Home and Away creator Alan Bateman dies

SEVEN chairman Kerry Stokes pays tribute to celebrated television executive Alan Bateman who died on Saturday August 18th after a battle with cancer.

Bateman, who worked at Ten, Nine and the ABC as well as Seven, was the creator of the Seven network’s long-running soap Home and Away and played an important part in Seven’s broadcast of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

A spokeswoman for the ABC said Bateman had previously been a prominent ABC personality and major contributor to some iconic ABC programming including Peach’s Australia

“Alan Bateman spent a number of years as a senior executive for the Seven Network,” Mr Stokes told Media last night.

“He was dedicated to Australian content and programs that reflected the Australian identity. He made a real contribution to the Seven Network and Australian television.”

When he was Seven’s head of drama in 1986 Bateman created Home and Away and it is now the second-longest-running drama – after Neighbours – and the most popular soap opera on Australian television.

The CEO of Seven Network Television Tim Worner said Home and Away was Bateman’s legacy.

“He will be remembered as the man who came up with the idea for Home and Away, a program that continues to resonate with viewers. He leaves that legacy and so much more to Australian television. Alan’s work, particularly in documentary and factual formats, paved the way to the quality programming we see today. Alan was a larger than life, very charming part of ABC’s history.”

Home and Away is set in the fictional coastal town of Summer Bay, following the residents of the area. Key locations include the beach, the school, café and caravan park. The series launched in the UK on ITV in 1989 and switched to Channel 5 a decade later.