| Return To Eden | |
|---|---|
Return To Eden series title screen |
|
| Genre | Drama/Soap Opera |
| Format | Mini-series / Serial |
| Created by | Michael Laurence |
| Starring | Rebecca Gilling James Smillie Wendy Hughes James Reyne Peta Toppano Daniel Abineri Megan Williams Peter Cousens Nicki Paull Warren Blondell Angelo d'Angelo Peter Gwynne |
| Composer(s) | Brian May |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | Mini-series: 3 x 90 mins. Weekly Series: 22 x 45 mins. |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Hal McElroy Tim Sanders |
| Production company(s) | Hanna Barbera McElroy & McElroy Taft Hardie |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Network Ten |
| Picture format | 1.33:1 (colour) |
| Original airing | Mini-series: 27 September 1983 Weekly Series: 11 February 1986 |
Return to Eden is an Australian television drama series starring Rebecca Gilling, James Reyne, Wendy Hughes and James Smillie. It began as a three-part mini-series, shown on Network Ten in 1983. Gilling and Smillie would reprise their roles for a 22-part weekly series screened in 1986.
Contents |
Stephanie Harper (Rebecca Gilling) is a dull, frumpy "plain jane" heiress. When she marries a handsome but unscrupulous younger man, tennis pro Greg Marsden (James Reyne), she believes that she has found true love. However, after the wedding, Greg promptly begins an affair with Stephanie’s best friend Jilly Stewart (Wendy Hughes). Greg then plots to get rid of Stephanie and lay claim to her fortune. Whilst on their honeymoon, Greg pushes Stephanie into a crocodile-infested river, and watches as she is apparently mauled to death. However, Stephanie miraculously survives and is later found washed up on a river bank by hermit Dave Welles (Bill Kerr). Dave nurses Stephanie back to health, but her face and body are horrifically scarred from the encounter with the crocodile. Dave gives her a fortune in precious jewels that he mined locally, so that she can use them to try to move on with her life. Stephanie sells the jewels and goes to an island clinic where she meets Dr. Dan Marshall (James Smillie), a brilliant plastic surgeon who uses his talents to repair her face and body. After the bandages are removed, Stephanie has been transformed into a beautiful woman. Using the alias Tara Welles, given to her by Dave, Stephanie returns to Sydney and becomes a glamorous supermodel and successful fashion house owner. Using her new identity and fortune, she plots her revenge on Greg and Jilly and aims to take back what is rightfully hers, particularly her beloved family home Eden, a vast estate in the Northern Territory.
Such was the enormous success of the mini-series that Return To Eden returned as a regular weekly series in 1986. The events of the series took place seven years after the end of the mini-series, with Stephanie now married to Dan Marshall and living at "New Eden", a mansion in Sydney. Stephanie's children, Sarah and Dennis, both teenagers in the mini-series, are now adults and work at Stephanie's companies. The opening episode featured Jilly's release from prison and ongoing storylines dealt with her bitter rivalry with Stephanie. The most prominent storyline was Stephanie's continued attempts to keep control of the family company, Harper Mining, which ruthless businessman Jake Sanders was trying to take away from her. Rebecca Gilling and James Smillie reprised their roles from the original mini-series, while Peta Toppano took over the role of Jilly, playing her as a manic, petulant, scheming "superbitch", much in the style of Dynasty's Alexis. In the series' first episode, it was revealed that Jilly was actually Stephanie's half-sister, whilst Jake Sanders (Daniel Abineri) was revealed to be the brother of the late Greg Marsden, out to avenge his brother's death.
The final episode screened in Australia concluded with a cliffhanger ending in anticipation of a second season. Closing scenes featured Dennis being knocked unconscious and kidnapped by an unseen assailant. Meanwhile, upstairs at Stephanie's mansion while a party went on downstairs, Jilly pulled a gun on Stephanie in yet another attempt to murder her. Jake attempted to wrest the gun from Jilly but the gun went off in the struggle, fatally wounding him and splattering Stephanie with his blood. Stephanie then grabbed the gun away from Jilly as Jake careened into the hallway and down the stairs where he dies in full view of the shocked party guests. A horrified Stephanie, with blood on her face and clothes and still holding the gun in her hand, descends the stairs after Jake. Jilly then appears and tells everyone that she just saw Stephanie shoot Jake.
The show's ratings had not been high enough to justify a renewal so this cliffhanger was never initially resolved for Australian audiences. The actors playing Stephanie, Jilly and Dennis were later brought back to film a hasty five-minute conclusion to the various unresolved story threads that was added to the end of the final episode. Dennis' abductor, revealed as his half-brother and Stephanie's long-lost son Chris (Graham Harvey), quickly abandoned his plan to hold Dennis to ransom when he learned Stephanie had been arrested for Jake's murder. Chris had in fact been following Stephanie so had witnessed the shooting incident from the bedroom balcony, and what's more had photographs that proved what had really happened. He quickly cleared Stephanie who was released while Jilly was arrested for murder. This new ending was never seen in the original Australian run and only included in the version of the last episode that was sold internationally. Network 10 repeated the series twice in the 1990s and at least one screening contained the revised ending.
In the UK, Return To Eden was screened on ITV and was a huge ratings hit during the summer of 1986. The 1986 UK transmission also ended with the original cliffhanger, as did the 1989 repeat screening. However, the newer ending was screened many years later when the series was repeated on UK satellite television, primarily the now defunct Granada Plus, which showed it twice. It was shown again in the UK in 2010 by the satellite channel CBS Drama, which showed both the original 1983 mini-series and immediately followed this with the 1986 sequel series which included the revised ending.
The 1986 series of Return To Eden was clearly intended as an Australian answer to the glamorous American "supersoaps" Dallas, Dynasty, and Falcon Crest, with the requisite ostentatious fashions, boardroom struggles, bedroom romps and outrageous storylines. It is fair to argue that Return To Eden successfully delivered all the stock soap pleasures with the Australian setting giving the show a certain ironic distance.
Both the original mini-series and the follow-up weekly series have been made available on DVD in Australia. Kaleidoscope Film has released the original 1983 mini-series as two "Region 0" discs. Unfortunately, even though the packaging states "Digitally Enhanced", the picture quality of the discs actually leaves a lot to be desired and certainly is reproduced from many generations of copies down from the master. Bonus extras on the discs include interviews with Rebecca Gilling and James Reyne in 2001.
The 1986 series was released as a six disc set in Australia by MRA Entertainment. Although the picture quality is generally better than the mini-series, there is some tape distortion and interference on some of the episodes during the series. The episodes end on the newer 'zoom-in' Worldvision logo (present after the company was sold to Spelling Entertainment in 1988) except for the final episode which uses the original 'scroll' logo and is obviously the originally aired episode. The DVD boxset does not include the revised ending, leaving the last episode with the unresolved original cliffhanger ending. The series has also been released on DVD in The Netherlands in a 9-disc set. This release contains the revised ending.
Return To Eden was remade in India as the 1988 film Khoon Bhari Maang. It was directed and produced by Rakesh Roshan.
A soundtrack album for the series, featuring music composed by Brian May was released on vinyl during the show's original airing. It was reissued on compact disc on the Buy Soundtrax label in 2010.
The CD tracklisting is as follows:
1. Main Titles/Return To Eden 2. The Return To Eden 3. Fire & Fight 4. Problem For Dan and Steff 5. Lord Of All 6. Big Business 7. Jilly's Crack-Up 8. Tara's Love Theme 9. Harper's Mansion 10. A Man Not A Boy 11. Confrontation 12. Croc Attack 13. Steff Meets Jake 14. Corporate Espionage 15. Greg Returns 16. Scheming Jilly 17. Angelo's Theme 18. Night Interludes 19. Closing Titles
Notes about the CD: Track 1 is actually the feature-length opening theme of Return To Eden the series, used in the first episode. Although Track 19 is labelled "Closing Titles", it is actually the series regular opening theme music.