E Street comes to DVD
Fans of the Australian drama series E Street will be pleased to learn that the first 96 episodes of the show are now available on DVD and that its action all the way from the very outset.
The first 96 episodes of E Street are now on DVD.
Unfortunately, the master tapes for the first two episodes are missing from the archives but these two editions have been recovered from off-air recordings made by home viewers.
E Street ran for 404 action-packed episodes from 1989 until 1993 and followed the lives and loves of the residents of the inner-city suburb of Westside. When the show was sold to Sky One in the UK adverts on the side of busses read ‘E Street – Meet Your New Neighbours.’
Ernie Patchett (Vic Rooney) runs the local pub where much of the action takes place but he soon learns that there’s no fool like an old fool when he begins romancing a much younger gold-digger in the form of rock singer Jojo (Kelley Abbey). Fortunately, he has better luck in the romance stakes when he meets Las Vegas nightclub singer Abbey Rossiter (Chelsea Brown). Abbey is on the run from American mobsters, and Auntie Vi Patchett (Bunney Brooke) is not best pleased that Ernie has installed his fancy woman in a room above the pub.
Ernie’s son Chris (Paul Kelman) seems to drift from one job to another and is shocked to discover that he’s been dating a high-class prostitute. An engagement to barmaid Lisa Bennett (Alyssa-Jane Cook) ends badly because she’s secretly in love with the crippled muso Stanley ‘Wheels’ Kovak (Marcus Graham). Lisa is determined to help Wheels walk again and a very steamy relationship develops between them. Meanwhile Chris is on the rebound and decides to marry Megan Bromley (Lisbeth Kennelly) who is carrying another man’s child. When Megan has a miscarriage, she attempts suicide and Chris must decide whether to commit her to a psychiatric institution.
Left: Ernie Patchett (Vic Rooney) falls for American nightclub singer Abbey Rossiter (Chelsea Brown). Right: Bunney Brooke from Number 96 plays Vi Patchett in E Street.
Right: Lisa Bennett (Alyssa-Jane Cook) is determined to help the crippled Wheels (Marcus Graham) walk again. Left: Chris Patchett (Paul Kelman) first meets Megan Bromley (Lisbeth Kennelly) when she’s slitting her wrists in the pub toilet but he decides to marry her.
Despite her love for Wheels, Lisa Bennett goes from one heartache to another. She takes up with an illegal immigrant whose family are on the run from the IRA, and then learns that her mother Margaret (Briony Behets) could have cervical cancer. Things take a decidedly sinister turn when deranged truckie Sam Bulmer (Serge Lazareff) goes on the rampage murdering lawyer Sarah McKillop (Katrina Sedgwick) and raping Lisa with whom he has an unhealthy sexual obsession.
Dr Elly Fielding (Penny Cook) is the local GP who finds herself treating all manner of ailments. Elly is a divorcee raising her young daughter Claire (Brooke ‘Mikey’ Anderson) and the girl causes grave concern when she gets lost in a storm-water drain. Elly’s ex-husband, celebrity TV doctor David Fielding (Noel Hodda), takes up with television presenter Miki Fallon (Peta Toppano) and the pair will try to get custody of Claire through the courts. Meanwhile, it seems that Elly has found love again after meeting suave widower Daniel Windsor (Chris Orchard) through a dating agency but Daniel has a roving eye and we wonder how long the relationship will last. Daniel has worries of his own when his young son Tom (Andrew Ferguson) is diagnosed with cancer and when his school-age daughter Toni (Toni Pearen) becomes involved with a shady religious cult run by Lara McCoy (Gennie Nevinson).
Left: Deranged truckie Sam Bulmer (Serge Lazareff) goes on the rampage in Westside. Right: Penny Cook from A Country Practice plays single mother Dr Elly Fielding in E Street.
Toni causes more worries for her father when she meets a derelict called Harley Kendrick (Malcolm Kennard) and falls for his charms. It transpires that Harley is in search of his real parents and that his father is actually the hip local clergyman Reverend Bob Brown (Tony Martin).
Over at the Westside Police Station, Sergeant George Sullivan (Les Dayman) and Constable Paul Berry (Warren Jones) have to deal with a plethora of wrongdoers. A young vandal is killed after being hit by a train, a mentally retarded woman threatens legal action when she feels that she’s being forced into having an abortion, and a young boy has been peddling his mother’s anxiety pills to other kids in the district. Across town an orphan accuses a respected member of the community of being a child molester, an alcoholic is charged with bashing and raping a woman who is paralysed from the waist down, and a father who has been denied access to his children goes berserk and threatens to torch a petrol station. Meanwhile, lawyer Jennifer St James (Virginia Hey) is left terrified when the tough and overbearing police detective Mike Kaminski (Sean Scully) becomes totally obsessed with her.
On the home front, George Sullivan is in a constant battle to stay off the grog and is romantically involved with district nurse Martha O’Dare (Cecily Polson). When his estranged daughter Alice (Marianne Howard) blows into town and takes a job as a barmaid at the pub George’s life will be thrown into chaos. Constable Paul Berry faces heartache and tragedy when his wife Rhonda (Melanie Salomon) is accidentally gunned down by a policeman during a suspected hostage situation.
Right: Chris Orchard from The Young Doctors joins E Street as pilot Daniel Windsor, when his light aircraft crashes his future looks bleak. Left: Young Toni Windsor (Toni Pearen) is hoodwinked into joining a shady religious sect run by Lara McCoy (Gennie Nevinson).
Left: Sergeant George Sullivan (Les Dayman) comes face to face with his estranged daughter Alice (Marianne Howard). Right: Heartache awaits Constable Paul Berry (Warren Jones) when his wife Rhonda (Melanie Salomon) is accidentally gunned down.
Familiar faces appearing in this bumper DVD box set include Terence Donovan and Rebekah Elmaloglou from Neighbours; Anna Hruby, Amanda Newman-Phillips and Lyn Collingwood from Home & Away; Lois Ramsey from The Box; Denise Roberts from G.P.; Brian Blain and Jared Robinson from Sons & Daughters; Sonja Tallis from Prisoner: Cell Block H; Mark Owen-Taylor from A Country Practice; and Robert Alexander from Richmond Hill.
Other well-known guest artists in these episodes include Dennis Grosvenor from Chopper Squad, Nick Holland, Dinah Shearing, Melissa Jaffer, Peter Gwynne, Rob Steele, Zoe Carides, Gavin Harrison, Harry Lawrence, Gary Who, Andrew Clarke, Wallas Eaton, Lynne Porteous, Joolie Eadie, Rona Coleman, Peter Sumner, and Richard Meikle.
Left: Hip clergyman Bob Brown (Tony Martin) learns that Harley Kendrick (Malcolm Kennard) is his son. Middle: Les Dayman of Homicide fame plays Sergeant George Sullivan in E Street. Right: Romance blossoms between former derelict Harley Kendrick (Malcolm Kennard) and schoolgirl Toni Windsor (Toni Pearen).
E Street – Collection One can be purchased by viewers worldwide from Via Vision Entertainment or alternatively from Madman Entertainment.
It is ridiculous that Grundy shows have not been released except Prisoner. JNP, Crawfords, Westside, have all released their 70s/80s/90s shows but the Brundy stuff is forever gathering dust!! The Restless Years, Sons and Daughters, Punishment, The Young Doctors, Waterloo Station and others need releasing quickly.