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| Possession | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Drama Soap opera |
| Created by | Reg Watson |
| Ending theme | "There's More To Me" |
| Composer | Mike Harvey |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Don Battye |
| Production company | Reg Grundy Organisation |
| Original release | |
| Network | Nine Network |
| Release | 14 January 1985 – 1985 |
Possession is an Australian television soap opera made by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the Nine Network in 1985. It was the brainchild of the television producer, Reg Watson. The pilot was written by Bevan Lee [1] and executive produced by Don Battye.
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The series began with a convoluted espionage incident that uncovered the interpersonal dramas and family secrets of several wealthy, powerful and glamorous women, their handsome young lovers, and long-lost children.
Originally created as a two hour telemovie it was picked up as a series after the network viewed the pilot. [2] It premiered with the two hour show on 14 January 1985 [3] after which it was first broadcast as one hour episodes at 7:30 on Monday and Thursday nights. [4] It was very soon changed to Thursday and Friday nights. [5] It was not a popular success and only ran to 52 episodes. [6] Production was cancelled in May 1985. [7] Director of publicity for Nine, Sue Ward said "We did a complete series. We just didn't take up the option of a second series because it didn't rate." [7] The later episodes played out in a late-night time slot due to low ratings.
Elizabeth Riddell of the Sydney Morning Herald said of the first episode "The script echoes the plot and production of innumerable cop series, hospital series, legal series, country town series and any big cast movie you can recall with a bit of class war thrown in." [8] Maria McNamara of the Age writes "Initially Possession offers more action than the typical soap but it soon becomes preoccupied with relationships and general angst." finishing "If more Care is taken Possession has potential. It has some likable characters and enough mystery to keep it afloat." [9]
Nine asked the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal to extend the local drama quota time past 10.00 pm to allow the network to move the low-rated series out of prime time and still have the episodes count toward their local drama content. [10] When the tribunal agreed Nine moved Possession to a graveyard slot. [6]
