Birds in the Bush
Encyclopedia
Birds in the Bush is an Australia
n/United Kingdom
situation comedy
series produced in 1972.
The series was set on a remote Australian property run by seven beautiful but naive young women. When the property is inherited by an English water diviner (Hugh Lloyd
) he and his Australian half-brother (Ron Frazer) and an assistant (Kate Fitzpatrick
) begin living on the property and attempt to teach the nubile young women the ways of the world.
The series focused on the physical attractiveness of the young women, who all wore skimpy blue smocks and had names like "Abigail", "Lolita", "Tuesday", "Wednesday" and "Buster", along with Carry On
-style innuendo.
Cast member Kate Sheil
, who played one of the naive girls, later said of her participation in the series that "I'm still trying to live that down because a lot of people hated it. We just run around saying these amazing things. I used to watch it for the scenery."
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n/United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
series produced in 1972.
The series was set on a remote Australian property run by seven beautiful but naive young women. When the property is inherited by an English water diviner (Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lewis Lloyd, MBE was an English actor who made his name in television and film comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in Hugh and I and other sitcoms of the 1960s.-Life:...
) he and his Australian half-brother (Ron Frazer) and an assistant (Kate Fitzpatrick
Kate Fitzpatrick
Kate Fitzpatrick is an Australian-based television, film and theatre actress.-Career:...
) begin living on the property and attempt to teach the nubile young women the ways of the world.
The series focused on the physical attractiveness of the young women, who all wore skimpy blue smocks and had names like "Abigail", "Lolita", "Tuesday", "Wednesday" and "Buster", along with Carry On
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....
-style innuendo.
Production
The series was written and directed by David Croft and was intended primarily for a UK audience. As UK television was by this stage transmitting in colour it meant that Birds in the Bush was also shot in colour, but this necessitated shooting the series on film rather than videotape, as the ATN7 television studios in Australia were yet to be converted to colour.Reaction
The series began on air in Australia on 3 May 1972 but rated poorly there. Likewise UK ratings were low and the series run was cancelled there before all the episodes had been shown (it ran on BBC1 from 10 July 1972 until 21 August 1972). Just one season of 13 30-minute episodes was produced.Cast member Kate Sheil
Kate Sheil
Kate Sheil is an Australian stage and television actress. She is probably best known for her role as prison officer Janet Conway in the cult television series Prisoner, a role lasting six months in 1981 and 1982...
, who played one of the naive girls, later said of her participation in the series that "I'm still trying to live that down because a lot of people hated it. We just run around saying these amazing things. I used to watch it for the scenery."
Cast
- Hugh LloydHugh LloydHugh Lewis Lloyd, MBE was an English actor who made his name in television and film comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in Hugh and I and other sitcoms of the 1960s.-Life:...
- Hugh - Ron Frazer - Ron
- Alastair DuncanAlastair DuncanAlastair Neil Duncan is a Scottish television, film and stage actor. He is sometimes credited as Neil Duncan.-Career:Duncan's breakout role was as side-kick DS Peter Livingstone to Mark McManus's Taggart in Scottish television's eponymous detective series.Leaving the show after the first two...
- Hoffnung - Kate FitzpatrickKate FitzpatrickKate Fitzpatrick is an Australian-based television, film and theatre actress.-Career:...
- Michelle - Elli MacLure - Abigail
- Ann Sidney - Nanny
- Susan Lloyd - Lolita
- Kate SheilKate SheilKate Sheil is an Australian stage and television actress. She is probably best known for her role as prison officer Janet Conway in the cult television series Prisoner, a role lasting six months in 1981 and 1982...
- Friday - Briony BehetsBriony BehetsBriony Behets is a British-born actress who found fame acting in Australian soap operas of the 1970s.-Early life:...
- Tuesday - Nicola Flamer-Caldera - Wednesday
- Jenny Hayes - Buster