Australian TV Plays: Motel (27 May 1968)

A daytime serial for ATN-7. I think it ran for 135 episodes.

Premise

A family run a motel.

The motel was run by Hal (Walter Sullivan) and Mary (Brenda Senders) Gillian, whose family included businessman son Rod (Noel Trevarthen), his glamorous – and none-too-faithful – wife Gaye (Jill Forster), their rebellious teenage son Chris (Gregory Ross) and their daughter Liz (Gae Anderson), who was secretary to a politician called Paul Brennan (Brian James)

Other characters included motel employees Maria (Margot Reid) and Janie (Maggie Gray), motel owner Alec Evans (John Faasen) and Reverend Larcombe (Ross Higgins).

Production

Richard Lane says the J Oswin of Seven wanted to do a day time soapie. He approached James Workman and Richard Lane. Lane, in his oral history with Graham Shirley, says the idea was Workman's but Lane helped develop it.

Lane said he and Workman would write two eps a week each. He says another female writer started but didn't work out (this was Joan Levy). Eventually the fifth ep a week was by Kay Keavney. Keavney did it moonlighting while working full time for the Australian Woman's Weekly. Creswick Jenkinson wrote for it.

The series did well in the daytime. So well that Oswin decided to play it at night. Lane said this was a disaster as the show didn't have production values high enough for nighttime viewing.

Lane says later on when Number 96 was a hit Oswin spoke to Lane and said he wished they could've done that with Motel.

Sample segment is here.