Family and Friends

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Family and Friends - Wikipedia

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Family and Friends
Written by	Bevan Lee Greg Haddrick
Starring	Roxane Wilson, Renato Bartolomei, Jonathan Hardy, Dinah Shearing, Rachael Beck, Simon Westaway, Ross Newton, Sean Myers
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Bruce Best
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	Nine Network
Release	February 7 (1990-02-07) – December 27, 1990 (1990-12-27)

Family and Friends is a short-lived Australian television soap opera by the Nine Network which debuted on 7 February 1990 and aired for a single season until 27 December.^[1]

The series was intended to be the networks response to the already successful soaps on the rival channels - Neighbours and E Street on Network Ten and Home and Away on the Seven Network.

Synopsis

Family and Friends was set in a suburban community the series and focused on two families - the Chandler and the Italian-Australian Rossi families - who were linked by a long-standing vendetta stemming from an accidental death in the 1950s. Old enmities were renewed by the Romeo and Juliet style romance between Jennifer Chandler (Roxane Wilson) and Robert Rossi (Renato Bartolomei).

Despite the strong cast of which included actors known for previous soap roles including: Anne Phelan (Prisoner as Myra Desmond^[2]) and Maxine Klibingaitis (from Prisoner and Neighbours)^[3]), Justine Clarke (Home and Away) and Abigail and Alyce Platt (both from Sons and Daughters), the series failed to catch on with the viewers. Episodes were initially broadcast in one-hour installments up against Ten's E Street on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 19:30–20:30, but ratings were disastrous. The show was promptly reformatted as half-hour episodes stripped at 17:30 weeknights, but ratings remained very low. And now that it was lead-in to National Nine News's 6pm bulletin its low ratings meant it remained in a precarious position.

The series then underwent a major revamp which included the loss of six cast members and addition of new cast members including Rebecca Rigg. A week's worth of episodes were produced in the new format, when the series was abruptly cancelled on 26 April 1990. The final episodes went to air in a late-night timeslot during the 1990-1991 summer non-ratings period. In total 96 episodes had been produced.^[4]

Cast

^{[citation needed]}

Abigail - Doreen Stubbs
Renato Bartolomei - Robert Rossi
Rachael Beck - Claudia Rossi
Justine Clarke - Cheryl Brooks
Diane Craig - Pamela Chandler
Robert Forza - Joe Rossi
Jonathan Hardy - Brother Ignatius
Gavin Harrison - Renato
Maxine Klibingaitis - Gloria Stubbs
Adrian Lee - Marco Rossi
Dominic McDonald - Greg Chandler
Anna-Maria Monticelli - Luciana Rossi
Sean Myers - Greg Chandler
Ross Newton - Bartholomew Purvis (Thommo)
Anne Phelan - Dawn Rossi
Alyce Platt - Stephanie Collins
Rebecca Rigg - Pasquelina
Mario Rossello - Mikey Rossi
Dinah Shearing - Antoinetta Rossi
Wendy Strehlow - Janet Simmonds
Simon Westaway - Damien Chandler
Kym Wilson - Blondie
Roxane Wilson - Jennifer Chandler

Notes

^ Albert Moran, Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series, AFTRS 1993 p 169
^ Robert Moran (28 October 2019). "'One of the best humans': Prisoner actress Anne Phelan dies, aged 75". Sydney Morning Herald.
^ David Knox (18 April 2023). "Maxine Klibingaitis". TV Tonight.
^ Mercado, Andrew. Super Aussie Soaps, Pluto Press Australia, 2004. ISBN 1-86403-191-3 pp. 300–303

External links

Family and Friends at IMDb

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