Season 1

The initial premise for the show was a Romeo and Juliet-style romance storyline that revolved around two families, the wealthy Hamilton family who lived in Sydney, and the Palmers, a working-class family from Melbourne. The characters of John Palmer (Peter Phelps) and spoilt rich girl Angela Hamilton (Ally Fowler) meet by chance whilst John is on the run from the police for a murder he did not commit. The two fall in love, not realising that they are actually twins, separated at birth 20 years earlier following an affair between their parents, David Palmer (Tom Richards) and Patricia (Rowena Wallace). Early episodes saw the pair discover the truth about their heritage and showed the problems and strains this put on their own relationship and those of their immediate families. While on the run John is protected in Sydney by Fiona Thompson (Pat McDonald), a former madame and prostitute and now boarding house owner who had raised John when he was a young boy. With a new identity and now going by the name of Scott Edwards, John attempts to build a new life, with the help of Fiona and her friend Jill Taylor (Kim Lewis), another former prostitute.

Following the shock revelation of John and Angela's true heritage and the subsequent reunion of the two families, a series of dramatic events unfolds, intertwining the lives of both the Palmers and the Hamiltons. The Palmers' newly-wed daughter Susan (Ann Henderson-Stiers) receives the shock revelation that her husband Bill Todd is responsible for the murder of which John was suspected, and Bill is subsequently convicted and jailed. The Palmers' youngest son Kevin (Stephen Comey) and his girlfriend Lynn Hardy (Antonia Murphy) find their lives turned upside down when she becomes pregnant, despite their families' best efforts to keep them apart. Father and son David and John Palmer's relationship continues to deteriorate, and when David and Patricia meet up again 20 years on from their initial affair, old passions resurface, culminating in the destruction of both their marriages—David's marriage to dedicated housewife Beryl (Leila Hayes) and Patricia's marriage to the wealthy and successful businessman Gordon (Brian Blain). Amidst a web of intrigue concerning the numerous instabilities within both families, and shady big-business deals concerning Gordon's company, his ownership of country estate Woombai, and the increasing involvement of his manipulative son Wayne (Ian Rawlings), the drama builds throughout the season.

The character of Patricia rapidly developed into the main focus of the show, with her neurotic bitchiness and scheming being the source of most of the drama and tension between the other characters. Patricia became a popular character among viewers and was dubbed 'Pat the Rat' by the media. New characters introduced later in the season included Patricia's best friend, the dizzy socialite Charlie Bartlett (Sarah Kemp), Rob Keegan (Noel Hodda), the younger brother of Beryl Palmer who falls in love with and marries Angela, and Paul Sheppard (Mark Ferguson), the morally confused and neurotic grandson of Patricia's former lover James Sheppard, who left Patricia a substantial amount of his fortune following his death.

Season 2

As season 2 kicks off, Patricia is sinking further into depression after she overdoses on sleeping pills and Susan steps in to help take care of her as a live-in nurse, while scheming Wayne tricks Patricia into signing her power of attorney over to him to give him power over his father, Gordon. Shortly after, Susan becomes the first of the main cast to depart the series as she leaves to be closer to her husband Bill's prison. John tracks down his real father Martin Healy (Paul Sonkkila)—a prominent officer in the Air Force—and also manages to find Patricia's estranged sister, Margaret Dunne (Ilona Rodgers). The reunion of Patricia with Martin and Margaret sparks off a series of dramatic storylines as old secrets are revealed and old tensions between Patricia and Margaret resurface. At the same time, we are introduced to Martin's children, John and Angela's half-brother Peter (Brett Climo), and adoptive half-sister, Jennifer (Jodie Yemm). A major turning point in the series comes with the eventual suicide of Martin, after his past crimes catch up with him. When Margaret removes his suicide note from beside the body, David comes under suspicion of Martin's murder.

Other plot developments included Jill's involvement with illegal Irish immigrant Brian O'Donnell (Lee James), whom she agrees to marry so he can obtain a visa to stay in the country. Fiona is shattered when her boarding house on Manly Terrace burns down, almost killing Jill in the inferno. A heated love triangle occurs between the characters of Angela, Rob Keegan (Noel Hodda), and Paul Sheppard, following which all three characters depart the show. Unlucky Jill is shockingly raped by drifter Terry Hansen (Andrew Clarke), who is revealed to be Fiona's long-lost son, whom she conceived with on-off past love, Scott Thompson (David Nettheim). In a highly controversial storyline, Terry was treated by the scriptwriters as a sympathetic character despite the rape and his subsequent spell in prison. Later in the season, Gordon marries neighbour, Barbara Armstrong (Cornelia Frances), and after they enter a business deal with Barbara's entrepreneur brother, Stephen Morrell (Michael Long), they are shocked when Stephen suddenly marries Patricia after a whirlwind romance. This leads to the introduction of a third family for the show—the wealthy and powerful Morrells, including Stephen's mother Dee (Mary Ward), a ruthless elderly businesswoman, and his daughter, scheming and beautiful, Amanda (Alyce Platt). Following Dee's death from a heart condition, major developments occur when the contents of her will are revealed, affecting the other characters' lives dramatically. Upon Dee's insistence that a male heir continue her business, Stephen tracks down the young man he believes to be his long-lost son, Andy Green (Danny Roberts).

Season 3

When season 3 starts, Fiona is shocked by the return of Scott Thompson, whom Jill had contacted to pay for her abortion. Patricia's short marriage to Stephen unravels and she seeks comfort in the arms of psychiatrist, Matt Kennedy (Vince Martin), while continuing her bitter feud with sister Margaret, which climaxes in the siblings being trapped in a bush fire at Woombai, and finally making their peace when Margaret saves Patricia's life.

Major changes in the cast occur with the departure of original twin, John (Peter Phelps); a temporary departure for Stephen Morrell (Michael Long); whilst Doug (Syd Conabere) and Rosie Palmer (Anne Haddy) also left the regular cast. To replace the departed characters, there was the introduction of a fourth family in the form of the Melbourne-based, working-class, O'Brien family; Mike (Ken James) and Heather (Rona Coleman), and their teenage children, Katie (Jane Seaborn) and Jeff (Craig Morrison) - move in next door to the Palmers, and quickly become involved in the dramas of the other characters. Mike's brother, Jim (Sean Scully) arrived a few weeks later. The Palmers go on to experience further problems when David has an affair with Patricia's sister Margaret, which finally ends his marriage to Beryl. She soon starts dating Jim O'Brien, but David's happiness with Margaret is short-lived when she dies following injuries sustained in a plane crash. Beryl's happiness is also shattered when Jim dies following a bomb explosion on David's booby-trapped truck. Lynn (Antonia Murphy) becomes involved with Andy Green while Kevin is working overseas, and the two fall in love, leaving Lynn confused and contemplating suicide on the edge of a cliff. Lynn eventually chooses to stay with Kevin, and they both decide to move overseas with son Davey, and leave the series for good.

Patricia finds herself embroiled with shady businessman, Roger Carlyle (Leslie Dayman), and his son, Luke (Peter Cousens). Shortly after Luke embezzles Patricia's company, Luke is found by Beryl murdered, and Patricia becomes the prime suspect in the police's search to find his killer, leading to a series of attempts on her life, all orchestrated by Roger. Other new characters introduced during the season include Irene Fisher (Judy Nunn), a GP who opens a new boarding house with Fiona; Karen Fox (Lyndel Rowe), a deceitful businesswoman who wreaks havoc whilst having a romantic affair with Wayne; Ross Newman (Robin Stewart), a gambling-addicted surgeon, under the influence of Roger Carlyle; and Bob 'Mitch' Mitchell (Philip Quast), an ex-convict who becomes romantically involved with Amanda whilst coming to blows with Karen and Wayne.

Season 4

Season 4 features a major turning point with the departure of its most popular character, Patricia Hamilton Morrell Palmer Dunne, only two weeks into the season. When Rowena Wallace chose to leave, the producers initially attempted to replace Patricia with several strong female antagonists in the form of Karen Fox (Lyndel Rowe), Leigh and Caroline Morrell but none of these proved as successful. This led to the producers deciding to bring back the character of Patricia back, now played by actress Belinda Giblin, having undergone a drastic facial reconstruction following plastic surgery in Rio de Janeiro, and now known as "Alison Carr". Further cast changes include the departure of the entire O'Brien family - not long after the tragic death of Jeff, in a house fire he caused whilst drunk on vodka - as well as an original character, Jill O'Donnell, who all left during the aftermath of Patricia's disappearance in episode 584. The season begins with Patricia finally marrying David, before fleeing to Rio to escape Roger Carlyle. Meanwhile, Wayne is tricked by Karen into marrying her, believing she has covered up the murder of Mitch for him, unaware Mitch is not dead at all and was paid by Karen to disappear. Shortly after the truth is revealed, Karen is found dead in the creek at Dural, having been pushed off a bridge following a confrontation with escort Liz Smith who is in love with Gordon. Beryl gives birth a baby son Robert, but he is abducted by Dr. Ross Newman, and a nurse, Gloria Dutton; then again later by Leigh. Fiona becomes involved in a bitter battle to have deceased fiancé Barney Adams' secret wartime diaries published, running into opposition from Colonel Bainbridge and his son Chris. The Colonel commits suicide and Chris sets out on a vendetta of revenge against Fiona. Karen Fox tricks Wayne into marriage after convincing him that he has killed Mitch. Wayne goes missing shortly after, worried that he will face jail for murder and whilst he is away a look-alike arrives and fools everyone into believing he is Wayne. Ian Rawlings plays dual roles as both Wayne Hamilton and Gary Evans. One of the bigger storylines for the season sees a planned redevelopment threaten to destroy Woombai under the direction of the scheming Bill Ashley (Peter Dahlsen) although the development is a scam. When Amanda Morrell overhears a conversation that could jeopardise the entire scheme, she mysteriously goes missing, leaving the Morrell family distraught and Caroline desperate to find her. Caroline begins to get closer to recently returned ex-husband Stephen, and she warns his new love interest Jenny Turner to stay away from him and the two become rivals. The father of Leigh Palmer's baby, Richard Crampton arrived, deciding he wants custody and he hires Neil Duffy (Geoffrey Rowe) to try to buy his son from Leigh. When this fails, Crampton starts terrorising her and hires a hitman, Nick Stafford to go after Leigh. Crampton ends up dying at Stafford's hands after David has already fired a shot at him. David and Fiona go to Rio in search of Patricia, David having received an amount of money that he believes must have come from her. Following plastic surgery to hide injuries sustained at the hands of a thug who beat her up in Rio de Janeiro, Patricia returns to Australia under a new identity; Alison Carr and she begins to start trying to clear "her friend's" Patricia's name for the murder of Luke Carlyle. Mary Reynolds turns up at Woombai, lost and confused and claiming that Patricia is her mother

Season 5

This season sees a significant change of focus for the serial, with storylines shifting from the business intrigue and corporate scheming of the previous couple of years, to more down-to-earth storylines with humour and comedy being introduced, along with a lot of new younger characters. A new production regime swept away popular regular characters, including the long-running Barbara Hamilton, and also Irene Fisher; both were hastily written out of the series in very quick succession. In Cornelia Frances's 2003 autobiography, she states that it was not her decision to leave the series, but that of a producer, Posie Jacobs, who suddenly axed hers, and Judy Nunn's character, due to there being an overabundance of "aunty" types in the cast. Other characters that failed to make it to the end of the season included Leigh Palmer, killed-off very early in the season; Tim Palmer Donna Palmer Spider Webb (Willy Fennell), Brett Keegan, Adam Tate, Samantha Morrell and Mary Reynolds were also written out after relatively short stints in the series. Consequently, there was an influx of less well-received new characters including Fiona's niece, prim and proper Janice Reid ; a new tenant in Fiona's boarding house, May Walters a young runaway, Craig Maxwell, who mistook Beryl Palmer as his real mother; and Doug Fletcher came in as a new love interest for Caroline. There was also a trio of new, good-looking younger characters; Glenn Young (Mark Conroy), Debbie Halliday and Ginny Doyle and in a nod to the early years, the return of a re-cast Susan Todd Palmer, played now by Oriana Panozzo. Storylines see Samantha Morrell shocked after running into Bill Ashley and discovering new information regarding her missing sister Amanda, but the search that follows ends with devastating news as they discover Amanda died a few months earlier having been forced into a life of drugs and prostitution. Leigh Palmer commits suicide early in the season, outside the court where she is facing sentencing for kidnapping baby Robert—bringing an end to one of the series longest-running storylines. Fiona meets her bossy niece Janice for the first time, arriving just as Fiona is to undergo an operation to remove her kidney and together they launch a campaign to save an old mansion house that Fiona once lived in with old friend May Walters. When an angry Caroline starts arguing with Alison whilst she is driving, a serious car crash ensues, with Barbara and Gordon's lives left at risk and ultimately leaving Barbara with serious facial scars and Gordon with amnesia believing he is still married to Patricia. Alison uses the situation to her advantage to get Barbara out of Gordon's life for good and Caroline finds herself serving time in prison. Craig Maxwell turns up in Sydney, looking for his mother, Ruby Hawkins, who gave him up when he was a baby, and who happens to be the exact double of Beryl Palmer. Initial misunderstandings are resolved and Craig accepts that Beryl isn't Ruby. Beryl subsequently helps Craig track Ruby down. At this point Leila Hayes plays both the roles of Beryl and Ruby. Ned Parker and Micky Pratt hold Janice, May, Gordon and Neville hostage at the mansion, following Ned's escape from jail. Micky is killed when she walks out into the road without seeing a car heading towards her. As the siege comes to an end, Patricia's fingerprints are discovered on a gun that was used and Alison's real identity is finally revealed.

Season 6

Departing characters included another original character, David Palmer (Tom Richards), May Walters and Owen Brooke—all left at the end of season 5—and relatively recent additions, Ginny Doyle and Glen Young, were both killed off in a car accident involving Wayne. Debbie Halliday also left during the season but returned for the final episode. New additions include feuding brothers, Nick (John Hannon) and Michael Benson (Phillip Spencer-Harris); a new set of twins, Greg (Tom Jennings) and Sarah Hudson (Melissa Docker); and, in an attempt to boost flagging ratings, producers finally lured back Rowena Wallace, who'd originally played Patricia, to play her own twin sister Pamela Hudson — a storyline which ultimately failed to save the series. Caroline discovers that Susan is alive and well despite being presumed dead and she is in hiding from Wayne. When an upset Wayne gets drunk and drives off, Glen and Ginny go after him and a high-speed chase follows which leads to Glen's and Ginny's deaths. Wayne turns everyone against him and when he is shot there are no shortage of suspects. Beryl finds herself behind bars for the shooting, having realised Susan was guilty and so she lied to protect her daughter. While in prison Beryl meets Pamela Hudson, who is the spitting image of Patricia. It is soon discovered that Pamela and Patricia are twins, separated at birth. While Patricia lived the good life, Pamela had a much tougher upbringing. Andy learns that he has a baby daughter, Madonna, who is the result of a fling with Jodie Frazer. When Jodie decides that she can't cope with bringing up a baby on her own and dumps Madonna on Janice, Andy steps in and decides to be a proper father to the girl. Gordon goes into business with Bill Sanders, Doug and Alison at Sanders' Air Charter. Just as everything seems to be going well, a plane is sabotaged. The company appears to be falling apart until a mystery company puts up money to keep it going. Gordon discovers to his surprise that it was Wayne who was behind the rescue. Although father and son have been on opposing sides for some time, Gordon remarks that it appears that Wayne might have changed for the better. As he settles with new wife Beryl and her son, Robert in Melbourne, Gordon finds himself content. Benson is a psychiatrist brought in to help Wayne remember who shot him. Nick has a fraught relationship with his brother, Michael. Very much a ladies' man, Nick is attracted to Alison but he also finds himself attracted to sister, Pamela. There ensues a furious struggle between Alison and Pamela, using powerful mind games to try to destroy each other. Nick eventually chooses Pamela over Alison and drives off with her to begin a new life. Doug and Caroline marry, and Caroline is revealed as the author of a book entitled My Sister My Love, based on the lives of the Hamiltons and the Palmers, despite the changes of character names. Doug tries to stop Caroline promoting the book, warning her that they're going to lose all their friends, but Caroline ignores him. She even writes a sequel. Caroline discovers that she's pregnant, but also learns that the baby could be born with Down's Syndrome and she opts to have an abortion, later deciding that she can't go through with it. She doesn't tell Doug that she's pregnant, but instead decides to leave him and start life afresh elsewhere. Doug learns about the pregnancy, though, and he chases after Caroline and tells her that he loves her, and that he wants her to have the baby and that he doesn't care if its handicapped, wanting them all to be together as a family. Caroline agrees and Doug buys a fish shop in Melbourne! Charlie meets Todd Buckley (Paul Dawber), a fitness instructor who works at her gym, and there is an instant attraction. The couple quickly announce their engagement, despite attempts by Alison to break them up. Charlie becomes so appalled at Alison's behaviour and schemes that she throws her out, leaving Alison staying in a cheap, run-down motel. Charlie enjoys a fairytale wedding to Todd and prepares to live happily ever after. Sarah Hudson arouses Wayne's interest, and they begin to spend time together. Sarah tries to throw herself at Wayne, but he's wary after all his bad experiences with women. Meanwhile, he puts his plan into action to take everything and everyone away from Alison. With Wayne believing his wife Susan is dead, Alison decides to use Susan to get at Wayne but the plan backfires when Susan is left dead on the lounge floor at Dural, having apparently been strangled by Wayne. Realising that he's finally gone too far, he turns to the telephone and makes a call. He asks for the police. Alison faces bankruptcy but is reunited with David. The show ends in a similar vein to how it began. At Fiona's mansion boarding house, a young couple arrive and ask for a room. The young woman is heavily pregnant. Fiona takes them in, just as she had with David and Patricia all those years ago. The woman gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl and the story seems to have finally come full circle. The final episode ends with a montage of many cast members, both past and present.

Opening titles sequence

Each episode opens with sepia-toned portraits of the main cast members, which change from year to year. There are some anomalies, such as Judy Nunn (who is credited as "guest artist" for her entire two-year run) being included over cast members who never appear in the opening. They include (in chronological order):

• Peter Phelps as John Palmer (series 1–3, episodes 1–434)
• Ally Fowler as Angela Hamilton Keegan (series 1–2, episodes 1–292)
• Rowena Wallace as Patricia Hamilton Morrell (series 1–4, episodes 1–545)
• Tom Richards as David Palmer (series 1–5, episodes 1–860)
• Pat McDonald as Fiona Thompson (all episodes)
• Brian Blain as Gordon Hamilton (all episodes)
• Leila Hayes as Beryl Palmer Hamilton (all episodes)
• Kim Lewis as Jill Taylor O’Donnell (series 1–4, episodes 1–584)
• Ian Rawlings as Wayne Hamilton Morrell (all episodes)
• Ann Henderson-Stires as Susan Todd (series 1, episodes 1–174)
• Stephen Comey as Kevin Palmer (series 1–2, episodes 1–352)
• Noel Hodda as Rob Keegan (series 2, episodes 277–292)
• Cornelia Frances as Barbara Hamilton (series 2–5, episodes 293–736)
• Antonia Murphy as Lynn Palmer (series 2–4, episodes 293–500)
• Danny Roberts as Andy Green (series 3–6, episodes 353–972)
• Alyce Platt as Amanda Morrell (series 3–4, episodes 425–596)
• Jane Seaborn as Katie O’Brien (series 3–4, episodes 493–596)
• Sarah Kemp as Charlie Bartlett Buckley (series 4–6, episodes 546–972)
• Abigail as Caroline Morrell Fletcher (series 4–6, episodes 585–972)
• Lisa Crittenden as Leigh Palmer (series 4, episodes 597–696)
• Michael Long as Stephen Morrell (series 4, episodes 601–652)
• Judy Nunn as Irene Fisher (series 4–5, episodes 653–736)
• Belinda Giblin as Alison Carr (series 5–6, episodes 697–972)
• Mark Conroy as Glen Young (series 5–6, episodes 737–868)
• Jared Robinson as Craig Maxwell (series 5–6, episodes 737–972)
• Normie Rowe as Doug Fletcher (series 5–6, episodes 861–972)
• Oriana Panozzo as Susan Hamilton (series 6, episodes 893–972)

Notable recurring/guest artists

Palmers

Hamiltons

Keegans

Episodes

Although Sons and Daughters was screened by all stations of the Seven Network, and many regional stations and affiliates, each station scheduled the series independently and at their own pace, in a combination of 30-minute and 60-minute episodes. The table below refers only to the original broadcast dates by ATN7, the Sydney station of the Seven Network. ATN is generally considered to be the “home station” of Sons and Daughters as it was filmed at their studios in Epping, New South Wales.

Ireland

Debuted on the RTÉ One network in October 1984 airing Friday's at 2pm^[1] The series has been repeated multiple times on RTE throughout the 80's and 90's during their afternoon schedule.

New Zealand

Sons and Daughters debuted on TV2 as a feature-length telemovie (the first three episodes) on Sunday 9 February 1986 at 7.25pm.

The series was then shown on TV2 as five half-hour episodes every week at 6.00pm, Monday to Friday, all year round (as opposed to four half-hour, or, two one-hour weekly episodes, for approximately ten months, as broadcast in Australia) from Monday 10 February 1986 until Friday 22 July 1988. Kim Lewis, Antonia Murphy and Ian Rawlings appeared as overseas guests on Telethon in June 1988, after the series had been cancelled in Australia.

On Monday 25 July 1988, the series was moved to TV One and aired at 5.25pm as a lead-in to the Network News at Six. The final episode of Sons and Daughters was broadcast on Wednesday 13 December 1989 at 5.25pm.

United Kingdom

Sons and Daughters has been broadcast on four British TV channels: The first airing was on the ITV network from 6 February 1983 when Central Independent Television started the serial. Five months later in July, Yorkshire Television began, and over the following two years, all mainland ITV regions across the UK picked up the series and were free to show it as and when they wished; it was therefore seen as regional daytime filler and, despite strong ratings for daytime, there were rarely, if ever, articles about it in the British media, or any interviews with its stars (except for one notable feature on TV-am when Anne Diamond interviewed Ian Rawlings, Pat McDonald and Brian Blain in January 1988, after the series had been cancelled in Australia).

The series was initially shown in most ITV areas three episodes every week at 15:30-16:00, Wednesday to Friday, all year round (as opposed to four half-hour, or, two one-hour weekly episodes, for approximately ten months, as broadcast in Australia). However, TVS aired the series 17:15-17:45 between 1984 and 1987, whilst Granada, originally chose 18:00-18:30, before they too moved the series to daytime. Towards the end of their respective runs, some ITV regions increased episodes to four or five every week (Central, Ulster, TSW and Yorkshire), whilst others (Thames, Anglia, TVS) reduced their output to two, or just one per week, demonstrating the wide range of viewing patterns across the UK. The last ITV region to air the final episode was STV, broadcast on 27 July 1995. During the 1980s, Sons and Daughters achieved consolidated viewing figures of 6 million across the ITV network.^[2]

The series was also given further broadcasts by Super Channel between January 1987 and January 1989. In November 1992, the entire series was aired the newly launched UK Gold. Finally, following its launch in March 1997, Channel 5 began broadcasting Sons and Daughters for a nationwide re-run where it ran 13:30-14:00, Monday to Friday, from March 1998 until the end of the year. This ended part-way through the second season at episode 212, but in January 2002, the programme was reinstated to the schedules in an early-hours-of-the-morning Saturday and Sunday slot, continuing from episode 213, until the last episode was broadcast in November 2005.^[3]

Compilation DVD

Via Vision Entertainment (Season Sets)

Streaming Services

Sons and Daughters: Cast album

In the early 1980s when Australia's Seven Network was broadcasting both Sons and Daughters and A Country Practice, it decided to cash in on the shows' success, and provide the shows with some publicity, by producing and releasing a cast album. The album was called All My Friends, and featured the cast of Sons and Daughters on the A-side and the cast of A Country Practice on the B-side.

A-side:

1. "Sons and Daughters Theme"
2. "Some Kind of Friend" (Ian Rawlings)
3. "Bosom Buddies" (Pat McDonald and Rowena Wallace)
4. "The More I See You" (Peter Phelps and Kim Lewis)
5. "Behind Closed Doors" (Tom Richards and Leila Hayes)
6. "Sometimes When We Touch" (Stephen Comey)
7. "Help Me Make It Through the Night" (Leila Hayes)
8. "Friends" (Rowena Wallace)