Debuting in 1974, this Australian drama serial about the students and staff of Waratah High School was made by the Grundy Organisation for Channel Seven, Sydney, and aired five nights a week, complete with catchy theme tune from rocker Brian Cadd.
By concentrating on the older kids and the teachers, parents and other adult figures, Grundy’s were amongst the first to recognise that a young segment would be a vital part of the overall audience for soap opera.
Class of ’74 had the usual set of changing relationships between teachers and students, although in 1974 it featured an illicit, but never explicit, relationship between a shy schoolboy and the headmaster’s wife.
The show continued the following year, updating itself to Class of ’75.
The series featured veteran actor Leonard Teale as the headmaster, Charles Ogilvy. By this time he was showing his age after a long innings in Homicide. The deputy head was played by English actor John Hamblin, who is more familiar as a Play School presenter.
The cast also included Gordon Glenwright (pictured in overalls above) as the school handyman, Hubbard. He never seemed to do any work but occupied a spot under the stairs where he sucked on a pipe as everyone spoke about what they did or intended to do.
In lead-up publicity, the show was hyped for its sexiness, despite being set for a pre-8.30 pm timeslot.
The programme did particularly well in Australia in its first year, sandwiched between the 7:00 news and quiz show The Great Temptation on Channel Seven. Episodes 1 – 191 were in black and white and episodes 192 – 290 in colour.
As a 13-year-old boy I found the show a veritable feast of lovely girls – especially Carla Hoogeveen as leggy love-struck Julie Armstrong, Abigail as Angelique, Briony Behets as Jorja, Megan Williams as Ann Watson, and my all-time fave at the time, Anne Lambert (as Peggy ‘the Iceberg’ Richardson) – later to find fame in seminal Aussie film Picnic At Hanging Rock(1976).
TRIVIA
Many of the exterior shots in Class were filmed at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, in Sydney.
Ann Watson Megan Williams
Nora Hayes
Barbara Llewellyn Julie Armstrong
Carla Hoogeveen Barry Collins
John Deidrich Peggy Richardson
Anne Lambert Jorja Jones
Briony Behets Jane Potter
Angela Punch Angelique Dupree
Abigail Tom Carter
Marty Rhone Mary Dunstan
Jeanie Drynan Charles Ogilvy
Leonard Teale Tony Bianco
Adrian Bernotti Dennis Braithwaite
Peter Bensley Evie
Gaynor Sterling Sue Taylor
Joanne Samuel Gary Evans
Vince Martin Sam Wandsworth
Patrick Ward Hubbard
Gordon Glenwright Mike
Terry Peck Donald Blair
John Hamblin Maureen Blair
Janet Kingsbury Greg Simpson
Christopher Cummings Peter Cooper
Jeremy Chance Faith Adam
Anne Charleston Loretta Day
Bronwyn Winter Father Paul Kennedy
Alan Lander Glen Turner
Chuck Danskin John Ward
Kevin Wilson Graham Blair
Gregory Apps Tim
Chris Benaud Dean Howard
Greg Bepper Gina Ferrari
Peta Toppano
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