Richmond Hill (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Richmond Hill was an Australia
n television
soap opera
made in 1988 by the Reg Grundy Organisation
for the Ten Network. It was devised by Reg Watson
who also created Neighbours
. It first aired as a two hour episode on Network 10 at 19.30 Wednesday 27 January 1988.
, Amanda Muggleton
, Paula Duncan
and Gwen Plumb
and young beginners like Ashley Paske
and Emily Symons
. Former comedy star Ross Higgins
played the central role of the local police officer and family man Dan Costello.
; some location shooting took place in Mona Vale, New South Wales
. The series emerged as only a lukewarm success in the Australian ratings, and was cancelled after only one year. Coincidentally, the series was axed during the very same week that it debuted on British
television, having been sold to the ITV
network.
The UK's ITV network decided to show Richmond Hill in a daytime Wednesday and Thursday 14.00 slot and its much publicised launch was 5 October 1988. In the wake of the success of Neighbours on BBC One
, ITV decided to network an Australian soap opera for the first time (thereby each episode was shown on the same day and at the same time across the UK) and its launch also caused a small amount of controversy. British Television schedules were becoming littered with Australian soaps and dramas, old and new, and the industry began to protest. In October 1988 alone, there were as many as 8 serials from Australia on Britains two main terrestrial channels; Neighbours (BBC), The Flying Doctors (BBC), The Sullivans (ITV and Sky), Prisoner: Cell Block H (ITV), The Young Doctors (ITV), A Country Practice (ITV) and Sons and Daughters (ITV). There were even TV programmes dedicated to the subject particularly after ITV launched another Australian series, Home and Away (in February 1989), which ironically had debuted the very same week as Richmond Hill in Australia on Seven Network
.
Ten's cancellation of Richmond Hill resulted in ITV losing interest in the series and not long after its debut, key companies in the ITV group, Granada Television
and Central Television, chose to break away from the network screenings. Central fell behind the rest of the network and re-launched A Country Practice, the series it had screened briefly in 1983 but shelved for five years, while Granada also chose to screen A Country Practice
in the Thursday slot instead. Yorkshire Television
broke away from the network for the final episode in August 1989. The majority of regions resumed A Country Practice
as its replacement, with regional UK viewers now considerably behind Australia and at varying parts of the storyline.
Richmond Hill was last screened in the UK in the mid-1990s on cable & satellite channel Wire TV
(hosted by Femi Oke
and co hosted Chris Stacey with guest presenters Darren Edwards, and Darren Gray), it was screened back to back with USA soap The Bold and the Beautiful
, before Wire TV
was finally axed in 1994.
Grundy also sold the soap to German television channel Pro 7
, and Richmond Hill was dubbed into German. It was aired twice a week from 1991 to 1992.
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 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
made in 1988 by the Reg Grundy Organisation
Reg Grundy Organisation
The Reg Grundy Organisation was an Australian television production company founded in 1959 by businessman Reg Grundy . It has since branched out into Europe and the USA. The company first produced game shows, before branching into soap operas in 1973...
for the Ten Network. It was devised by Reg Watson
Reg Watson
Reginald James "Reg" Watson AM is an Australian television producer, best known for creating soap operas like Prisoner and Neighbours.-Career:...
who also created Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
. It first aired as a two hour episode on Network 10 at 19.30 Wednesday 27 January 1988.
About
The series was set in a small Australian country town and most of the scenes revolved around the local police station and the pub. The cast was made up of experienced soap actors such as Maggie KirkpatrickMaggie Kirkpatrick
Maggie Kirkpatrick is an Australian actress, who is best known for her portrayal of the iconic character Joan Ferguson, a sadistic and corrupt lesbian prison officer known to the prisoners as "The Freak" in the popular Australian television soap opera, Prisoner...
, Amanda Muggleton
Amanda Muggleton
Amanda Lillian Muggleton is a British-born theatre, television and film actress. She is best known for her role on television soap opera Prisoner.-Early life:Muggleton was born in Stepney, London in 1951 and emigrated to Australia in 1974...
, Paula Duncan
Paula Duncan
Paula Margaret Duncan is an Australian actress. She is prominent mainly in the genre of soap opera. Her sister is fellow soap actress Carmen Duncan....
and Gwen Plumb
Gwen Plumb
Gwen Plumb AM BEM was a veteran Australian performer of stage, radio and television.-Biography:Gwendoline Jean Plumb was born in 1912...
and young beginners like Ashley Paske
Ashley Paske
Ashley Paske and educated at Figtree High School is an actor, best known for his role in the television series Neighbours...
and Emily Symons
Emily Symons
Emily Symons is an Australian actress.Symons's mother remarried when she was just four years old and Symons did not see her biological, English father again until ten years later. She left school before finishing her exams and launched herself into the acting world...
. Former comedy star Ross Higgins
Ross Higgins
Ross Higgins is an Australian actor, best known for his role as Ted Bulpitt in the television situation comedy series Kingswood Country....
played the central role of the local police officer and family man Dan Costello.
Airing
Richmond Hill was broadcast in an evening timeslot 7.30 as two one-hour episodes each week. The programme was produced in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
; some location shooting took place in Mona Vale, New South Wales
Mona Vale, New South Wales
Mona Vale is a suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 28 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of Pittwater Council. Mona Vale is also part of the Northern Beaches region.-...
. The series emerged as only a lukewarm success in the Australian ratings, and was cancelled after only one year. Coincidentally, the series was axed during the very same week that it debuted on British
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...
television, having been sold to the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network.
The UK's ITV network decided to show Richmond Hill in a daytime Wednesday and Thursday 14.00 slot and its much publicised launch was 5 October 1988. In the wake of the success of Neighbours on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, ITV decided to network an Australian soap opera for the first time (thereby each episode was shown on the same day and at the same time across the UK) and its launch also caused a small amount of controversy. British Television schedules were becoming littered with Australian soaps and dramas, old and new, and the industry began to protest. In October 1988 alone, there were as many as 8 serials from Australia on Britains two main terrestrial channels; Neighbours (BBC), The Flying Doctors (BBC), The Sullivans (ITV and Sky), Prisoner: Cell Block H (ITV), The Young Doctors (ITV), A Country Practice (ITV) and Sons and Daughters (ITV). There were even TV programmes dedicated to the subject particularly after ITV launched another Australian series, Home and Away (in February 1989), which ironically had debuted the very same week as Richmond Hill in Australia on Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
.
Ten's cancellation of Richmond Hill resulted in ITV losing interest in the series and not long after its debut, key companies in the ITV group, Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
and Central Television, chose to break away from the network screenings. Central fell behind the rest of the network and re-launched A Country Practice, the series it had screened briefly in 1983 but shelved for five years, while Granada also chose to screen A Country Practice
A Country Practice
A Country Practice is an Australian television drama series. One of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, it ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping,...
in the Thursday slot instead. Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
broke away from the network for the final episode in August 1989. The majority of regions resumed A Country Practice
A Country Practice
A Country Practice is an Australian television drama series. One of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, it ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping,...
as its replacement, with regional UK viewers now considerably behind Australia and at varying parts of the storyline.
Richmond Hill was last screened in the UK in the mid-1990s on cable & satellite channel Wire TV
Wire TV
Wire TV was a short-lived British cable television channel produced by United Artists Cable and featured a range of entertainment, lifestyle and sports programming...
(hosted by Femi Oke
Femi Oke
Femi Oke is a British television presenter and journalist.Femi was born in Britain to Nigerian parents. She is a graduate of Birmingham University where she received a bachelors degree in English literature and language...
and co hosted Chris Stacey with guest presenters Darren Edwards, and Darren Gray), it was screened back to back with USA soap The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....
, before Wire TV
Wire TV
Wire TV was a short-lived British cable television channel produced by United Artists Cable and featured a range of entertainment, lifestyle and sports programming...
was finally axed in 1994.
Grundy also sold the soap to German television channel Pro 7
Pro 7
ProSieben is a commercial television station in Germany distributed to a large extent via cable and satellite along with DVB-T in larger population centres. It began operations on January 1, 1989. Since 2003 the station, as part of the ProSiebenSat.1 Media, is owned by a group of investors led by...
, and Richmond Hill was dubbed into German. It was aired twice a week from 1991 to 1992.
Major Cast
- Warren Bryant - Tim ElstonTim ElstonTim Elston is an Australian actor. He was known for his acting roles on television as Detective Mitchell in Bellamy, Dr Scott Collins in Prisoner and police sergeant Warren Bryant in Richmond Hill.-External links:...
- Janet Bryant - Paula DuncanPaula DuncanPaula Margaret Duncan is an Australian actress. She is prominent mainly in the genre of soap opera. Her sister is fellow soap actress Carmen Duncan....
- Marty Bryant - Ashley PaskeAshley PaskeAshley Paske and educated at Figtree High School is an actor, best known for his role in the television series Neighbours...
- Dan Costello - Ross HigginsRoss HigginsRoss Higgins is an Australian actor, best known for his role as Ted Bulpitt in the television situation comedy series Kingswood Country....
- Anne Costello - Emily SymonsEmily SymonsEmily Symons is an Australian actress.Symons's mother remarried when she was just four years old and Symons did not see her biological, English father again until ten years later. She left school before finishing her exams and launched herself into the acting world...
- Mum Foote - Gwen PlumbGwen PlumbGwen Plumb AM BEM was a veteran Australian performer of stage, radio and television.-Biography:Gwendoline Jean Plumb was born in 1912...
- Ivy Hackett - Maggie KirkpatrickMaggie KirkpatrickMaggie Kirkpatrick is an Australian actress, who is best known for her portrayal of the iconic character Joan Ferguson, a sadistic and corrupt lesbian prison officer known to the prisoners as "The Freak" in the popular Australian television soap opera, Prisoner...
- Connie Ryan - Amanda MuggletonAmanda MuggletonAmanda Lillian Muggleton is a British-born theatre, television and film actress. She is best known for her role on television soap opera Prisoner.-Early life:Muggleton was born in Stepney, London in 1951 and emigrated to Australia in 1974...
- Andrew Ryan - Marc Gray
- Tim Shannon - Robert Sampson
- Susan Miller - Felicity Soper
- Jill Warner - Dina PanozzoDina PanozzoDina Panozzo is an Australian actress, best known for her regular roles in the television series Carla Cametti PD and Bed of Roses. She has also appeared in a recurring role in Packed to the Rafters and guest roles in many Australian series including A Country Practice, Water Rats and White Collar...
- Gary Turner - Dane Carson
- Mark Johnson - Warren Blondell
- Nikki Spencer - Danielle CarterDanielle CarterDanielle Carter is an Australian actress. She has acted in a number of popular television shows, films and plays.She graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art, in 1993....
- Vince Comino - Manny Katts
- Mavis Roberts - Betty LucasBetty LucasBetty Lucas is an Australian actress, best known for her roles on television. She played prominent roles in Prisoner as Clara Goddard in 1979, Taurus Rising as Faith Drysdale in 1982, and Richmond Hill as Mavis Roberts in 1988....
- Frank Hackett - Robert Alexander
- Roger Lawson - Peter KowitzPeter KowitzPeter Kowitz is an Australian actor.His television credits include: Prime Time, Richmond Hill, Chances, Pacific Drive, Water Rats, Wildside, Farscape, Murder Call, Grass Roots, All Saints and Supernova....
- Alice Costello - Rona ColemanRona ColemanRona Coleman is an Australian actress, best known for her long running role as Heather O'Brien in the television soap opera Sons and Daughters. She has also appeared in Richmond Hill , A Country Practice , Water Rats and All Saints....
- Craig Connors - Michael LongMichael Long (actor)Michael Long was an Australian actor, best known for his television work.His credits include: Prisoner , Taurus Rising , Sons and Daughters and Richmond Hill ....
- Lawrie Benson - Tom RichardsTom Richards (actor)Tom Richards is an Australian actor, best known for his appearances on television.He played Detective Steve York in Matlock Police during the 1970s and during the 1980s starred in the soap opera Sons and Daughters as David Palmer, for which he is probably best known...
- Evelyn Thomas - Jan Kingsbury
- Beatrice White - Moya O'Sullivan
- Mrs Jennings - Thelma ScottThelma ScottThelma Scott was an Australian actress whose 70-year career in theatre, radio, film and television made her one of her country's most recognisable personalities....
- Jeff Wilson - Tim McCunn
- Fiona Matthews - Angela KennedyAngela KennedyAngela Kennedy is a former Australian butterfly swimmer of the 1990s, who won a silver medal in the 4x100m medley relay at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia....
- Ben Brown - Dennis Grosvenor