Bellbird (soap opera)

Bellbird is an Australian soap opera serial broadcast by the ABC created and co-written by Barbara Vernon, it screened for 10 seasons between 1967 and 1977, and spanned 1,697 episodes. The series centered around the residents of the small fictional Victorian rural township of the series title.

Bellbird has the distinction of being the longest-running soap opera/serial ever produced by the ABC. It ended the same year as commercial broadcast series '' Number 96'' and '' The Box'', which had run for six and four years respectively.

Production and broadcasting

The series was produced by the ABC at the Ripponlea Studios in Melbourne, with the opening titles filmed at nearby Daylesford. Bellbird screened from 28 August 1967 to 23 December 1977 and although it was not Australia's first television serial (the first was Network Seven's ''Autumn Affair''), it was the first successful soap opera and even spawned a feature film and tie-in novel.

The show's ratings were modest but it had a devoted following, especially in rural Australia, akin to the ABC's long-running radio drama '' Blue Hills''. During most of its 10-year production run, 15-minute episodes of ''Bellbird'' screened from Monday to Thursday nights, leading in to the 7:00 pm evening news bulletin. In 1976, the series was screened as a single one-hour episode each week, before switching to three half-hour instalments per week during its final season.

Storylines

The show's storylines followed the lives of the residents of the small fictional country town that gave the show its title. While the series plots concentrated mainly on small-scale interpersonal, domestic and local relationships, issues and conflicts, there were occasional moments of high drama. One of the most celebrated was the death of the local stock and station agent, Charlie Cousens, played by foundation cast member Robin Ramsay. When Ramsay decided to leave the series in 1968, his character was written out in dramatic fashion, with Cousens plunging to his death from the top of a wheat silo. The death scene has figured prominently in retrospectives of great moments in Australian television, and its celebrity meant that it became one of the few segments from the early years of the series that has survived.

Other notable deaths during the course of the series included those of local farm girl, Hagar Grossark (Barbara Ramsay), who drowned during a flood, and the 1974 death of major character Rhoda Lang, played by foundation cast member Lynette Curran, who was killed when her car was struck by a train at a level crossing.

Cast

''Bellbird'' featured a regular cast of 46 actors over its 10-year run. The National Archives of Australia holds a collection of prints from 1977, identifying over 30 actors involved from that time.

Main / regular

Recurring / guests

Foundation creative team

The show was based on a short treatment by Colin Free then developed by original story editor Barbara Vernon. The original story team included Vernon, Alan Hopgood and Michael Wright. The first executive producer was Brett Porter. The original directors were James Davern and Oscar Whitbread.

International screenings

Episodes of ''Bellbird'' were screened briefly in the United Kingdom in 1972. After the initial 52 episodes had been screened, Actors Equity in Australia insisted the ABC increase the price of the episodes so as to pay the actors more. As a result of the price increase, the UK broadcaster purchased no further episodes.

Episodes

Although an extensive selection of episodes survive and reside with the National Archives of Australia, it was reported that the ABC taped over the master tapes of the series, which was a common practice of the time something which series cast member Alan Hopgood had complained about in a ''TV Times'' article in 1976: "They just wiped hemoff and another episode asrun over them .... This failure to preserve the program is criminal, to my way of thinking."

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.

Film and novel

The series was the first soap opera in Australia to spin off into a feature film version and tie-in novel, entitled ''Country Town'' (1971). It focused on Bellbird's problems during a severe drought. Many future soaps followed suit, spawning their own film versions, including '' Number 96'' and '' The Sullivans''.

Ratings

In 1971, ''Bellbird'' was the fifteenth most popular show in the country.

See also

* List of Australian television series
* List of programs broadcast by ABC (Australian TV network)

References

External links

Aussie Soap Archive: Bellbird
– Overview and review
*
''Bellbird''
at the National Film & Sound Archive

{{Oscar Whitbread

1967 Australian television series debuts
1977 Australian television series endings
Australian television soap operas
Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming
Television shows set in Victoria (state)
Black-and-white Australian television shows
Australian English-language television shows
Works by Barbara Vernon
Works by Alan Hopgood