Autumn Affair

Autumn Affair
Genre	soap opera
Screenplay by	Richard Lane
Directed by	Ken Hannam David Cahill
Starring	Muriel Steinbeck
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	156
Production
Running time	15 mins
Release
Original network	ATN-7
Original release	1959

Autumn Affair was an Australian (black and white) television series made by and aired by Network Seven station ATN-7, and also shown in Melbourne on Nine Network station GTV-9. Television in Australia had only been broadcasting since 1956 and Seven was the first commercial station to make drama a priority. It premiered 24 October 1958 and continued until 1959. The series was the first ever Australian television soap opera. It was also the second regular Australian-produced dramatic television series of any kind, with previous locally produced drama consisting of religious series The House on the Corner, and one-off plays largely aired on ABC.

The love lives of a middle aged widow, Julia, and her daughter, Meg.

Originally conceived as Julia: An Early Autumn Affair, the title was later shortened to just Autumn Affair.

Many of the actors and writers involved in the production had previously worked on radio soap opera, and were inexperienced with television acting.

Episodes were fifteen minutes in duration, recorded as kinescopes in black and white, and were screened Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8:45 AM.

The series went into production without a sponsor, as the station ATN7 wanted to gain experience in television drama production.

The cast comprised just six regulars; the story focused on Julia (Muriel Steinbeck), a widow in a love triangle situation with two men.

The series was well-received when originally broadcast.

The series ended in 1959 after 156 episodes.

In a 1960 article in Sydney Morning Herald, it was noted that although mistakes were made during the production of the series due to inexperience, it nevertheless paved the way for improved locally produced drama productions.

Actors who appeared in the show included Muriel Steinbeck, Queenie Ashton, Diana Perryman (the sister of Jill Perryman), Janet Craig, Leonard Bullen and Owen Weingott.

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