i liked it but it suffered from the same fate as Brookside...Paul Marquess became Exec Producer. He loved the loooooooooooong story, the cancer lie storyline in FA is one that springs to mind (and the Jaqui rape in Brookside). In his time he trashed FA, Brookside, MiT, The Bill and Hollyoaks although Hollyoaks seems to have been least affected by his Brown Midas touch.
It never got the ratings 5 would have loved and it had so many revamps, it was commissioned year by year and in 2005 the channel decided that after almost 9 years it would end
To be fair they gave it a really good go and I honestly don't think it was a bad soap at all. The problem was there were already enough soaps going and it didn't offer anything more exciting than the others.
It did go through an awful lot of opening credits (they seemed to try a few times to have characters in the opening credits but then always went back to castless titles). My favourite was the last set, I liked the way it started in central London and travelled speedily out into the suburbs before ending up in Charnham and then slowly coming to a hault outside the houses of the characters. It was quite clever.
i liked it but it suffered from the same fate as Brookside...Paul Marquess became Exec Producer. He loved the loooooooooooong story, the cancer lie storyline in FA is one that springs to mind (and the Jaqui rape in Brookside). In his time he trashed FA, Brookside, MiT, The Bill and Hollyoaks although Hollyoaks seems to have been least affected by his Brown Midas touch.
His time on The Bill was brilliant, the show was unmissable during that era.
His time on The Bill was brilliant, the show was unmissable during that era.
In a car crash kind of way. Personally I preferred the Jonathan Young time. Marquest was too boringly sensational. The Gabriel plot was beyond ridiculous, couldn't look away but not in a good way.
In a car crash kind of way. Personally I preferred the Jonathan Young time. Marquest was too boringly sensational. The Gabriel plot was beyond ridiculous, couldn't look away but not in a good way.
...because of the whole Gabriel thing. It was dreadful. Went on and on and on...
Once the Hart family were killed off I felt it became very watchable. I liked it better than any other soap at the time. I liked the mix of charatcers it had. Kazia Pelka's family were very good. But it suffered from too many deaths (like Fern being smashed by the car) and its last year was abysaml. By then lots of new bland characters with little back story and contrived storylines had been introduced. It became tedious to watch.
Once the Hart family were killed off I felt it became very watchable. I liked it better than any other soap at the time. I liked the mix of charatcers it had. Kazia Pelka's family were very good. But it suffered from too many deaths (like Fern being smashed by the car) and its last year was abysaml. By then lots of new bland characters with little back story and contrived storylines had been introduced. It became tedious to watch.
Oh is that what happened to Fern? I watched on and off and always wondered what happened to her. I liked Arlo as well. I agree that in the time following the Harts being killed, they introduced very good and well-thought out characters. But that effort did not continue.
Yep. I was watching it as normal one evening. Fern was outside her shop and a car came from nowhere out of control and drove straight into her and the shop. It was really unexpected but quite well filmed IIRC. I was shocked afterwards as I liked Fern and thought it was dumb to kill her just like that.
Pete Callan was just the greatest - absolutely superb, brilliant character the whole way through really.
Baffling decision to exit him really IMO.
If one reads some of the stuff on this or just google "Family Affairs" etc there's quite a lot of stuff on this subject, reasons etc in newspaper articles.
Sounds like a purely economic decision from Five at the time (having Home and Away also is a good point) - though the show at the time was apparently heading in a new, younger direction even with a new name for the show perhaps was the plan.
Trouble is anything good (so good it was bad) is never sustainable (though gutting for the long-term / long-time viewers) and as people say in the last year the show really began to slide (Pete's exit towards the end of 2005 being an indicator of this IMO).
I think the show had too many revamps, which was really destabilising for the viewers. Characters would come and go, and just as you were starting to get used to them (even if you hated their stories, some would have a lot of potential) they were gone, and another influx took place, and the whole process repeated itself.
C5 wanted the show to achieve the kind of ratings that it was never going to get, and whenever the show became a little boring, they'd revamp it with a new EP, who always thought a mass cast exodus was the answer, even though it wasn't always.
It's ironic that they were cancelled in the same year they won critical acclaim and awards. Granted, the last months had more new characters, who were mostly bland and boring, but I always thought with the right direction and vision, Family Affairs could have been pretty good.
Still don't know if killing off Pete Callan was their decision or if David Easter quit, but the show lost something the day Pete left. He was a great character, and so was his tumultuous relationship with Eileen, who was another decent character who also left.
Officially, C5 had purchased H&A for a lot of money, and they said FA's £1 million budget was too much for them to sustain, so took the decision to cancel it.
I used to enjoy a programme called Family Affairs some years ago. Then, one day, they sent all the cast out on a boat and blew them up. Is this the same Family Affairs that you are discussing?
I used to enjoy a programme called Family Affairs some years ago. Then, one day, they sent all the cast out on a boat and blew them up. Is this the same Family Affairs that you are discussing?
Yes, after the explosion there was a re vamp and it got much better
Oh is that what happened to Fern? I watched on and off and always wondered what happened to her. I liked Arlo as well. I agree that in the time following the Harts being killed, they introduced very good and well-thought out characters. But that effort did not continue.
If I remember rightly Fern and the bloke she was dating were in one of the shops if I remember rightly (it might be where the Chinese is now on the former set that's been used in a lot of music videos and even a promo for I'm A Celebrity....) and Seb Castang (who also used to be in Night & Day) ended up stealing a car I think and ploughing through the window.
It was the Davenports sandwhich shop and Fern and Robert were in there and got killed.
There were some great characters in Family Affairs Pete Call an, Eileen Callan, Yasmin, Cat, Geri
They had lots of gay characters Clive, Adam, Max, Sean, Sami, Brett, Brendan, Kelly, Karen
Tanya and Conrad were an awesome couple. Babs was another great character loved the Costello and Williams family dramas
The last few months had Coral, Jason, Hector 2 nurses, someone Jack Ryder was originally meant to play and his wife... Then we never found out if Katie survived!!!
Something very odd happened in the world of soap in the early 00's. Channel 5 acquired Home and Away, axed Family Affairs, cut back on its American soaps.
Eastenders went 4 nights a week
Brookside and High Road were also axed
Emmerdale and Corrie went 5 and 4 nights a week respectively.
The whole nature of soap seemed to change and reality TV like Popstars, soapstars (that Emmerdale family lol) X Factor, Big Brother, etc started to take over.
If the producers didn't like the Family Affairs I was watching, why didn't they close it down and start another soap with a different name? Very odd behaviour.
Comments
It did go through an awful lot of opening credits (they seemed to try a few times to have characters in the opening credits but then always went back to castless titles). My favourite was the last set, I liked the way it started in central London and travelled speedily out into the suburbs before ending up in Charnham and then slowly coming to a hault outside the houses of the characters. It was quite clever.
His time on The Bill was brilliant, the show was unmissable during that era.
In a car crash kind of way. Personally I preferred the Jonathan Young time. Marquest was too boringly sensational. The Gabriel plot was beyond ridiculous, couldn't look away but not in a good way.
I absolutely hated it...
...because of the whole Gabriel thing. It was dreadful. Went on and on and on...
Although that said Mickey's experience did produce some good story lines for Chris Simmons.
also Gabriel - it really was one of the dumbest plots ever.
Yep. I was watching it as normal one evening. Fern was outside her shop and a car came from nowhere out of control and drove straight into her and the shop. It was really unexpected but quite well filmed IIRC. I was shocked afterwards as I liked Fern and thought it was dumb to kill her just like that.
Baffling decision to exit him really IMO.
If one reads some of the stuff on this or just google "Family Affairs" etc there's quite a lot of stuff on this subject, reasons etc in newspaper articles.
Sounds like a purely economic decision from Five at the time (having Home and Away also is a good point) - though the show at the time was apparently heading in a new, younger direction even with a new name for the show perhaps was the plan.
Trouble is anything good (so good it was bad) is never sustainable (though gutting for the long-term / long-time viewers) and as people say in the last year the show really began to slide (Pete's exit towards the end of 2005 being an indicator of this IMO).
C5 wanted the show to achieve the kind of ratings that it was never going to get, and whenever the show became a little boring, they'd revamp it with a new EP, who always thought a mass cast exodus was the answer, even though it wasn't always.
It's ironic that they were cancelled in the same year they won critical acclaim and awards. Granted, the last months had more new characters, who were mostly bland and boring, but I always thought with the right direction and vision, Family Affairs could have been pretty good.
Still don't know if killing off Pete Callan was their decision or if David Easter quit, but the show lost something the day Pete left. He was a great character, and so was his tumultuous relationship with Eileen, who was another decent character who also left.
Officially, C5 had purchased H&A for a lot of money, and they said FA's £1 million budget was too much for them to sustain, so took the decision to cancel it.
Sunset Beach really was something else!
Yes, after the explosion there was a re vamp and it got much better
The patriach of the Hart family was from Newcastle. It was set in Charnham, a fictional town in the Home Counties.
If I remember rightly Fern and the bloke she was dating were in one of the shops if I remember rightly (it might be where the Chinese is now on the former set that's been used in a lot of music videos and even a promo for I'm A Celebrity....) and Seb Castang (who also used to be in Night & Day) ended up stealing a car I think and ploughing through the window.
There were some great characters in Family Affairs Pete Call an, Eileen Callan, Yasmin, Cat, Geri
They had lots of gay characters Clive, Adam, Max, Sean, Sami, Brett, Brendan, Kelly, Karen
Tanya and Conrad were an awesome couple. Babs was another great character loved the Costello and Williams family dramas
The last few months had Coral, Jason, Hector 2 nurses, someone Jack Ryder was originally meant to play and his wife... Then we never found out if Katie survived!!!
Eastenders went 4 nights a week
Brookside and High Road were also axed
Emmerdale and Corrie went 5 and 4 nights a week respectively.
The whole nature of soap seemed to change and reality TV like Popstars, soapstars (that Emmerdale family lol) X Factor, Big Brother, etc started to take over.