Bellbird (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Bellbird was an Australian soap opera
set in a small Victorian rural township. The series was produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
at its Ripponlea TV studios in Elsternwick
, Melbourne
, Victoria. The series was produced between 28 August 1967 and December 1977. It was Australia's first successful soap opera; the show's ratings were modest but it had a devoted following, especially in rural Australia. During its 10 year run, 15 minute episodes of Bellbird screened from Monday through to Thursday nights during the lead in to the 7 pm evening news bulletin. In 1976 the series was screened as one one-hour episode each week, before switching to three half-hour installments per week during its final season.
The show's storylines followed the lives of the residents of the small country town that gave the show's title.
Principal cast members included Maurie Fields
(John Quinney), Carl Bleazby (Colonel Jim Emerson), Lynette Curran
(Rhoda Lang), Elspeth Ballantyne
(Lori Chandler), Gerda Nicolson
(Fiona Davies), Peter Aanensen (Jim Bacon), Carmel Millhouse (Marge Bacon), Moira Charleton (Olive Turner), Terry Norris
(Joe Turner), Robin Ramsay
(Charlie Cousens), Penne Hackforth-Jones
(Ginny Hill), Ian Smith
(Russell Ashwood), Anne Phelan
(Kate Murray), Dennis Miller
(Constable Des Davies), Michael Preston
(Father John Kramer), Gabrielle Hartley (Maggie Emerson), Tom Oliver
(Tom Grey), Sean Scully, (Ron Wilson), Brian James
(Ian Bennett), John Stanton (Leo Hill), Rod Mullinar
(Scott Leighton), Maggie Millar
(Georgia Moorhouse), Sheila Florance
(Dossie Rumsey), Brian Hannan (Roger Green), Anne Charleston
(Wendy Robinson), Louise Philip (Christine Jackson), Patsy King
(Kate Andrews), and Alan Hopgood
(Matthew Reed). Tristan Rogers
also acted in the serial.
In 1979, two years after Bellbird ended its run, Elspeth Ballantyne, Patsy King, and Sheila Florance would work together once again in the iconic series Prisoner
(playing Meg Jackson Morris; Erica Davidson and Lizzie Birdsworth, respectively). Maggie Millar; Ian Smith; Gerda Nicolson; and Anne Phelan would eventually join the cast of the series as well (playing Marie Winter; Ted Douglas, Ann Reynolds and Myra Desmond, respectively).
Episodes of Bellbird were screened in the UK in 1972. After the initial 52 episodes had been screened, Actors Equity in Australia intervened and insisted the ABC increase the price of the episodes so as to pay more to the actors. As a result of this price increase the UK broadcaster purchased no further episodes.
In 2004 it was reported that the ABC taped over the series mastertapes, something which series cast member Alan Hopgood had complained about in a TV Times article in 1976: "They are just wiped off and another episode run over them... This failure to preserve the program is criminal, to my way of thinking".
An extensive selection of surviving episodes, apparently found during the closure of the ABC's Gore Hill studios, is stored in the Australian National Archives.
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.
A feature film version, Country Town
(1971), focused on Bellbird's problems during a severe drought. The movie's script was also novelized.
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
set in a small Victorian rural township. The series was produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
at its Ripponlea TV studios in Elsternwick
Elsternwick, Victoria
Elsternwick is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Glen Eira...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria. The series was produced between 28 August 1967 and December 1977. It was Australia's first successful soap opera; the show's ratings were modest but it had a devoted following, especially in rural Australia. During its 10 year run, 15 minute episodes of Bellbird screened from Monday through to Thursday nights during the lead in to the 7 pm evening news bulletin. In 1976 the series was screened as one one-hour episode each week, before switching to three half-hour installments per week during its final season.
The show's storylines followed the lives of the residents of the small country town that gave the show's title.
Principal cast members included Maurie Fields
Maurie Fields
Maurie Fields was an Australian actor, vaudeville performer and stand-up comedian. He became a well-known face on television thanks to his dramatic roles in Bellbird, The Box, Prisoner and The Flying Doctors...
(John Quinney), Carl Bleazby (Colonel Jim Emerson), Lynette Curran
Lynette Curran
Lynette Curran is an Australian actress best known for her roles in Australian television series and films. Between 1967 and 1974 she was a regular in soap opera Bellbird. She also acted in the film version of the serial, Country Town ....
(Rhoda Lang), Elspeth Ballantyne
Elspeth Ballantyne
Elspeth Ballantyne is an Australian actress, born in Adelaide. Having started her career as a laboratory Technician, she then attended the prestigious drama school, the National Institute for Dramatic Arts...
(Lori Chandler), Gerda Nicolson
Gerda Nicolson
Gerda Nicolson, was an Australian theatre and television actor best known for several long-running television roles....
(Fiona Davies), Peter Aanensen (Jim Bacon), Carmel Millhouse (Marge Bacon), Moira Charleton (Olive Turner), Terry Norris
Terry Norris (actor)
Terry Norris is an Australian actor who interrupted his career for 10 years with a stint in state politics.-Acting career:...
(Joe Turner), Robin Ramsay
Robin Ramsay (actor)
Robin Ramsay is an Australian actor of television, film and stage.Ramsay is the grandson of Kiwi shoe polishfounder William Ramsay and father of Robina Ramsay, an internationally ranked dressage rider, and Dr Tamasin Ramsay....
(Charlie Cousens), Penne Hackforth-Jones
Penne Hackforth-Jones
Penne Hackforth-Jones is an American-born Australian actress and writer.She has a number of television credits such as Bellbird, Homicide, Matlock Police, Division 4, Tandarra, Cash and Company, Young Ramsay, Punishment, Bellamy, A Country Practice, Mother and Son, Tanamera - Lion of Singapore,...
(Ginny Hill), Ian Smith
Ian Smith (actor)
Ian Smith is an Australian soap opera character actor and television screenwriter, best known today for his long-running role as the caring, kindly coffee shop owner Harold Bishop in the soap opera Neighbours....
(Russell Ashwood), Anne Phelan
Anne Phelan
Anne Mary Phelan, OAM , is a much awarded Australian actress, who has appeared prominently in Theatre, Australian television productions and soap operas, including Prisoner where she played the role of 'Top Dog' Myra Desmond and Monica Taylor in Something in the air...
(Kate Murray), Dennis Miller
Dennis Miller (Australian actor)
Dennis Miller is an Australian film and television actor. Miller has acted in television shows including a recurring role on Blue Heelers as Ex-Sergeant Pat Doyle .He was also married to actress Elspeth Ballantyne.- External links :...
(Constable Des Davies), Michael Preston
Michael Preston
Michael Preston is an international film and television actor, sometimes credited as Mike Preston.-Career:...
(Father John Kramer), Gabrielle Hartley (Maggie Emerson), Tom Oliver
Tom Oliver
Tom Oliver is an English television, film and theatre actor best known today for playing the role of Lou Carpenter in the Australian soap opera Neighbours.-Career:...
(Tom Grey), Sean Scully, (Ron Wilson), Brian James
Brian James (actor)
Brian James was an Australian actor, best remembered for his roles on television. He was born in Victoria.He began his TV career in the late 1950s as Dr Geoffrey Thompson in the early medical drama Emergency for which he won a coveted 'Logie' award...
(Ian Bennett), John Stanton (Leo Hill), Rod Mullinar
Rod Mullinar
Rod Mullinar is an actor, noted for his roles on Australian television.He took a regular leading role in Hunter late in the show's run in 1968, however he appeared in just eight episodes due to the cancellation of the series...
(Scott Leighton), Maggie Millar
Maggie Millar
Maggie Millar is an Australian actress, best known for her TV appearances as Marie Winter in Prisoner, Elizabeth Bradley in The Sullivans and Rosie Hoyland in Neighbours.-External links:*...
(Georgia Moorhouse), Sheila Florance
Sheila Florance
Sheila Florance was an Australian film and television actress.After working in theatre in London and appearing on Australian television, Florance played small roles in several Australian films of the 1970s, including Mad Max...
(Dossie Rumsey), Brian Hannan (Roger Green), Anne Charleston
Anne Charleston
Anne Charleston is an Australian actress currently based in Galway, Ireland and the UK. She is known for her roles as Madge Bishop in the Australian soap opera Neighbours and Lily Butterfield in Emmerdale.-Early career:...
(Wendy Robinson), Louise Philip (Christine Jackson), Patsy King
Patsy King
Patsy King, is an Australian charactor actress ,a Melbourne theatre performer who trained as a Shakespearean actress with the Melbourne National Theatre; she spent her early days in the United Kingdom...
(Kate Andrews), and Alan Hopgood
Alan Hopgood
Alan Hopgood is an Australian actor and writer.He is a graduate of the University of Melbourne. Hopgood's first very successful play was And the Big Men Fly in 1963. It was adapted for TV by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1973...
(Matthew Reed). Tristan Rogers
Tristan Rogers
Tristan Rogers is an Australian–American actor. He is best known for playing Robert Scorpio on the ABC soap opera General Hospital...
also acted in the serial.
In 1979, two years after Bellbird ended its run, Elspeth Ballantyne, Patsy King, and Sheila Florance would work together once again in the iconic series Prisoner
Prisoner (TV series)
Prisoner is an Australian television soap opera which was set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional women's prison. The series was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation and ran on Network Ten for 692 episodes from 27 February 1979 to 11 December 1986.The series was inspired by the 1970s...
(playing Meg Jackson Morris; Erica Davidson and Lizzie Birdsworth, respectively). Maggie Millar; Ian Smith; Gerda Nicolson; and Anne Phelan would eventually join the cast of the series as well (playing Marie Winter; Ted Douglas, Ann Reynolds and Myra Desmond, respectively).
Episodes of Bellbird were screened in the UK in 1972. After the initial 52 episodes had been screened, Actors Equity in Australia intervened and insisted the ABC increase the price of the episodes so as to pay more to the actors. As a result of this price increase the UK broadcaster purchased no further episodes.
In 2004 it was reported that the ABC taped over the series mastertapes, something which series cast member Alan Hopgood had complained about in a TV Times article in 1976: "They are just wiped off and another episode run over them... This failure to preserve the program is criminal, to my way of thinking".
An extensive selection of surviving episodes, apparently found during the closure of the ABC's Gore Hill studios, is stored in the Australian National Archives.
One complete black and white episode is available to be viewed at the Australian Mediatheque at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image
Australian Centre for the Moving Image
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, or ACMI, is dedicated to the moving image in all its forms. It is located in Federation Square, in Melbourne, Australia, across four levels of the Alfred Deakin Building...
in Melbourne, while several colour episodes are known to exist in the hands of private collectors.
A feature film version, Country Town
Country Town
Country Town is a 1971 Australian drama film directed by Peter Maxwell, produced by Fenton Rosewarne and starring Terry McDermott, Gary Gray and Lynette Curran...
(1971), focused on Bellbird's problems during a severe drought. The movie's script was also novelized.
See also
- List of Australian television series
- List of Australian Broadcasting Corporation programs
External links
- Aussie Soap Archive: Bellbird — Overview and review
- Bellbird at the National Film and Sound Archive