Outback House | |
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Genre | Historical reality television |
Starring | see cast |
Country of origin | Australia |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Ivo Burum |
Camera setup | digi beta |
Running time | 60 min. |
Release | |
Original network | ABC TV |
Picture format | 576i (SDTV) |
Original release | 12 June – 31 July 2005 |
External links | |
Website |
Outback House was an Australian historical reality TV series that originally aired on ABC TV in 2005. The series was based on several series produced by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and PBS in the United States, in which the concept was to have a modern-day family living in a facsimile of an historical dwelling with their staff, making do with only the technology and materials of the time. Outback House was set in 1861 Outback Australia, on a sheep station called Oxley Downs in New South Wales.
The series was conceived as an Australian version of the successful House series, produced by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, and later adapted by American public broadcaster PBS. The series produced by 2005 were: The 1900 House (UK, 1999), The Edwardian Country House (UK, 2002), Frontier House (US, 2002) and Colonial House (US, 2004).
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation advertised for twenty people to participate in the series filming for three months, portraying the inhabitants of an 1860s Australian sheep station. Over 5000 people applied to take the journey back in time. In the recreated world of the series, the family running the station were "squatters", who had taken over an abandoned property. In addition, the participants included the considerable number of staff required on an outback sheep farm: overseers, shepherds, governesses, stationhands, cooks and maids.