CLASSIC AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION

THE GROUP
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Copyright © 2008 Don Storey.  All rights reserved.


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EPISODES:  14, including pilot.
LENGTH: 
30 Mins.
FORMAT: 
Mono, Video.
PRODUCTION:  
1970 - 1971 Cash-Harmon Production.
ORIGINAL SCREENING: 1971.
RUNNING ORDER: 
Airdate.
NETWORK: 
Seven.

CAST:
Laura Bent.......ROSLYN WILSON
Mark Sebel.......KEN JAMES
Jennifer Martin.......JENEE WELSH
Bob Jones.......GREGORY ROSS
Tinto.......TERRY O'NEILL
Jeremy Windham.......GREGORY de POLNAY


CREW:
Director.......Hugh Taylor
Producers.......Don Cash & Bill Harmon
Staging.......DON CASH
Music.......RORY O'DONOGHUE
Devised by.......anne hall

AWARD:
1971 Logie: Best comedy.
 


EPISODE TITLES
~ The Group  Pilot Episode
1. This Week She Wants To Be A Singer
2. This Week She Tries To Be Useful
3. This Week She's On A Diet
4. This Week She's Romantic
5. This Week She Travels
6. This Week She's Liberated
7. This Week She's Just Resting
8. This Week She's In Arrears
9. This Week She's Resting Again!
10. This Week She Has A Baby
11. This Week Her Virtue's Threatened
12. This Week She Has A Visitor
13. This Week She Has A Fellow

 ~ The Group

Laura Bent.......Wendy Hughes
Tinto's mother.......Neva Carr-Glynn

Script.......Michael Harris
From an idea by.......Anne Hall

Synopsis: For reasons of economy, three young men and two girls share a basement flat. They can see nothing wrong with the arrangement but the landlord has other views on the matter. The landlord is outraged when he finds one of his flats inhabited by assorted sexes, and is not convinced that the association of the tenants is financial rather than physical.

Notes: Pilot episode. Roslyn Wilson replaced Wendy Hughes as Laura in the series, due to theatre commitments. Screened by Seven along with four other pilot episodes, and viewers were asked to vote on which pilots should go into series production.

Airdate: Melbourne 27/1/71, Sydney 25/1/71, Canberra 24/3/71, Orange NSW 28/5/71


Pilot ep: Wendy Hughes and Ken James

1. This Week She Wants To Be A Singer

.......Ben Gabriel
.......Marion Johns

Script.......David Sale

Synopsis: The group are preparing for a masquerade party when Mark’s parents arrive unannounced. Believing his parents would disapprove of his sharing a flat with girls, Mark makes unsuccessful attempts to smuggle the girls out of the flat.

Airdate:
Melbourne 15/8/71, Sydney 25/8/71, Grafton NSW 5/10/71, Orange NSW 11/1/72, Port Augusta SA 24/7/74


Terry O'Neill and Roslyn Wilson

2. This Week She Tries To Be Useful

.......Jack Allen

Synopsis: Tinto comes down into the flat to fix a blocked bathtub, and Laura spills coffee and corn flakes over him.

Airdate: Melbourne 22/8/71, Adelaide 2/9/71

 

3. This Week She's On A Diet

Child Welfare Officer.......Janne Coghlan
Pamela.......Noeline Brown

Script.......David Sale

Synopsis: Laura has been offered a modelling job provided she can lose some weight. After one of Laura’s resultant jogging expeditions, she enters the flat ravenously hungry.  Tinto mistakes her condition and thinks she is pregnant.

Airdate:
Melbourne 29/8/71, Sydney 1/9/71, Wollongong NSW 15/9/71, Canberra 21/12/71

4. This Week She's Romantic

.......Lynn Rainbow
.......Tom Oliver

Synopsis: Jeremy comes home with the news that his TV station is to produce a dismal soap opera. He is sure it will be a failure. Laura decides to try out for a part, and she rehearses with Bob, in whom she confides, as she’s afraid the others will ridicule her. Laura and Bob are overheard rehearsing a love scene by Tinto and the rest of the group, and all are convinced that there is a wild love affair going on between them.

Airdate: Melbourne 5/9/71, Wollongong NSW 6/10/71, Tamworth NSW 24/11/71


Ep. 3: Janne Coghlan and Roslyn Wilson


Gregory de Polnay, Jenee Welsh and Roslyn Wilson

5. This Week She Travels

.......Don Pascoe

Synopsis: Tinto develops an itch and can’t stop sneezing.  He blames it on the filthy conditions that tenants keep their flat in and demands they repaint it. When Jeremy also develops an itch, Tinto accuses them of making fun of him.

Airdate:
Melbourne 19/9/71, Sydney 22/9/71, Grafton NSW 21/12/71, Orange NSW 7/3/72


Jenee Welsh, Gregory Ross, Gregory de Polnay, Roslyn Wilson and Ken James

6. This Week She's Liberated

.......Kirrily Nolan

Synopsis: Jennifer gets involved with a women's liberation group and they picket outside Tinto’s flat. Simultaneously Jeremy is doing a documentary on unmarried mothers, which upsets Tinto who believes Jeremy is carrying on with a pregnant mother.

Airdate: Melbourne 26/9/71, Sydney 29/9/71, Canberra 11/1/72

7. This Week She's Just Resting

.......Tim Elliot

Synopsis: Mark is practising hypnosis at university, and the group persuades him to demonstrate, selecting Jeremy as being the least likely to be hypnotised. To their horror, Jeremy becomes convinced he is Father O'Casey - a very pious priest.

Airdate:
Melbourne 3/10/71, Sydney 6/10/71

8. This Week She's In Arrears

Synopsis: Tinto looks for some way to evict the group and becomes highly frustrated in his endeavours.

Airdate: Melbourne 10/10/71, Adelaide 21/10/71


Gregory Ross and Roslyn Wilson


Ken James, Gregory de Polnay and Gregory Ross

9. This Week She's Resting Again!

James McGregor.......Gordon McDougall
Willoughby.......John Llewellyn

Script.......Rosamund Waring

Synopsis: Jenny's uncle turns up from Scotland and almost gets the group evicted with his bagpipe playing when the new tenant upstairs turns out to be an anti-noise campaigner.

Airdate:
Melbourne 17/10/71, Sydney 20/10/71, Newcastle NSW 5/10/71, Tamworth NSW 12/1/72

10. This Week She Has A Baby

Synopsis: Laura brings home a stray dog, which the group has to hide from Tinto, who wants to use it as an excuse to evict them. A visiting ventriloquist then turns confusion into chaos.

Airdate: Melbourne 24/10/71

11. This Week Her Virtue's Threatened

.......Tony Bazell
.......Red Moore

Synopsis: Laura becomes involved with a film producer who promises to make her a star. Jenny tries to get in on the act until the group realise that Laura's virtue is in jeopardy.

Airdate:
Melbourne 31/10/71, Adelaide 11/11/71, Sydney 17/11/71


Ep. 9: Jenee Welsh, John Llewellyn and Roslyn Wilson


Gregory de Polnay, Jenee Welsh and Roslyn Wilson

12. This Week She Has A Visitor

Fiona Hamilton (Miss World).......Bobo Faulkner
.......Bettina Welch

Synopsis: Laura's cousin Fiona arrives from London.  She is Miss World, and the boys and even Tinto try to impress her, all hopeful of taking her to the Miss World Ball.

Airdate: Melbourne 21/11/71, Sydney 15/9/71, Grafton NSW 23/11/71

13. This Week She Has A Fellow

Police Sergeant.......Peter Whittle
Hillary.......Nick Lathouris

Script.......Marcus Cooney

Synopsis: Tinto complains bitterly of the volume of music played by the group and calls the police, Jenny is on a health kick, and Laura has a very surprising date - which all add up to chaos.

Airdate:
Melbourne 28/11/71, Gippsland VIC 15/3/72, Port Augusta SA 10/10/74


Ep. 12: Gregory Ross, Terry O'Neill and Bobo Faulkner