Starting Out

Australian TV series or program
Starting Out
GenreSoap opera
Created byReg Watson
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes85
Production
ProducerSue Masters
Production companyReg Grundy Organisation
Original release
NetworkNine Network
Release18 April 1983 (1983-04-18) –
1983 (1983)
Related
The Young Doctors

Starting Out is an Australian television soap opera made for the Nine Network by the Reg Grundy Organisation in 1983.

Background

The five-night-a-week series was created by Reg Watson as the network's replacement for the long-running serial The Young Doctors. It was produced by Sue Masters who had also been the producer of The Young Doctors.

It was set at a medical college with an emphasis on young people getting their first experience of living away from home and leading independent lives. Starting Out debuted 18 April 1983 and aired in an early evening slot before the network's news service.[1]

Cast

The youthful cast included:

  • Leander Brett – Aggie Dean
  • Antoinette Byron – Laurel Adams
  • David Clencie – Ben McNamara[2]
  • Nikki Coghill – Margot Fallon-Smith
  • Tottie Goldsmith – Trixie Sheldon
  • Rowena Mohr – Michelle Rivers
  • Julie Nihill – Tessa Staples
  • Peter O'Brien – Craig Holt
  • David Reyne – Paul Harding
  • Yves Stenning – Will Brodie
  • Gary Sweet – Rod Turner
  • Paul Williams – Peter Nolan

The more experienced cast members complementing the young leads included:

Cancellation

The series failed to gain sufficient ratings and was quickly cancelled and removed from network schedules by 20 May 1983. Some of the unaired episodes were screened sporadically out-of-ratings in late 1983. Not until a late night repeat run during the later half of 1989 several years after production did all of the 85 produced episodes go to air.[1]

Reception

Robert Fidgeon of the Herald Sun named Starting Out as one of "Australia's All-time Top 50 TV Turkeys". He stated "For some reason Peter O'Brien said yes to this dumb soap about dumb teen medical students living in a boarding house. Planned 17-week run lasted three."[3]

External links

  • Starting Out at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  • Starting Out at the National Film and Sound Archive

Notes

  1. ^ a b Mercado, Andrew. Super Aussie Soaps, Pluto Press Australia, 2004. ISBN 1-86403-191-3 p 198-200
  2. ^ Brown, Jenny (7 April 1983). "Starting slowly". The Age. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  3. ^ Fidgeon, Robert (15 May 2002). "Top of the flops". Herald Sun. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via Gale.