The Box

1 9 7 4 - 1 9 7 7 (Australia)
335 x 50 minute episodes

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 96and The Box.