The Box

The Box was an Australian soap opera than ran on Network Ten from 1974 until 1977.

Inspired by the success of soap opera Number 96, Crawford Productions, then known for the highly popular police dramas they specialised in, launched The Box, their first-ever soap opera, in February 1974. It was a naughty satire set in fictional television station UCV-12. Characters in the series were said to be modelled on Australian television figures of the day, and many self referential elements featured. Like Number 96 the series was famous for its frequent nude glimpses and sexual content.

Storylines

The initial episodes emphasised sex, scandal, and the political machinations of station personnel. The first episode showed a sexy young woman seduce a male TV compere, pose for a nude centerfold with a male action-hero TV actor, and then be seduced by a scheming female journalist. This seduction featured Australian TV's first ever lesbian kiss. It was later revealed that the character was a 15-year-old schoolgirl, although played by an actress who was not underage, Helen Hemingway.

The journalist in question was Vicki Stafford (Judy Nunn) who emerged as a popular character in the series. The show also featured an openly-gay television producer, the flamboyant Lee Whiteman (Paul Karo), and gossipy tea lady Mrs Hopkins (Lois Ramsey).

Along with constructing characters modelled on real-life Australian television figures of the day, The Box presented various fictional programs produced by UCV-12 that commented-on real-life Australian programs. Troubled action drama Manhunt with its accident-prone star Tony Wild (Ken James) was much like the police series produced by Crawfords at that time. Variety program Big Night Out was an In Melbourne Tonight style production, and later the medical drama Mercy Flight seemed connected to early Australian series The Flying Doctor (1959).

Behind the scenes

Production commenced at the studios of ATV-10 in October 1973. The program was initially shot in black and white, before switching to colour production in late 1974. The first episode screened on ATV-10 on February 11, 1974 at 9.00pm.

Initially The Box proved a huge hit, ranking as Australia's second most popular show in 1974. Thereafter the series toned-down the more controversial elements and more comic notes appeared.

Production of the series was in half-hour episodes but the scheduling and airing of the episodes were often varied, for instance, in many instances two episodes were aired back-to-back in one-hour blocks in some cities while others maintained single half-hour episode screenings for much of its first two years at least.

However it was often screened at a rate of four or five half-hour episodes a week, as individual network stations were programmed locally there was often no uniform schedule adopted nationally.

Feature film

A feature film of the same name was produced in colour in January 1975 featuring much the same cast as the series at that time along with Graham Kennedy playing himself, Cornelia Frances as Dr S M Winter, an efficiency expert brought in to improve operations at UCV-12, and Robin Ramsay as Winter's assistant. The film was shot on 35 mm on new sets at Crawford Productions' Abbotsford studios. It was released in August 1975.

The series continues

The series continued after the film, and soon the film's sets were moved to the television studios to be used in the series. In the show's storyline an office fire in October 1975 explained the change in appearance. Episodes screened as two, one-hour episodes each week throughout 1976. Starting with the 1976 season episodes were compiled as one hour installments.

Production on the series ended in April 1977 due to declining ratings and the closing episodes screened through 1977 in a late-night timeslot.

Cast

The original cast was: George Mallaby, Peter Regan, Fred 'Cul' Cullen, Belinda Giblin, Barrie Barkla, Helen Hemingway, Judy Nunn, Paul Karo, Ken James, Monica Maughan, Kay McFeeter, Graeme Blundell, Briony Behets, Fred Betts, Ken Snodgrass, Lois Ramsay.

Later cast additions included Delvene Delaney, Luigi Villani, Tracy Mann, Jill Forster, John Stanton, Geraldine Turner, Syd Heylen, Cheryl Rixon, Tristan Rogers, Noni Hazelhurst, Barbara Llewellyn, Anne Louise Lambert, Maurie Fields, Don Barker, Penny Downie, Christine Broadway, Ross Skiffington.

Scriptwriters

Key writers for the early episodes included Tom Hegarty, Don Battye and Jonathan Dawson.

See also

• List of Australian television series

External links

• Crawford Productions
• Aussie Soap Archive: The Box — Overview and review
• The Box at the Internet Movie Database
• The Box at the National Film and Sound Archive