Pacific Drive
| Pacific Drive | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Soap opera |
| Starring |
Grant Bowler Simone Buchanan Mark Constable Les Hill Andre Eikmeier Rebekah Elmaloglou Olivia Hamnett (1997) Rowena Wallace (1996) Steve J. Harman Virginia Hey Darrin Klimek Peter Kowitz Adrian Lee Joss McWilliam Lloyd Morris Kate Raison Danielle Spencer Christine Stephen-Daly Mouche Phillips Libby Tanner Erik Thomson Melissa Tkautz |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 390 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Distributor |
Village Roadshow New World International |
| Release | |
| Original network | Nine Network |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 29 January 1996 – November 2001 |
Pacific Drive is an Australian television series made by Village Roadshow in association with New World International for the Nine Network which screened from 29 January 1996 to December 1997 before bouncing around in a late night timeslot for years. It was also repeated (and edited to tone down its racier overtones) for a daytime slot on Nine while they lobbied (unsuccessfully) to the Australian Broadcasting Authority for a daytime drama to count towards their local drama quota points.
Despite getting 1.7 million viewers for its first episode at 9.30pm, within a few weeks the show was getting just 135,000 viewers in its regular 11pm timeslot. Most critics described it as rubbish but some changed their minds during the show's second season. 'The Sydney Morning Herald said it was "immeasurably improved in looks, acing and writing" while The Sunday Telegraph named it one of the 10 Best Shows on TV for 1997. The "final" episode was screened on 6 April 2000 before Nine realised a mistake had been made (when the first three episodes had been edited down into a punchier one hour premiere) so they eventually screened the last ever episode a year later as a one-off send-off. Had it aired without interruption, it would have taken just 18 months to complete its run instead of five years.
The series was conceived as a flamboyant, melodramatic soap opera and dealt with the lives of wealthy Australians living on the Gold Coast. Although criticised for being an Australian copy of the American soap opera Melrose Place, its outrageous storylines – including corporate scheming, various affairs, serial killers and a lesbian love triangle (the first on a TV soap) – saw the series gain a cult reputation.
In the UK, the show was purchased by the then new TV station, Sky 2 and paired with Melrose Place. The show did not rate very well and when the TV station itself began to flounder, they moved all their high profile shows back to Sky 1, the show was put onto double showings Friday and Saturdays and ended its run just before the station closed.
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