''Family and Friends'' is a short-lived

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

which debuted on 7 February 1990.Albert Moran, ''Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series'', AFTRS 1993 p 169 The series was intended to be the Nine Network's response to the already successful soaps on the rival channels - '' Neighbours'' and '' E Street'' on the Network Ten and '' Home and Away'' on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

Synopsis

Set in a suburban community the series focused on two families - the Chandler and the Italian-Australian Rossi families - who were linked by a long-standing vendetta stemming from an accidental death in the 1950s. Old enmities were renewed by the Romeo-and-Juliet style romance between Jennifer Chandler (

Roxane Wilson Roxane Wilson (born 1965) is an South African actress best known for her roles in ''Water Rats (TV series), Water Rats'', ''Stingers (TV series), Stingers'' and ''The Alice (TV series), The Alice''. She was born in Durban, South Africa to an It ...

) and Robert Rossi ( Renato Bartolomei). Despite a strong cast which included actors known for previous soap roles:

Abigail Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later marri ...

(''Sons and Daughters''),

Diane Craig Diane Mary Craig (born 1949), sometimes credited as Di Craig, is a Northern Irish-born Australian actress best known for her performances in film and television. She was born in County Down, and since 1971 has been married to award-winning Aust ...

(''Prisoner''),

Anne Phelan Anne Mary Phelan (2 August 1948 – 27 October 2019) was an Australian actress of stage and screen who appeared in many theatre, television and film productions as well as radio and voice-over. Her television soap opera roles included '' ...

(''Prisoner''),

Justine Clarke Justine Clarke (born 16 November 1971) is an Australian actress, singer, musician, author and television host. She has been acting since the age of seven and has appeared in some of Australia's best-known TV shows. She is best known as a presen ...

('' Home and Away''), and Alyce Platt (''Sons and Daughters''), the series failed to catch on with the viewers. Episodes were initially broadcast in one-hour installments up against Ten's ''E Street'' on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 19:30–20:30, but ratings were disastrous. The show was promptly reformatted as half-hour episodes stripped at 17:30 weeknights, but ratings remained very low. And now that it was lead-in to

National Nine News ''Nine News'' (stylised ''9News'') is the national news service of the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is the hour-long 6:00 pm state bulletin, produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, ...

's 6pm bulletin its low ratings meant it remained in a precarious position. The series then underwent a major revamp which included the loss of six cast members and addition of new cast members including

Rebecca Rigg Rebecca Rigg is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in television and film. She started out as a child actor in ''Fatty Finn'' (1980), before also being featured in the films ''Hunting'' (1991), ''Spotswood'' (1992) and ''Ellie ...

. A week's worth of episodes were produced in the new format, when the series was abruptly canceled on 26 April 1990. The final episodes went to air in a late-night timeslot during the 1990-1991 summer non-ratings period. In total 96 episodes had been produced.Mercado, Andrew. ''Super Aussie Soaps'', Pluto Press Australia, 2004. pp. 300–303

Cast

- Doreen Stubbs * Renato Bartolomei - Robert Rossi *

Rachael Beck Rachael Elizabeth Beck (born 9 February 1971) is an Australian stage and television singer-actress. From 1991 to 1994 Beck had a major role on the popular sitcom, '' Hey Dad..!'', as Samantha Kelly. From 2006 to 2008, Beck appeared on all thre ...

- Claudia Rossi *

- Cheryl Brooks *

- Pamela Chandler * Robert Forza - Joe Rossi * Jonathan Hardy - Brother Ignatius * Gavin Harrison - Renato * Maxine Klibingaitis - Gloria Stubbs *

Adrian Lee Adrian Lee (born 9 September 1957, London, England) is an English musician, known especially for his brass instrumentation work with several well-known acts of the 1980s. Career Lee was first signed to Phonogram Records in the late 1970s as g ...

- Marco Rossi * Dominic McDonald - Greg Chandler *

Anna-Maria Monticelli Anna Maria Monticelli is an Australian actress, screenwriter and producer. Monticelli won the 1994 AFI Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in '' Silver City''. In 2001 she was nominated for the AFI Award for Best Original ...

- Luciana Rossi *

Sean Myers Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as '' Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; anglic ...

- Greg Chandler * Ross Newton - Bartholomew Purvis (Thommo) *

- Dawn Rossi * Alyce Platt - Stephanie Collins *

- Pasquelina * Mario Rossello - Mikey Rossi *

Dinah Shearing Dinah Hilary Shearing (12 February 1926 – 14 June 2021) was an Australian actress, active in all facets of the industry, in particular theatre. Biography Dinah Shearing was born in Sydney, New South Wales to English parents she appeared o ...

- Antoinetta Rossi *

Wendy Strehlow Wendy Strehlow ( 1958) is an Australian actress, particularly in soap opera and theatre, she has appeared in numerous TV series and tele-dramas but is probably best known for her role as the much loved nurse sister Judy Loveday in the televisio ...

- Janet Simmonds * Simon Westaway - Damien Chandler *

Kym Wilson Kym Wilson (born 1 April 1973) is an Australian actress and former television host. Career Wilson made her television debut playing a minor role in the 1985 mini-series ''Professor Poopsnagle's Steam Zeppelin''. Her first major role was in the ...

- Blondie *

- Jennifer Chandler

Notes

External links

* {{Romeo and Juliet Australian television soap operas Nine Network original programming 1990 Australian television series debuts 1990 Australian television series endings English-language television shows