrong threatened to land him in court. He started working at the local radio station 3ES and was soon riling up the locals with his controversial views. His new boss was ex-city banker Helen Virtue (Ulli Birve) who'd returned to her hometown with son Harry (Thomas Blackburne) following the death of her husband. Helen and Harry lived with her schoolteacher sister Sally (Danielle Carter) and her husband, farmer Joe Sabatini (Eric Bana). The local watering hole, Station Hotel, was run by ex-cop turned guidance counsellor, bookie and honorary sheriff Stuart McGregor (Frank Holden) whose teenage daughter Megan (Mariel McClorey) worked at 3ES and dreamed of a big break at a city radio station. Prisoner's Anne Phelan played Mon Taylor, who ran the general store with her husband Len (Ray Barrett) whose ailing health prompted son Wayne (Sullivan Stapleton) to return to town after being released from prison (although his parents had told everyone he'd gone off to join the army). Home and Away's Roger Oakley played cross dressing Senator Doug Rutherford, whose feminist wife Julia (Kate Fitzpatrick) had political aspirations of her own. Rounding out the cast were Dr. Eva Petrovska (Melita Jurisic), the local GP who travelled around the area on a motorised trolley via the disused railway line, Catholic priest Father Brian (Steve Adams) who played on the Emu Springs footy team alongside Ryan Cassidy (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor) who harboured dreams of working in the radio station.

Launching on 17th January 2000, Something in the Air was ABC's biggest ever first series commitment to local drama at a cost of $14.5 million (including $5 million from Simpson LeMesurier). ABC seemed either clueless or uncomfortable as to how to promote their hot new drama but ratings were good and the show started garnering a fanbase. However, behind the scenes, things were about to be turned upside down. Jonathon Shier was appointed new head of ABC, bringing with him Gail Jarvis as the new head of drama. Sue Masters, who'd championed the show, left ABC and moved to Ten. Roger Simpson recalls "We had our first meeting with the new guard and one said straight out 'I don't like the show'. It was the worst meeting in 30 years of television I've ever had, aggressive and unpleasant". When an explanation for their disdain for the show was requested, they stated they didn't like one of the actors. "It didn't seem to be based on any intimate knowledge of the series or it's aims. From that day on there was extreme disinterest from the ABC. Morale was appalling and the whole place became a mess".

Things became messier when the ABC pulled the show from schedules to make way for two weeks of Paralympics coverage in October 2000 and then refused to put it back on until the production company agreed to reprogramming it for the second season. ABC also wanted the show to skew younger (despite ABC attracting an older audience) which meant older cast members had to go. "We didn't know who to write out and no actor volunteered to go. It was very difficult because we really loved all of the characters but in the end, we wrote out the doctor and the priest because they didn't have family". Dr Eva was replaced by Dr Annie (Nina Liu) while Father Brian disappeared after admitting he had feelings for Helen, making way for Mon's son Wayne to return as a regular. Something in the Air eventually returned to screens in March 2001, however it was now only airing two episodes a week, back to back from 7.30pm on Saturday nights (it's weekday slot had been given to a new lifestyle/current affairs show Dimensions that the new regime had commissioned). Disputes arose over the ABC asking for the end credits to be removed from the first Saturday episode and that the two episodes to be recut into one so it would run more seamlessly with Simpson LeMesurier pointing out that legally they couldn't do it because of different cast and crew working on different episodes "They ordered a serial and that's what we delivered". After poor ratings and complaints from viewers, the ABC eventually moved the show back to weekdays, albeit in the earlier slot of 6pm. "It was far too early" argued Anne Phelan, "but you have somebody in Sydney making these decisions, somebody who doesn't even bother to find out that in the country everyone watches their local news at 6pm. That's why it worked at 6.30pm. They would watch their local news at 6pm, us at 6.30 and the ABC news at 7pm". Eric Bana's departure from the show also caused issues with the ABC describing the decision to release him from his contract as "weak producing" whereas Simpson LeMesurier saying that they'd never stand in the way of somebody getting a break in Hollywood (Bana was leaving to star in Black Hawk Down).

The final months of the show played out under the cloud of the team knowing that they weren't going to be recommissioned, although the official decision wasn't announced until the show wrapped up. Producers also lamented holding back on international sales "We made a strategic mistake because we could have sold it to (UK broadcaster) ITV but they only wanted to buy a year's worth because they were making their own soap Night and Day (which would ironically end up airing briefly in the 6pm SITA timeslot on ABC). We thought long an hard about it and thought after a year we wouldn't be able to sell it to any other English broadcaster. Had we known that Night and Day was going to be a complete disaster, an ITV audience might have demanded more after watching the first series, but by then the news was out that we were doomed. The ABC had killed off any potential to sell it overseas, so it was a double disaster". The show concluded with various characters entangled in new romances and Ryan finally realising his dream of working at the radio station as he spoke the show's finally word's as he broadcast on 3ES "All is right with the world here in Emu Springs on another perfect day".

 

[Willie Oleson]

I hope there's a special place in hell for boardroom suits who sabotage soap operas.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I hope there's a special place in hell for boardroom suits who sabotage soap operas.

It would appear that the ABC hasn’t learned much in the 20 years since Something in the Air ended. The Heights was apparently developed with a view to it airing across multiple early evenings a week but they ended up initially airing just one 30 minute episode per week at like 8pm on Fridays and then at one stage were airing double episodes back to back. Ireland and the UK stripped it weekdays and ended up airing the final episode before Australia did.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Going Home - 2000 to 2001

​

After Above The Law flopped, producer Hal McElroy was looking to do something different from the soaps he'd worked on before. With the emergence of more homegrown dramas in the European market, there was less of a requirement for Aussie imports. McElroy decided to come up with a format that could be sold internationally rather than an actual Aussie show. The remit was something cheap, topical and quick to produce. And thus, Going Home was born. Devised by McElroy with his wife and writing partner Di, the show was a cross between a daily soap and a current affairs show. It followed a regular group of commuters on a their train trip home each evening, where they'd discuss the various ins and outs of their personal lives along with the hot topics of the day. "I had an irritation with the writing process since a typical drama episode takes 22 weeks from conceptualising an idea to actually making the episode" said McElroy, "Obviously, you can't refer to anything topical or it's out of date by the time the show airs". To work around this, it was decided that the actors would improvise sections of dialogue, creating an "instant drama" that was quick to shoot and get to air.

As the idea took shape, Ro Hume (Pacific Drive) was brought in as story editor while network SBS (in it's first foray into soap) snapped up the show. Only actors that were able to improvise were auditioned and the main cast was assembled. Beautician Poppy Savvas (Khristina Totos) was in the midst of a seven year affair with a married man. Pam Coughlan (Lyn Pierse) was a travel agent with a lot on her plate. Her husband's building business was going belly up, her adult son was in prison and she just discovered that she was pregnant again. Advertising exec Kwan 'Davo' Lee (Jason Chong) was on his way up the corporate ladder while small business owner Mike Cortez (John Gibson) was on the way down. Noel Johnston (David Callan) was a lift technician with a troubled family life, Najette Malek (Camilla Ah Kin) was battling for custody of her son and Colin Thompson (Brian Meegan) was a financial consultant with conservative views. Lightening the mood were hotel receptionist Tiffany Parker (Rhonda Doyle) who loved nothing more than discussing the latest celebrity scandal and storeman Stefano Pappadopoulos (Arthur Angel) whose favourite subject was soccer.

The show launched on 22 May 2000, airing weeknights at 7.30pm with a 4.30pm repeat the next day. A show website was also launched to allow viewers to interact and say what they wanted to see on the show. Going Home was a cult success but viewing figures were an issue. Producer Hal McElroy puts it down to the difficulty of promoting an improvised show with such a short gap between filming and going to air "How do you promote a show when critics can't view it in advance?" he asked, "We didn't really crack that side of it. We over-delivered on the show and the website but we under-delivered on the publicity side". SBS were still happy enough with the show to order a second run of 13 weeks, which aired in 2001. When it returned, many lives had changed dramatically. Poppy's affair had ended and her beauty salon had been destroyed in an arson attack. Pam's son was released from prison. Davo was battling a gambling addiction. Najette won custody of her son, only for her ex-husband to kidnap the boy and take him to Lebanon. Tiffany began an online relationship with a soldier stationed in Hawaii. Ratings remained the same but falling advertising revenues meant that SBS couldn't afford to keep the show on the air. When the last episode was filmed, the cast and crew didn't realise that they wouldn't be back for a third series. In the finale, a fancy dress party to celebrate Stef's first wedding anniversary to Mei-Lin was interrupted by a gunman onboard, who had a gripe with Stef over his father losing his job. As they tried to wrestle the gun from him, it went off, but viewers were left to wonder, who had been shot. Despite being relatively short-lived in Australia, McElroy ploughed on with attempts to sell the format overseas. A US version called Bar Car, described as "Sex and the City meets Cheers on wheels" went to pilot at Showtime, while the format was optioned in the UK and Europe. Three versions eventually made it to air - Train 48 (Canada 2003 - 2005), Le Train (France 2004 - 2005) and Andata e Ritorno (Italy 2006 - 2007).

 

[Willie Oleson]

Soap on wheels, what a novel idea! It's sort of LOST before they crashed on the island.
Not sure if I could get used to watching the non-stop train movement.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Soap on wheels, what a novel idea!

The original “soap on wheels”

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I wish they'd reboot Return To Eden, there's a show just crying out for the reboot treatment.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I wish they'd reboot Return To Eden, there's a show just crying out for the reboot treatment.

View attachment 41372

Yes, it’s long overdue a revisit. It’s ten years now since Nine’s proposed remake was thrown to the crocs because of financial issues.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Yes, it’s long overdue a revisit. It’s ten years now since Nine’s proposed remake was thrown to the crocs because of financial issues.

Yeah I remember reading the news of it coming back and was getting excited about it.

Then not long after I read it had been shelved due to financial reasons which I thought was ironic because that was one of the reasons why the TV series didn't go to a second series because it had been expensive to produce. A shame.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The biggest burst of press coverage that the show got in Australia was when Lucy fell for Terri's tutor Kelly (Gabrielle Maselli) and the two shared an onscreen kiss that was aired in both the late night and afternoon slot (Breakers was airing at 3.30pm by this point). A politician complained to the ABA, the show was discussed in parliament and the little show was suddenly tabloid fodder

As mentioned before, the show is largely forgotten these days and there's only a couple of episodes online in addition to a few clips.

Updates here have slowed down a bit as I just haven’t had the time to write anything lengthy. In the meantime, here’s an episode of Breakers that has appeared online (bringing the number of episodes available to the grand total of three now I think). It’s from the aforementioned period when Lucy’s love life was being discussed in parliament. Quality wise, it’s the best I’ve seen so far, as if it’s from the original tape rather than a TV recording. Hopefully more will appear soon.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

And we're back. I debated whether to include this entry as it doesn't really fall into the traditional "soap" category, although it is a serialised drama. Also, if I'm including this, why not include the likes of All Saints or McLeod's Daughters? However, as it's one of my favourite Australian series ever, I couldn't not put it in. Also, it is included in the book that I'm basing this thread on. So, here goes...

The Secret Life of Us - 2001 to 2005​

By the end of the 90's, Australian TV networks still hadn't nailed the twentysomething Melrose-esque drama hit that they so craved. Network Ten were approached by producers John Edwards and Amanda Higgs (of Southern Star) with their idea for a "morally ambiguous" drama. Ten weren't keen as they were in the process of trying to launch Above The Law, so Southern Star asked for them to commit to a two hour pilot. Ten could air it as a TV movie if they didn't like it as a series or they could have it as backup to go to series, should Above The Law fail. As discussed, fail it did and the Southern Star series got the greenlight. Knowing that international sales were no longer a foregone conclusion for Aussie series, Edwards wanted to make a "cheap, quality drama" that veered away from the usual soap clichés and focused truthful storytelling about the mess of life. Channel 4 in the UK came onboard as a funder and after a number of name changes including Fast Times, The Move and Nine Lives, production on the more poetically titled The Secret Life of Us began.

Originally due to be set on Sydney's Bondi Beach, an exec at Ten suggested basing it in the Melbourne beach suburb of St. Kilda instead, as he believed that the Melbourne audience would be more inclined to stick with the show whereas the Sydney audience had shown they were indifferent to the last show set in Bondi (Ten's Breakers). Writer Christopher Lee stated that the show had "no plot, as such. There's just the depth of the characters and the questions we ask them". Producers wanted at least one big name among the cast of relative unknowns and landed film actress Claudia Karvan, who had shunned regular TV work after the failure of her last TV show The Last Resort in 1988. She played Alex, a trainee surgeon who shared her apartment with the show’s two narrators - writer Evan (Samuel Johnson) and hopeless romantic Kelly (Deborah Mailman). Their friends and upstairs neighbours included construction worker Will (played by future Hollywood star Joel Edgerton), his best mate, aspiring actor Richie (Spencer McLaren - who’d briefly played Sally’s wrong ‘un fiancé Kieran in H&A) and Richie’s girlfriend, struggling actress Miranda (Abi Tucker of Heartbreak High). Alex’s best friend Gabrielle (Sibylla Budd) lived in another apartment in the same building with her lawyer boyfriend Jason (Damien de Montemas).

The pilot TV movie was shot in three weeks at a cost of $1.2 million. In it, we meet the aforementioned gang as Kelly becomes Alex & Evan’s new housemate and soon witnesses Alex and Jason having sex on the rooftop as she tries to hang out her washing. Jason swiftly proposes to Gab but by the end of the two hours, she’s realised that her new husband has cheated on her with her best friend and all hell breaks loose. The TV movie premiered in the UK two weeks before it did in Australia and the subsequent good reviews in the UK press added some cool cachet ahead of the Australian airing. Comparisons were made to This Life and Cold Feet while The Guardian said it looked “American but feels Australian in the sense that it’s both artier and sexier than the networks in the States would allow”. Ten talked it up at the launch too, calling it the “best product in drama we have ever produced” and acknowledging that they hadn’t had a great track record in homegrown drama and had been relying too long on US imports. The post Big Brother finale time slot for the Australian premiere helped it pull in 1.3 million viewers.

Amidst the fallout of the Gabi/Jason/Alex triangle, other dramas began to play out. Evan fell for an older woman Carmen (Catherine McClements), Richie had a one night stand with bar owner Simon (David Tredinnick) and gradually came out to a shocked Miranda. Meanwhile Kelly got involved in a number of ill fated jobs including a dating agency and a pyramid scheme before taking up a job in Simon’s bar (Fu Bar), where the gang usually hung out. After an initial high, ratings dipped as they faced stiff competition from Sex and the City over on Nine but when that show finished for the year, ratings for Secret Life began to climb back up and it became the number one drama for the 18-39 audience with an average of 900,000 weekly viewers. As the season closed out, Gab & Jason officially ended their marriage, Will faced heartbreak as his girlfriend Sam (Jess Gower) was killed in a road accident and the will they/won’t they between Alex and Evan came to a head as they finally got together, but not before Evan was due to fly off to a writer’s colony in New York, leaving Alex behind in St. Kilda.

The second season provided no respite for Alex and Evan’s confused feelings. Feeling absent Evan had moved on while travelling, Alex took up with handsome doctor Rex (Vince Colosimo). Richie’s acting career hit its height when he got a role in a soap called The River, where he was pressured to play it straight for the fans. As fame went to his head following an appearance on real life talk show Rove Live, Richie asked producers to give his character more depth before being written off The River when his character became a monk. Miranda gained a sort of fame herself via an ad campaign for acne strips where she became known as the “Pores Afresh” girl and leapt into a relationship with Will, who eventually left to go travelling around Australia. Joel Edgerton was the first of the regular cast to depart and was replaced the following week by Christian (Michael Dorman) who became Miranda’s new housemate. Christian’s swift introduction to the regular cast worked but set a precedent that didn’t always play out in the same way with future cast swaps. The show won a Logie for Best Drama while Deborah Mailman won Most Outstanding Actress. It also continued to be a hit in the 18-39 demographic despite a time slot change from 9.30 to 8.30. The same couldn’t be said for its run on Channel 4 in the UK where ratings had floundered, so the show was relegated to double episodes from 12.30am in the morning.

The third season proved to be a turning point for the show in Australia too. Premiering in February 2003, it had been rushed into production to get a head start on the Monday night audience, where it would be facing competition from the second series of 24. Jason was gone, having moved to Sydney to be closer to his son. Alex and Rex were gone by episode six, moving to London after a wedding on the rooftop while Miranda left a few weeks later, off to pursue an acting career in the US. New characters brought in to fill the void included Miranda’s call centre boss Chloe (Nina Liu), Kelly’s student council rival Justin (Sullivan Stapleton), her teacher Frank (Rhys Muldoon) and her new flat mate and de-facto Alex replacement Marnie (Alexandra Davies). Marnie didn’t last the year (she was replaced with another new housemate George, played by Gigi Edgley) but Gab’s new doctor housemate Tidy (Dan Spielman) got a warmer response. The show continued to garner awards but the critics were sharpening their knives regarding the revolving door of characters and what they considered to be inconsistent storytelling amidst the character’s tangled love lives. The season three finale saw the departures of Richie, Chloe, George, Tidy and Gab.

With the original cast lineup now more or less gutted (only Kelly, Evan and Simon - who was credited as main cast but was never a major player - remained), talk turned to whether the show could survive. Claudia Karvan had a positive outlook saying “I think the show’s still got a hell of a lot of life in it and being the type of show that it is I think it could handle a whole new cast and a whole new set of storylines and just keep the character of St. Kilda as one of the constants”. Samuel Johnson’s take on it was a bit more pessimistic, saying “Do I want to sit on it while it sinks or do I want to get off while it’s still a cruise liner?”. He opted for the latter, only signing on for a handful of episodes in the fourth season. In addition to cast changes, there was upheaval behind the scenes, as co-creator Amanda Higgs left, along with a number of original writers. The show was also shifted to Wednesday at 9.30pm. As the season began, Evan and Kelly got yet another new housemate, 22 year old hairdresser Bree (Brooke Harman), who’d obviously been drafted in to attract a younger audience. Christian got a new flat mate too, student nurse Stu (Stephen Curry) and the pair embarked on some misguided (on the writer’s part) Men Behaving Badly-esque shenanigans. Upstairs, a new trio of womanising stockbroker Adam (Nicholas Coghlan), his sister Lucy (Alexandra Schepisi) and her no nonsense best friend Nikki Martel (Anna Torv) filled one of the empty flats but couldn’t fill the void left by so many characters departing at the same timeViewing figures halved to what they were the year before. By episode three, Ten realised that their imported daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful was pulling in more viewers and The Secret Life of Us was pulled from the schedules in early 2004. The show was abruptly cancelled and viewers would have to wait until late 2005 before the rest of the season was aired and they watched as Evan jumped ship and Simon finally got a storyline (Kelly and Simon were the only original cast members remaining at the end of the show’s 86 episodes). By the end, the show had won three Logies for Outstanding Drama, three Australian Film Institute Awards and two Australian Writers Guild Awards. And while it didn’t have the longevity that Claudia Karvan predicted it could, it’s first two seasons were mighty fine drama.