Number 96 (TV series)
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Number 96 was a revolutionary Australian daily soap opera set in a Sydney apartment block. The series was created for Network Ten by Don Cash and Bill Harmon and devised by David Sale after the channel requested a Coronation Street-type serial, and specifically one that explored adult subjects. The series proved to be a huge success, running from 1972 until 1977. Storylines explored the relationships of the residents of a small apartment block named Number 96 after its street address, with scripts tackling such topics as racism, drug use, rape, marriage problems, adultery and homosexuality, along with more prosaic romantic and domestic storylines. The show featured a multiracial cast, had frequent nude scenes, and featured a long-running gay male relationship that drew no particular interest from any of the show's other characters. It is believed that the series was the world's first to include a portrayal of a gay couple as normal people fully accepted by and integrated into their community.
The show's most popular character was malaproping gossip Dorrie Evans (Pat McDonald). Playing the part of Bev Houghton, Abigail quickly emerged as the show's most famous sex symbol. She left the series suddenly in June 1973 in a burst of publicity. As the series progressed it increasingly focused on comedy characters such as inventor Les Whittaker (Gordon McDougall) and the bookish Arnold Feather (Jeff Kevin) who proved irresistible to the ladies.
The series made good use of end-of-episode and end-of-year cliffhangers, and whodunit type storylines proved particularly popular. These included a panty snatcher dubbed the Knicker Snipper, a serial killer called The Pantyhose Strangler, and deadliest of all the Mad Bomber.
The Mad Bomber storyline, in August-September 1975, came in the wake of news from periodical TV Week that the ratings for Number 96 were just half what they were at the beginning of 1974. In an unprecedented move, 40 complete scripts discarded and rewritten, while the Number 96 set was sealed off to non-essential personnel. On September 5, 1975, a bomb exploded in the delicatessen, destroying it and the adjacent wine bar which was crowded with customers. With this storyline the writers had hoped to shake up the current cast and to draw back viewers. Despite the bold move of killing several long running cast favourites, including Les, and Aldo and Roma Godolfus (Johnny Lockwood and Philippa Baker), and then revealing schemer Maggie Cameron (Bettina Welch) as the bomber and sending her off to prison (she never planned for the bomb to kill anyone and merely wanted to scare residents into moving to facilitate a sale of the building), the bomb-blast storyline resulted in only a temporary boost to ratings figures.
A later whodunit storyline was the Hooded Rapist in mid 1976. The final year of Number 96 featured an increased emphasis on younger characters and the reintroduction sex storylines and nudity, and in 1977 a range of shock storylines included the exploits of a group of nazi bikers and a psychopathic blackmailer. Another bold move in the show's final months saw Number 96 feature what was publicised as Australia's first full frontal nude scene when new character Miss Hemingway (Deborah Gray) made the first of several unveilings in April 1977. Although an earlier scene showing brief and distant full-frontal nudity appeared in the debut episode of Matlock Police in February 1971, this was the first time the nudity was shown front and centre in protracted scenes. Other bedroom farce comedy sequences of the period featured male and female nudity along with some flashes of frontal nudity. A scene where Jane Chester becomes a prostitute and is asked to whip her male client featured a brief glimpse of full frontal male nudity.
Number 96 was launched in 1972 with a simple promotional campaign - each night for several weeks before its debut, the message "Number 96 Is Coming" would appear on screen during Network 10's advertisements. No explanation was given, and it stimulated curiosity. When the series premiered viewers were presented with a level of titilation and taboo subjects that had never been seen on Australian television before, and the event came to be known as "the night Australian television lost its virginity". It was Australia's highest rating program for 1973 and 1974, and was the world's first evening soap opera to be broadcast each weeknight. The series was shot on videotape initially in black and white but switching to colour in late 1974. Many black and white episodes are now lost, a victim of wiping videotapes for re-use, the official Channel Ten policy at the time. A colour feature film version of the same title was released in 1974 featuring much of the show's cast from that time, along with the reappearance of departed cast member Lyn Rainbow, and Patrick Ward, Rebecca Gilling and James Condon as new characters. In 1980 a short-lived US remake of the same name retained the comedy but toned-down the sexual elements of the series.
The series was broadcast as five half-hour episodes each week for its first four years. From the beginning of 1976 episodes were broadcast as two one-hour episodes each week in most areas, however from an internal perspective episodes continued to be written and compiled in half-hour installments.
The production supervisor on the series was Kevin Powell, son of British film director Michael Powell.
Number 96 was rated number 9 in the 2005 television special 50 Years 50 Shows which counted-down Australia's greatest television programs. A DVD of the Number 96 feature film, and the 1976 compilation special And They Said It Wouldn't Last which reviewed the show's most famous storylines and recounted the exploits of its departed main characters, was released in July 2006. The DVD also includes a new documentary focusing on the show's last two years - not covered by And They Said It Wouldn't Last - which features clips from the series and interviews with actors Elaine Lee, Sheila Kennelly, Wendy Blacklock, Deborah Grey, and with series creator David Sale.
See also
External links
- [Aussie Soap Archive: Number 96]
- [The Number 96 Homepage]
- [The History of Australian Television - Number 96]
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