A soap opera, daytime drama, or soap for short, is typically a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term was preceded by "horse opera", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns.
Number 96 is an Australian primetime soap opera that aired on 0-10 Network from 13 March 1972 to 11 August 1977, originally broadcast in the primetime slot of 8:30 pm for 5 x half-hour episodes every weeknight, then later 2 x one hour episodes screened per week.
The Restless Years is an Australian soap opera which followed the lives of several Sydney school-leavers and the drama and relationships faced by young adults. It was created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for Network Ten.
Raymond Francis Meagher is an Australian actor, who has appeared in Australian film and television since the mid-1970s. He is notable as the longest continuing performer in an Australian television role, portraying Alf Stewart on Home and Away, having played the role since the first episode in 1988. Meagher won a Gold Logie Award for his role in Home and Away in 2010 and has currently played the role of Alf for over 35 years.
Abigail Rogan is an English-born former actress particularly of television soap operas and film and was also briefly a vocalist.
Tom Oliver is a British naturalised Australian retired actor.
Families is a daytime soap opera, which was on ITV from 1990 to 1993 and created by Kay Mellor. It followed two families; the Thompsons, based in Cheshire, England, and the Stevens, living in Sydney, Australia. It was produced and recorded at Studio 6 at Granada Studios in Manchester.
Sheila Kennelly, also credited as Sheila Kenneally, is a British-born Australian retired character actress of theatre and music hall, television and film, with a career spanning over 50 years. From the late 1950s onwards, her early career was based exclusively in theatre and she didn't start her screen career until the late 1960s becoming well known for her roles in TV soap operas, serials, sitcoms and mini-series. She is best known locally and internationally for her role in Home and Away as Floss McPhee in that series first year, before being written out as producers wanted to concentrate on a younger and updated cast.ref name="Oram">Oram, James "Home and Away" Behind the Scenes</ref>
Ronald Ernest McMurtry, professionally known as Ron Shand and earlier in his career billed as Ronnie McMurtry, was an Australian actor and comedian who worked extensively in numerously genres of the show business industry including, circus, soft shoe, theatre, cabaret, revue vaudeville, radio, television and film and was also a recording artist in a career spanning over 70 years.
John Sidney Lockwood was a British variety entertainer, comedian and actor, who also became notable in Australia after emigrating to that country.
Carol Raye was a British-born actress of film, television, radio, theatre and revue, comedian, singer, dancer, and radio and television creator, producer and director, she worked in her native England as well as internationally in Kenya and then Australia, where she was one of the first female television executives at a time when the industry was dominated by male counterparts.
Mike Dorsey was an English-born Australian theatre and television actor, publicity officer, and tour manager.
Wendy Blacklock AM is an Australian-born retired theatre actress and theatrical entrepreneur, radio and television actress, comedienne, producer, writer, singer, dancer and choreographer who has appeared in numerous performance roles, both locally and in the United Kingdom, and has been referred to as "The Grand Dame of the Stage".
June Marie Salter AM was an Australian actress and author prominent in theatre and television. She is best known for her character roles, in particular as schoolteacher Elizabeth McKenzie in the soap opera The Restless Years and for her regular guest appearances in A Country Practice as Matron Hilda Arrowsmith.
Patrick Ward was an Australian actor noted for several performances on Australian television. He died from cancer on October 14, 2019.
James Campbell Elliott alternately James Eliott and Elliot James, was a Scottish-born Australian radio, theatre, television and film actor and best known for his appearances in both telefilms and serials, especially as an original character in the 1970s television soap opera Number 96, as Alf Sutcliffe opposite co-star Elisabeth Kirkby who played his wife Lucy Sutcliffe
Jim Houghton, is an American actor and soap opera writer. He is best known as an original cast member of CBS prime time soap opera Knots Landing and played the role of Kenny Ward during seasons one through four (1979–1983).
Robin Ramsay is an Australian former television, film and stage actor. He appeared in the rural series Bellbird as Charlie Cousins, in which he was best known for the scene in which he falls to his death from a wheat silo.
Lynette Curran is an Australian actress known for many roles in Australian television series and films, including the soap opera Bellbird, and the films Country Town (1971) and Bliss (1985).
Joan Olive Bruce was an English-Australian actress born in Surrey, England to George and Olive Thompson, and taking the stage surname name of Bruce after her maternal grandmother.