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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carrie Fairchild" data-source="post: 328375" data-attributes="member: 673">Breakers - 1997 to 1999 [MEDIA=youtube]4JAMkJEy2f0[/MEDIA]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.<img src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkb7b3ocOE1qd57s9.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

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