The Box
1 9 7 4 - 1 9 7 7 (Australia)
335 x 50 minute episodes
A controversial new night-time drama debuted in Australia on
the 0-10 network on 11 February 1974. As its name implies, The Box was set at a fictional television
station (Channel 12) and followed the lives of various station
personnel, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.
 Heading
the cast was the ubiquitous Ken James who played Tony Wild, a TV
policeman actor who had difficulty remembering where fiction ended
and reality began in his series, Manhunt. James' character
gave the writers of The Box the chance to settle the score
against the egotism of some of the actors in Crawford's real
police series.
Another Channel 12 program was a 'live to air' show called Big
Night Out which was hosted by Gary Burke. A typical episode
had Burke missing his cue after an ad break as he was in his
dressing room with a woman. It later eventuated that the woman he
slept with was a school girl, and thus, under the age of consent.
A journalist from Tele View decided to investigate
why Gary was not on screen after an ad break. At the end of the
program, one of the show's stars stumbled onto the stage and
collapsed as he was drunk !
Sex was a principle emphasis in the early episodes and we were
treated to such topics as bisexuality, promiscuity and adultery.
As an adolescent at the time I relished any chance to see The
Box and actively lusted after Belinda Giblin and Briony Behets.
My parents felt otherwise and consequently I missed more episodes
than I actually saw.
Notable characters were: Sir Henry Usher; station manager, Max
Knight (married to Sir Henry's daughter, Marion); Paul Donovan
(harassed station executive) ; resident 'homo' Lee Whiteman and
the tea lady, Mrs H.
Other roles parodied talk show hosts and television executives
of the day. Probably the most interesting character was that of
Vicki Stafford. Vicki was a super bitch reporter and as a bisexual
was able to entrap both men and women.
Judy Nunn gave a superb performance - and was the first actress
to kiss another woman on Australian TV - that's right, she kissed
a woman on The Box . . .
The series calmed over time and the comical nature of the
characters and situations moved to the fore.
The Box was the first successful venture by Crawford
Productions into soap opera and showed in an adult timeslot and
rivalled the other major Australian drama of the time, Number
96, for full-frontal nudity, sex scenes and adult themes
(particularly in the earliest episodes).
The Box was shown five nights a week for three and a
half years and ended three months before Number 96.
Australian TV has probably never since achieved the levels of
raunchiness and vulgarity of Number 96 and The Box.
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