| Home and Away | |
|---|---|
Title card |
|
| Genre | Soap opera |
| Created by | Alan Bateman |
| Starring | Current cast |
| Theme music composer | Mike Perjanik |
| Opening theme | "Home and Away" (Short Theme) |
| Ending theme | "Home and Away" |
| Composer(s) | Luke Dolahenty Tarryn Stokes |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 24 |
| No. of episodes | 5435 (as of 25 November 2011) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | John Holmes |
| Location(s) | Palm Beach, New South Wales / Sydney (1988–) |
| Running time | 21 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Seven Network |
| Picture format | 576i (4:3 SDTV) (1988–2001) 576i (16:9 SDTV) (2002–2003) 720p (HD video/SDTV) (2003–present) 1080i (HDTV) (2007–present) |
| Audio format | Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround |
| Original run | 17 January 1988 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | HeadLand |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television. The series originally screened on Sunday, 17 January as a 93-minute pilot episode, or a television film as it is known, and a day later aired at its usual time of 22 minutes. At the beginning, the show was screened on Seven at 6.30 pm and currently airs at 7.00 pm, five days a week.
Home and Away is set in the fictional town of Summer Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales, and follows the personal and professional life of the people living in the area. The show initially focused on the Fletcher family, Pippa (Vanessa Downing) (later played by Debra Lawrance) and Tom Fletcher (Roger Oakley) and their five foster children Frank Morgan (Alex Papps), Carly Morris (Sharyn Hodgson), Steven Matheson (Adam Willits), Lynn Davenport (Helena Bozich) and most notably Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie). The show also originally and currently focuses on The Stewart Family. During the early 2000s, the central storylines focused on the Sutherlands and later the Hunters. Home and Away had proved popular when it premiered in 1988 and had risen to become a hit in Australia, and only after a few weeks, the show tackled its first major and disturbing storyline, which was the rape of Carly Morris; it was one of the first shows to tackle such storylines during the early timeslot. The show has tackled many adult-themed and controversial storylines and breaking the rules of its restricted timeslot.
The show has seen much success in several countries. It is extremely popular in Ireland, being one of RTE One and RTÉ Two's most popular drama series since the channel began airing the show just several months after its premiere in Australia. It is also popular in the UK, although it is the only country in which rival soap Neighbours is more popular than Home and Away; it was regularly edited for content on ITV and is occasionally edited on Channel 5. The show remains successful in New Zealand and France where it is titled as Summer Bay. Seven's new digital channel 7Two has begun airing episodes from the very beginning.
Home and Away has earned many Logie Awards; it has picked up more than 30 Logies for Most Popular Australian Drama. The cast earned several awards including Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television, Silver Logie Award for Most Popular Actor, and Most Popular Actress.
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In 1985, the Seven Network cancelled the poorly rating soap Neighbours, but they were unaware that Network Ten, a rival television network was in talks with the production team to air the soap on their network in 1986.[1] When Neighbours returned to television on Network Ten in 1986, it initially attracted low ratings.[2] The Network worked hard to publicise Neighbours.[3] The publicity helped increase the show's popularity and by the end of 1987, it was attracting high ratings in Australia.[4]
In late 1986, Network Seven's head of drama, Alan Bateman, was tasked with creating a pilot for a new soap opera that was in no way a copy of Neighbours. Bateman soon found his inspiration when he stopped in Kangaroo Point, New South Wales on a family outing. Chatting to locals, Bateman discovered that the townspeople were angered over the construction of a home for foster children from the city. Seeing the degree of conflict the plan for the new youth centre had produced within the community, Bateman recognised the drama that could be generated by this situation and began to develop it as the basis for the new soap opera.[5]
When the show began in 1988, it focused on Tom Fletcher and his wife, Pippa.[5] They had four foster children, Frank Morgan, Carly Morris, Steven Matheson, Lyn Davenport, and an adopted daughter, Sally Fletcher. They soon fostered Bobby Simpson, a local tearaway, much to the annoyance of Donald Fisher. They bought the caravan park and quickly built strong friendships with the locals, Ailsa Stewart, Alf Stewart, and Neville and Floss McPhee.
Home and Away celebrated its twenty-first year in production with a celebration in Sydney on 23 July 2009.[6] The mayor of Sydney's Pittwater Council presented cast members with the key to Palm Beach, the filming location for the show.[6]
Notable former cast members include Heath Ledger (Scott Irwin), Isla Fisher (Shannon Reed), Melissa George (Angel Parrish), Julian McMahon (Ben Lucini), Dannii Minogue (Emma Jackson), Chris Hemsworth (Kim) Simon Baker (James Healy), Guy Pearce (David Croft), Ryan Kwanten (Vinnie Patterson), Sharni Vinson (Cassie Turner), Ben Steel (Jude Lawson), Beau Brady (Noah Lawson) and Naomi Watts (Julie Gibson).[7] According to Kip Gamblin (Scott Hunter, 2003–2005), "the acting apprenticeship so many had received on the set of Home and Away had paved the way for their success."[7]
All interiors for the show were taped at Seven Sydney's Epping studios until 2010. Following the closure of these studios in early 2010, episodes are taped at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern. Exterior scenes are taped on location, mainly at Palm Beach, and at Fisherman's Beach, Collaroy in Sydney's Northern Beaches region.
Home and Away was filmed in video (PAL) from the pilot episode up until mid 2003 when it was changed to high-definition video, this now gives the show a film look even while watching in standard-definition. In 2007, Seven HD launched and the show is now available to watch in full HD (1080i).
Home and Away has tackled many controversial issues over the years, while some storylines are comical and humorous, others deal with more serious matters which are mainly adult themed, such as, marital problems, domestic violence, bullying, gambling, cancer, teen pregnancy, abortion, surrogacy, racism, rape, drug addiction and drug dealing, alcoholism, adultery, kidnapping, arson, imprisonment, sexuality, suicide, homophobia, murder, incest, child abduction, and child abuse both physical and sexual, mental illness and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Home and Away is broadcast in Australia weeknights at 19:00 on the Seven Network. The show rates well and is often the highest rating programme in its time slot, usually receiving between 1 and 1.4 million viewers per episode (nightly).[8] The weeks episodes are repeated Sunday mornings around 06:00 on Seven's free-to-air digital channel, 7TWO. The show airs for 46 weeks each year (except for occasions where worldwide events take priority such as the Olympic Games). Each new season usually begins on the second Monday in January and the season finale usually airs on the last Friday of November.
7TWO began repeating the show in November 2009 from episode one, airing each weekday at 09:00. Episode 562 airs 30 December 2011. Prime7 previously repeated the show from the beginning in 1999 ceasing in 2001. Foxtel aired the show from the beginning on their now-defunct channel Fox Kids, and later on Fox Soap between 1996 and 1998.
The digital network NT1 commenced airing episodes on Monday, 4 September 2006. The series is titled Summer Bay in France. The show is currently on the 2007 season (season 20).
The show has been showing in Flanders (northern Belgium, with Dutch language subtitles) since Kanaal Twee (VTM's commercial sister channel, renamed 2BE in 2008) opened in 1995. Episodes currently being shown aired in Australia in January 2010. The show originally aired once a day at 18:30 but since January 2008 airs twice a day; currently, each 25 minute episode first shows at 17:55 and is repeated the next day about 13:30.
In the Republic of Ireland, the national state broadcaster, RTÉ, has shown the programme since its inception – 1988. The show airs Monday to Friday at 1.25 pm on RTÉ One, repeating at 6.30 pm on RTÉ Two. A repeat of the weeks episodes airs on Saturday and Sunday on RTÉ Two. The show has consistently been RTÉ Two's most popular televised drama, regularly topping the ratings. Average ratings for the 6.30 pm screening on RTÉ Two are in the region of 250,000 viewers, with 130,000 for the RTÉ One 1.25 pm screening. Due to the UK's Channel 5 having the rights to premiere the show in Europe, RTÉ cannot screen episodes ahead of Channel 5. RTÉ are currently 36 episodes behind the Australian broadcast. Previous episodes of the show are available for Irish viewers to re-watch on the RTÉ Player.
Home and Away airs weekdays at 17:30 on TV3. The previous day's episode airs the following afternoon at 12:30, with the exception of Friday's episode, which airs the following Monday afternoon. That week's episodes are re-screened as an omnibus on Sunday mornings at 10:00. New Zealand was the first country outside of Australia to broadcast Home and Away, beginning six months after the show first aired in 1988
Home and Away debuted on British television on Saturday, 11 February 1989 in most regions, however, some showed the pilot episode a day later on Sunday, 12 February. It was broadcast on ITV for 11 and a half years, episodes 1–2840. The last episode on ITV aired on Thursday, 8 June 2000. At the time, ITV were nine episodes behind Australia, therefore there were regular breaks at Christmas and Easter. During the period from 2000–2001 when new episodes of Home and Away were not being shown in the UK, Satellite and Cable Channel ITV2 began airing some repeats of episodes from the 1996 season (season 9).
After a delay in screening, Home and Away made its début on Channel 5 on Monday, 16 July 2001.[9] At this point, there were still 24 weeks worth of episodes from 2000 to air. In addition to this, the programme's end credits returned. The night before the first episode premiered on Channel 5 on Sunday, 15 July 2001, a new hour-long special recapped events from when screenings stopped, and previewed upcoming stories. Episodes screened on Channel 5 at 18:00. weeknights with a re-run at 12:30 (until 30 December 2005) and then noon (from 3 January 2006 – 8 February 2008). When Channel 5 picked up Neighbours, the re-run slot was moved to the 18:00 slot and the episodes now have their first airing on the channel on weekdays at 14:15. In the event of a football match, Home and Away will air one of its slots (the 14:15 one normally) and then do two repeats the following night from 18:00 – 19:00. Channel 5 originally showed a Saturday omnibus edition repeating all 5 episodes from the previous week. This originally aired in an afternoon slot but in March 2004 was moved to a morning slot. At the end of 2005, the omnibus edition was dropped from the main station but when Five Life was launched in October 2006, the omnibus was reinstated on that channel comprising the 5 episodes that had been shown on that channel during the week (so one episode ahead of Channel 5). Home and Away was first shown on Five Life (now Fiver) on Monday, 16 October 2006, the day after the channel's launch. In May 2007, Five Life (Later Fiver) began repeating episodes from the 2000 season (season 13) starting with the first episode that Channel 5 had shown. These were dubbed "The Early Years" and two episodes were shown daily in a mid morning slot. However, at the end of 2007, these episodes were taken off the channel during the Christmas period and although it was initially stated that they would return in the new year, they have not returned at the present time. Channel 5 are currently 35 episodes (7 weeks) behind Australia's transmission
Satellite and Cable channel Living began a repeat run of the series in April 1999. However, they did not start with the pilot episode but started a little way into the 1988 season. However, in April 2001 when Living were showing the 1990 season, the repeats skipped ahead 6 years to 1996 due to low ratings. At this point, a Catch-Up episode was aired to bring viewers up to date. During 2002, the repeats moved to Trouble who carried on from the same episode as where Living stopped. Trouble stopped screening the repeats at the end of 2002 and from January 2003 they returned to Living in a late night slot. However, in March 2003, Living took the show off the air completely.
The new SKY channel Sofa Stars is rumoured to air early episodes of Home and Away from the very beginning. It hasn't yet been confirmed.
In Norway, the show airs on weekdays on TV2 at 16:00 and the episode from the day before is repeated at 14:30. The channel is currently airing episodes from 2009.
In Lithuania, the show airs every work day the best time before news on LNK until 2007. Later in TV1. 2011 started on BTV (2005 years season).
In Greece, the show is entitled 'Το σπίτι της καρδιάς μας' (The Home of our Hearts) and airs Monday to Friday at 16:00 on Skai TV. The show broadcasts in English with Greek subtitles. The first Greek episode was Australia's 3761–3762 episodes. It got cancelled due to low ratings four months after its premiere.c
In Estonia the show is called "Kodus ja võõrsil" and it airs on weekdays on Kanal 2.The channel is currently airing episodes from 2010.
The theme's lyrics have remained the same since the pilot episode, but have been gradually reduced in length to keep newer versions of the song at a shorter length. The theme was released as a single in the UK in 1989 and peaked at No.73 on the UK single charts.[10] The single track includes the opening and closing themes and an additional saxophone section. Since the launch of the 1995 version of the theme tune, extracts from the second verse of the full-length soundtrack have been used to close the show, as opposed to an edited version of the opening song which was used until this point. The theme was shortened in 1996, and again in 2004. John Holmes, executive producer of Home and Away, explained the erosion of theme music in 2007. He said: "That's been a casualty of the accelerated flow which is the abolition of opening credits and having our closing credits condensed to such an extent that they are put on the screen at the same time as we are promoting the next episode."[11]
The 2007–2008 theme was recorded by 20-year-old actor and musician Luke Dolahenty. Originally, Israel Cannan sang the theme in early 2007, but due to complaints from fans, Network Seven decided to re-record it, making it the shortest running theme song in the programme's history.
The Home and Away theme is also used as an instrumental underscore on special occasions. It was last used during Sally's final scene and was heard several times throughout the storyline (most notably Sally and Flynn's wedding). In the early years, it was used for commercial break bumpers.
In 2009, the show debuted with a revamped opening and closing theme; however, for timing reasons the lyrics have been shortened slightly and the tune now runs at 15 seconds. The theme has returned to a male/female duet, after eight years of male group/solo singers. As it is much shorter, the theme will once again play at the start of every episode. From June 2006 to November 2008, the opening titles were played occasionally, depending on the episodes' length. The theme is accompanied by the show's first set of cast-less opening titles. The design of the titles is that of a collage, made up from many pictures of Palm Beach, the location used as Summer Bay. The opening theme was not played at all during 2010 or 2011.
It was confirmed by Cameron Welsh that they would concider bringing the opening titles back for 2012.
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Home and Away is one of the most complained about shows on Australian television. From 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006, there were 23 written complaints about the show as viewers thought it was inappropriate for it to be shown in its 7 pm timeslot. Home and Away was the 8th most complained about show on Australian television and was the only drama in the top ten complaint list.[12]
In March 2009, it was alleged that the Seven Network agreed to censor a scene with a lesbian kiss, after pressure from religious groups.[13] This action was publicly condemned by several parties, including media commentator David Knox. Bevan Lee, Seven Network's Head of Creative Drama, later denied the censorship allegations, calling it a media beat up.[14]
In July 2009, a former Home and Away actor, Bryan Wiseman, wrote in The Sunday Telegraph alleging a culture of drug and alcohol abuse among the younger members of the cast.[15] The allegations followed incidents involving cast-members Lincoln Lewis and Jodi Gordon. Lewis was "disciplined" by Channel Seven after it became public that he had filmed himself and a "starlet" engaged in a sexual act and then shown the film to Home and Away colleagues.[16] Gordon and a male friend reported to police that they had seen, on a security camera, men armed with guns in the backyard of the friend's home.[17] No men were found and the pair later admitted to police that they had consumed drugs during the day. No charges were laid.[18]
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