Family Affairs | |
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Final Family Affairs title card.
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Starring | Cast |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of episodes | 2,285 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes (including adverts) |
Production company(s) | Thames Television |
Distributor |
Pearson Television (1997-2001) FremantleMedia (2001-2005) |
Release | |
Original network | Channel 5 |
Picture format |
4:3 (1997–2001) 16:9 (2001–2005) |
Original release | 30 March 1997 | – 30 December 2005
Family Affairs is a British soap opera that was aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997 and was screened as five thirty-minute episodes each week. The series never achieved high ratings, so the producers conducted several drastic revamps of the series. There were several wholesale changeovers of the cast, and the premise of the series was refocused from a family in a quiet suburb, to a range of different people living on a bustling outer London street.
On 2 August 2005, Channel 5 announced they would not renew Family Affairs. Production ceased on 4 November, and the final episode was broadcast on 30 December 2005.
The series was shot on video to give a film look. In 1999 and 2004, single episodes used standard video presentation for testing purposes. Producer Sean O'Connor changed to standard video presentation from September 2005 until the final episode.
The serial originally focused on the Hart and Gates family and some of their friends and close associates living in the fictional outer London suburb of Charnham. The Hart family consisted of parents builder Chris (Ian Ashpitel) and his wife Annie (Liz Crowther) and their four children, ladies' man Duncan (Rocky Marshall), Duncan's twin, the confused 24-year-old virgin and trainee solicitor Holly (Sandra Huggett), police constable Melanie (Cordelia Bugeja), and schoolboy Jamie (Michael Cole).
Chris and Annie's parents were also featured. After losing his wife, Sally (Jean Heywood) in the opening episodes, Chris' father Angus (Ian Cullen) came to live with the Hart family. Annie's parents who lived nearby were the staunchly conservative Elsa Gates (Delena Kidd) and philandering Jack (Ken Farrington).