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*The Group*
The Group
Genre	Situation comedy
Written by	David Sale
Starring	Ken James; Gregory de Polnay; Wendy Hughes; Roslyn Wilson; Terry O'Neill; Jenee Welsh;
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	14
Production
Producer	Don Cash - Bill Harmon
Production company	Cash Harmon
Original release
Network	Seven Network
Release	January 1971 –; August 1971

The Group was an Australian situation comedy series produced by Cash Harmon Television for the Seven Network in 1971. The pilot episode was screened by the network on 25 January as one of four Australian series it was considering commissioning. It then, Bob Ellis wrote, 'invited the vast audience to write in and say which ones they liked.'^[1]

Synopsis

The situation involved five young flatmates—three men and two women—living together for financial and pragmatic reasons and regularly attempting to outwit their landlord who was convinced there were saucy goings-on in the flat. In this it prefigured the more well-known 1973 British sitcom Man About the House.

The regular characters were named on screen with a freeze frame as they made their entrance at the start of each episode. Each credit also featured a brief description of the character, such as 'MARK the medical student', 'JENNIFER the student', 'BOB the accountant', 'JEREMY he's something in television', 'TINTO the landlord'.

The final character was Laura Bent, the dumb brunette, a model unaware of her physical attractiveness. Laura was the key character around which most of the show's situations revolved. Her caption would change every episode and formed the title of the episode, such as "and LAURA this week she's on a diet", "This Week She Wants to Be a Singer", "This Week She Travels", etc.

Ellis described The Group's pilot as featuring 'graceful studio direction, and... a chirpy overall feeling of ensemble vivaciousness'; it was, he said, 'a cheery, friendly, viable show.'^[2]

Cast

Regular

Ken James as Mark
Jennee Walsh as Jennifer
Gregory Ross as Bob
Gregory de Polnay as Jeremy
Terry O'Neill as Tinto
Roslyn Wilson as Laura Bent

Guests

Ben Gabriel as Mr Sebel
Bettina Welch
Elisabeth Kirkby
Lynn Rainbow
Tom Oliver

The role of Laura Bent was played by Roslyn Wilson, cast at the last minute when the original actress, Wendy Hughes, was released to take a role in a production of Butterflies are Free.^[3] Wilson had not acted professionally, but she had performing experience in amateur theatre and as a singer-guitarist. At the time she auditioned for The Group, she was working as a secretary in an advertising agency and had, producer Don Harmon said at the time, 'the same quality of innocence that Marilyn Monroe used to have.'^[4]

Production personnel

The series was produced by Don Cash and Bill Harmon, devised by Anne Hall and written by David Sale, who the following year collaborated on the phenomenally successful soap opera Number 96. Despite its popularity The Group was not renewed beyond its original series of 13 half-hour episodes.^[5]

Indeed many of the actors who had featured briefly in The Group, including Bettina Welch, Elisabeth Kirkby and Tom Oliver, would become staples in Number 96^[6]

Notes

^ Bob Ellis, 'Gyngell agonises' Nation 6 February 1971 p. 18
^ Bob Ellis, 'Gyngell agonises' Nation 6 February 1971 p. 18
^ 'Comedy that viewers picked starts on Sunday', Melbourne Age 12 August 1971 'TV-Radio Guide' section, p. 2
^ Valda Marshall, 'New Face in "the Group"', Sydney Sun-Herald, 14 March 1971 p. 178
^ Moran, Albert. Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series, Allen & Unwin, 1993. ISBN 0-642-18462-3, p. 209–210.
^ Giles, Nigel. Number 96. Melbourne Books.