Sons and Daughters (Australian TV series)
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- This article is about the Australian television show. For other uses, see Sons and Daughters.
| Sons And Daughters | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Drama |
| Creator(s) | Reg Watson |
| Starring | Rowena Wallace Tom Richards Leila Hayes Brian Blain Pat McDonald Ian Rawlings Belinda Giblin Sarah Kemp Abigail Peter Phelps Ally Fowler Kim Lewis Alyce Platt Lyndel Rowe |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of episodes | 972 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Seven Network |
| Original run | 1981 – 1987 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
Sons and Daughters was an Australian soap opera created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation. It screened on the Seven Network in an early evening timeslot, running from December 1981 until 1987. A repeat run on the Seven Network in Australia ran from October 2006 to March 2007. A DVD marking the 25th Anniversary of Sons and Daughters was released in October 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Love and laughter
The initial premise introduced handsome working-class John Palmer (Peter Phelps) from Melbourne who, while on the run for murder, moved to Sydney and fell in love with defiant rich girl Angela Hamilton (Ally Fowler). It was soon learned that John and Angela were in fact brother and sister, twins who were separated at birth and raised separately. John had initially been raised by the wise former prostitute Fiona Thompson (Pat McDonald) before returning to his father, and Angela raised by her mother who had married into money.
The parents of the twins had each married other people and raised families which at the time the series started had other adult children. In Melbourne the Palmer family comprised John's father David (Tom Richards), a truck driver; David's wife Beryl (Leila Hayes), a warm-hearted, down-to-earth housewife. Their children together were Susan (Ann Henderson-Stiers) and Kevin (Stephen Comey), who were both engaged. Susan to Bill Todd (Andrew McKaige) and Kevin to Lynn Hardy (Antonia Murphy). Bill had committed the murder for which John was accused. John was soon cleared and Bill convicted.
In Sydney Angela had grown up with her mother Patricia (Rowena Wallace), Patricia's husband Gordon (Brian Blain) who was a successful businessman, and Gordon's son from an earlier marriage, the spiteful Wayne (Ian Rawlings). Other original characters were Jill Taylor (Kim Lewis), a young former prostitute who lived with Fiona and Rosie Andrews (Anne Haddy), the Hamiltons' housekeeper.
Subsequent new characters who would emerge as major players in the series included Barbara Armstrong (Cornelia Frances) who married Gordon after his divorce from Patricia, and Barbara's niece Amanda Morrell (Alyce Platt). Patricia's best friend, the dizzy socialite Charlie Bartlett (Sarah Kemp), was introduced as a minor figure during the show's early months as someone Patricia could recite expository dialogue about her latest scheme to, but soon emerged as a key character. Andy Green (Danny Roberts), the long-lost son of Barbara's former husband Roland (Tony Ward), also became a key character in the series, and Charlie and Andy would continue through to the final episode. Other notable characters to arrive during the show's middle period were Rob Keegan (Noel Hodda), who married Angela, Dr. Irene Fisher (Judy Nunn) who became a close friend of Fiona Thompson, Patricia's estranged sister Margaret Dunne (Ilona Rodgers) and Terry Hansen (Andrew Clarke), a drifter who turned out to be Fiona's long-lost son and who, in a highly politically incorrect storyline, raped Jill but was still treated in the scripts as a sympathetic character after a spell in prison.
Storylines explored the romantic entanglements of the various characters, various instances of family instability linked to the breakdowns of both David and Paticia's marriages after they renewed their love affair, and the big-business intrigue surrounding Gordon's company. The series also widened its focus by introducing two more families such as the rest of Barbara Hamilton's clan including her brother and Amanda's father Stephen Morrell (Michael Long), who married Patricia, and their elderly but formidable mother Dee (Mary Ward) and the working-class O'Briens - Mike (Ken James), Heather (Rona Coleman), Katie (Jane Seaborn) and Jeff (Craig Morrison) - written into the show as next door neighbours to the Palmers. Sons and Daughters was highly successful for several years and many of the cast became major television stars through their roles in the show.
[edit] Pat The Rat
The show's most famous character was the neurotic bitch Patricia, played by Rowena Wallace. Dubbed "Pat the Rat", the character became a major cult figure through her bitchiness and scheming. Wallace decided to leave the series after a little over three years in the part, and in 1985 she won a Gold Logie for the role just as her final episodes were being transmitted. Patricia fled to Rio de Janeiro to escape a murder charge after tangling with shady businessman Roger Carlyle (Leslie Dayman) and his son Luke (Peter Cousens).
Attempts to mitigate against the loss of Patricia saw the introduction of new strong female characters including Karen Fox (Lyndel Rowe), David Palmer's duplicitous but troubled niece Leigh (Lisa Crittenden), and Caroline Morrell (Abigail), the ex-wife of Stephen and Amanda's mother. All were conceived as bitchy replacements for Patricia, but Karen was soon killed off (thrown off a small bridge at the end of the Hamilton's driveway at Dural) and Caroline's character was softened.
Such was the popularity of Patricia, the producers of the show took the unusual step of recasting the role, with former The Box star Belinda Giblin stepping into the part. The writers explained the new facial features as being the result of extensive plastic surgery, and even made it a focal point of Patricia's return: calling herself Alison Carr, Patricia returned to Sydney after several months in South America to exact revenge on all her enemies, who would not know who they were dealing with. Milking the story for all it was worth, simultaneous with Patricia's return, David travelled to Rio de Janeiro to search for her. He brought back a timid woman, Sarah Hunt (Christine James), who had recently had plastic surgery and who was suffering from amnesia, believing that she was Patricia. She tried to come to terms with her "villainous" past, but soon vanished once it was learned she was not actually Patricia.
[edit] Tears and sadness and happiness
The later years of Sons and Daughters saw regular cast reshuffles occur, with the departures of long-running characters like Barbara Hamilton, Jill Taylor, Irene Fisher and Amanda Morrell and the demise of unsuccessful cast additions such as the O'Brien family. New characters were brought into the show, such as Amanda's younger sister Samantha (Sally Tayler), Charlie Bartlett's long-lost son Adam Tate (Adam Briscomb), elderly rascal Arthur "Spider" Webb (Willie Fennell), Jenny Turner (Joanna Lockwood), a new love interest for Stephen Morrell after he had divorced Patricia, Gordon's wayward brother James Hamilton (Nick Tate) and Mary Reynolds (Tessa Humphries), a vulnerable young woman claiming to be the long-lost daughter of Patricia.
They in turn were written out to make way for handsome hunk Glen Young (Mark Conroy), teenager Craig Maxwell (Jared Robinson) and his girlfriend Debbie Halliday (Shannon Kenny), Fiona's puritanical niece Janice Reid (Rima Te Wiata), May Walters (Georgie Sterling), an old friend of Fiona's from her days as a brothel madam, Ginny Doyle (Angela Kennedy), a vivacious young fashion designer, and businessman Doug Fletcher (Normie Rowe), who became a love interest for Caroline Morrell. After a long absence the character of Susan Palmer was written back into the series, now played by Oriana Panozzo, and she played a key role in many of the later storylines, marrying the increasingly evil Wayne but carrying a torch for Glen.
As the series progressed, increasingly melodramatic and bizarre storylines were explored, and the cliffhanger situations became more and more ostentatious. Storylines made repeated use of such elements as long-lost children and siblings, lookalike impostors, blindness, mistaken paternity, amnesia, murder plots and suicides. End of episode cliffhanger situations included a bomb-in-a-wheelchair, a character falling down a well, a character falling down a cliff, and a plane crash.
As ratings went into decline Rowena Wallace was lured back to the series for a ten week return, and there was much press speculation as to how the writers would pull this off. It transpired that Patricia was in fact an identical twin, and the returning Rowena would play the new character of Patricia's long-lost twin sister Pamela Hudson. Pamela was introduced into the series as having been released from prison and in true convoluted Sons and Daughters style, turned out to have some long-lost children of her own - Greg (Tom Jennings) and Sarah (Melissa Docker). Unfortunately this return appearance did little to halt the show's dwindling popularity and the series was cancelled while Rowena was taping her scenes.
When the series finished in 1987 the characters of Fiona, Wayne, Beryl, Gordon, Andy, Charlie, Caroline and Alison remained. David Palmer who had departed after five years in the show returned for the final episode. The various characters get their deserved happy endings or comeuppances and the series ends as it began with a young couple arriving at Fiona’s house asking for help, with the pregnant girl giving birth to twins.
[edit] Cliffhangers
During the original Australian transmission run of Sons and Daughters, the series left the air each year with a suitably suspenseful cliffhanger that rivalled even the excesses of Dallas and Dynasty. They are, in order:
- 1982 season: David stops Patricia from going to John and Angela's joint 21st birthday party at the Palmers' house, and Patricia taunts him with the bombshell that he isn't the twins' father after all. (Episode 174).
- 1983 season: David and Beryl are held at gunpoint at Woombai (the Hamiltons' country estate) by escaped criminal Joe Parker (Danny Adcock). The second cliffhanger is Patricia and Margaret coming face to face for the first time since Margaret was released from prison. (Episode 352)
- 1984 season: A sedated, helpless Patricia lies on a hospital operating table, about to be operated on by murderous surgeon Dr. Ross Newman (Robin Stewart). The other cliffhanger is Fiona about to give an answer to Barney Adam's marriage proposal. (Episode 528)
- 1985 season: Beryl is terrified when Doris Hudson (Carole Skinner), the emotionally unbalanced and jealous housekeeper of her boyfriend Rod Campbell (David Bradshaw), locks her out of the Palmer house and advances menacingly towards her baby son Robert with a pillow to smother him, whilst Alison and James are involved in a plane crash as they rush to stop Wayne from getting (incestuously) married to Mary. Meanwhile Caroline is locked in the cupboard by Duncan Phipps after a bungled robbery at Dural and Irene (Judy Nunn) tells Fiona that she has cancer. (Episode 696)
- 1986 season: Alison is locked in a room with a venomous snake when she breaks into a safe at the Hamilton mansion, while a sailing trip on a yacht ends in danger when both Glen and “Tick” McCarthy (Haydon Samuels), a young boy being fostered by Wayne, are wounded, and Wayne, swimming for help, is pursued by a shark. Meanwhile Craig is knocked out by a horse and Caroline finds out that Doug is already "married" (Episode 868).
[edit] Credits sequence
The opening and end credits sequences of the series were distinctive. The credits at start of each episode featured sepia-toned portraits of the main characters. The end credits sequence was also in sepia tone; as each episode reached the end-of-episode cliffhanger the screen image went into a freeze-frame and faded to sepia tone as the popular theme song played and the credits rolled.
The theme tune was eventually released in the UK as a single.
[edit] Sons and Daughters : Cast album
In the early-'80s, when Australia's Seven Network was broadcasting both Sons and Daughters and A Country Practice, it decided to cash in on the shows' success - and provide the shows with some publicity - by producing and releasing a cast album.
The album was called 'All My Friends', and featured the cast of Sons and Daughters on the A-side and the cast of A Country Practice on the B-side.
A-Side:
1. Sons and Daughters Theme
2. Some Kind of Friend (Ian Rawlings)
3. Bosom Buddies (Pat McDonald and Rowena Wallace)
4. The More I See You (Peter Phelps and Kim Lewis)
5. Behind Closed Doors (Tom Richards and Leila Hayes)
6. Sometimes When We Touch (Stephen Comey)
7. Help Me Make It Through the Night (Leila Hayes)
8. Friends (Rowena Wallace)
[edit] International and cult success
Starting in the early 1980s the series was broadcast in various regions of the UK, usually in daytime slots. The series had debuted on different dates in different regions and was broadcast at varying rates, meaning that its storylines were not concurrent between different UK ITV companies, with as much as 5 years' difference between different regions of the UK.
Through the 1990s the program was also repeated in various regions of Australia, usually in early morning and daytime slots. A rerun of the series up to the 1985 season ran until December 2000 on Australian television. The full series was also shown by pay-TV operator Foxtel on the UK.TV Channel in the late 1990s.
Between 1992 and 1996, the program was repeated on the UK satellite channel UK Gold. It screened from its launch on November 1st 1992, and completed its run on July 15th 1996. It was shown at 8am and 12midday for the entire repeat screening.
Between 1998 and 2005 a repeat run of the series ran in the UK on Channel Five in a late-night timeslot. The entire series was repeated with the final episode screened in November 2005. This last showing led to a resurgence of the series' cult popularity in the UK.
Starting in October 2006 the series is being re-run on the Seven Network in Australia, weekdays at 10.00 am.
[edit] UK Regional ITV transmissions
The 14 members of the UK's ITV network all screened the series at their own varying pace. Each ITV contractor purchased the show and inserted one commercial break at approximately halfway into the episode. Due to legal obligations the end credits always had to be played without the various captions for Australian sponsors such as Ansett.
Central Independent Television screened the first episode as part of a 90 minute pilot on Sunday 6 February 1983, continuing in the 15.30 slot Wednesdays - Fridays. This was increased to Mondays - Fridays in 1987 before reducing to Tuesdays - Fridays ending the series on Tuesday 13 December 1988. The Young Doctors replaced the show in this slot in early 1989.
Yorkshire Television commenced with the pilot as a 75 minute episode on Monday 11 July 1983 continuing the series on Mondays and Fridays at 15.30 until a daily Monday to Friday broadcast started in September. As with most other regions Network commitments at on Monday and Tuesday at 15.30 from Jaunuary 1984 reduced Yorkshire's output to Wednesdays to Fridays. In 1988 Yorkshire resumed five episodes a week with the final episode being screened on Friday 10 March 1989. Half episodes of A Country Practice filled the vacant slot on the following Monday.
Granada Television chose a prime time slot of 18.05 for the show starting on Monday 5 September 1983 shown on Mondays and Fridays. UK soap Crossroads filled the Tuesday - Thursday slot. Granada's pace was far slower than that of Central and Yorkshire and Granada dropped their Friday screening in November 1983. The show was then later switched to Fridays evenings. During 1985, Granada switched the show to a Monday and Tuesday 15.30 slot with The Young Doctors occupying the other days. The series was eventually increased to a Wednesday slot. Mondays to Thursdays were used from September to Novmeber 1993 then Wednesdays to Fridays until February 1994.Then daily monday to Friday slots were used until the climax on Thursday 28 April 1994. New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street replaced the show.
Television South started the programme in the Wednesday and Thursday 15.20 slot on Wednesday 19 October 1983. This was increased to Wednesday to Friday at 15.30 from January 1984. The show moved to a slot of 17.15 in September 1984 before reverting to the 15.30 slot with differing days. The final episode aired in early 1992. New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street replaced the show.
Television South West started screening the programme on Monday 14 November 1983 with a Monday, Wednesday and Friday 15.30 slot. Channel Television had a direct feed from TSW for all their regional programmes. The Monday episode was switched to Thursdays in alignment with most other regions in 1984. Later in 1986 the Friday screening was changed to Tuesdays.Daily Monday to Friday episodes used in 1989 at 3.27pm ending in October 1989. Home and Away replaced the show in a daily 15.20 slot.
Channel Television followed TSW's schedules until January 1986 before changing to follow what TVS were showing. Channel had to re-show some episodes of Sons and Daughters as TVS were behind TSW.
The main feed to the ITV Network came from Thames Television whose Sons and Daughters schedule was followed by Tyne Tees Television and Anglia Television. The three regions started the show on Tuesday 15 November 1983 with a Tuesday - Friday screening. The Tuesday episode was withdrawn temporarily in 1984 due to a Networked programme Miracles Take Longer from January until May. From September 1984 the regions adapted the familiar Wednesday to Friday routine with all three regions showing The Young Doctors at their own pace on Mondays and Tuesdays. Network commitments caused the Wednesday episode to be dropped in September 1989 in favour of Coronation Street repeats. After the end of the show in July 1990, Anglia and Thames replaced the show with an increase in The Young Doctors episodes with Tyne Tees choosing to screen US soap Santa Barbara.
During the Sons and Daughters run, a strike was held by technicians at Thames Television during August 1984 resulting in Tyne Tees and Anglia being forced to show alternative programmes for a one week period. Other shows fed to other regions by Thames similarly had to be replaced. Thames suffered another round of industrial action in Octeber 1984 lasting for a longer period. Initially Thames was blacked out completely, however management then ran a limited service supplying only Thames-made programmes and their own imports. These programmes were only aired in the Thames region. During this time other regions had no access to Thames' shows and similarly Thames had no access to other regions' shows and the news. Thames ran Sons and Daughters episodes in their regular slot for three weeks whereas Tyne Tees had to show Benson and Anglia filled in with Happy Days. In order to remain on the Thames Sons and Daughters schedule, Anglia and Tyne Tees were forced to be behind Thames with the episodes to their own region when Thames resumed a full network service. Thames allowed these two to catch up though at the end of 1984. When Thames chose to have a regional fundraising afternoon on a Wednesday they cleared their whole schedule for the event. Again Anglia and Tyne Tees viewers were affected and they had to miss their episode on that day.
Scottish Television started the series on Tuesday 3 April 1984 with a 14.00 slot on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays while all other regions were screening STV's daytime soap Take The High Road. Then they used a weekly Tuesday 15.30 slot until the Monday and Tuesday 15.30 slot was used from September 1984 until 1986 when the Monday slot was switched to Thursdays. Due to Scottish TV's heavy commitment to locally made programmes, the transmission of acquired material suffered a great deal more than in other regions. In the early 1990s STV dropped the programme with a return in an early morning Sunday slot eventually ending in 1995.
Grampian Television began with a weekly Tuesday 15.30 slot from 22 May 1984. From September the usual Wednesday to Friday 15.30 pattern was followed until Network commitments dropped the Wednesday screening in 1989. The series ended in May 1991 with The Young Doctors replacing the show.
HTV screened the show in the Wednesday to Friday 15.30 slot from 11 July 1984 reducing to Thursday and Friday in 1989 and ending in May 1991. The Young Doctors replaced the programme.
Border Television began on Monday 1 July 1985 in the Monday and Tuesday 15.30 slot increasing this to three times a week in 1993.81 Episodes were skipped at the end of December 1993 as from that point Border began to screen exactly as Granada were. Concluded Thursday 28 April 1994 14.50 as Granada. New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street replaced the show.
Ulster Television began showing the series in July 1986 had Monday to Thursday episodes from 1990 before increasing to daily episoees at 1.45pm ending in October 1992.
It was perfectly possible to view three different episodes of the programme simultaneously in ITV overlap areas such as Central / Yorkshire / Anglia.
[edit] ITV Regional Scheduling
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ITV Region
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Programme Schedule Pattern
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Start Date
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Days Screened
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End Date
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Replaced With | |
| Central Television | Sunday 6 February 1983 90 minute pilot at 14.30 | 15.30 slot Wednesdays - Fridays. This was increased to Mondays - Fridays in 1987 before reducing to Tuesdays - Fridays | Tuesday 13 December 1988 15.30 | The Young Doctors |
| Yorkshire Television (YTV) fastest | Monday 11 July 1983 75 minute pilot at 14.45 | Mondays and Fridays 15.30 until each weekday from September. Mondays and Tuesdays dropped due to Network commitments in these slots from January 1984. 1988 Mondays and Tuesdays resumed. | Friday 10 March 1989 15.25 | A Country Practice halves |
| Granada Television slowest | Monday 5 September 1983 18.00 | Mondays and Fridays 18.05, Friday dropped in November 1983. Switched to Fridays in January 1985 then moved to Monday and Tuesday 15.30 in 1985. Series comes to a stop on Tuesday 29 July 1986 with episode ??? and resumes on Monday September 1 as usual. Moves to 15.30 from 23 April 1990, During 1991 double episodes screened on Mondays at 14.20 - 15.15, increasing to Wednesdays in 1993 increasing again to Mondays - Fridays from February 1994 until the end of the series in April. | Thursday 28 April 1994 14.50 | Shortland Street |
| Television South (TVS) | Wednesday 19 October 1983 15.20 | Wednesdays and Thursdays at 15.20, then Wednesdays to Fridays 15.30, Moved to Monday and Tuesday 17.15 slot in September 1984 before returning to 15.30 Tuesday and Thursday as of July 1989 different days. | 1992 | The Young Doctors |
| Television South West (TSW) | Monday 14 November 1983 15.30 | Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 15.30, Mondays changed to Thursdays due to Network commitments in the Monday slot from January 1984. In May 1984 Fridays changed to Tuesdays.Monday- Fridays used from early 1989 until the end. | October 1989 | Home and Away |
| Channel Television | As TSW | As TSW until end of December 1985, then as TVS from January 1986 with various episodes re-shown | As TVS | The Young Doctors |
| Thames Television | Tuesday 15 November 1983 15.30 | Tuesdays to Fridays 15.30, Tuesdays dropped due to Network commitments from January to May 1984. Then Friday episode switched to Tuesday for summer 1984. A technicians' strike by Thames TV from Monday 27 August 1984 until the following Monday forced the programme off air for that week on Thames also affecting Anglia and Tyne Tees. From September 1984 until September 1989 Wednesdays to Fridays. Then from 18 October 1989Wednesday episode dropped for Network programme - Thursdays and Fridays until end. | Thursday 5 July 1990 15.25 | The Young Doctors |
| Anglia Television | As Thames | As Thames (with certain episodes missed in October 1984 when Thames could not provide other regions with material. Along with Tyne Tees they fell behind Thames but had an extra three at the end of 1984 when Thames were screening Xmas films) | As Thames | The Young Doctors |
| Tyne Tees Television | As Thames | As Anglia | As Thames | Santa Barbara |
| Scottish Television (STV) | Tuesday 3 April 1984 14.00 | Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 14.00, then Tuesdays at 14.30, then Mondays and Tuesdays 15.30, then Mondays were switched to Fridays from January 1985. Friday episode dropped from July 1985 and returns in Januray 1986. Tuesday episode temporarily dropped in early 1986. Tuesday episode moved to Thursdays from September 1989. Dropped the series, then resumed early Thursday mornings (start times varied from 03.05 to 04.35) in 1995. | 1995 | Various night-time programmes |
| Grampian Television | Tuesday 22 May 1984 15.30 | Tuesdays 15.30. From September 1984 the usual Wednesday to Friday 15.30 pattern was followed until Network commitments dropped the Wednesday screening from 18 October 1989. Series moved to Wednesdays to Fridays 13.50 for the last few months | Wednesday 22 May 1991 13.50 | Various programmes |
| HTV | Wednesday 11 July 1984 15.30 | Wednesdays to Fridays 15.30, Wednesday one dropped for Network programme from 18 October 1989 | Thursday 16 May 1991 15.25 | A Country Practice |
| Border Television | Monday 1 July 1985 14.45 75 minute pilot described as Film | Monday and Tuesday 15.30 slot from 2 July 1985. Temporary increase to three a week using Wednesdays for all of August 1986. After 17 April 1990 episode moves to Wednesdays weekly at 14.00 for a period, increasing this to Wednesdays and Thursdays at 13.50 from early 1991, then three times a week in 1993 later increasing to five a week.
Screened Episode 826 on Wednesday 22 December 1993 followed by Episode 908 on Wednesday 29 December 1993.This happened because Border joined up with the Granada stage of the series from this date and therefore had to skip 81 episodes of the series 827-907.As Granada from 29 December 1993. |
As Granada | Shortland Street |
| Ulster Television | Monday 7 April 1986 15.30 | Mondays and Fridays 15.30, then Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday 12.30 during late 1988, one a week in late 1989???still screening in a 12.30 slot at the end of 1988, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 14.00 from Wednesday April 25 1990. Monday to Thurs used in 1990/91, then daily at 13.45 in mid 1992 | Wednesday 14 October 1992 13.45 | A Country Practice halves |
[edit] Remakes
The series has inspired five remakes, going on fifth produced under license from the original producers and based, initially, on original story and character outlines. These are Verbotene Liebe (Germany, 1995- ); Skilda världar (Sweden, 1996-2002); Apagorevmeni agapi (Greece, 1998); Cuori Rubati (Italy, 2002-2003) Zabranjena ljubav (Croatia, 2004- );
[edit] DVD
A DVD marking the 25th Anniversary of Sons and Daughters was released in October 2006.
Umbrella Entertainment have confirmed that they are in planning stage to release the complete series
