Class of 74/Class of 75
1 9 7 4 - 1 9 7 5 (Australia)
290 x 30 minute episodes
An Australian drama serial about the students and staff of Waratah
High School. Made by the Reg Grundy organisation for Channel Seven,
Sydney. By concentrating on the older kids and the teachers, parents
and other adult figures, Grundy's were amongst the first to recognise
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. Episodes 1 - 191 (Class of 74)
were in black and white, while episodes 192 - 290 (Class of 75)
were in colour.
The series featured veteran actor Leonard Teale as the headmaster,
Mr Ogilvy. 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). 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 (later to find
fame in seminal Aussie film Picnic
At Hanging Rock) as
Peggy "The Iceberg" Richardson. This was the school I always
wanted to attend!
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Julie Armstrong
Carla Hoogeveen
Peggy Richardson
Anne Lambert
Ann Watson
Megan Williams
Charles Ogilvy
Leonard Teale
Hubbard
Gordon Glenwright
Mary Dunstan
Jeanie Drynan
Maureen Blair
Janet Kingsbury
Tony Bianco
Adrian Bennetti
Barbara Llewellyn
John Deidrich
Peta Toppano
Briony Behets
Angela Punch
Abigail
Marty Rhone
Peter Bensley
Gaynor Sterling
Joanne Samuel
Terry Peck
John Hamblin
Jeremy Chance
Anne Charleston
Bronwyn Winter
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