A Chronological History of Australian Soap

[Carrie Fairchild]

Inspired by @Alexis synopsis of the autobiography of Aaron Spelling and the fact that I'm going to re-read Super Aussie Soaps by Andrew Mercado, I'm going to post a bit in this thread about every Australian soap that has aired to date. I'm using the book as a guide, so there may be some series that straddle the soap/drama category that won't be included. Or maybe they will. I'll see as they go along. This will mainly be photos, videos and behind the scene tidbits as opposed to exhaustive overviews of storylines. Regarding the aforementioned book, I'd highly recommend it to any Aussie soap fan. I'm not sure if it's still in print but I picked it up second hand a few years ago and it's a gem. So, first out of the gate is....

Autumn Affair - 1958 - 1959

Australia's first TV soap was the tale of Julia Parrish, a widowed author who was in love with two men. Originally due to be titled Julia: An Early Autumn Affair, before being shortened, the show aired in 15 minute segments at 8:45am on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays as part of Seven's morning programme. The show ran for 156 episodes and may have run for longer had it picked up a sponsor but seems to have been seen by Seven as more of an experiment, to see how they would fare with producing ongoing drama. The show is notable in that episodes have survived (see below) and that Queenie Ashton of popular radio soap Blue Hills, played the same character (Granny Bishop) on Autumn Affair.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The Story of Peter Grey - 1961 - 1962

Seven's second foray into daytime soaps was the story of a clergyman (the eponymous Peter) and his wife. There isn't a great deal about this show online but it appears to have been pretty unremarkable as serials go, although it did have a number of reruns after it's original run of 164 episodes. Notable among the cast were lead actor James Condon (who would later become the husband of soap legend Anne Haddy) and Moya O'Sullivan, who would go on to play 90's Neighbours favourite Marlene Kratz.​

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Bellbird - 1967 - 1977

The first big Australian soap success was this look at life in a small country town in Victoria. Like it's soapy predecessors, it started out as a 15 minute serial, airing four times a week at 6.40pm from Monday to Thursday on national broadcaster ABC. Despite initial lukewarm reviews (the actors English accents being one of the aspects coming in for criticism) the show eventually gained popularity. However, while it's popularity rose in it's first year, the behind the scenes drama proved as soapy as anything that was appearing onscreen as the revolving door of writers led to issues with continuity, two writers left after having breakdowns and the show ended up on hiatus while they ironed out the production issues.

Upon it's return, the show had it's first "watercooler" moment as actor Robin Ramsey decided to leave the show so they wrote out his popular character Charlie Cousins by having him fall to his death from a silo, prompting viewer protests. The viewers were so vocal that producers considered bringing Ramsey back as his dead character's twin but it didn't come to pass. The show continued to grow in popularity and broke ground for Australian soap by including migrant characters, a black character and an Aboriginal lawyer. One of the more curious offshoots of the show's popularity was the film Country Town. It was a film version of the series that was made without the authorisation or co-operation of ABC. It came about when two of the show's actors formed their own production company in order to make the film (which was based on a tie in novel). Regardless, it set a template which a number of other soaps followed later.

By 1976, the writing was on the wall as ABC decided to pull Bellbird from it's regular timeslots and repackage the series as a one hour episode, once a week (the death knell for many a soap since). Viewers were once again up in arms and this new format lasted 51 episodes before they reverted to stripped scheduling in 1977 (this time, three 30 minute episodes airing at 6.30pm on weekdays). However, by now, the viewing habit had been broken an just after they celebrated the show's tenth anniversary, the show was cancelled with ABC citing that it didn't rate well in the cities.

Given the length of it's run, quite a few Aussie actors appeared in the series, so a number of Bellbird's denizens would go on to greener pastures in other soap institutions such as Neighbours, Prisoner and so on, including Anne Charleston, Ian Smith, Anne Phelan and Patsy King. I'm open to being corrected here but I also believe that Bellbird was the first Australian soap to air in the UK. It had a brief run on Thames (usually in a morning or lunchtime slot) from 1972-73. Thames were keen to buy more episodes but (without the actor's knowledge) Actor's Equity got involved and insisted they pay more money to include actor's residuals. As a result, Thames didn't buy more episodes beyond it's initial 52 episode order.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Regarding the aforementioned book, I'd highly recommend it to any Aussie soap fan. I'm not sure if it's still in print

It's not, and it's worth a fair bit now. They come up on eBay now and then but I haven't yet been able to bag one for a decent price.

So this thread is just what the doctor ordered. I'm looking forward to some more titbits.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Motel - 1968 - 1969

Another foray by Seven into the world of daytime soap, Motel was basically an Australian version of Crossroads. But because Crossroads didn't air in Australia, viewers had no point of reference if this comparison was made, so producers marketed it as an Australian Peyton Place. It revolved around a family run motel outside Canberra and featured slightly racier plots than it's Seven predecessors (a politician brought his mistress to the motel) although was still pretty tame compared to what would come shortly after. Standouts among the cast appear to have been the scheming Gaye (Jill Forster) who was the daughter in law of the motel owning Gillian clan and local battleaxe Bunty Creighton (Enid Lorimer) who was modelled on Coronation Street's Ena Sharples.

Motel premiered in May 1968, airing four days a week in a midday or 12:30pm slot depending on the city before later being moved to 1.30pm to be the lead in for hit talk show Beauty and the Beast. Seven later tried it out in primetime, airing repeats at 9.30pm on Wednesdays and Thursday but this bombed and it was pushed back to 11pm. Neither rating well in daytime (it was scheduled against Days of Our Lives in some markets, which may not have helped) or primetime, Seven closed the motel in early 1969 after only 132 episodes. It's creator Richard Lane (who'd previously written Autumn Affair) maintained that the show aired well in daytime but when Seven "became over enthusiastic and repeated it at nighttime, it was a disaster." The theme tune Love Is Blue was a number one hit in the US prior to being used on the show and prior to that, the same arrangement was used for Luxembourg's 1967 Eurovision entry L'amour est bleu sung by Vicky Leandros.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Number 96 - 1972 to 1977

We now enter into top tier Aussie soap territory with the saucy 70's classic Number 96. Following the lives of residents of a Sydney apartment block, it became synonymous with nudity and barmy plots during it's five and a half heady years on air and featured a horde of stars that would become familiar faces in soapland including Pat McDonald (Sons and &Daughters Fiona), Tom Oliver (Neighbours Lou) and Abigail. The show was born from Network Ten's need to compete against the higher rating Nine and Seven. Unable to afford big name US imports like the other networks, Ten decided to go for broke with a nightly adult serial in the vein of Coronation Street. Don Cash and Bill Harmon of Cash Harmon Productions pitched the idea of 96 with writer David Sale taking the reins. Sex and nudity would be the hook to pull viewers in. The show was scheduled to air five nights a week at 8.30pm with the infamous newspaper ad below heralding it's arrival. Some papers actually refused to print it, changing "virginity" to "innocence".

Straight out the gate, the show was attracting controversy as Rose (Vivienne Garrett) appeared topless in the feature length premiere (read, three episodes aired back to back), leading to enough viewer complaints that the scene was cut from broadcasts in other cities the next week. Actress Garrett was uncomfortable with the scene to begin with and butted heads further with producers over a gang rape scene that she and other actors refused to do, leading to her breaking contract and leaving the show after only five months. Regarding the nude scenes, a lot of actors signed a nudity clause at the start of the show thinking there wouldn't be nude scenes as it wasn't the done thing on Australian TV at the time but this later came back to bite them in the ass (pardon the pun) when producers pushed the boundaries of what they could show. Aside from the controversies, the show also broke ground by featuring the first interracial kiss on Australian TV and the first regular gay character on any soap anywhere in the world. Don Cash also pioneered the now common technique of shooting blocks of five episodes together by using one set to shoot a weeks worth of scenes out of sequence followed by another set and another before editing them all together at the end.

Abigail was one of the show's breakout stars but her tenure on the show wasn't without it's drama. The cast became jealous of her popularity and grew tired of her on set tardiness and she was written out briefly before returning and finally being fired over an incident where photos of her in "compromising positions" ended up in circulation after she left her handbag in a taxi (her character Bev was recast with actress Vicki Raymond). During her time on the show, Abigail did manage to appear in one of it's more controversial scenes involving a Black Mass in a church where a Satanic high priest and a number of topless characters recited the Lord's Prayer backwards. While the network had relaxed it's stance on nudity by this time, the Satanic element crossed a line for them.

Ten's decision to go for broke paid off as their profits rose and the Number 96 cast became superstars, leading to a flurry of spinoff merchandise including the obligatory tie in novels (with names like The Grip of Evil and The Sins of Harry Collins), cast albums and a spinoff film (featuring a bedroom scene between Lou Carpenter and Jill Harper for those that are interested). One of the selling points of a spinoff film in those days was that fans could get to see their soap favourites in colour while the episodes were still going out in black and white. As the popularity grew, the show also moved away from the sex and nudity aspect and moved toward comedy characters and OTT plots and cliffhangers. However by 1975, ratings were dipping, so they wrote one of the storylines that the show is most remembered for - the bomb blast. Ten rather distastefully ran promos comparing it to real life bomb blasts in Belfast and London and while it's one of the more memorable plots, it only led to a brief ratings rise.

By 1976, the age old "schedule change" death knell was sounding as the show was reformatted into two hour long episodes a week. By 1977, the show was terminal and producers got desperate to keep it on air and decided to return to the nudity hook, this time full frontal, but the days of this grabbing ratings had passed. The move caused long time writer David Sale to quit in objection to the focus on nudity (there were scenes with characters just standing around naked) and violence and the show hurtled towards the chopping block. In a bid to salvage something from the wreckage and keep his production company afloat, Bill Harmon (Don Cash had died a number of years prior) tried a number of sitcom spinoff ideas to keep the show alive - Mummy & Me, where Reg and Edie go to work for an ad agency, Fair Game starring Vera and Bev as divorcees and another called Hope'll Help. There were also talks of spinning character Don off into a private eye drama called Law Unto Himself. None of these came to pass and Number 96 died after 1218 episodes in August 1977, taking the Cash Harmon Productions with it. The show's corpse did show a pulse a number of times after it went off air. Briefly in 1980 when it was remade by NBC in the US (it didn't last long) and again in 1990 when Ten talked about reviving it but it went no further than talks. While it's racy reputation hampered it's international sales potential (they tried unsuccessfully to sell it to European networks in Cannes using a topless model, with BBC and ITV being among those who said no) it is fondly remembered by Australian audiences today.

 

[Alexis Colby Carrington]

Bellbird and number 96 are the ones I’ve heard of so far and I bet they were both highly popular. Number 96 should have gone on much longer I’m sure.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Straight out the gate, the show was attracting controversy as Rose (Vivienne Garrett) appeared topless in the feature length premiere (read, three episodes aired back to back), leading to enough viewer complaints that the scene was cut from broadcasts in other cities the next week.

A number of the edits are on the DVDs since they're the only versions left in existence (I seem to recall the cuts were made to the actual master tape).

The censorship was very jarring indeed. Sometimes it happens mid-sentence. One that springs to mind is the scene in the first episode where a man runs his hand up his seated wife's leg and up her skirt. We see him move towards his wife, then he's shouting at her in the middle of a barney. None of it makes sense at all.

Rose's topless scene came as an episode cliffhanger, and the episode ending makes no sense at all, because we don't see what the other character sees. It's just bizarre.

As the popularity grew, the show also moved away from the sex and nudity aspect and moved toward comedy characters and OTT plots and cliffhangers.

From the episodes available on DVD, I love these middle years the best, where it felt very much like an Aussie Corrie with its big iconic characters.

As it didn't air in the UK, my introduction to the series was The Pantyhose Strangler DVD and its follow up Aftermath Of Murder which adds up to 64 consecutive episodes from this era. It's thoroughly addictive. I'd recommend anyone to start with these.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Bellbird and number 96 are the ones I’ve heard of so far and I bet they were both highly popular. Number 96 should have gone on much longer I’m sure.

The setting did definitely lend itself to it being a more long running series than it was. There wasn't much happening soap wise when 96 launched but over the course of it's run, series like The Box and The Sullivans came along, which I'm sure diverted soap craving viewers elsewhere.

A number of the edits are on the DVDs since they're the only versions left in existence (I seem to recall the cuts were made to the actual master tape).

From the episodes available on DVD, I love these middle years the best, where it felt very much like an Aussie Corrie with its big iconic characters.

As it didn't air in the UK, my introduction to the series was The Pantyhose Strangler DVD and its follow up Aftermath Of Murder which adds up to 64 consecutive episodes from this era. It's thoroughly addictive. I'd recommend anyone to start with these.

Those edits sound awful to watch. I'll seek out what I can of the middle years as an "Aussie Corrie" is a very enticing description.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Lane End - 1972​

A largely forgotten soap from ABC. Lane End was set in Paddington, Sydney and followed the lives of those that lived and worked there including a nurse, a used car salesman and a Greek couple that ran the shop. ABC pitched it as a city version of Bellbird and it shared some of the same production crew including writer Barbara Vernon (she of the Bellbird induced breakdown and subsequent author of it's tie in novels). Vernon described it as a "a kind of Sydney Coronation Street" and said that "like Bellbird "it would focus more on "comedy drama rather than heavy drama". Probably most notable among it's small cast was Carole Skinner who would go on to play Nola in Prisoner. The show started airing on April 11th 1972, going out for a half hour once a week on Tuesdays. It only ran for it's initial episode order of seven episodes, finishing up on May 23rd, which would lead me to believe that ABC were only testing the water with it rather than having any great faith in the premise being a hit. The launch of the much flashier (pardon the pun) other Paddington soap Number 96 only one month prior probably didn't help Lane End's cause either.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Certain Women - 1973 to 1976

The eponymous "women" of the series were the mothers, sisters and daughters that made up the Lucas clan of Sydney's western suburbs. The drama began in 1973 as a six part miniseries, with each episode (or "television play" as it was referred to), focusing on a different woman of the family - Gillian, the schoolgirl torn between her studies and her aspirations to be a model; inconveniently pregnant older sister Marjorie; radical uni student Helen; their mother Jane, who was returning to the workplace after her husband lost his job; her career driven solicitor sister Freda and finally, Dolly, the matriarch of the clan played by Blue Hills and Autumn Affair's Queenie Ashton. The miniseries was well received, so ABC decided to bring it back as a weekly series, airing at 8pm on Wednesdays, with a late night Sunday repeat. It remained in it's Wednesday evening slot for all of it's 166 episodes (moving from 8pm to 8.30pm in it's final year) before the axe fell in 1976. The series was still popular when it was canned, with ABC budget cuts cited as the main reason behind it's axing.

One of the more interesting aspects of the show's production, was the effect of ABC's tape wiping policy on it. ITV region Thames bought episodes to air in the UK, where it went out three times a week in the 11am daytime slot, but tape wiping in Australia caused issues with continuity and hindered further sales overseas although what Thames had, they aired between 1976 and 1981. The series was never repeated in Australia and it was believed that most of the series had been wiped until 2016 when it was discovered that 50 episodes from the final seasons were not only still in existence but had previously undergone preservation. Among the series cast that would go on to become more well known stars were Anne Haddy (S&D, Neighbours), Shane Porteous (A Country Practice), Carmen Duncan (Another World) and Sigrid Thornton (Seachange).

 

[Alexis Colby Carrington]

The setting did definitely lend itself to it being a more long running series than it was. There wasn't much happening soap wise when 96 launched but over the course of it's run, series like The Box and The Sullivans came along, which I'm sure diverted soap craving viewers elsewhere.


Those edits sound awful to watch. I'll seek out what I can of the middle years as an "Aussie Corrie" is a very enticing description.

Definitely. It could have had new residents moving in just as has happened with neighbours.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The Box - 1974 to 1977

The other big sex and sin saga from the 70's was this satirical look behind the scenes of the Australian TV industry. The Box followed the goings on among the stars and staff of the fictional Channel 12 including scheming reporter Vicki (played by Judy "Ailsa of Home & Away" Nunn), station owner Sir Henry Usher (based affectionately on super producer Hector Crawford) and variety show host Gary, who was involved in the show's first big shocker when he found a naked fan in his dressing room, bedded her and then discovered she was a 15 year old schoolgirl. In keeping with the show's bid to shock, said schoolgirl later shared a kiss with bisexual Vicki in what was to be the first lesbian kiss on Australian TV.

The Box has it's origins in the success of the similarly salacious Number 96. As that show became a mega hit for the previously struggling Network Ten, it's rivals Nine and Seven decided to take action. At first, they tried to have Ten's license revoked over "community concern" for the content of it's programming. When that went nowhere, they decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" and set out to make their first foray into nighttime soaps (Nine being a complete newbie to soaps while Seven had tried and failed with daytime soaps before). Both networks approached the established Crawford Productions (who were best known for their police dramas like Homicide and Matlock Police) something that Crawfords welcomed as their police shows were nearing the end of their lives and they needed a new project to keep the company going. For Nine, they pitched a soap about the TV industry called The Dream Makers and for Seven they developed Saints and Sinners, about a Protestant minister in the country (due to be played by Homicide's George Mallaby - who would later join The Box). Nine passed on The Dream Makers, so Crawfords offered it to Seven after they turned down Saints and Sinners. Seven also passed on The Dream Makers due to it's explicit content. Ironically, it eventually ended up on Ten, retitled The Box and scheduled to air nightly after Number 96, the very show it was supposed to take on in the ratings.

Much like Ten had done with 96, the show's raunchier aspects were hyped in pre-launch promotions including topless women in sandwich boards advertising it on the streets of Melbourne. The Box initially aired five nights a week at 9pm, after Number 96 at 8.30pm. The show was critically well received and rated well, although never as well as it's lead in. It featured all of the usual soap chestnuts of sex, affairs and murder but it was praised for it's writing and nods to real life figures in the TV industry. The Box followed the lead of 96 in a number of areas including it's gradual move away from titillation in favour of comedy drama as the series progressed and it's churning out of the obligatory spinoff film (which was poorly received). Like many that came before it and have come since, it's change in fortunes could be seen in the timeslot changes as the series petered out, where it went from five nights a week to two nights to one late night slot towards the end. It went off the air in October 1977, just two months after Number 96 bit the dust and just two months before Bellbird said farewell, as the first wave of successful Australian soaps became old hat and gave way to the new batch that appeared in the mid to late 70's.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I've been intrigued by The Box since reading about it in a book on soaps back in the late Eighties, though still haven't seen much beyond the first episode and a few clips on YouTube.

Crawfords have released some episodes on DVD, which are on my radar. They seem very difficult to come by in the UK though.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I've been intrigued by The Box since reading about it in a book on soaps back in the late Eighties, though still haven't seen much beyond the first episode and a few clips on YouTube.

Crawfords have released some episodes on DVD, which are on my radar. They seem very difficult to come by in the UK though.

Yes, there's very little of it online, which I had put down to lack of availability / wiping but I see that they released most of the first 205 episodes up until 2017.

 

[Willie Oleson]

The theme tune Love Is Blue

Awesome!

 

[Alison Carr]

I've been intrigued by The Box since reading about it in a book on soaps back in the late Eighties, though still haven't seen much beyond the first episode and a few clips on YouTube.

Crawfords have released some episodes on DVD, which are on my radar. They seem very difficult to come by in the UK though.

I do not think I am allowed to post a link directly to it, not sure on the forum rules with that, but 4 DVD volumes of The Box are available in the UK covering the first 205 episodes at £36 per volume via Eaton Films Ltd

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Class of '74/'75 - 1974 to 1975

Having passed on Crawford's offerings in 1974, Seven were still on the lookout for an evening soap and turned to a man who would become synonymous with Australian soaps. Reg Grundy had up until this point been successfully making game shows but was looking to move into drama and between himself, ex-Crawford producer John Edwards (not to be confused with more recent super producer John Edwards of The Secret Life of Us et al) and Alan Coleman (later creator of The Young Doctors) came up with the idea for Class of '74. The show would follow the lives and loves of the senior students and staff of co-educational secondary school Waratah High. Seven insisted on no nudity, as they planned to air the show earlier in the evening than it's saucier Network Ten rivals but hoping to attract similar heat to said shows, Grundy's threw caution to the wind with their promotions in the lead up to the launch. And that's when they trouble began.

"Schoolroom Scandals Shock The Censor" screamed TV Week. "Young girls who are pretty and very sexy" said John Edwards. Pupil/teacher affairs! Black magic! Porn! It all lead to record breaking ratings for the show's first week but also put the show into the line of fire of the Broadcasting Control Board before it even went to air. Cuts were ordered from the first batch of episodes (the loss of virginity in a tent being one of the scenes that ended up in the bin) and timeslot changes were demanded as it was deemed unsuitable for the 7pm slot. This put Seven at odds with Grundys, as they had specifically ordered a G rated show because they had nowhere to put an adult rated soap in their schedules. Crisis talks took place between Grundy, Seven and the BCB as they tried to negotiate on the timeslot issue but the BCB won out and any further scripts had to be submitted to them for clearance before anything went to air.

Onscreen, the dramas never quite reached the heights of what was going on behind the scenes. The promised scandal of the student teacher love affair was wiped out when Mr Evans (played by Vince Martin, future E Street villain Mr Bad) was killed in a cave collapse. A planned priest and teacher fling didn't transpire while the students never did conjure up any black magic. The show still remained popular as it settled into the usual school drama stories of romance between students and the private lives of the staff, however more backstage upheaval was just around the corner. After just two months on air, it was announced that 10 out of the 17 regular cast were being dropped from contract status to a kind of recurring / freelance status, with a three month on, three month off rotation of characters planned. Some returned on rotation, others didn't. To fill the gap of those dropped, a slew of new pupils and teachers arrived but there was such a turnover of cast that only two pupils actually appeared on air continuously throughout the year (one being played by Megan Williams, later to appear in The Sullivans and Return To Eden). As the Class of '74 prepared for graduation, talks began on what shape the show would take when it returned in 1975, with Grundy's stating it would be more of a family show.

Class of '75 relaunched in January 1975 with a new comedy drama approach and a few familiar soapy faces including Anne Charleston, Briony Behets and Abigail, who was masquerading as a French teacher (including a dodgy French accent) but was actually an undercover cop! Waratah High had also become a boarding school during the summer break. The changes bombed and it wasn't long before Melbourne had shoved the show from it's primetime 7pm slot to 8am on Saturday mornings. Sydney remained a bit more optimistic and moved it to 5pm weekdays but it didn't fare much better there and after 290 episodes, the show bowed out with an all singing, all dancing finale as the show's various romances were resolved and the cast tap danced and sang 'Roll Out The Barrel' and 'Auld Lang Syne'. While it's run was brief and not particularly memorable (bar it's catchy theme tune), Class of 74/'75 does leave a legacy in that it was the show that brought the legendary Reg Grundy to the soap genre and set the template for the many teen oriented Aussie soaps that would follow.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Until Tomorrow - 1975

After the initial (albeit short-lived) success of Class of '74, Seven looked to Reg Grundy to repeat the trick as they attempted for the fourth time to launch a successful daytime soap to compete with the US imports on rival Channel Nine. In addition to enticing Alan Coleman from the UK to join his company, Grundy had also headhunted Queensland born Reg Watson, who'd successfully created Crossroads, and who he tasked with creating his daytime saga. Until Tomorrow was the story of the residents of Vale Street in the suburbs of Brisbane (the first Aussie soap to be set in the city). It all began in true daytime soap fashion when fresh from prison for a crime she didn't commit, Laura (Muriel Watson) turned up on the doorstep of the judge that jailed her, intent on shooting him. However, he had gone blind since their last encounter and he mistook her for his new housekeeper, she played along and moved in and they subsequently fell in love. Bad boy husbands, neighbourhood gossips and local doctors rounded out the residents with former TV talk show host Hazel Phillips (pictured above with Reg Watson) and future Strictly Ballroom star Barry Otto being among the more familiar faces in the cast.

Even compared to it's Aussie daytime predecessors, the show was pretty low budget with no location filming, just 10 regular characters and a relatively unknown cast. It launched in February 1975, airing against General Hospital (in a 2pm or 2:30pm slot depending on the city). Reviews were mixed with one stating it had the edge over the US soaps it was up against while another described the script as "simple minded". Plots including the whodunnit murder of a psychiatrist that was blackmailing their patients and the judge suddenly regaining his sight, did little to draw in the viewers and the show was moved to an 11:30am timeslot in July, where it saw out it's days before ending, unresolved, after 180 episodes. Cast and crew offered up explanations for it's failure including the scripts being overwritten, the pace being too fast and not enough money being spent on the production. Seven said that Brisbane and Adelaide wanted to continue with the show but without the support of Sydney and Melbourne, the show was doomed. Like Class of '74/'75 before it, Until Tomorrow is mostly forgotten but despite this, it has a strong legacy as it was the show that kicked off Reg Watson's Australian soap career and proved to be just the beginning of his much more illustrious legacy.

 

[James from London]

Abigail, who was masquerading as a French teacher (including a dodgy French accent) but was actually an undercover cop!

God, that sounds like a perfect storm of naffness.

the show that brought the legendary Reg Grundy to the soap genre

Well, apart from Crossroads, obviously.

Thanks for these accounts, Carrie F. They're strangely fascinating!