| Creator: | Barbara Vernon |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 10 |
| Num Episodes: | 1,562 |
| Runtime: | 15 minutes (excluding commercial) |
| Network: | ABC |
| Related: | Country Life (film version) |
Bellbird is an Australian soap opera serial broadcast by the ABC and written and created by Barbara Vernon, it screened for 10 seasons between 1967 and 1977, with the series centering around the residents of the small fictional Victorian rural township of the series title.[1]
Bellbird has the distinction of being the longest-running soap opera/serial ever produced by the ABC. It ended the same year as commercial broadcast series Number 96 and The Box, which had run for six and four years respectively.[2]
The series was produced by the ABC at the Ripponlea Studios in Melbourne, with the opening titles filmed at nearby Daylesford. Bellbird screened from 28 August 1967 to 23 December 1977 and although it was not Australia's first television serial (the first was Network Seven's Autumn Affair), it was the first successful soap opera and even spawned a feature film and tie-in novel.
The show's ratings were modest but it had a devoted following, especially in rural Australia. During most of its 10-year production run, 15-minute episodes of Bellbird screened from Monday to Thursday nights, leading in to the 7:00 pm evening news bulletin. In 1976, the series was screened as a single one-hour episode each week, before switching to three half-hour instalments per week during its final season.[3]
The show's storylines followed the lives of the residents of the small fictional country town that gave the show its title. While the series plots concentrated mainly on small-scale interpersonal, domestic and local relationships, issues and conflicts, there were occasional moments of high drama. One of the most celebrated was the death of the local stock and station agent, Charlie Cousens, played by foundation cast member Robin Ramsay. When Ramsay decided to leave the series in 1968, his character was written out in dramatic fashion, with Cousens plunging to his death from the top of a wheat silo. The death scene has figured prominently in retrospectives of great moments in Australian television, and its celebrity meant that it became one of the few segments from the early years of the series that has survived.
Other notable deaths during the course of the series included those of local farm girl, Hagar Grossark (Barbara Ramsay), who drowned during a flood, and the 1974 death of major character Rhoda Lang, played by foundation cast member Lynette Curran, who was killed when her car was struck by a train at a level crossing.
Bellbird featured a regular cast of 46 actors over its 10-year run (see links, for actor information).
| Actor | Character | |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Aanensen | Jim Bacon | |
| Cheryl Turner | ||
| Lori Chandler | ||
| Michael Foley | ||
| Elaine Thomas | ||
| Carl Bleazby | Colonel Jim Emerson | |
| Dorothy Bradley | Rose Lang | |
| Wendy Robinson | ||
| Moira Charleton | Olive Turner | |
| Rhoda Lang | ||
| Kelly Jameson | ||
| Mary Campbell | ||
| Keith Eden | Gil Lang | |
| John Quinney | ||
| Dossie Rumsey | ||
| Ginny Hill | ||
| Brian Hannan | Roger Green | |
| Gabrielle Hartley | Maggie Emerson | |
| Matthew Reed | ||
| Ian Bennett | ||
| Ruth Grossark | ||
| Kate Andrews | ||
| Stella Lamond | Molly Wilson | |
| Glenda Chand | ||
| Gerry Walters | ||
| Jerry Cochran | ||
| Max Pearson | ||
| Georgia Moorhouse | ||
| Constable Des Davies | ||
| Carmel Millhouse | Marge Bacon | |
| Scott Leighton | ||
| Fiona Davies | ||
| Joe Turner | ||
| Tom Grey | ||
| Kate Ashwood | ||
| Louise Philip | Christine Jackson | |
| Father John Kramer | ||
| Charlie Cousens | ||
| Gregory Ross | Chris Lang | |
| Ron Wilson | ||
| Russell Ashwood | ||
| Leo Hil | ||
| Ross Thompson | Terry Hill | |
| Bryon Williams | Adam Lockhart | |
| Clive Winmill | Tony Buckland | |
| Actor | Character | |
|---|---|---|
| Cathy | ||
| Barbara Ramsay | Hagar Grossark | |
| Edward Grey | ||
| Cheryl Turner #2 | ||
The National Archives of Australia holds a collection of 43 black and white prints from 1977, identifying over 30 actors involved at that time,[4]
The show was based on a short treatment by Colin Free then developed by original story editor Barbara Vernon. The original story team included Vernon, Alan Hopgood and Michael Wright. The first executive producer was Brett Porter.[5] The original directors were James Davern and Oscar Whitbread.[6]
Episodes of Bellbird were screened in the United Kingdom in 1972. After the initial 52 episodes had been screened, Actors Equity in Australia insisted the ABC increase the price of the episodes so as to pay the actors more. As a result of the price increase, the UK broadcaster purchased no further episodes.[7]
Although an extensive selection of episodes survive and reside with the National Archives of Australia, it was reported that the ABC taped over the master tapes of the series, which was a common practice of the time something which series cast member Alan Hopgood had complained about in a TV Times article in 1976: "They just wiped [them] off and another episode [was] run over them .... This failure to preserve the program is criminal, to my way of thinking."[8]
One complete black and white episode is available to be viewed at the Australian Mediatheque at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne, while several colour episodes are known to exist in the hands of private collectors.
The series was the first soap opera in Australia to spin-off into a feature film version and tie-in novel, entitled Country Town (1971). It focused on Bellbird's problems during a severe drought. Many future soaps followed suit, spawning their own film versions, including Number 96 and The Sullivans.
In 1971, Bellbird was the fifteenth most popular show in the country.[9]