The Restless Years
Encyclopedia
The Restless Years is an Australia
n soap opera
which followed the lives of several Sydney
school-leavers and young adults. It was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation
for Network Ten
. It debuted December 1977 and ran until late 1981. It was not renewed by the network due to declining ratings. The series had a predominantly young audience.
), his eventual wife Olivia Baxter (Zoe Bertram
), rebellious youth Peter Beckett (Nick Hedstrom), and his former school teacher Miss Elizabeth McKenzie (June Salter
). Thompson was the only cast member to appear through the show's entire run. Salter and Hedstrom left the series in late 1980 but returned for the final episode.
Others in the cast included Sonny Blake, John Hamblin
, Victoria Nicholls
, Jill Forster
, Joy Chambers
, Peter Mochrie
, Kim Lewis
, Penny Cook
, Shane Porteous
, Sheridan Jobbins
, Rosalind Speirs
, Queenie Ashton
, Vince Martin
, Ivar Kants
, Lenore Smith
, Noel Trevarthen, Michael C Smith, Tom Burlinson
, Jan Kingsbury, Joanne Stanley, Todd Boyce
, Simon Burke
, Jacqui Gordon
, Kerri-Anne Kennerley
, Bunney Brooke
, Lisa Crittenden
, Marty Morton
, John Ewart
, Benita Collings
, Rebecca Rigg
, David Franklin
, Peter Cousens
, Robyn Gibbes
, Deborah Kennedy
, David Argue
, Alita Fahey
, Martin Sacks
.
The show's younger characters were seen living in various share households. Their storylines frequently involved romances, attempts to find a job, career problems. There were some family groups where the parents endured marital infidelity, divorce, problems with their children.
Dr Bruce Russell's first wife, Alison (Julieanne Newbould
), suffered a miscarriage and was soon afterwards killed by terrorists while on holiday in Asia. Bruce later married Olivia Baxter. She fell pregnant but there were complications. Bruce arranged for her to have an abortion as the pregnancy could harm her health. After this she became mentally deranged and divorced him. Olivia subsequently snatched a baby and went on the run.
For all of the 1981 season in Melbourne
the series screened as five thirty minute episodes stripped across each weeknight at 7.00 pm. The final episode was reached in November 1981.
In Sydney in mid 1981 the series switched to running as a single one hour episode on Wednesday nights at 7.30 pm. After the cancellation its stockpiled episodes screened in Sydney in half hour instalments in January-February 1982 during the summer non-ratings period at 7pm the final episode aired the same week that sons and daughters premiered starring two former restless years castmates peter phelps and kim lewis
it is believed that network ten no longer holds the broadcast rights to try so it is unlikely to be rebroadcast!
as Goede tijden, slechte tijden
(first broadcast 1990) and in Germany
as Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
(since 1992): both these titles mean "Good times, bad times" but a more accurate translation would be The best of times and the worst of times. As of 2011, the Dutch and German shows are still running - although they have long since diverged from the original Australian storylines - and are the highest rated soap operas in their respective countries.
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 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,...
which followed the lives of several Sydney
Sydney
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...
school-leavers and young adults. It was produced 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 Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
. It debuted December 1977 and ran until late 1981. It was not renewed by the network due to declining ratings. The series had a predominantly young audience.
Cast
There was a high turnover of attractive youngsters in the cast. The most enduring characters were Dr Bruce Russell (Malcolm ThompsonMalcolm Thompson
Malcolm Thompson is a former Australian-based television actor, best known for his role in 1970s soap opera The Restless Years.Thompson was born in Yorkshire, England in 1949 and began acting in England in weekly-repertory and other theatre companies, including The Bristol Old Vic, The Mermaid...
), his eventual wife Olivia Baxter (Zoe Bertram
Zoe Bertram
Zoe Bertram is an Australian actress, whose first major role was in the teen-oriented television soap opera The Restless Years as Olivia Baxter from 1977 to 1981.Bertam has guested in numerous television series and appeared in movies, as well on stage...
), rebellious youth Peter Beckett (Nick Hedstrom), and his former school teacher Miss Elizabeth McKenzie (June Salter
June Salter
June Marie Salter AM was an Australian actress.-Biography:June Salter was born in Bexley, New South Wales, the youngest of six children. As a child she studied piano and elocution and attended Kogarah Secondary School...
). Thompson was the only cast member to appear through the show's entire run. Salter and Hedstrom left the series in late 1980 but returned for the final episode.
Others in the cast included Sonny Blake, John Hamblin
John Hamblin
John Hamblin is an Australian children's television presenter and actor, best known for presenting Play School from 1970 to 1999.Hamblin grew up in Suffolk, England, and did his national service in Cyprus before returning to England to become an actor...
, Victoria Nicholls
Victoria Nicholls
Victoria Nicholls is an Australian actress and television personality. Nicholls is well remembered by viewers for appearing in the Australian version of the game show Sale of the Century as a hostess from 1980 to 1982...
, Jill Forster
Jill Forster
-Career:Fortster has been in numerous Australian television dramas including Motel, Number 96, The Box, The Restless Years, Starting Out, Prisoner, A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, The Power, The Passion and SeaChange...
, Joy Chambers
Joy Chambers
Joy Chambers is an Australian actress and author. She is best known for such television soap opera roles as Rita Merrick in The Restless Years, Dr Robyn Porter in The Young Doctors, and Rosemary Daniels in Neighbours. Chambers has played Rosemary since 1986. Rosemary is the only character who has...
, Peter Mochrie
Peter Mochrie
Peter Mochrie is an actor who has appeared in various Australian television programs during his 25-year career. Since 2006 Mochrie has starred in the New Zealand soap Shortland Street as Dr Callum McKay....
, Kim Lewis
Kim Lewis
Kim Lewis is a television and film actress, best known for her role as Jill Taylor / O'Donnell in the television soap opera Sons and Daughters....
, Penny Cook
Penny Cook
Penny Cook is an Australian actress. She graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1978.Cook first appeared in the 1970s Australian television soap opera The Restless Years...
, Shane Porteous
Shane Porteous
John Shane Porteous is an Australian television character actor, TV screenplay scriptwriter, theatre actor, animation layout artist, and animation voice artist.-Biography:...
, Sheridan Jobbins
Sheridan Jobbins
Sheridan Jobbins is an Australian journalist, television presenter and screenwriter.-Life and career:Jobbins was born in Melbourne, Australia. She was educated at Ascham School Edgecliff...
, Rosalind Speirs
Rosalind Speirs
Rosalind "Ros" Speirs is a retired Australian film and television actress. She starred on several television series during the 1970s including Silent Number, Heidi and the television miniseries Power Without Glory...
, Queenie Ashton
Queenie Ashton
Edith "Queenie" Ashton AM was an English-born Australian soprano and character actress who had a long career primarily on radio, although she was also a renowned theatre actress, who also added television and film performances to her impressive repertoire...
, Vince Martin
Vince Martin (actor)
Vince Martin or Vin Martin , born Vincent Markesteijn, is a television and film actor. He mostly acted in film and television productions in Australia, where he was raised and started his career....
, Ivar Kants
Ivar Kants
Ivar Kants is an Australian actor who played the role of Ken Garrett in soap opera The Restless Years. Later roles include School Principal Barry Hyde in Home And Away...
, Lenore Smith
Lenore Smith
Lenore Smith is an Australian actress best known for her work in television. Internationally, she is best known for her role as Kate Wellings in the drama series The Flying Doctors.- Career :...
, Noel Trevarthen, Michael C Smith, Tom Burlinson
Tom Burlinson
Tom Burlinson is an Australian actor and singer.He attended Pittwater High School on Sydney's Northern Beaches and was the School Captain in his final year...
, Jan Kingsbury, Joanne Stanley, Todd Boyce
Todd Boyce
Todd Boyce was born in December 1960 in Columbus, Ohio.He was raised in upstate New York, Germany, Chicago and Brazil. At age 16 Todd moved with his family to Australia where he finished his schooling at Sydney Church of England Grammar School and promptly joined the Australian soap opera The...
, Simon Burke
Simon Burke
Simon Burke is an Australian actor. Burke began his acting career as a 13 year-old in the Australian film, The Devil's Playground for which he was awarded Best Actor at the 1976 Australian Film Institute Awards....
, Jacqui Gordon
Jacqui Gordon
Jacqui Gordon is an Australian actress, best known for her role in the television drama Prisoner as Susie Driscoll. She toured the United Kingdom in a stage play version of the series in 1990....
, Kerri-Anne Kennerley
Kerri-Anne Kennerley
Kerri-Anne Wright Kennerley is an Australian television personality. She is one of Australia's most seasoned light entertainment hosts...
, Bunney Brooke
Bunney Brooke
Bunney Brooke was an Australian actress best known for her television acting roles including the long-running role of Flo Patterson in soap opera Number 96 in the 1970s, and Vi Patchett in E Street in 1990.Brooke was adopted at an early age and had an unhappy early life...
, Lisa Crittenden
Lisa Crittenden
Lisa Crittenden is an Australian actress, noted for her roles in various television series, such as The Restless Years , The Sullivans , Prisoner , Sons and Daughters and the New Zealand produced Shortland Street .She also played a lead role in mini-series Whose Baby? and...
, Marty Morton
Marty Morton
Marty Morton is a performer who has acted in many TV, theatre and commercials in Australia and in other countries including England.Morton was born in the north of England and emigrated to Australia 40 plus years ago.-Television:...
, John Ewart
John Ewart
John Ewart was an Australian Film Institute award winning actor.-Career:Ewart was born in Melbourne. He began his acting career when he was cast at the age of four in a radio production of Snow White...
, Benita Collings
Benita Collings
Benita Collings is an Australian actress and television personality. Collings is best known for her long running stint as a presenter for Play School on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
, Rebecca Rigg
Rebecca Rigg
Rebecca Rigg is an Australian actress. She was once best known by Australian audiences as the bratty but troubled teenager, Gabrielle "Gabe" Baker, in the 1980s drama series A Country Practice.- Early life and career :...
, David Franklin
David Franklin (actor)
David Franklin is an Australian actor best known to audiences for his role as Meeklo Braca in the science fiction TV series Farscape and as Brutus in Xena: Warrior Princess....
, Peter Cousens
Peter Cousens
Peter Cousens is an Australian actor, born in Tamworth NSW.He attended The Armidale School in Armidale and then Gordonstoun School, Scotland. He then spent a year reading Arts at St Paul's College, Sydney University before studying at the National Institute of Dramatic Art , graduating in...
, Robyn Gibbes
Robyn Gibbes
Robyn Gibbes is an Australian actress, probably best known for her roles in Prisoner and Round the Twist ....
, Deborah Kennedy
Deborah Kennedy
Deborah Kennedy is an Australian actress recognised for several television and film roles, and for her appearance in an advertisement.Kennedy began her acting career on the stage, with the Marian Street Theatre, Killara, appearing in The Trojan Woman and Macbeth...
, David Argue
David Argue
David Argue is an Australian actor. He is most known for his role in the 1993 film Hercules Returns.-Television:*The Restless Years *Winners *Raw Silk *Pirates Island *Cluedo...
, Alita Fahey
Alita Fahey
Alita Fahey is a former TV actress and reporter who appeared on Simon Townsend's Wonder World , The Ossie Ostrich Video Show and the children's show Antenna . She also had roles on The Restless Years and Sons and Daughters and The Boy in the Bush...
, Martin Sacks
Martin Sacks
Martin Colin Sacks is an award-winning Australian actor, chiefly known for his 12-year role on Blue Heelers from 1993–2005.-Career:...
.
Storylines
The series made use of dramatic storylines involving murders, kidnapping, amnesia, blackmail, serial killers and prostitution among the more standard elements as teenage problems, unemployment, romance, jealousy, money-making schemes, and parental problems.The show's younger characters were seen living in various share households. Their storylines frequently involved romances, attempts to find a job, career problems. There were some family groups where the parents endured marital infidelity, divorce, problems with their children.
Dr Bruce Russell's first wife, Alison (Julieanne Newbould
Julieanne Newbould
Julieanne Newbould is an Australian actress who first came to prominence in the 1970s.She was a popular original cast member in soap opera The Restless Years. The series started in late 1977; Newbould left the series in early 1979. She later played two roles in Prisoner. She appeared first in 1982...
), suffered a miscarriage and was soon afterwards killed by terrorists while on holiday in Asia. Bruce later married Olivia Baxter. She fell pregnant but there were complications. Bruce arranged for her to have an abortion as the pregnancy could harm her health. After this she became mentally deranged and divorced him. Olivia subsequently snatched a baby and went on the run.
Scheduling
In most areas the series screened at 7.30 pm in one hour installments, twice a week.For all of the 1981 season in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
the series screened as five thirty minute episodes stripped across each weeknight at 7.00 pm. The final episode was reached in November 1981.
In Sydney in mid 1981 the series switched to running as a single one hour episode on Wednesday nights at 7.30 pm. After the cancellation its stockpiled episodes screened in Sydney in half hour instalments in January-February 1982 during the summer non-ratings period at 7pm the final episode aired the same week that sons and daughters premiered starring two former restless years castmates peter phelps and kim lewis
it is believed that network ten no longer holds the broadcast rights to try so it is unlikely to be rebroadcast!
Remakes
The show was remade in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
as Goede tijden, slechte tijden
Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden
Goede tijden, slechte tijden , also known as GTST, is the longest-running Dutch soap opera, which began on 1 October 1990 on RTL4. The programme was the first daily soap in the Netherlands. The soap is produced by Joop van den Ende and to date over 4,000 episodes have been broadcast...
(first broadcast 1990) and in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
as Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten is a German television soap opera.In 1990, the first commercial channel in the Netherlands, RTL 4 had a spectacular ratings success with its soap Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden, a remake of the Australian soap-opera The Restless Years...
(since 1992): both these titles mean "Good times, bad times" but a more accurate translation would be The best of times and the worst of times. As of 2011, the Dutch and German shows are still running - although they have long since diverged from the original Australian storylines - and are the highest rated soap operas in their respective countries.