“I, Julia Parrish, am now 43, the early autumn time of life, the season of pastel shades, quiet memories, or so I said to myself, but now I don’t know.”
So began this daytime soap from Channel Seven, Australia’s first regular dramatic TV series which, bizarrely by today’s standards, aired at 8.45am on weekdays.
It was a learning experience for Aussie TV makers, featuring radio actors staring uncomfortably at each other, the camera or the floor and moving very little.
Screening between 1958 and 1959 it followed Julia Parrish (Muriel Steinbeck) – a middle-aged (hence “Autumn”) writer of popular novels – and her romantic relationships (hence “Affair”).
In the first episode Miss Parrish, 15 years a widow, welcomed back her steady admirer Mark (John Huson) from a trip abroad.
It seemed, though, that Mark was now slightly more interested in her daughter (Janette Craig) than in Julia.
Of the 156 original episodes, 155 are held by the Australian National Film and Sound Archive.
This makes it one of the oldest Australian series for which a near-complete run survives.
Julia Parrish Muriel Steinbeck Meg Parrish
Janette Craig
Granny Bishop
Queenie Ashton Steve Meadows
Leonard Bullen Mark
John Huson Julie
Diana Perryman Larry Muir
Owen Weingott
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It was a learning experience for Aussie TV makers, featuring radio actors staring uncomfortably at each other, the camera or the floor and moving very little.
