Lane End

1 9 7 2 (Australia)
7 x 30 minute episodes

Short-lived Aussie serial Lane End debuted on 11 March 1972.

Written by Barbara Vernon – the ABC TV script editor who had created the popular Bellbird serial – the new serial was set in Paddington (Sydney) and told the continuing story of a group of characters who worked and lived there – a sort of Aussie Coronation Street.

Regular characters included a Greek-Australian and his wife (Mr and Mrs Pappas) who ran the corner store; their daughter, Angela, who was a first year Arts student at University and battled with problems of conflict with her traditional parents; a man who owned a used-car lot (Ray Dunlop, played by John Meillon); a young man who was an accountant by day and a jazz pianist at night; and a nursing sister (who was added to the show so she could move around Paddington during the daytime when most workers would be at their desks or place of employment).

In unfortunate timing, popular series Number 96 launched just weeks prior to Lane End, also with a Paddington setting and a traditional shopkeeper and wayward daughter.

The serial did not continue beyond the originally commissioned batch of seven half-hour episodes.

Ray Dunlop
John Meillon
Grandma Pappas
Margaret Christensen
Chris
Ben Gabriel
Katrina
Rosalba Verucci
Sam
Glyn Paul