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Reg Watson Reg Watson i(A116444 works by) (a.k.a. Reginald James Watson)
Born: Established: 27 Aug 1926 Brisbane, Queensland, ; Died: Ceased: 8 Oct 2019
Gender: Male
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1 form y separately published work icon Verbotene Liebe Reg Watson , Germany : Das Erste , 1995-2015 21523161 1995 series - publisher film/TV

Created by Reg Watson for German television, Verboten Liebe took its core concept from Australian soap opera Sons and Daughters, including the idea of two siblings separated by their parents who later fall in love (the 'verboten' love of the title). The program was also influenced by American soap opera Ryan's Hope, and, running as it did for more than four times its predecessors' 900 episodes, developed into a series of its own.

After its cancellation, it was revived as Verboten Liebe: Next Generation in 2020.

1 form y separately published work icon Richmond Hill Reg Watson , Ian Coughlan , John Coulter , Michael Harvey , Daniel Krige , ( dir. Gary Conway et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1988 Z1827549 1988 series - publisher film/TV

Like previous Grundy production Waterloo Station, Richmond Hill was an attempt to replicate Crawford Productions' success with the police-drama/soap-opera fusion that was Cop Shop. But like Waterloo Station, it was unsuccessful, limping through a year's worth of poor ratings before being cancelled.

Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series that the program was

designed to fit on the other side of the main evening news, thus hopefully holding viewers already hooked by Neighbours. Although the program had its share of younger characters, it is chiefly remembered for its older players, including the monumental Maggie Kirkpatrick as the pretentious butt of much of the comedy, veteran Gwen Plumb as the caring owner of a boarding house, and Ross Higgins as the police sergeant trying to hold it all together.

Moran also notes that the serial cost $8 million to produce.

2 58 form y separately published work icon Neighbours Reg Watson , Seven Network (publisher), Network Ten (publisher), John Hanlon , Reg Watson , Jeff Truman , Ray Kolle , Katrina Foster , John Upton , Anthony Morris , Philippa Burne , Sarah Mayberry , Ian Coughlan , Helen MacWhirter , Elizabeth Packett , Judith Colquhoun , Jenny Lewis , Lois Booton , Lyn Ogilvy , Emma J. Steele , Peter Dick , David Allen , Scott Taylor , Betty Quin , Louise Le Nay , Jason Herbison , Roger Moulton , Marieke Hardy , David Hannam , Ysabelle Dean , Don Battye , Linda Stainton , Sarah Dollard , Wayne Doyle , Hugh Stuckey , Stuart Page , Christopher Gist , Christine McCourt , Martin McKenna , Barbara Angell , Jason Daniel , Margaret Wilson , Sam Meikle , Chris McTrustry , Ginny Lowndes , Alan Hopgood , Chris Corbett , Ray Harding , Sally Webb , David Phillips , Jon Stephens , Piers Hobson , Kit Oldfield , Drew Proffitt , Jane Allen , Eloise Healey , Rick Maier , Gavin Strawhan , Cath Roden , Victoria Osbourne , Jo Watson , Craig Wilkins , Bert Deling , Fiona Wood , Bill Searle , Christine Schofield , Kate Langbroek , Boaz Stark , Christine Madafferi , Michael Joshua , Alix Beane , Rick Held , Roger Dunn , Jo Horsburgh , Susan Bower , Glenda Hambly , Adam Bowen , Clare Mendes , Sue Hore , Lesley Lewis , Chris Phillips , Greg Stevens , Luke Devenish , Kelly Lefever , Mia Tolhurst , Greg Millin , David Worthington , Malcolm Frawley , Serge Lazareff , Deborah Sheldon , Samuel Genocchio , Patrick Edgeworth , Elizabeth Huntley , Graham Hartley , Judy Nunn , Nicholas Langton , Philip Ryall , Timothy Daly , Steve J. Spears , Michaeley O'Brien , Fiona Kelly , Steven Vidler , Hamilton Budd , Chelsea Cassio , John Smythe , Maureen Ann Moran , Kier Shorey , Shaun Charles , Chris Milne , Mark Shirrefs , Graeme Farmer , Sabour Bradley , Chris Hawkshaw , David O'Brien , Don Linke , Sheila Sibley , Coral Drouyn , Tony Cavanaugh , Patrea Smallacombe , Melanie Sano , 1985 Australia : Reg Grundy Enterprises FremantleMedia Australia , 1985-2022 Z1367509 1985 series - publisher film/TV

A daily television drama series set in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough, Neighbours chronicles the lives of the residents of Ramsay Street. The series initially revolved around three families: the Ramsays (at number 24 Ramsay Street), the Robinsons (at number 26), and the Clarkes (at number 28). The scope of the series has since broadened to include new Ramsay Street familes.

1 form y separately published work icon Waterloo Station Cheredith Mok , Bill Searle , John Misto , Rick Maier , Ian Coughlan , Greg Stevens , Reg Watson , ( dir. Alister Smart et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1983 Z1827325 1983 series - publisher film/TV

A serial set in the fictional Waterloo Police Station, Waterloo Station had strong soap-opera tendencies: Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series that 'It was rightly seen at the time as trying to fuse The Restless Years with Cop Shop, but without much success'.

Despite focusing overtly on the police and trainees at the station, 'there was', Moran notes, 'little emphasis not only on crime but even on the station itself. Instead, the action moved between the station, a boarding house and the homes of a policeman and a detective who coincidentally are married to sisters. The latter locations, in particular, enabled the series to focus on young people as well as some of the older figures.'

The program was axed after three months on air.

1 form y separately published work icon Taurus Rising Reg Watson , Denise Morgan , Michael Brindley , Christine McCourt , ( dir. Igor Auzins et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1982 Z1827286 1982 series - publisher film/TV

Designed as an antipodean counterpart to glossy American soap operas Dallas and Dynasty, Taurus Rising (which traced the rivalry of two affluent families, the Drysdales and the Brents) cost $4.5 million to produce, but did so poorly on air that it was rapidly shifted to a weekend timeslot (according to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series) and ultimately ran to only nineteen episodes. It did, however, later sell to overseas markets, where it was marketed as an extended mini-series.

1 1 form y separately published work icon Sons and Daughters Reg Watson , Seven Network (publisher), Don Battye , Greg Stevens , Bevan Lee , Maureen Ann Moran , Peter Pinne , Ray Kolle , Ian Coughlan , Greg Haddrick , John Alsop , Bruce Hancock , Ysabelle Dean , Bill Searle , Alister Webb , Christine Schofield , Boaz Stark , Tony Sheldon , Betty Quin , Lyn Ogilvy , Anthony Wheeler , Foveaux Kirby , Geoffrey Atherden , Colin Bowles , Valda Marshall , Reg Watson , Sally Webb , Jane Seaborn , Melvyn Morrow , Liz Cunningham , Michael Gillett , David Phillips , Alison Nisselle , Sue Smith , Rick Maier , ( dir. Philip East ) 1981 Australia : Reg Grundy Enterprises Seven Network , 1981-1987 Z1510959 1981 series - publisher film/TV

Sons and Daughters explores the dramatic incidents in the lives of the wealthy Hamilton family and the working-class Palmer family. The premise that underpinned the show's early years concerned the character John Palmer, on the run from the Melbourne police, who suspect him of murder. He travels to Sydney and falls in love with the wealthy Angela Hamilton, but they are later revealed to be twins who were separated at birth and raised separately: John raised by the wise former prostitute Fiona Thompson before returning to live with his father and Angela raised by her mother, who subsequently married into money. More wealth later arrives through the introduction of the Morrell clan, who have managed to marry their way into the Hamilton family.

1 22 form y separately published work icon Prisoner Cell Block H; Prisoner: Cell Block H Reg Watson , Reg Grundy Enterprises (publisher), 1979 Australia : Reg Grundy Enterprises Network Ten , 1979-1987 Z1511014 1979 series - publisher film/TV

Television series.

Prisoner told stories of the inmates of Wentworth Detention Centre, a women's prison. The show had its roots in the similar UK drama series Within These Walls, but presented storylines with a much harder and sometimes controversial edge, including themes such as lesbianism, murder, and drugs.

Key characters in the series included Bea Smith (aka Queen Bea), who ran things from the prisoners' side, and prison guards Joan 'The Freak' Ferguson and Vera 'Vinegar Tits' Bennett. Other inmates included the elderly Lizzie Birdsworth and lesbian Franky Doyle.

1 1 form y separately published work icon The Restless Years Reg Watson , Ian Coughlan , Hugh Stuckey , Coral Drouyn , David Phillips , Ross Napier , Maureen Ann Moran , ( dir. Peter Benardos et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1977 Z1826811 1977 series - publisher film/TV

Another soap opera from Grundy's, The Restless Years followed a group of teenagers from the end of school to early adulthood: the 'restless years' of the title.

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series,

On paper, The Restless Years should not have worked because the central idea of a group of teenagers and adults variously involved with a kids' refuge was not a particularly strong one. Nevertheless, the series did click with audiences and the program built up a loyal band of viewers who tuned in each evening to watch this tale of lost, confused teenagers and adults. Chief among the latter was the essentially castrating mother played by June Salter.

Mimicking the title of Lesley Stern's article (below), Moran sums up The Restless Years as 'this most Freudian of serials'.

1 1 form y separately published work icon The Young Doctors Alan Coleman , Michael Laurence , Betty Quin , Reg Watson , Brian Faull , Margot Hilton , David Phillips , John Misto , Rick Maier , Patrea Smallacombe , ( dir. Alan Coleman et. al. )agent Sydney : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1976 Z1826767 1976 series - publisher film/TV

According to Don Storey, in his Classic Australian Television, The Young Doctors was the result of Grundy's association with Ron McLean, who devised a pilot for a program called City Hospital at the same time as he was developing the ultimately unsuccessful King's Men.

Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, notes that

The domain of the serial was young viewers, and accordingly the emphasis was on romance and relationships at the Albert Memorial Hospital. Divorce, sex, social and medical problems were all off-limits for this deliberately lightweight serial concerning the various doctors, nurses and patients at the hospital.... However, shootings, bombings and invasions by dangerous psychotics were all permissable ways of removing regular characters and rearranging relationships.

Though less critically and commerically successful than its rival The Sullivans, The Young Doctors ran for five years, ultimately amassing more screen time than either The Sullivans or Number 96.

1 form y separately published work icon Until Tomorrow Ian Austin , ( dir. Reg Watson et. al. )agent Brisbane : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1975 Z1826652 1975 series - publisher film/TV

Another Grundy soap opera, Until Tomorrow, according to Moran in his Guide to Australian TV Series, 'presented a handful of talking heads who did very little and did it very slowly, with a great deal of talk and agonising over matters.' Made in imitation of American day-time soap operas (and therefore one of only a handful of Australian soap operas to have aired outside prime time), the program was made on a low budget and filmed on a limited number of indoor sets.

1 form y separately published work icon The Two Way Mirror Reg Watson , ( dir. Alan Coleman ) Australia : Reg Grundy Enterprises , 1975 8155910 1975 single work film/TV

The Two Way Mirror was intended as a pilot for the kind of 'sexy' soap opera that would compete with Number 96.

According to producer-director Alan Coleman in his autobiography:

The programme, if successful, was to be set in a cosmetic and fashion house–and featured a two-way mirror through which characters could watch nude photographic sessions–or whatever–that would take place in the studio next door. (One Door Shuts, p.266).

The series was not picked up after its initial pilot was filmed.

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