By the Bel: Blasts from the Past — Part 1

‘K! I’ve been having ‘when I was a young girl’ moments lately but I really think I’m justified.

I generally have stopped watching shows for Young Adults on TV because well, in my opinion, they suck.

There was a time when there were FANTASTIC shows for teens on the telly. Like, I mean, it was interesting, it was made in Australia and the acting was brilliant. The plotlines were imaginative and quite a few were of a sci fi fantasy nature, others dealt with striving for your dreams. Very important for all growing minds.

I would like to introduce you to a series that was shot in 1990. Yes, that was the last millennium.

Elly and Jools httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu5Q_JmhI9g&feature=related

was a fun and mildly spooky TV show.  It was directed by Karl Zwincky and shot in various locations around New South Wales.

IMDB is a great place to find stuff out and here’s their synopsis of Elly and Jools… Jools Traveller moves with his parents to a struggling farm they purchased in the countryside. Making it easier on the move is a ghost that reveals herself to him only, a girl named Elly Lockett, who died mysteriously in the 19th century. Also making life interesting are the wacky neighbors, the O’Farrell family.

The supernatural hadn’t really been handled in kids TV, other than “monsters under the bed” and parents telling us there was “no such things as ghosts”. This series was the very beginning of taking the usual stuff we were watching and turning it into a superb example of why Aussie-made TV was worth watching – even if you were under the age of twenty.

You may have seen quite a few of the actors in many, many series since this one. Some names are larger than life and others have fallen into obscurity. Rebecca Smart has been on Heartbreak High and Water Rats. Damon Herriman has since been in some big deal stuff: CSI, House of Wax and Breaking Bad. Anne Tenney, who will always live in many hearts as Molly Jones, has been on Always Greener and Headland.

The main thing for me was the fact it was a wonderful escape from the daily drudgery of life in 1990.  The kids weren’t always rude and there was an innocence between Elly and Jools that would be slaughtered if an attempt was made to ‘modernise’ the series. It was a snapshot of the year 1990 and it was beautiful.

I’ll continue with my nostalgia in future instalments. Hope you don’t mind.