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Returning: The Heights

The second batch of WA-based soap episodes will screen on ABC from July.

The second batch of The Heights episodes will screen on ABC from July.

The WA-based soap will return to an 8:30pm Friday slot with more double episodes over 7 weeks.

This time however, ABC will not be making all episodes available to stream with the series return. Instead two new episodes will be available on iview following their liner broadcast.

Ana wakes to a text message from Evan who’s checking in after they spent the night drinking.

As she readies for the day, she spots Ryan’s shirt – left behind after their misadventure in the community garden. Meanwhile, Ryan wakes to find Lottie still keen to talk. Aware he can’t avoid the conversation forever, Ryan agrees to head out for a coffee, leaving Hazel to deal with the pub clean-up all on her own. When Ana arrives for her shift, she’s disheartened to learn that Ryan’s with Lottie. Hazel asks Ana about Lottie and is surprised to learn that Ryan asked her to marry him when they were in London. Meanwhile, Lottie explains the reason that she said no but assures him she still loves him. Lottie and Ryan return to the pub where they cross with Ana.

Uncomfortable, Ana asks if she can finish her shift early. Ryan agrees but as she leaves, he calls her back, thinking she’s forgotten something. As he tries to hand it back to her, he sees it’s his shirt. Later that night, Lottie offers to find a hotel but Ryan, thoughtful after what she said, tells her she should stay so they can figure out where they’re at.

Determined to keep her family together, Renee helps Mark deal with his gambling addiction by putting rules around money in place. Though he’s committed to getting better, Mark can’t help but feel like crap for letting his family down. When Renee turns to Leonie to vent about Mark and the financial hole he’s put them in, Leonie suggests Renee consider going back to work. Renee’s hesitant, explaining she always wanted to be a stay-at-home mum. But seeing Leonie’s point, Renee broaches the subject with the kids and both Frankie and Noah are okay with it. Renee realises it is time to go back to work.

8:30pm Friday July 5.

12 Responses

  1. The Heights doesn’t rate. The ABC made it as a serial soap, then had no idea what to do with it. They made a last minute scheduling change to burning it off with double eps on Friday nights when no one is watching, with the teasers for the 2nd ep left in the middle. It’s actually well shot and acted, for a soap, but the writing, in trying to be maximally diverse and not offend anyone, is terminally boring. The ABC has cancelled all its Friday night dramas when they were its top rating shows, so maybe The Heights will be renewed.

  2. I really enjoyed part 1 and was hoping we’ll see the next half soon. Looking forward to it-and since I’m from WA, it’s fun to spot the locations!

      1. I too enjoyed part one and I am glad I watched it in my own time and finished it in early May, so that i had a shorter break. Having said that the start of the synopsis left me clueless, so I will wait to watch when it returns.

      2. Been getting 544k for Endevour in the slot … they will have to be satisfied with one third of that number as that was roughly what The Heights was rating a few months ago

      3. … a lot more will depend on the attitude of the new management team. Remember, Mark Scott depleted everything else in the ABC to pay for his dream of turning the ABC into (in his own words) a “news organisation”; Michelle Guthrie tried to turn that around by investing in regional activity (Perth included – at Ultimo, anything not at Ultimo is considered “regional”); so what does the Ita/David combo have in mind? Time will tell …

        1. Mark Scott is also on the record as backing Aust. drama on ABC, so not sure he was proposing an either / or scenario. In any case The Heights was announced when David Anderson was ABC Director of TV. The cost per hour on the show is also in its favour, so I would be optimistic at this stage. I’d like to see a better timeslot.

          1. David … take it from someone who was working there full-time when Scott was in charge … he was. From 2010 when the unfunded News 24 was launched, every other department suffered … including drama. He wrote an all-staff email in February 2013 which upset a great many non-news staff when he referred to “being proud” to be part of a “news organisation” effectively dismissing every other area of the ABC. Or read the essay by former Director of Television, Kim Dalton, in 2017 that talked about the “millions of dollars” that were “siphoned off” from “drama, documentary and children’s TV”.

          2. Scott unveiled a plan to turn the ABC into a major digital media player and chase viewers 16-40. He preceded with it despite the budget cuts. Dalton complained that $40m was taken from TV to fund the 24 hour news channel, expanded website presence including a lifestyle website, and iview and fact checking and investigative divisions. Dalton wanted transparancy and accountability to viewers in ABC budgets. Scott’s restructure to get rid of outdated silos failed, and it was left up to Guthrie to fix things and modernise the ABC. Though that wasn’t without it own problems.

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