| Creator: | Barbara Vernon, |
| Director: | James Davern, Oscar Whitbread |
| Producer: | Brett Porter |
| Starring: | See cast list |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 10 |
| Num Episodes: | 1,697 |
| Runtime: | Episodes 1-1508 (15 minutes (excluding commercial)), Episodes 1509-1592 (1 Hour), Episodes 1563-1697, (3x half-hour weekly) |
| Network: | ABC |
| Related: | Country Life (film version) |
Bellbird is an Australian soap opera serial broadcast by the ABC created and co-written by Barbara Vernon, it screened for 10 seasons between 1967 and 1977, and spanned 1,697 episodes. The series centered 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, akin to the ABC's long-running radio drama Blue Hills. 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. The National Archives of Australia holds a collection of prints from 1977, identifying over 30 actors involved from that time.[4]
| Actor | Character | Eps. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Reed | 870 episodes (1972–1977) | ||
| Wes Lewis | 6 episodes (1977) | ||
| Wendy Robinson | 524 episodes (1971–1973) | ||
| Glenda Chand | 67 episodes (1967) | ||
| Kate Ashwood | 523 episodes (1974–1977) | ||
| Cathy | 143 episodes (1970) | ||
| Gerry Walters | 174 episodes (1971) | ||
| Brian Hannan | Roger Green | 1182 episodes (1970–1977) | |
| Ian Bennett | 667 episodes (1970–1973) | ||
| Claire | 52 episodes (1975) | ||
| Michael Foley | 67 episodes (1967) | ||
| Bryon Williams | Adam Lockhart | 870 episodes (1972–1977) | |
| Carl Bleazby | Coloniel Jim Emerson | 1506 episodes (1968–1977) | |
| Carmel Millhouse | Marge Bacon | 1556 episodes (1967–1977) | |
| Clive Winmill | Tony Buckland | 92 episodes (1977–1978) | |
| Constable Des Davies | 986 episodes (1968–1974) | ||
| Dorothy Bradley | Rose Lang | 1224 episodes (1967–1974) | |
| Elspeth Ballantyne | Laura 'Lori' Chandler | 157 episodes (1967–1971) | |
| Gabrielle Hartley | Maggie Emerson | 1011 episodes (1969–1974) | |
| Fiona Davies | 1059 episodes (1968–1974) | ||
| Gregory Ross | Chris Lang | 321 episodes (1974–1975) | |
| Russell Ashwood | 523 episodes (1974–1977) | ||
| Ken Stratton | 125 episodes (1976–1977) | ||
| Cheryl Turner | 326 episodes (1971–1975) | ||
| Leo Hill | 174 episodes (1972) | ||
| Julia Blake | Elaine Thomas | 675 episodes (1972–1975) | |
| Keith Eden | Gilbert Lang | 528 episodes (1967–1970) | |
| Gail Bennet | 173 episodes (1974) | ||
| Louise Philip | Christine Jackson | 174 episodes (1971) | |
| Lynda Keane | Ruth Grossark | 465 episodes (1967–1971) | |
| Rhoda Lang | 1102 episodes (1967–1974) | ||
| Georgia Moorhouse | 684 episodes (1972–1977) | ||
| John Quinney | 1235 episodes (1969–1977) | ||
| Father John Kramer | 396 episodes (1974–1976) | ||
| Moira Carleton | Olive Turner | 1142 (1969–1977) | |
| Ginny Hill | 347 episodes (1972–1974) | ||
| Kelly Jameson | 71 episodes (1976) | ||
| Peter Aanensen | Jim Bacon | 1381 episodes (1968–1976) | |
| Charlie Cousens | 82 episodes (1967–1968) | ||
| Scott Leighton | 365 episodes (1973–1975) | ||
| Terry Hill | 438 episodes (1972–1974) | ||
| Ron Wilson | 353 episodes (1968–1971) | ||
| Dossie Rumsey | 174 episodes (1972) | ||
| Stella Lamond | Molly Wilson | 589 episodes (1969–1973) | |
| Bernie Austin | 491 episodes (1970–1972) | ||
| Max Pearson | 836 episodes (1969–1973) | ||
| Joe Turner | (1967–1968) | ||
| Tom Gray | 83 episodes (1969) | ||
| Captain Doug Daly | 6 episodes | ||
| Neil Farrar | 3 episodes |
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 briefly 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]