E Street

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For other uses, see E Street (disambiguation).

E Street was an Australian television soap opera created by Forrest Redlich and produced by the Ten Network from 1989 to 1993.

Whereas Neighbours was set in a suburb, Home and Away took place in a seaside town, and Richmond Hill a semi-rural community, E Street was set in a tough inner-city district called Westside and stories revolved around the potted community there.

The series was modelled on A Country Practice (Forrest Redlich had worked as a writer on APC) and could initially be seen as an urban version of that soap. The parallels were obvious: both soaps featured a police station, local pub and a doctor's surgery. Whereas A Country Practice featured a veterinary surgery, in E Street, this was replaced with a legal centre. A more obvious borrowing from A Country Practice came with the addition of Penny Cook as E Streets' anchor character, Dr Elly Fielding. Penny Cook had previously had a tremendously popular run as vet Vicky Dean in ACP from 1981 to 1985 and she was the first of several well-known actors to cross over to E Street during its 5 year run.

But what started out as a gritty, urban soap than its contemporaries, the soap did not perform well in Australia and this led to many changes in direction and E Street quickly descended into an increasingly wild, exaggerated series. 6 months in, the soap began to incorporate outlandish storylines involving bomb explosions, serial killers, drug abuse, and gangsters. Several music videos and musical performances were incorporated into episodes to promote music released on the offshoot Westside Records music label whilst some of the actresses (namely Melissa Tkautz and Toni Pearen) released singles which were massive hits in Australia.

The moderately successful and sedately-paced serial Richmond Hill had been cancelled by Ten to make way for E Street. Richmond Hill had also been successfully sold to ITV in the UK and was rating in the high-20's in Australia, so it was a huge gamble to axe it and replace it with E Street. Indeed, it would take 3 years for a UK broadcaster to pick up the soap and E Street initially rated somewhat lower than Richmond Hill, but audience research indicated that it attracted a significant proportion of the 14-35 audience and a large male viewership - a demographic highly prized by advertisers. Later, with the racier storylines, the ratings climbed, eventually eclipsing the figures that Richmond Hill had attracted. E Street ran for 404 one-hour episodes. Like many Australian soap operas before it, E Street was broadcast as two one-hour episodes each week. Until the premiere of HeadLand in November 2005, it had been the last Australian soap opera to screen its episodes in this format.

In the UK Sky Television aired the programme in a 30 minute format stripped Mondays to Fridays. This format had also been used in the UK when broadcasting hour long drama A Country Practice. Later Blue Heelers would similarly be stripped in the London and Central area three days a week. E Street aired at 6.30pm with a repeat the following afternoon at 12.30pm. It launched on Sunday, April 2nd 1992 at 8pm, and following the original 90 minute pilot, Sky picked up the story from Episode 41 on Monday, April 3rd. Sky heavily publicised the launch of their new Australian soap, and promoted it with the tagline "Meet Your New Neighbours on E Street", clearly using the popularity of the BBC's Neighbours to lure viewers. This slogan could be seen across the country on double decker buses, billboards and teen magazine advertisements. The actors Tony Martin (Bob), Alyssa Jane Cook (Lisa), Marcus Graham (Wheels), Vic Rooney (Ernie), Cecily Polsen (Martha) and Malcolm Kennard (Harley) all flew to Britain to appear in advertisements promoting the launch of the soap.

Indeed, during the first 6 months it aired in the UK, E Street became one of Sky's highest rated programmes averaging around 750,000 viewers. This was at a time when there was an available audience of around 2.5 million due to Sky only being available via the Astra satellite.

After 18 months, and after its subsequent axing in Australia, E Street was then switched to Saturday (6pm) and Sunday (1pm) afternoons in its original Australian 50 minute format. This was to briefly accommodate a new Australian soap called Paradise Beach. However, as Paradise Beach flopped and was axed in Australia, Sky also lost interest and moved E Street back to its former weeknight timeslot and its edited half hour format. About 6 months before the final episode, Sky then moved E Street to 7pm where it concluded on February 28th 1995. Sky haven't invested in an Australian soap since the demise of E Street.

Sky completely removed The Young Doctors (which it aired Monday to Friday at 10am) to accommodate the daytime repeat of E Street at 12.30pm.

During a hardhitting storyline involving extreme character Sonny Bennett (Richard Huggett), he kills three characters in a shocking car-bomb explosion (Episode 171). In the UK, where E Street aired in an earlier timeslot, the episode was shown in March 1993 and was preceded by a warning to viewers that the episode contained scenes that some may find upsetting. The 12.30pm repeat the following day was dropped entirely and replaced by The Simpsons.

1 Major Storylines and History
2 Cast
3 Broadcast History
4 External links

[edit] Major Storylines and History

Australia 1989 / UK 1992 When E Street launched, it was considered a serious, 'issue' led drama about a local community. During the first episodes, a new lawyer, Sarah McKillop (Katrina Sedgewick) arrived in Westside and early storylines revolved around her settling into the new community with the help of hip vicar Bob Brown (Tony Martin) whilst clashing with local GP Elly Fielding (Penny Cook). We also meet Constable Paul Berry (Warren Jones) who had also recently moved to Westside with his newlywed wife Rhonda (Melanie Salomon) and she quickly establishes herself as Elly's secretary at the Surgery.

Despite a promising start, 6 months in, viewers began to yawn and the producers decided to immediately revamp the show. Rhona Berry was shockingly disposed of during an armed robbery and her shooting was witnessed by her husband Paul. By Episode 45, Lisa Bennett's (Alyssa-Jane Cook) stepfather Sam Bulmer (Serge Lazareff) had raped and strangled newcomer Sarah McKillop, and these events shocked viewers who had seen nothing like this kind of action in E Street before - and yet it was the shape of things to come. Sky never transmitted these episodes of E Street.

With new titles and racier storylines, new characters joined the soap towards the end of 1989; PC Max Simmons (Bruce Samazan), Stanley "Wheels" Kovak (Marcus Graham), Alice Sullivan (Marianne Howard), Harley Brown (Malcolm Kennard), Daniel Windsor (Chris Orchard) and his entire family including Toni Windsor (Toni Pearen) all made their debuts, and further additions to the younger and hipper cast were made in early 1990.

With all the changes made to the cast and look of the soap, as 1989's cliffhanger approached, things were looking decidedly more interesting in Westside. One story arc that lasted throughout the year was the 'relationship' between Bob and Elly. The 'will-they-or-won't-they' premise lasted for most of the soap's run, although the 1989 cliffhanger ended with dashing airline pilot Daniel Windsor (Chris Orchard) asking Elly to marry him. Meanwhile, new character Harley Brown (Malcolm Kennard) was caught in a blaze at his Mother's house leading to a dramatic rescue by Reverend Bob in the first episode of 1990.

Australia 1990 / UK 1992-3 The year began with Elly and Daniel engaged although it wasn't to last with the addition of the soaps latest seductress Jennifer St James (Virginia Hey). She and Daniel had an affair which rapidly ended Elly's engagement and he fled Westside leaving just his daughter, Toni, behind. Soon Elly's ex husband David (Noel Hodda) became a main character and there was much bickering as the couple squabbled over their young and beguiling daughter Clare (Brooke Anderson).

Meanwhile, further cast additions led to the Patchett family radidly growing and teenager Chris Patchett found love with depressive single-mother Megan Bromley (Lisbeth Kennally) and the two young lovers quickly married. Meanwhile, his father, Ernie Patchett gained an all-singing, all-American fiance, Abbey Rossiter (Chelsea Brown). Even Auntie Vi (Bunney Brooke) popped in to help behind the bar at Patchett's Pacific. Harley and Toni's relationship continued to flourish despite Toni being abducted by a Religious Cult and the shocking discovery that Harley was in fact Reverend Bob's illigitimate son. PC Paul Berry who had finished grieving for his murdered wife found new love with new and out spoken Journalist Kim Talbot (Rebecca Saunders). George Sullivan (Leslie Dayman) and Martha O'Dare (Cecily Polson) had their spare room filled with the arrival of tearaway teenager Nikki Spencer (Melissa Tkautz) and even with all these changes ratings remained disappointing. Therefore, another cast overhaul was imminent.

In came Lisa Bennett's insane and vengeful brother Sonny Bennett (Richard Huggett) with a vendetta to settle against the residents of Westside. It was here that E Street became much darker and unpredictable and ratings began to rise. As the storyline unfolded it was clear that with this new character, anything was possible and viewers were left shocked when he shot Kim Talbot at point blank range because of her reluctance to have a relationship with him. Next, Sonny planted a bomb in Reverend Bob's car intending to kill him. As the residents gathered at Patchett's Pacific to celebrate Abby's permanent Australian visa, many characters were seen driving the doomed car and viewers were left wondering just who exactly was going to die. As the party at Patchett's got into full swing, Chris, Megan and Abby left the party to view a plot of land Abby had bought to build a new pub for Ernie. As they sat in the car discussing Ernie's surprise, the bomb exploded and all three were killed instantly. The final installment of Sonny's reign of terror was Elly being blasted in the head in a gun rigged by Sonny to kill Bob. Elly ended up in intensive care and the 1990 season cliffhanger involved her full recovery and returning to Westside after the ordeal. Sonny, meanwhile, committed suicide and leapt to death from scaffolding. These shocking episodes rocketed the soap to the top of the ratings in Australia, while in the UK, E Street had become one of Sky One's top rating programmes.

Australia 1991 / UK 1993 As the third season of E Street began, there were several new characters to replace the ones who had been written out the year before. Sheridan Sturgess (Kate Raison) arrived to revive Westside's Television station and before long, she had been joined by her brother Michael Sturgess (Graham Harvey) who began dating Lisa. Following the shooting ordeal, Elly departed E Street and her friend Virginia Travis (Julieanne Newbould) arrived to take over the medical centre. In reality, actress Penny Cook had decided to leave her role as Elly. Another departure at this point was original cast member Warren Jones who left his role as Paul Berry after 2 and half years and having witnessed not one, but two partners (Rhonda and Kim) get shot but deranged gunmen.

Following the success of the Sonny Bennett storylines, the producers drafted in another phsychotic murderer - this time in the shape of Karate teacher Steven Richardson (Vince Martin) - to kill off a few more cast members and make E Street absolutely unmissable. Indeed, with the addition of Steven Richardson, the soap became even more stratospheric and outlandish. Sheridan began having nightmares about a mysterious killer called 'Mr Bad' who painted half of his face black and the other half silver. Her nightmares involved the killing of a young girl and this included a bizarre psychic link she has to Steven where Sheridan's thoughts start to be controlled by him.

As the convoluted plot premise grew, so did the audience figures and many viewers were shocked when Steven strangled Dr Virginia Travis and buried her in woodland. However, as the dark and sinister Mr Bad storyline continued, E Street kept up its wacky pop culture spin by incorporating music video's into proceedings, and this was mainly a shameless way of promoting groups such as the Teen Queens and Radio Freedom who were signed to Westside Records, a new record label formed by the producer's of E Street. Furthermore, Melissa Tkautz who played Nikki was allowed to leave the series after her singing career took-off thanks to her role in E Street. (She returned a year later.)

More death occurred when newlywed Michael Sturgess, who had just married Lisa Bennett, began to notice the strange hold Steven Richardson had over his sister. He was throttled and buried next to Virginia in remote woodland, presumed dead. The storyline was taken to the limits with Michael, who had actually been buried alive, suddenly rose out of his shallow grave and began making his way back to Eden Street to warn everyone about Steven. However, just as the viewers thought the Mr Bad storyline might be nearing its climax, Michael was duly flattened by an artic lorry whilst crossing a road.

More cast additions included Mary Patchett (Joan Sydney) who arrived to take over the running of Patchett's Pacific following the departures of Ernie (Vic Rooney) and Auntie Vi (Bunney Brooke). Marcus Graham made a welcome return as Wheels, although during this stint, Wheels is no longer in a wheelchair and fully upright again, and anarchic C.J (Adrian Lee) also came on board during the 1991 season and began dating Toni following the departure of Harley through a cocaine overdose. Another big change to occur during late 1991 was the return of Elly, but this time played by Diane Craig. A problematic recast actually worked well and Craig's portrayal of Elly was as popular with viewers as Penny Cook had been.

Australia 1992 / UK 1993-4 As 1991 had been the best year for E Street in terms of viewing figures and audience share, unfortunately, the soap had all but exhausted itself due to 2 years of explosions, death and destruction. As 1992 got underway, several popular cast members departed, including Vince Martin as Steven Richardson and his murderous alter-ego Mr Bad. Martin had apparently become tired of his characters serial killer storyline and asked the writers to explore Mr Bad's background to help viewers understand his homicidal tendencies. His request was not adhered too and Martin quit with his character having his face blown off by a terrified Sheriden. Unfortunately, the producers weren't keen to lose the Mr Bad character, so it was re-cast with Olav Evensen taking over the role, his face conveniently covered in bandages following the shooting.

Lying silent in his hospital bed, the critically ill Mr Bad started to telepathically take over the thoughts of his devoted Nurse Amy Preston (Rebecca Rigg). Soon Amy was murdering more characters on Steven's behalf, but the storyline was stretched to breaking point and eventually ended in the death of the Mr Bad by drowning. Viewers sighed with delight.

Following the resolution of the Mr Bad epic tale, E Street seemingly returned to its roots with a raft of new, relatively 'normal' characters brought on board. Alice Sullivan had departed so she was replaced by Penny O'Brien (Josephine Mitchell) who was basically a replica of the character she replaced. Kelley Abbey resumed the role she created in 1989 and came back as chirpy rock-chick JoJo, sharing a bedsit with mute character Joey Valentine (who, it turned out, could speak, but only through a radio mic!). Viewers also saw the welcome return of Ernie Patchett (Vic Rooney) who came back from his European trip (with a beard!) and took over Patchett's Pacific again. He was soon joined by a new love interest, Sally McKinnon (Joanna Lockwood). And finally, a new lawyer joined the cast, Jamie Newman (Scott McRae) who began dating JoJo in a 'opposites attract' style romance and he also set about reopening E Street's legal centre, mirroring the series' earlier episodes with Sarah McKillop. Original Cast Member Brooke Anderson was written out of the series at this point, shortly followed by Allysa Jane Cook quitting her role as Lisa Bennett and Toni Pearen quit as Toni Windsor.

The need to keep viewing figures healthy (it was widely reported Network 10 was in a financial rut and needed immense advertising revenue to survive) resulted in the writers drafting in yet another strong male character to shake up the cast - this time, they poached Andrew Williams from Network 10 stable-mate Neighbours and cast him as Bob Brown's whiskey-swilling, long-long cowboy brother Jack. With him came another former-Neighbours actress Antoinette Byron as photographer Laura Fielding. Rounding off the 1993 cast was the return of Melissa Bell - yet another ex-Neighbours star who came on board as hippy Bonie Tate. Storylines were no less frenetic, however, and viewers then watched Tony Martin as Bob Brown depart in a totally stratospheric scene where he dies on the alter of the community church and an angel comes down to greet him and send him on his way to heaven... Next up, Bruce Samazan's character Max turned into a werewolf! Despite that scene actually being part of a dream-sequence, it has become folklore that it was this moment E Street jumped the shark and the end was certainly in sight.

As Jack's initial episodes went to air, behind the scenes, Producer's clashed with the Network 10 over the direction of the show. It was reported that Ten intended on axing Neighbours and moving Sydney-based E Street to Melbourne. Furthermore, instead of two hour-long episodes, E Street was to be stripped Monday to Friday with no extra budget to fill the extra half an hour airtime required. Furious, Forrest Redlich ended his creation there and then.

Australia 1993 / UK 1995 The final episodes of E Street were markedly sane given what had been broadcast over the previous 3 years. Marianne Howard returned as Alice Sullivan for the final stretch, and despite reports of the entire cast being blown up in Patchett's Pacific for the final episode, it was actually a fire that ripped through the Pub, trapping most of the remaining cast. Bonnie Tate, out for the day with Max and Alice also collapsed as the credits for the penultimate episode rolled. But, rather bizarrely, the opening scenes of the final episode saw JoJo running a cafe in what used to be her bedsit. Scene by scene all of the characters we fear dead arrive on screen - it is apparently 3 months after the fire! The final scene of E Street is around Bonnie Tate's hospital bed, who has spent the missing 3 months in a coma, and one by one each character arrives to read a poem written by Max. Laura is blind, Ernie is in a wheelchair, Elly arrives after 3 months away recupperating, all clearly affected by the fire at the pub. Touchingly, as each cast member reads a line of the poem, Bonnie wakes up, looks up and says "Max!"...

After the final commercial break, we rewind nearly 5 years for a tear-inducing montage of E Street's finest moments, reminding viewers that it may not have been the most believable Australian Soap ever made, but it was certainly one of the most exciting, unpredictable and entertaining.

[edit] Cast

Original Cast

Dr Elly Fielding #1 (Penny Cook) Original Cast Member 1989-1991
Reverend Bob Brown (Tony Martin) Original Cast Member 1989-early 1993
Sarah McKillop (Katrina Sedgewick) Original Cast Member 1989
Lisa Bennett (Alyssa-Jane Cook) Original Cast Member 1989-1992
Chris Patchett (Paul Kelman) Original Cast Member 1989-1991
Sergeant George Sullivan (Leslie Dayman) Original Cast Member 1989-1993
Martha O'Dare (Cecily Polson) Original Cast Member 1989-1993
Rhonda Berry (Melanie Solamon) Original Cast Member 1989
PC Paul Berry (Warren Jones) Original Cast Member 1989-1991
Ernie Patchett (Vic Rooney) Original Cast Member 1989-1990, 1991-1993
Claire Fielding (Brooke Anderson) Original Cast Member 1989-1992

Cast Additions 1989-1993

Stanley "Wheels" Kovak (Marcus Graham) 1989 (Guest), 1990-1991 (Regular)
Daniel Windsor (Chris Orchard) late-1989-1990
Toni Windsor (Toni Pearen) late-1989-1992
Tom Windsor (Andrew Ferguson)late-1989-1990
Simon Windsor (Trent Newman) late-1989-1990
Sally Windsor (Emma Scanlon) late-1989-1990
David Fielding (Noel Hodda) late-1989-1991
Jennifer St James (Virginia Hey) 1989-1990
Max Simmons (Bruce Samazan) late-1989-1993
Harley Brown (Malcolm Kennard) late-1989-1992
Alice Sullivan (Marianne Howard) 1989-1992, 1993 (finale)
Megan Patchett (nee Bromley) (Lisbeth Kennally) late-1989-1990
Sam Bulmer (Serge Lazareff) 1989-1990
Margaret Bennett (Briony Behets) 1989-1990
Sonny Bennett (Richard Huggett) 1989-1990
Miki Fallon (Peta Toppano) 1989-1990
JoJo (Kelley Abbey) 1989 (Guest), 1992-1993 (Regular)
Kim Talbot (Rebecca Saunders) 1990
Auntie Vi Patchett (Bunney Brooke) 1990-1991
Susan Franklin (Anne Tenney) 1990
Dr Elly Fielding #2 (Diane Craig) Replaced Penny Cook 1991-1993
Sheridan Sturgess (Kate Raison) 1990-1992
Michael Sturgess (Graham Harvey) 1990-1991
Craig "C.J." Jones (Adrian Lee) 1990-1992
Nikki Spencer (Melissa Tkautz) 1990-1992, 1993
Zac Spencer (Daniel Knight) 1990
Dr Virginia Travis (Julieanne Newbould) 1991-1992
Stephen Richardson #1 (Vince Martin) 1991-1992
Stephen Richardson #2 (Olav Evensen) 1992
Joey Valentine (Lorry D'er Cole) 1991-1992
Mary Patchett (Joan Sydney) 1991-1992
Jack Brown (Andrew Williams)1992-1993
Jamie Newman (Scott McRae) 1992-1993
Penny O'Brien (Josephine Mitchell) 1992-1993
Charlie O'Brien (Prue McGuire) 1992-1993
Sam Farrell (Simon Baker Denny) 1992-1993
Amy Preston (Rebecca Rigg) 1992
Bonnie Tate (Melissa Bell) 1992-1993 (Melissa Bell also played minor character Janine in 1989)
Jack Brown (Andrew Williams) 1992-1993
Sally McKinnon (Joanna Lockwood) 1992-1993
Laura Fielding (Antoinette Byron) 1993

[edit] Broadcast History

Australia
Network 10
January 1989 - May 1993
Tuesdays and Thursdays 19.30
Repeated first 200 episodes 2000-2001 at 05.00.

United Kingdom
Sky One
April 1992 - February 1995
Monday to Friday 18.30. Briefly broadcast Saturdays (18.00) and Sundays (13.00). Completed run at 19.00 timeslot.