Debuting on Thursday 8 December 1994, this short-lived comedy series from Australia’s ATN-7 was created and written by Gary Reilly, who had previously co-created The Naked Vicar Show, Kingswood Country and Hey Dad!
The gentle one-hour series follows the struggles of the Spencer family – a young yuppie couple who buy a run-down outback pub when husband Don (Nicholas Eadie) is retrenched from his 20-year marketing job with a mustard company.
Don and his bewildered but supportive wife, Sandy (Georgie Parker), and 16-year-old daughter Melissa (Belinda Cotterill) move to the rural town of Cedar Creek to live out their lifelong dream of running a country pub.
The excellent cast includes New Zealand actors Bruce Spence and Roy Billing as the two Bobs, tall and short – the slowest-talking characters on television. Lifelong mates, the two Bobs are Cedar Creek’s local fencing contractors, but they can turn their hand to anything – after a fashion.
They use a strappingly handsome lad named Jeremy (Nic Testoni) for the hard yakka, and they both have great affection for him. One of the Bobs is, in fact, his father – but neither seems to know which one.
The mature barmaid, Thel (Kerry Walker), had been the former owner of the pub, and Kevin (played by Darren Yap) is the Chinese cook at the pub.
The other (nervous) barmaid is Maureen (Skye Wansey).
The use of a bush balladeer – Pat the Poet (Peter Gwynne) – who usually speaks in rhyming couplets, is enough to curl the toes of some viewers.
The final episode aired on Saturday 11 February 1995.
The NSW country town of Wollombi doubled as the fictional Cedar Creek.
Don Spencer Nicholas Eadie Sandy Spencer
Georgie Parker Melissa Spencer
Belinda Cotterill Thel
Kerry Walker Pat the Poet
Peter Gwynne Short Bob
Roy Billing Tall Bob
Bruce Spence Clancy
Patrick Ward Maureen
Skye Wansey Jeremy
Nic Testoni Kevin
Darren Yap
Episodes
The Big Move | Oriental Visitors | Tee For Three | Every Post-Hole a Winner | Thel Goes North | The Grudge Match | Murphy’s Ghost | Relish The Thought | The Goose is Loose | The Trials of Kevin | Clancy’s Proposal | Writes of Passage | Divorce Country Style
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The gentle one-hour series follows the struggles of the Spencer family – a young yuppie couple who buy a run-down outback pub when husband Don (Nicholas Eadie) is retrenched from his 20-year marketing job with a mustard company.
They use a strappingly handsome lad named Jeremy (Nic Testoni) for the hard yakka, and they both have great affection for him. One of the Bobs is, in fact, his father – but neither seems to know which one.
