Chances DVD

[Martin]

Has anyone ordered the Chances DVD?

This was one of my favourite shows back in the early 1990s and it stands up well to the test of time. I'm loving watching the whole thing again and Cathy Godbold (Meg from H&A) is brillant as schoolgirl Nicki Taylor. Jeremy Sims (H&A's Gardy) stars as her brother Alex. Mark Kounnas, who features in early episodes of H&A as one of Steven's running mates, is also in the main cast.

Chances is a far more adult soap/serial and was firmly grounded in reality for its first series of 60 episodes. Murder, blackmail, illness, pregnancies and underworld criminals all provide much drama with some excellent comedy from Mercia Deane-Johns and Sydney Jackson. All that with a bit of nudity thrown in for good measure. People speak a lot more frankly than in other Aussie soaps and the storylines go that little bit further than we are used to seeing from Aussie soaps.

The second series is where they wrote out almost all the original cast and went a bit nuts with possessed necklaces, triads, vampires and man-eating plants! Still a good watch if you approach it as a totally different series but it doesn't have the warmth of the early episodes. This is all people seem to remember now when it comes to Chances and I feel that people have totally forgotten the under-rated early days which in my opinion was far superior to what Neighbours and H&A were producing at the time.

Anyone else watching this?

 

[FlossAndNeville]

Haven't seen the DVD, but the other Chances/H&A connection is Gerard Sont, aka Brett Macklin... who made a much bigger impression on me a year later when he hosted Double Dare (going by Gerry rather than Gerard).

[Martin]

 That's right. Gerard Sont arrived later in Chances, during the 'crazy' episodes. His character was later recast (the only time this was done in Chances) and he was replaced in the finalepisodes by John Atkinson who acted alongside James Stewart and Ada Nicodemou in the late 90s soap Breakers. John Atkinson also turned up earlier this year in Home & Away as a policeman.

[adam436]

A young Clarissa House also appears in some of the later episodes of Chances too. 

[Martin]

Yes, that's right. She was 'Soixante Neuf' in the vampire story arc!

I always think its interesting watching old shows as some of the minor characters who we didn't recognise at the time have, by then, went on to a more prominent role.

[Martin]

The second boxset of Chances is now out. This one includes all the crazy storylines. Looking forward to seeing them as some episodes weren't shown in the UK so I'll be seeing a few of them for the first time. 30 years on and they are still some of the most adult storylines every featured in an Australian tv series.

Roll on some of the strangest Aussie drama ever!

[Martin]

I'm now onto the second box set and things are starting to get a little weirder. Guest stars from Home & Away in recent episodes I have watched are Justin Melvey (Harry Reynolds) and Catherine McColl-Jones (Sandra Barlow). I didn't recognise Justin until I noticed his names in the credits as this was filmed in 1991 and he looks to be still a teenager! And Catherine has progressed from having a sweet lfriendship with Adam Willits in Home & Away to sharing a bath with Michael Caton in Chances!