The Sullivans
1 9 7 6 - 1 9 8 3 (Australia)
 This
World War II drama series, set in Melbourne, had warmth and charm
and Aussies loved the trials and triumphs of the Sullivan Family.
The Sullivans takes up its storyline on the eve of the
Second World War and its six years on air roughly coincided with
the duration of the war. The action was set on two fronts and this
in part, helped to disguise the soap opera nature of the serial.
The war front followed family friend Norm Baker, son Tom
Sullivan and various other soldiers through various scenes of
action, physical suffering, moral dilemmas and so on.
The home front in Australia saw Dave and Grace Sullivan with
their younger children struggling to keep the cycle of family and neighbourhood
life in place.
Helping to populate their community was voluptuous Maggie in
the pub, the humble German family running the local shop, and the
busybody neighbour, Mrs Jessop.
Although there were also some young characters in the show,
most notably youngest daughter Kitty Sullivan, it was definitely
skewed towards older viewers even though it screened in the
evening soon after the main news bulletin. Eldest son John,
missing in action, was eventually found safe and sound in London,
but Uncle Harry's love, Rose, drowned in the Yarra River.
The adored star of the show was Lorraine Bayly (Grace). As the
quiet, highly principled Catholic mother, supportive of her
husband, she radiated warmth and stability.
Lorraine Bayly decided to leave and shortly would be given her
own series, Carson's Law. The viewing audience became so
attached to strong, proud matriarch Grace, that her on-screen
death at the hands of a V bomb in London was something the program
never recovered from and this, as well as the fictional end of the
war, led to the show's demise.
Some of the most original and affecting stories concerned
events after the war however. Kitty Sullivan, only 13 at the
opening, married a photographer and went with him to Hiroshima.
She was so horrified by the aftermath of the atomic explosion that
she committed suicide.
Terry, her freckle faced brother, could not adjust to peace and
turned to petty crime. His young wife Caroline, gainfully employed
before the war, struggled to get work on the land but was sacked
to make way for a newly returned soldier in keeping with the law
of the day.
More than any other Australian TV show, it was The Sullivans
that helped to create the British appetite for Australian
soaps.
Slow and sentimental it was at times, but The Sullivans
bravely faced the issues of war while examining the morality of
the 1940s. It provided romance, stock surprises, episodes to cry
over and characters who viewers cared for deeply.
The series was cancelled in 1982 to make way for a show about
hard-nosed businessmen, Taurus Rising. Young audiences in
particular, had apparently decided that six years of their parents
war was enough.
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