Class of 74/Class of 75
1 9 7 4 - 1 9 7 5 (Australia)
290 x 30 minute episodes
Debuting in 1974, this Australian drama serial about the students and staff of Waratah
High School was made by the Reg Grundy organisation for Channel Seven,
Sydney, and aired five nights a week.
By concentrating on the older kids and the teachers, parents and
other adult figures, Grundy's were amongst the first to recognize that
a young segment would be a vital part of the overall audience for soap
opera.
Class of 74 had the usual set of changing relationships
between teachers and students, although in 1974 it featured an illicit
(but never explicit) relationship between a shy schoolboy and the
headmaster's wife.
The show continued the following year, updating itself to Class
of 75.
The series featured veteran actor Leonard Teale as the headmaster.
By this time he was showing his age after a long innings in Homicide.
It also included Jeanie Drynan and Carla Hoogeveen as teachers, and
Gordon Glenwright (in overalls) as the school handyman. He never
seemed to do any work but occupied a spot under the stairs where he
sucked on a pipe as everyone spoke about what they did or meant to do!
The program did particularly well in Australia in its first year
(sandwiched between the 7:00 news and quiz show The Great
Temptation on channel Seven).
Episodes 1 - 191 were in black and white and episodes 192 - 290 in colour.
As a 13 year old boy I found the show a veritable feast of lovely
girls - especially Carla, Abigail, Briony and my all time fave at the
time, Anne Lambert (pictured at right) - later to find fame in seminal
Aussie film Picnic At Hanging Rock.
This was the school I always wanted to attend!
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