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Friday Flashback: Willing & Abel

In 1987 Grant Dodwell & Shane Withington starred as two handymen in capers on Nine.

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Hands up who remembers Nine drama Willing & Abel starring Grant Dodwell as “Charles Willing”, Shane Withington as “Abel Moore”?

Both were former A Country Practice stars but in their own vehicle on Nine.

Created by Lynn Bayonas & Ted Roberts the 1987 show centred around two handymen but producers and network reportedly conflicted over whether it was a comedy drama or something more straight.

Also featuring Rebecca Rigg as “Angela Reddy” it ran for 26 episodes. Guests included Mark Mitchell, George Kapiniaris, Tina Bursill, Maggie Dence, and Ricky May

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  2. I watched a few episodes. It was a pretty obvious commerical TV knock-off of Knight and Clarke’s superior The Fast Lane, which had just finished up. Even down to the casting and hair cuts. It had been reported that The Fast Lane’s master tapes had been destroyed. But ABC Archives said that they have a complete set, they should be dusted off sometime.

    1. ‘The Fast Lane’ was a classic. Should put it on iView at least. One scene that sticks in my mind is Wilbur Wilde drunkenly going up to a booze bus caravan and asking for a kebab (or something anyway).

      P.S. If you do a search in YouTube on ‘The Fast Lane ABC’ looks like a lot of the episodes are there…..horrible video quality though.

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