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| - SONS AND DAUGHTERS was an Australian Soap Opera which ran from 1981-1987 on the Seven Network in Australia. The series focused on the lives of two Australian families, the Palmers of Melbourne; and the Hamiltons of Sydney. Much of the drama stems from the interactions and the shared history of the two families. It began with two young people, David Palmer and Patricia Dunne, who came across a boarding house, owned by former madame and prostitute Fiona Thompson (Pat McDonald). In desperate need of a place to stay, Fiona opened her home to the young people. Patricia later gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The next morning, Pat bolted, taking the baby girl with her. David had Fiona raise his son, named John, but went under the alias Scott Edwards. The daughter, Angela Hamilton, grew up with her mother, Patricia, who was infamously known as Pat the Rat, who had married wealthy Gordon Hamilton (Brian Blain). Meanwhile, David had married a warm-hearted and down to earth woman named Beryl Keegan (Leila Hayes) and had two other children, Susan and Kevin. Beryl later had another child by David, named Robert. Gordon's son, from his first marriage, Wayne (Ian Rawlings) was a womanizing villain who married Susan Palmer (after she divorced her first husband) and proceeded to make her life miserable, until the final episode where Wayne strangled Susan, killing her and he turned himself in for her death. Despite his evil nature, Wayne also proved that he could be a very loving person. A fine example of this was the fatherly bond he had forged with a little orphaned boy named Tick McCartney (Haydon Samuels) whom he thought was his son, supposedly from a former girlfriend, Moya Brinkley. Even though he wasn't his son, Wayne thought of Tick as such and loved him very dearly (and Tick loved him too), and was truly brokenhearted when Tick was taken away. Tick was one of the few people that Wayne genuinely loved and he was truly heartbroken when he was taken. This only solidified his hatred towards Alison Carr (the new alias of his former stepmother and arch-enemy, Patricia), who had instigated the plot. Scott (John) was on the run for a murder that he did not commit (his half-sister, Susan's first husband, Bill Todd, had been the one who killed the man) and, while on the run, ended up falling in love with Angela. Before they fell too much in love, however, it was revealed that they were siblings who had been separated at birth. Fiona told John about Angela and Angela was told by her mother, Patricia. Upon discovering this, their relationship settled into a caring fraternal twin bond. It was also later revealed that John and Angela were not David's children. Patricia had been pregnant when she had met David all those years ago, and it was shown that they were the children of another man named Martin Healy, but it did not matter to either the twins or to David, as John and Angela had considered David (and also Gordon Hamilton, the man who raised Angela) as their fathers, and because of her lies and constant manipulations, Patricia's relations with her children were often strained. Eventually, both John and Angela moved on and left the series. Angela married her stepmother, Beryl's brother, Rob Keegan, and left the show. John also found love and left the show. Pat and David often fought their attraction, which often imperiled David's marriage to Beryl, and they would often get angry and fight with one another, but their attraction was undeniable and indelible. In the ending episode, David and Alison fell in love for real. Patricia's former husband, Gordon, had finally thrown her out many years earlier (he still considered Angela his daughter and opened his heart to her brother, John) and after a marriage to Barbara Armstrong (Cornelia Frances), had fallen in love with and married David Palmer's former wife, Beryl, and helped raise her child, Robert. What made the show interesting was that the series ended in exactly the same way it had started. A young married couple was in desperate need of shelter and they turned up at Fiona's mansion boarding house (replacing the old boarding house which had burned down) and was taken in, just as David and Patricia had been taken in all those years ago, and the wife giving birth to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. The series had come full circle. Many talented actors brought these characters to life. Among the more famous alumni of the show were Ilona Rodgers (who played Patricia's sister, Margaret Dunne); Mary Ward (who played evil Dee Morrell, who was more than capable of holding her own against the equally evil Patricia); Cornelia Frances (who played Pat the Rat's sister in-law, Barbara Morrell Armstrong Hamilton, and would later become better known as Judge Morag Stewart Bellingham on Home and Away, which premiered two years after Sons and Daughters went off the air); Rowena Wallace (who was the original Patricia and later played Alison Carr's sister, Pamela Hudson); Stephen Comey; Ian Rawlings; Belinda Giblin (the second Pat the Rat, who went by the alias Alison Carr), and the late Pat McDonald (who was best known for her role of the hilarious gossip Dorrie Evans on the famous or, depending on your point of view, infamous hybrid soap opera/comedy Number 96).
- The initial premise for the show was a Romeo and Juliet style storyline which revolved around working-class John Palmer from Melbourne and spoilt rich girl Angela Hamilton from Sydney. They met by chance when John was on the run from the police for a murder he did not commit and they fell in love not realising that they were actually long lost twins, separated at birth 20 years earlier. Early episodes saw the pair discover the truth about their relationship and showed the problems and strains this put on their own relationships and those of their immediate families, the Hamiltons and the Palmers. While on the run John was protected in Sydney by Fiona Thompson, an ex prostitute and now boarding house owner who had raised John when he was a young boy. With a new identity and now going by the name of Scott Edwards, John attempted to rebuild a new life along with Fiona's help and that of neighbour Jill Taylor. For the Palmers life was going from bad to worse, newly wed Susan received the shock revelation that husband Bill was responsible for the murder her brother had been arrested for and young lovers Kevin and Lynn found their life turned upside down when she became pregnant despite their families best efforts to keep them apart. David and John's relationship continued to deteriorate and when David and Patricia met up again after 20 years old passions were reignited leaving Beryl fighting for her marriage. For the Hamiltons financial issues were the least of their worries, Wayne Hamilton was involved in a near fatal car crash after his father, Gordon, kicked him out of the Dural home upon discovering he planned to buy and demolish the family's country residence at Woombai and Patricia announced to Gordon that their marriage was over and they would leave separate lives. Patricia developed into the main focus of the show with many storylines revolving around her, hence the introduction of her best friend and confident Charlie Bartlett and Patricia's mighty rise to power as a major shareholder in Ramburg Industries following the death of her ex lover James Shephard. Gordon finds he has a fight on his hands to save Woombai even going up against old friend Fiona and Jill ends her relationship with Wayne as he becomes more and more aggressive and evil following his accident. The Hamiltons and Palmers lives become further tangled as Angela became romantically linked to Beryl's brother Rob Keegan. Patricia becomes a wealthy women following the death or ex lover James Shepherd and uses her power as a major shareholder in Ramburg Industries to toy with the lives of those around her. End of season cliffhanger (Episode 174): At John & Angela's 21st Birthday party at the Palmer house David tries to stop Patricia from gate crashing only to be met with an unexpected admission, she has been lying all the time and David isn't the twins' father after all.
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