Number 96 (TV series)

Number 96
File:N96 05.JPG Title card from a 1975 episode of Number 96 while airing on TV1.
Genre	Soap opera
Created by	David Sale
Written by	David Sale Johnny Whyte Lynn Foster Ken Shadie Eleanor Witcombe
Ending theme	"Paper Boy"
Composer	Steve Gray
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	1,218
Production
Executive producer	Don Cash & Bill Harmon
Production location	Network 0–10 Lane Cove & Woollahra
Running time	30 minute per episode (five nights a week)
Production company	Cash Harmon Television
Release
Original network	The 0–10 Network
Picture format	4.3 Black & White (1972–1974) 4.3 PAL (1974–1977)
Audio format	Mono
Original release	13 March 1972 (1972-03-13) – 11 August 1977 (1977-08-11)

Number 96 is an Australian prime time soap opera that aired on 0-10 Network (the forerunner of what is now Network Ten) from 13 March 1972 to 11 August 1977, broadcast in the primetime slot of 8.30pm every weeknight.

The premiere of the series was promoted heavily in media with newspaper advertisements that described it as "Tonight Australian television loses its virginity" and it followed the lives of residents living in a four-story city apartment block at the fictional 96 Lindsay Street, Paddington.

The show was developed by production firm Cash Harmon Television, who were originally commissioned by the then flagging network to make a soap opera with similar elements to the British series "Coronation Street but a little racier". The show was a daring last-bid attempt from a network on the verge of bankruptcy, and its immediate success (and advertising revenue) helped them be more competitive and buy successful new international shows like The Waltons and M*A*S*H. By 1974, the network was number one in the ratings for the first time.

Television firsts

Number 96 became one of the most popular Australian drama television series of its era, known for its groundbreaking sex scenes and nudity, as well as its depiction of taboo subjects of the time, such as homosexuality, abortion, rape, interracial romance, breast cancer and transgenderism, but also its array of comedy characters, in a nod to vaudeville.

Television first regular gay character

The show was the first in the world to include gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans characters, most notably gay lawyer Don Finlayson played by Joe Hasham who was a regular in the series and portrayed as heroic and kind instead of being limp-wrested or a victim, (although television's first gay character, Steve, played by Phillip Carey was introduced as a friend of Archie Bunker in the US series sitcom All in the Family the previous year, but never seen again. According to the publication The Great Clowns of American Television, the comedian Ernie Kovacs was the first ever person to portray a gay character on television as character Percy Dovetonsils, in his self-titled "The Ernie Kovacs Show", although the term was not officially established at that time)

Hasham would be one of only three originals to remain in the show until its demise in 1977.

The first regular gay character in the United States would debut also in 1972 with actor Vincent Schiavelli as Peter Panama in sitcom The Corner Bar but he didn't make it to a second series, with then-president of the New York-based Gay Activists Alliance calling it “the worst stereotype of a gay person I’ve ever seen.”

Television first transgender character as portrayed by a transgender actor

The series featured the world's first trans character, played by a transgender actress, with cabaret performer Carlotta featuring in the show as Robyn Ross, albeit only for a brief storyline.

Television's first lesbian character

The character of Marie Crowther played by former TV chat host Hazel Phillips in a guest role, was the show's second lesbian character, who was outed after she was caught perving on Vera Collins in the shower. Prior to Marie's arrival, a flatmate of Bev Houghton's, Karen Winter Toni Lamond, had lesbian tendencies and was shown fondling and kissing the virginal Bev while she slept. That character was revealed to be a devil worshipper in a Black Mass storyline.

Television's first bisexual character

Bisexual photographer Bruce Taylor (Paul Weingott was Don's first lover and he was also having an affair with Maggie Cameron. Later, Don's most enduring relationship would be with Dudley Butterfield (Chard Hayward) who was hilariously camp, but also bisexual.

These story arcs were only brief, but The Box, which starred Judy Nunn as bisexual reporter Vicki Stafford, has the distinction of showing TV's first lesbian kissing scene with Felicity Helen Hemingway.

Broadcasting and production

In 1972 Australian television featured many imported shows, primarily from the United States and The United Kingdom. Previously local soaps Autumn Affair, The Story Of Peter Grey and Motel were only mildly successful. Long running ABC soap Bellbird was moderately popular in rural areas, but less so in city locales.

Whilst popular Crawford Productions shows Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police were all police procedurals, rather than conventional soap operas.

Bill Harmon and Don Cash had previously worked in New York at NBC, and became a partnership after arriving in Australia and producing adventure series The Rovers and a couple of unsuccessful films.

Production of Number 96 started in October 1971. It was produced in monochrome for the first three years and switched to colour production in late 1974.

The premise, original story outlines and original characters were devised by series creator David Sale, who had also written for the TV comedy satire series The Mavis Bramston Show. Sale also wrote the scripts for the first episodes of Number 96 and continued as a script writer and storyliner for much of the show's run.

A building at 83 Moncur Street, Woollahra was used for exterior establishing shots of the block of flats. The majority of taping was done on sets at Channel Ten's studio based then in North Ryde, Sydney.

Directors included Peter Benardos and Brian Phillis. Regular writers included David Sale, Johnny Whyte who was the series final script editor, Susan Swinford, Dick Barry, Michael Laurence, Lynn Foster, Ken Shadie and Eleanor Witcombe.

Storyline (controversial)

File:Thelma Scott as Claire and Abigail as Bev in Number 96.jpg

Early black-and-white episode featuring semi-regular Thelma Scott as Claire Houghton and her on-screen daughter Bev Houghton, played by Abigail

Number 96 was known for its groundbreaking adult storylines and nude glimpses, its comedy characters, and controversial storylines including teenage drug addiction and a black mass conducted by devil worshippers. Whodunits included a panty snatcher (dubbed the Knicker Snipper), the Pantyhose Strangler, the Hooded Rapist, and a bomb in the building.

Drug Use

A story where Rose Godolfus (Vivienne Garrett) took marijuana was the first time the Australian Broadcasting Control Board exercised the 101 censorship code.

At the request of NSW Police, a heroin drug storyline was explored in later episodes when the character of schoolgirl Debbie Chester (Dina Mann), was seen being injected with a needle.

Rape and abortion

Early shock moments involved the travails of the pregnant Helen Eastwood (Briony Behets) whose husband Mark (Martin Harris) had an affair with Rose Godolfus who was later gang-raped by bikies. Doctor Gordon Vansard (Joe James) was struck off for providing drugs for an illegal abortion. His wife Sonia (Lynn Rainbow) suffered from mental delusions, before leaving and returning for the film version of Number 96.

Racial issues

There was an early interracial kiss between character Chad Farrell, played by dancer Ronne Arnold and Sonia (Lyn Rainbow), and later interracial romances over 20 episodes for Indigenous Australian actress Justine Saunders, who played hairdresser Rhonda Jackson. She also became the first Indigenous woman to appear on the cover of TV Week while publicising the role

File:Number96 25.jpg

Left to right: Bunney Brooke, Dina Mann, Sheila Kennelly, Frances Hargreaves, and Pat McDonald who was immensely popular as malapropping gossip Dorrie Evans

Cast list

Actors highlighted in yellow are original cast members.

• The TV series launched the TV career of Abigail, who as character Beverly Houghton was billed as a sex symbol

Actor	Character	No. of appearances
Pat McDonald	Dorrie Evans	600
Joe Hasham	Don Finlayson	600
Jeff Kevin	Arnold Feather	500
Elaine Lee	Vera Danielle Collins Sutton	500
Ron Shand	Herbert "Herb" Evans	600
Wendy Blacklock	Edie MacDonald (note: referred to by her husband as "Mother"" and her daughter as "Mummy")	450
Mike Dorsey	Reginald P. MacDonald (note: referred to by his wife and daughter as "Daddy"	450
Chard Hayward	Dudley Butterfield	400
Bunney Brooke	Flo Patterson Mainwaring	500
Sheila Kennelly	Norma Whittaker	450
Johnny Lockwood	Aldo Godolfus	500
James Elliott	Alf Sutcliffe	500
Bettina Welch	Maggie Cameron	300
Dina Mann	Debbie Chester	137
Gordon McDougall	Les Whittaker / Andrew Whittaker (aka Lord McCraddanow)	500
Suzanne Church	Jane Chester Forsyth	130
Mike Ferguson	Gary Whittaker	128
Elisabeth Kirkby	Lucy Sutcliffe	500
Harry Michaels	Giovanni Lenzi	123
Frances Hargreaves	Marilyn MacDonald Bordello	122
Philippa Baker	Roma Lubinski Godolfus	450
Tom Oliver	Jack Sellers	105
Michael Howard	Grant Chandler	96
Anya Saleky	Jaja Gibson	85
Thelma Scott	Claire Houghton	76
Abigail	Bev Houghton Goodman & Eve	74, 3
Victoria Raymond	Bev Houghton Goodman	14
Mary Ann Severne	Laura Trent Whittaker	73
Stephen McDonald	Lee Chandler	62
Joe James	Dr. Gordon Vansard	61
Joseph Furst	Carlo Lenzi	56
Lynn Rainbow	Sonia Freeman Vansard Hunter	53
Margaret Laurence	Liz Chalmers Feather	52
Arianthe Galani	Maria Panucci	51
Vivienne Garrett	Rose Godolfus Myers	49
Kit Taylor	Warwick Thompson	49
Robyn Gurney	Janie Somers	46
Dave Allenby	Dr. Harold Wilkinson	46
Roger Ward	Frank "Weppo" Smith	46
Pamela Gibbons	Grace "Prim" Primrose	44
Peter Adams	Andy Marshall	40
Peter Whitford	Guy Sutton	40
Nat Nixon	Opal "Gran" Wilkinson	40
Jan Adele	Trixie O'Toole	39
Vince Martin	David Palmer	36
Carol Raye	Baroness Amanda Ashton von Pappenburg	36
John McTernan	Rob Forsyth	36
Carmen Duncan Jill Forster	Helen Sheridan	15, 21
Norman Yemm	Harry Collins	35
Scott Lambert	Miles Cooper	32
Lynne Murphy	Faye Chandler	32
Curt Jansen	Herbert "Junior" Winthrop	29
Patti Crocker	Eileen Chester	29
Chelsea Brown	Henrietta P. Dobb / Hope Jackson	27
Les Foxcroft	Sir William Mainwaring	26
Martin Harris	Mark Eastwood	25
Briony Behets	Helen Eastwood	25
Paula Duncan	Carol Finlayson	25
Candy Raymond	Jill Sheridan	24
Chantal Contouri	Tracey Wilson	17
Kay Powell	Vicki Dawson Feather	24
Pamela Garrick	Patti Olsen Feather	22
Paul Weingott	Bruce Taylor	20
Chantal Contouri	Tracey Wilson	17
Deborah Gray	Miss Hemingway	16
Josephine Knur	Lorelei Wilkinson	10

Famous celebrity cameos

The series featured over 100 performers, including screenwriter and technicians. Many upcoming performers where given the opportunity in the industry to develop there performance, whilst an alumnus of the showbiz world made guest appearances

Name	Character	Notability
Sheila Helpmann	Mabel Butterfield	sister of Robert Helpmann, CBE Dancer, choreographer
Frank Thring	As Himself	Australian film director/actor
Mike Walsh	As Himself	OBE, AM, Famous Australian TV host
Lorrae Desmond	Marion Carlton	MBE, AM Singer and actress, the first female on Australian television to be awarded the Gold Logie
Toni Lamond	Karen Winters	AM, Variety entertainer, the first woman to host a talk show
Ray Meagher	Fred Shrimpton	AM, winner of the Gold Logie
Carlotta	Robyn Ross (billed as "Carole Lea")	AM cabaret performer and activist
Ronne Arnold	Chad Farrell (18-episode story arc)	American-born dancer, choreographer
Judi Farr	Alderman Mrs. April Bullock (8 episodes)	AM Actress
Enid Lorimer	Mrs. Harvey	OAM, Actress
Noeline Brown	Trixie	OAM Actress, entertainer
Henri Szeps	Mr. Mayhew / Phillip Chambers	OAM Actor
Hazel Phillips	Marie Crowther	OAM, winner of Gold Logie
Rowena Wallace	Muriel Thompson	Later won Gold Logie for her role as Pat the Rat in Sons and Daughters
Shane Porteous	Joshua	awarded the Centenary Medal Actor, scriptwriter, animator
Penne Hackforth-Jones	Noeline Sutcliffe	American-born AFI-nominated actor
John Ewart	Oswald P. Piper	AFI-award winning Film star
Brian Bury	As Himself	Weather presenter, TV host
Anne Charleston	Madame Jacqueline / Mad Stella
Jon English	Mr. Masters
Neva Carr-Glynn	Mrs. Sutcliffe
Wendy Hughes	Vanessa Harrison
Chris Haywood	Workman (billed as "Michael Lowe")
Tristan Rogers	Cain Carmichael
Reg Gorman	Irate Father / Constable Wyatt
Penny Ramsay	Babs
Joyce Jacobs	Mrs. Daisy Carson
Brian Wenzel	Jock Walpole
Johnny Ladd	Jimmy Jock
Moya O'Sullivan	Phyllis Pratt
Gordon Piper	Detective Sergeant
Judy Lynne	Gloria Gould
John Hamblin	Dr. Mike Cavanagh
Alastair Duncan	Vernon Saville
Alister Smart	Frank Hobson (TV series) / Duncan Hunter (film version)
Pat Bishop	Melissa Hobson
Brian Moll	T.C. Eddie Buchanan

Numerous stars wanted to appear in guest roles, even racing identity Gai Waterhouse, who unsuccessfully auditioned after completing a drama course in England. Also suggested was a young Bryan Brown (although having been in England he had acquired a British accent, and was not suited at the time by producer Bill Harmon, even though he hails from Parramatta).

Visit by Royalty

The Duke and Duchess of Bedford visited the set and appeared in a cameo in the series, in a storyline in which they come to visit Baroness Amanda Von Pappernburg (played by Carol Raye).

Series background

File:Gordon McDougall as Les in Number 96.jpg

Gordon McDougall as Les Whittaker

Number 96 was Australia's highest-rated TV program for 1973 and 1974. The series was shot on videotape initially in black-and-white but switched to colour in late 1974. Many black and white episodes are lost, the videotapes being wiped for re-use, which was the official policy at Channel Ten at the time.

The series became famous for every episode ending in a cliffhanger and they were the first to ramp up these cliffhangers and put every character in peril over the six week break the show took for Christmas and summer. In 1972, it was the car crash of Gordon (Joe James) and in 1973, Bev was shot. In 1974, Patti (Pamela Garrick) was the shock second victim of the Pantyhose Strangler, but in 1975, instead of a death, it was the mysterious resurrection of Jaja (Anya Saleky) who was thought to have died.

During 1974, the series shifted its emphasis from sexual situations and drama to focus more on comedy. After the introduction of colour TV in 1975, ratings went into decline as its audience began switching to bigger budget American shows. A bold new storyline was devised to revitalise the series. In an unprecedented move, 40 complete scripts were discarded and rewritten, while the Number 96 set was sealed off to non-essential personnel. The new storyline involved a mysterious figure planting bombs, with several false alarms. The dramatic storyline was intended to draw back viewers and to provide a mechanism to quickly write out several existing characters in a bid to freshen up the cast of characters and revamp the storylines.

On Friday 5 September 1975, a bomb exploded in the delicatessen, destroying it and the adjacent wine bar, which was crowded with customers. The makers of the show made a bold move, killing off several long-running cast favourites which were revealed on the front page of newspapers on Monday 8 September 1975. They included Les, Aldo and Roma Godolfus (Johnny Lockwood and Philippa Baker), and then revealing scheming Maggie Cameron as the bomber and sending her off to prison. (She never planned for the bomb to kill anyone and merely wanted to scare residents into moving to facilitate a sale of the building.) Despite the publicity and major changes it brought, the bomb-blast storyline resulted in only a temporary boost to the program's ratings, but it provided material for future storylines, particularly with the trial of Maggie Cameron.

File:N96 mummy and daddy macdonald.JPG

Mike Dorsey and Wendy Blacklock as Reg "Daddy" MacDonald and Edie "Mummy" MacDonald in Number 96

By October central figures Lucy and Alf Sutcliffe (played by original cast members Elisabeth Kirkby and James Elliott) were also written out of the series. New, younger characters were added to the show, most of whom didn't last out the series. Two that did were teenage sisters Debbie and Jane Chester Dina Mann and Suzanne Church, and they became orphans when their parents were taken by a shark. Other enduring characters among the high cast turnover of the later period were the new blond sex-symbol Jaja Gibson (Anya Saleky), and Giovanni Lenzi (Harry Michaels), an exuberant Italian who worked in the deli.

Another whodunnit storyline was the Hooded Rapist in May 1976. Episodes around the time of episode 1000 in June 1976 saw an increase in location shooting, including Moncur Street, Woollahra (outside the building used in the credits), local parks, Chinatown, and Luna Park.

The final year of Number 96 featured a continued emphasis on younger characters, the reintroduction of sexual situations and more extreme nudity, and increasingly violent situations. Don and Dudley had split; Don's new boyfriend was Rob Forsyth (John McTernan) and then corrupt cult leader Joshua (Shane Porteous). The show's final months in 1977 also saw Dudley being machine-gunned to death before a siege in the Wine Bar (now a disco called Duddles), a Nazi biker gang and a schizophrenic blackmailer.

Another bold move in the show's final months saw Number 96 feature what was publicised as Australian television's first full frontal nude scene when new character Miss Hemingway (Deborah Gray) arrived in April 1977. Number 96 had in November 1976 shown a brief full frontal nude flash when a nurse fled a burning bedroom, but now the full frontal nudity was shown front and centre in multiple and protracted scenes. In one particularly outrageous moment, Miss Hemingway walked around wearing a bra but no panties, but despite screening on free to air TV at 8.30 pm there were few complaints. Other bedroom farce comedy sequences featured increasing levels of male and female nudity, and other instances of full frontal female nudity. A scene where Jane Chester becomes a prostitute and is asked to whip her male client, new Number 96 resident Toby Buxton (Malcolm Thompson), featured a brief glimpse of his full frontal male nudity.

These changes to the series were made to combat falling viewing figures. However, they were not a success, and in July 1977 the series was cancelled due to declining ratings. Dorrie (Pat McDonald) and Herb Evans (Ron Shand) and Don Finlayson (Joe Hasham) where the only original cast members to remain to the final episode (Shand had not been in the unaired pilot).

Series format

The first episode began with an exterior shot of the building with moving vans being unloaded while Herb and Dorrie are heard having an argument. Each subsequent episode began with an exterior shot of the building while audio from the previous episode's final scene could be heard. The shot would zoom in on the apartment in which that scene occurred, or remain unchanged, as the show's title was displayed. The vision would then switch to the scene in question as a recap of the previous episode's cliffhanger.

The feature film has a pre-credits sequence involving Vera being raped, followed by the film's opening titles. After this, the opening shot is a zoom-in on the exterior of flat 3 and the action starts with the interior activities of flat 3.

The series was broadcast as five half-hour episodes each week for its first four years. From the beginning of 1976 episodes were broadcast as two one-hour episodes each week in most areas. However, from an internal perspective episodes continued to be written and compiled in half-hour instalments.

Film adaptation

Number 96 was adapted as a feature film in 1974 and titled Number 96. One of the major drawcards being it was a full colour production, unlike the series which was still broadcasting in monochrome. It had the same creative team and mostly the same cast as the series. Although it received mostly negative reviews, audiences lined up all down George Street to gain a cinema seat. It earned nearly A$2.5 million on a A$100,000 budget, and was to that time one of the most profitable Australian movies ever made. Characters in the film received applause when they made their entrances.

Final night

The final episode ended with a reunion curtain call of popular cast members past and present. A week after the airing of the final episode in Sydney a televised public auction of props and costumes from the series was held in the grounds of Channel 10.

Cultural impact and reception

Number 96 was rated number 9 in the 2005 television special 50 Years 50 Shows which counted-down Australia's greatest television programs.

McKenzie Wark, wrote in Celebrities, Culture and Cyberspace (published by Pluto Press, 1999): "Once, when I was a kid, I was walking down a suburban street at night, when i noticed a rhythmic flickering of light from inside the houses, Though screened from view by the drawn curtains, the lights from a row of separate houses were all pulsing in time, And then I heard the music and I knew everyone was watching the same show ... Number 96."

John Singleton wrote: "When Shakespeare was writing his plays, people queued up for Shakespeare. Today they're queuing up for Number 96, so in my opinion Number 96 is today's Shakespeare."

Phillip Adams, from newspaper The Age, wrote: "I believe that television serials provide a surrogate sense of community and that many viewers are more involved in Number 96, than they are in their own community."

The series was featured in cinema documentary Not Quite Hollywood (2008). Interviewees included Number 96 actors Rebecca Gilling, Wendy Hughes, Lynette Curran, Briony Behets, Candy Raymond, Deborah Gray, Roger Ward, Norman Yemm, and an associate producer of Number 96 and The Unisexers, David Hannay.

Cult status

Number 96 was the first Australian soap opera/serial to gain a significant cult following, prior to the network's internationally successful series Prisoner. It led to tie-in books and novels, merchandising, a 1974 feature film also called Number 96, and a short-lived 1980 American remake.

When the series started its cast was one of the largest ever assembled for a local production. When it ended after 1218 episodes it was the longest running soap opera produced in Australia, having surpassed the ABC series Bellbird. Number 96 was surpassed by The Young Doctors in 1982.

At the series' height New York newspaper The Times stated it was the highest rating programs of its kind in the world.

When the stars travelled from Sydney to Melbourne via train to attend the Logie Awards ceremony they were mobbed at stations during whistle stops. Crowds in Melbourne were greater in number than those that met The Beatles during their only Australian tour in 1964.

Whilst the program was extremely popular in Australia, and made for the Australian market, because of its risqué subject matter and storylines, it did not sell in many overseas markets. The show was written up in Time magazine, but it could never have screened in the United States, because of its nudity, homosexuality and interracial romances

The series was based during the era of mass-emigration to Australia, and its multicultural cast included characters that were Jewish Hungarian, South African, Indian and those of British extraction, including a "whinging Pom". It included veteran actors from Australia, mainly from the early days of radio and stage. Indeed, as theatre had been the preferred form of entertainment, many stars like Wendy Blacklock, were reluctant to go into a TV serial.

The series, although originally based on elements of Coronation Street, which screened twice a week, was later more likened to US serial Peyton Place, which at its peak had three half hour episodes a week. Neither show could match its prestigious output of five half hour episodes a week, all year except for a six week break over summer.

Controversies

The show attracted many complaints. The Australian Broadcasting Control Board repeatedly sanctioned the network. To keep the series on air, each episode was previewed to ensure it complied with Control Board guidelines. Sometimes offending scenes would be cut from the episode after its Sydney airing and were not seen when episode screened elsewhere. Consequently, the first episodes feature cuts and screen blackouts. Paperwork about the offensive material, which includes most of the Black Mass, survives with the National Film and Sound Archive but the actual reel of footage has never been found. Eventually due to the show's popularity the Broadcasting Control Board relaxed its restrictions and stopped previewing episodes. By the time the show was winding up in 1977, nobody seemed to be checking its output which was far racier than anything that had been dared in its early years when it was under constant surveillance.

Awards

Aside from the four Logies won by cast member Pat McDonald during her run with the show, Number 96 won the "Best Drama" Logie in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Actor Bunney Brooke won the "Best Actress" Logie Award for her work as Flo in 1975.

The series cast became stars in Australia and had their own Number 96 Passenger train, specially designed for cast and crew travel which for the show's first few years they would take the train from Sydney to Melbourne for the annual TV Week Logie Awards in a silver multi-carriaged train with the commissioner's carriage hooked up at the rear for VIPs. This train was specially-organised by publicity director Tom Greer. The 16-hour overnight journey left from the centre of Sydney at 4.30pm with a farewell party, complete with red carpet and jazz band in attendance; it would feature whistle stops at country sidings and saw thousands of people turn out to see their favourite stars, before it arrived at Spencer Street station. These whistle stops were all beamed back by television stations and went live to air. The rail service of the time was keen to promote its overnight tourism package's, and for the journey the train was christened as the "Spirit of 96".

A humorous story, as told by Greer, was the engagement of a piano player (the outrageous John McDonald) to entertain the cast on the train on the way to Melbourne. John could only play upright pianos. The railways rang and said they could not get the upright around the passageway corners of the train so it would be impossible to get it on board. Greer demanded it be put on the train somehow even if it meant dismantling the piano and putting it back together – "key by key". In desperation, engineers arrived and took off the side of the carriage, loaded the piano on with a forklift, before replacing the carriage wall. The train used green steam locomotive number 3801, which frequently operated the Spirit of Progress train service between Sydney and Melbourne.

Merchandise

Eight paperback novelisations (1972-74) were sold under the Arkon imprint by Angus & Robertson. Some of these were credited to "Marina Campbell", a pseudonym of Anne Harrax. An original novel, 96 (Cover title: Number 96), was published by Stag in 1976.

In 1975, the Number 96 Cookbook was released in Australian by the publisher Family Circle; it featured photographs and recipes from eight members of the cast.

The series celebrated 1,000 episodes in 1976 with a compilation special, Number 96: And They Said It Wouldn't Last, which reviewed the show's most famous story lines and recounted the exploits of its departed main characters. And They Said It Wouldn't Last was repeated at the start of 1977 with a new ending presented by Dina Mann. It is featured on the DVD release.

International screenings

Cast members were amazed to learn the show was screening in some overseas countries. Cast member Bettina Welch reported seeing it dubbed in Italy. But despite a short late-night run in Toronto, Canada on Citytv, the content was far too explicit for US and UK television. An attempt to sell the show at Cannes TV Festival in 1975 with a topless model backfired when British newspaper Daily Mirror reported that "it got a swift 'No Entry' sign" from their broadcasters the BBC and ATV."

File:N96 maggie.JPG

Maggie Cameron portrayed by Bettina Welch

American version

In 1980 a short-lived US remake of the same name on NBC retained the comedy, but toned down the sexual elements of the series. The series was launched over three consecutive nights, from 10 to 12 December. US television and TV Guide promotions for the series utilised advertising hyperbole, suggesting that the series had been "banned in Australia." The nudity and racy content of the original series was not present in the remake; it would probably not have been allowed in the US due to censorship standards there, so the US version only hinted at the sexual content that had been on display in the original. The US version of Number 96 was quickly cancelled due to low ratings. The US show was finally aired in parts of Australia in 1986.

Episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1972	1–201		13 March 1972 (1972-03-13)	15 December 1972 (1972-12-15)
1973	202–445		8 January 1973 (1973-01-08)	14 December 1973 (1973-12-14)
1974	446–669		28 January 1974 (1974-01-28)	15 December 1974 (1974-12-15)
Film			5 May 1974 (1974-05-05)
1975	670–910		13 January 1975 (1975-01-13)	12 December 1975 (1975-12-12)
1976	911–1098		19 January 1976 (1976-01-19)	7 December 1976 (1976-12-07)
1977	1099–1218		18 January 1977 (1977-01-18)	11 August 1977 (1977-08-11)

Availability

From 4 February 1980, TEN-10 in Sydney commenced repeating the series at midnight Mondays through Thursdays, starting from episode 585, the first episode fully produced in colour. In 1994, Network Ten repeated the 1976 special And They Said It Wouldn't Last with a new introduction by Abigail.

In November 1996, Network Ten screened a re-run of Number 96: The Movie.

Though the complete run of colour episodes (585–1218) survive, the National Film and Sound Archive retains only 19 of the first 584 black-and-white episodes. The rest were lost when the show switched to colour, with the master tapes wiped by the network for re-use, or made into a "foyer display". The first three weeks (episodes 1–15), episodes 31–35 and two episodes from the 1974 black and white episodes (episodes 450 and 534) survive. With the exception of episodes 11, 12, 14, 15 and 534, all available black-and-white episodes have been released on DVD, along with Number 96: The Movie and the 1974 and 1975 episodes 649–712, 832–847. As of March 2022, 96 of 1218 episodes have been released in some form, with 560 episodes presumed lost and 553 episodes in archives awaiting home release.

Home media

Number 96: The Movie was released in a 2-disc collectors edition on Region 4 on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment, who subsequently released three volumes of episodes across 4 discs each. Number 96: The Movie was also included the compilation Ozploitation: Volume 4 with five other Australian exploitation films.

	Release	No. of episodes	Region 4 (Australia)	Includes
	Number 96: Collectors Edition		10 July 2006	Number 96: The Movie (1974) audio commentary by Elaine Lee (Vera), creator David Sale and TV commentator Andrew Mercado original draft screenplay (DVD-ROM) And They Said It Wouldn't Last, a 1976 documentary special celebrating the show's 1000th episode, with an introduction by Abigail from 1994 The Final Years, a 2006 documentary covering the last 218 episodes, with interviews with Elaine Lee (Vera), Sheila Kennelly (Norma), Wendy Blacklock (Edie), Deborah Gray (Miss Hemingway), David Sale and Andrew Mercado archive footage of the cast's Spirit of 96 train journey to attended the 1975 Logies in Melbourne
	Number 96: The Pantyhose Strangler	32	August 30, 2008	episodes 649–680 (which originally aired from Nov 8, 1974 to Jan 27, 1975) audio commentary by Chantal Contouri (Tracey) and Andrew Mercado archive footage of the announcement of the 2006 DVD release aired on Network Ten News stills gallery
	Number 96: Aftermath of Murder	32	March 13, 2010	episodes 681–712 (which originally aired from Jan 28 to March 12, 1975) audio commentary by Elisabeth Kirkby (Lucy), Carol Raye (Amanda) and Andrew Mercado The Australian Way: A Salute to Aussie Sex Appeal, a 1982 television special hosted by Good Morning Australia’s host Gordon Elliott and Joanna Lockwood in a clip segment that features Abigail as a special guest. 1976 "Adults Only" television promo for And They Said It Wouldn't Last archival Christmas cast messages from 1975 archive footage of the announcement of the 2008 DVD release aired on Network Ten News, includes reunion between Chantal Contouri (Tracey) and Pamela Garrick (Patti)
	Number 96: The Beginning and the Bomb	32	March 13, 2012	episodes 1–10, 13, 31, 33–35 (which originally aired between March 13 to April 27, 1972) episode 450 (Feb 1, 1974) episodes 832–847 (Aug 27 to Sep 16, 1975) audio interviews by author Nigel Giles with James Elliott (Alf) and director Peter Benardos audio commentary by The Honourable Michael Kirby and Andrew Mercado 2009 interview by Andrew Mercado with Elaine Lee (Vera) and David Sale 2009 interview by Angela Bishop with Elisabeth Kirkby (Lucy) downloadable PDFs of original press clippings and advertisements

See also

• List of Australian television series
• The Box

External links

• Aussie Soap Archive: Number 96
• Number 96 Home Page
• DVD boxed set announcement
• The History of Australian Television – Number 96
• Number 96 (Australian series) at IMDb
• Number 96 (US series) at IMDb
• Number 96 at the National Film and Sound Archive
• Number 96 at Australian Screen Online