Ray Kolle
Story Editor: 1998-1999
Story Consultant: 2000
Ray Kolle was born in 1941. As a child of 10, Ray decided he wanted to be a writer and asked his parents for a typewriter for Christmas. His first musical, Little Women, was produced at the Arts Theatre, Melbourne a decade later. He would go on to have three musicals staged and a play produced in the UK with co-writer Jill Kavalek.
In 1967, having worked in bookshops and wanting to be a playwright, he got his first break in television, writing comedy sketches for In Melbourne Tonight, in collaboration with his friend Bill Dick, the author of A Bunch of Ratbags. They then submitted a script for consideration on the ABC series, Bellbird and were taken onto the writing team. Ray worked there for seven years or so, becoming a script editor, and eventually, the story editor. While working on Bellbird, he wrote a anthological play for the ABC, And Mother Used to Sing.
After several years freelancing for Crawford Productions, where he had plotted a substantial amount of The Sullivans and The Box and built a reputation as a reliable generator of story, Ray received an unexpected call from Peter Pinne at Grundy’s. The offer was unusually generous: weekly flights between Melbourne and Sydney, a place on the Sons and Daughters storylining team, and the freedom to write as many scripts as he wished in his spare time.
Despite the role requiring a jump from Crawford’s to Grundy’s, rival production houses, he chose to take the leap, beginning a period of weekly commuting before eventually relocating to Sydney permanently. This decision would prove pivotal in his career.
After some time as storyliner, Ray was asked to return to Melbourne temporarily to co-story edit Prisoner when the series suddenly lost its previous story editor to illness. He worked alongside the “delightful” Betty Quin, whom he already knew from Grundy’s Sydney office. Having already written scripts for the series, he found the tonal shift into Prisoner’s heightened, character-driven world relatively easy.
Upon returning from Prisoner, Ray was promoted to story editor on Sons and Daughters, with Bevan Lee moving into script editing. Ray describes the distinction clearly:
- Story Editor – develops long-term arcs, creates new characters, and leads a team of four storyliners to break down each week’s episodes.
- Script Editor – ensures consistency of character voice, tone, and continuity once scripts are delivered.
Ray’s favourite aspect of the series was writing for Patricia “Pat the Rat” Hamilton – a villain whose cunning needed to be balanced with emotional grounding and audience sympathy. He credits the cast as uniformly strong, noting that the writing team never felt let down by a performance.
Between stints of Sons and Daughters and Prisoner, Ray played integral part in the development of Starting Out, a short-lived soap produced in late 1981 following Nine’s cancellation of The Young Doctors. Ray was the story editor across the show’s 85 episode run.
In 1985, hearing that the McElroy & McElroy were seeking a combined story and script editor for Return to Eden, Ray contacted them and secured the role, working closely alongside Ysabelle Dean to plot what would become one of Australia’s most famous exports. Unfortunately, the series was axed after one season, leaving Australians with a cliffhanger ending: heroine Stephanie (Rebecca Gilling) covered in her business rival’s blood, holding the gun that killed him.
So revered overseas was the show that the McElroys bankrolled the shooting of a five-minute tag that resolved the two major cliffhangers.
After returning from an overseas holiday, Ray received a call from Reg Watson inviting him to take over story editing on Neighbours, which had recently been cancelled by Seven but was being revived by Network Ten. Ray agreed on the condition that he be given full creative control of the script department – a role that would later become known as the script producer or showrunner.
On the success of Neighbours, Ray believed it to be striking “the perfect blend” of relatable domestic storytelling, strong character foundations, and a tone reminiscent of Coronation Street. He noted Reg’s creation of strong characters gave him and his team the basis for several big names, “[Reg] gave us Scott, we gave him Charlene. [Reg] gave us Madge, we gave her Harold Bishop. Then came Mrs. Mangel and Jane, Dorothy Burke, and a host of other loveable characters.” He also wrote two novelisations of the series with fellow Neighbours writer, Valda Marshall, and a solo novel, Facing Tomorrow.
The show’s eventual ratings surge and international success remain among his proudest achievements.
Ray stepped away from supervising Neighbours in 1992, but continued writing scripts for the show while working on developing other programs for Grundy’s. He also did some script editing and writing on dramas Shortland Street, Paradise Beach and Pacific Drive. In 1994 he was asked by Grundy’s to go to Germany to work with UFA, a major film and television company. With the help of UFA writer Jörge Brueckner, Ray created Unter Uns (Between Us), which is still running today. He then moved to France to develop an unproduced soap. He acted as the head writer on both series.
In 1996, Ray returned to Australia to join Neighbours as the story consultant to support the young, newly appointed script producer, Scott Taylor. Together, the pair brought the failing series to an all-time high in regard to the ratings, and were responsible for the re-introduction of fan favourites, Harold and Madge Bishop and the death of Helen Daniels. He left the series in 1997 but remained writing for the series until 2007. He is credited with 194 episodes
After developing The Computer Kids for Crawford’s, and writing for Pacific Drive and Breakers, Ray joined Edwina Searle as a story editor on Home and Away in 1998. During his time on the series, he worked on an eight-week rotational basis developing story, story editing and overediting. They were later joined by Scott Taylor. Ray stayed with the series for two years.
In the mid 2000s, Ray was part of the story team for the Seven Network drama HeadLand. Ray worked as a story consultant alongside script producer Alan Hardy, with a storylining team consisting of Andrew Osborne, Josh Mapleston and Kaneana May.
Over his 46 years in the Australian television industry, Ray worked on over 30 individual series.
Outside of the television industry, Ray taught plotting and writing at AFTRS between 2003 and 2007. He has also written the book and lyrics for several musicals including Little Women for the Arts Theatre in Melbourne, Fetch Me a Fig-Leaf at the Alexander Theatre in Melbourne and A Bit O’ Petticoat for The Playhouse in Hobart.
For a list of Ray’s credits, please scroll down.
Ray’s Credits
Bellbird
Story Editor/Script Editor (1967-1974)
The Box
Story Editor/Script Editor (1974-1977)
Bluestone Boys
Story Editor/Script Editor (1976)
The Sullivans
Story Editor/Script Editor (1976-1978)
Cop Shop
Story Editor/Script Editor (1979-1982)
Prisoner Cell Block H
Story Editor (1984)
Sons and Daughters
Storyliner (1982)
Story Editor (1982-1986)
Starting Out
Development/Story Editor (1983)
Return to Eden
Script Producer (1986)
Neighbours
Script Producer (1986-1992)
Story Consultant (1996-1998)
Shortland Street
Story Consultant (1992)
Unter Uns
Co-Creator (1994)
Headland
Story Consultant (2005-2006)
Ray’s Writing Credits
Bellbird (1967-1974)
In Melbourne Tonight (1968)
The Celebrity Game (1968)
Homicide (1970)
And Mother Used to Sing (1972)
The Box (1974-1977)
Bluestone Boys (1976)
The Sullivans (1976-1978)
Skyways (1979)
Cop Shop (1979-1982)
Prisoner Cell Block H (1979-1984)
Punishment (1981)
Sons and Daughters (1982-1986)
Starting Out (1983)
Return to Eden (1986)
Neighbours (1986-2007)
Richmond Hill (1988)
Shortland Street (1992)
Paradise Beach (1993)
The Damnation of Harvey McHugh (1994)
Pacific Drive (1996-1997)
Breakers (1998)
Picture with thanks to Ray Kolle