Close to Home: New Zealand’s first soap opera…

Interview – 2013

First screening on TV One in May 1975, Close to Home ran for eight years. The popular series was New Zealand television's first soap opera. Set in Wellington, it was built around the trials and tribulations of the Hearte family. At its peak in 1977, Close to Home attracted a twice weekly audience of one million viewers.

In this special edition of ScreenTalk, cast and crew reminisce about their time with Close to Home.

Featured are director/actor John Callen, writer/producer Keith Aberdein, writer Judy Callingham, and actors Janice Finn, Ilona Rodgers, Jeffrey Thomas, Danny Mulheron, Ken Blackburn and Ginette McDonald.

This video was first uploaded on 2 December 2013, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interviews - Andrew Whiteside, Ian Pryor; Camera – Andrew Whiteside, Leonardo Guerchmann, Alex Backhouse; Editing – Andrew Whiteside.

I remember being one of the first people to walk through the door at Avalon . . . I felt so privileged to be there at that time. It was very exciting. There was something very pioneer, frontier land about it. And Close To Home was the first soap opera for New Zealand.
– Actor Ilona Rodgers on filming Close to Home at the newly built Avalon studios