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“There was a stage when this scrubby little soap opera kept the lights turned on”

Ray Meagher reflects on how Home & Away was a lifesaver when Seven was mortgaged to the hilt. 37 years it is still going strong.

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Another week has gone by with Seven winning the ratings where its top rating entertainment show is Home & Away.

In its 37th year the show is currently the #1 drama on television. No mean feat.

Legendary Ray Meagher recently shared his memories of how important the show was to Seven’s very survival before Kerry Stokes seized control of the network.

“I don’t know what Kerry Stokes has to do with this show per se, but when he was sort of nibbling at the share register of Seven before he had control, Christopher Skase was mortgaging to build Mirage on the Gold Coast or trying to buy MGM or one of the big studios in the States -the Seven Network was largely the security,” he recalled.

“I’ve said this in front of Kerry, when occasionally they have a dinner where they want to say thanks for however many years or whatever. Kate Richie and I used to always look at one another and think ‘One of us is going to have to get up and say thank you.’

“So I said, ‘Kerry would remember that there was a stage when this scrubby little soap opera, produced at the rate of two and a half hours a week, kept the lights turned on in this place, before he had control, when somebody else had a major say in how to run it, and it was mortgaged to the hilt.

“As an entity, if it wasn’t for the overseas sales of this show, the joint could have gone under.

“And Kerry nodded away in the audience.”

Meagher is a big advocate for the power of Australian serials -as entertainment, exports and training facilities for new talent.

“I thought it was great when Amazon picked up Neighbours. It was a tragedy when it went down. The biggest single (reason) for me are the jobs that were last .. the opportunities for young Australians both in front of and behind the camera – writers, everybody. It was like cutting in half our output of ongoing television drama content, if you like. They were the only other soap that was produced at the rate of two and a half hours of screen time.”

Home & Away even screens up to three hours a week with triple episodes often scheduled on Thursday nights.

Meagher isn’t sure of the programming strategy there but is content to leave it to those who are expert in scheduling.

“I disagree with stuffing around with an audience. I think if you’re on five nights a week, that should be it. If it doesn’t sustain that, get it off. That’s a bit blunt but I think Better Homes & Gardens works really well in that Friday evening time slot…. so they thought they’d double up with us. Not only double up but triple up!”

Home & Away screens 7pm Monday – Thursdays on Seven.

4 Responses

  1. When I worked on Neighbours from the start at Ch10 in ‘85, (after it came across from HSV-7), the storyline’s were pretty simple. Basic life dramas eg. Work-life balances, local hoons, nosey neighbours, neighbour romances/feuds and annoying pets.
    Then when I came back as a freelancer in about 2012, the storyline was dealing with corporate stuff and things way beyond the neighbourhood.
    After 37 years of the show I’m sure that the early scripts could be tweaked and a new audience might be found.
    I’m all for saving Australian TV and filming our way of life, (thank goodness for Bluey!!) so hopefully a bit more money could be put into script writing and then I believe the audience will then follow.

  2. Home & Away sells to 80 countries in G and PG (often more like M) rated editions. It benefited from ITV buying it to compete against Neighbours on the BBC and then Chanel 5 out locking in a long term deal for it. The broadcasting schedule reflects UK broadcasting. They typically broadcast soap in the early evening Mon-Thur with a double episode on Thursday as drama doesn’t rate on Fridays. Seven which has AFL games on Thursday in the Southern States, saves up episode and broadcasts three episodes on Thursday when they don’t. Home & Away is doing so badly that it need to be 30% funded by taxpayers now though.

  3. That’s great that it rates well, but calling it ‘no. 1’ is redundant, considering the poverty of competing shows. (I hesitate to think of Neighbours as a competing show since its local network audience is negligible in comparison).

    1. I agree. In the context of zero competition these days Home and Away is benefiting for being the only place for Aussie drama most of the year on FTA now.
      I still believe it will go the way of Neighbours in the next decade, it will be to expensive to produce for FTA audiences due to dwindling revenue and will need a pay per view partner to exist.

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