Bombs and bombshells: Number 96 is 40

March 9, 2012 in Film screenings : by Stephen Groenewegen : No comments

Number 96 debuted on Australian TV on 13 March 1972, promoted by Network 0 (the forerunner of the Ten Network) as ‘the night Australian TV loses its virginity’. Forty years later, the Australian Film Festival in Sydney is celebrating the anniversary with a screening of two episodes, DVD launch and a Q&A with creator David Sale and cast members Elaine Lee and Vivienne Garrett (details below).

Number 96 was the hit show everyone was talking about in Australia in the early ’70s. No one knows it better than Andrew Mercado – author of Aussie Super Soaps (2004) – who has curated three episodes and a lively series page for ASO.

The series is most remembered for its bombshells and bombs. Abigail was Australian television’s first sex symbol, the first of several actresses heavily promoted by Network 0 to titillate male audiences and boost ratings. She features in Number 96 – Episode 35 (clip two), one of the earlier surviving black-and-white episodes from 1972, the show’s first year.

The show didn’t just feature sex bombs. During the 1975 season, a bomb blast destroyed the building’s delicatessen and killed off five characters. It was one of several outlandish plot threads designed to keep Number 96 in the news and audiences watching. The 1975 cliffhanger even featured a character apparently returning from the dead (see Number 96 – Episode 910, clip 3).

The bomb episode is one of several episodes held in the NFSA and now available on DVD through Umbrella Entertainment. Extras include commentary from Andrew Mercado and NFSA oral history interviews with principals involved in the show.

Details for the Australian Film Festival 40th anniversary celebration on 13 March.

Number 96 – Episode 35 television program – 1972

Number 96 – Episode 910 television program – 1975

Number 96 – Episodes 1003 and 1004 television program – 1976

Comments

1. I know well the O-Ten Network policy of destroying many tapes of their series, particularly black & white episodes. About half of Young Time was lost and that is important material in the scheme of things and must have destroyed the visual work of some of the regulars who may not appear in surviving episodes. One wonders whether they have any episodes of The Rose & Crown, a musical pub variety show with the late English man, Reg Varney(Stan Butler, On the Buses), on the piano. A b&w show it was screened on Saturday nights at 6.30pm.

   My story on Number 96 is that a sale was negotiated for Canadian TV and because they used NTSC there they had to make 16mm dubs to ship there. The work was given to a lab in Glenhuntly Road, Elsternwick/Vic who also ran the lab at GTV9 opposite the telecine room in Richmond. The lab owner was a Chris Gibson and he had a brother developing film also.My understanding was that the Canadian sale was vetoed because the Canucks decided that the show was too raunchy for them and the project was cancelled. The 16mm prints were said to have been dumped in Port Phillip Bay. It the information was correct about the dubbing, why, then would the producers, Cash-Harmon not want the prints they had paid for? Did someone take a few home? Each show on 16mm would be under 1200ft(30mins) of footage.Worth a thought. If I had known about this sooner I would certainly have wanted to grab them.

   Insiders say that the ABC has wiped the popular Saturday Show from the 1980s with Jane Scarli amongst others and people were asked to bring back tapes of Countdown at one time they took out of the Melbourne library. Another true or false situation.

#1 from moviepas – 12 years, 10 months ago.

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