Taurus Rising

Taurus Rising
Genre	Soap opera Drama
Created by	Reg Watson
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	21
Production
Production company	Reg Grundy Organisation
Original release
Network	Nine Network
Release	27 July (1982-07-27) – 17 December 1982 (1982-12-17)

Taurus Rising is an Australian soap opera produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the Nine Network in 1982. Originally intended by the network to be a replacement for The Sullivans, the series was one of a number of attempts to provide an Australian alternative to the glossy American supersoaps Dallas and Dynasty and featured two wealthy Sydney-based feuding families, the Brents and the Drysdales. To this end, it represented something of a stylistic departure for Grundy's. Unlike most other Australian soap operas which were recorded on videotape, Taurus Rising was shot entirely on film. The series began at 8.30pm time-slot in a two hour movie pilot and continued for a couple of weeks on Tuesday nights. Due to a decline in ratings it was delegated to Friday nights at 10pm by the time of the finale during 1982. Taurus Rising has never screened on Nine Network since the original screening.

It cost $2 million to make.

Taurus Rising proved to be an expensive failure after it failed to win an audience and was cancelled after 21 episodes. The series did later prove popular in international markets and was subsequently sold to American cable television, marketed as a 21-part "miniseries".

Background

The project originated in 1979 at Channel Nine by Michael Pate and Tony Morphett. It was originally envisioned as a short quality series about two rival family business dynasties. Morphett wrote the early drafts. Over 18 months of development the series evolved and was outsourced to Grundy Productions. Grundys made a pilot which was viewed by Channel 9 in January 1982.

Cast

The Brents
Jennifer Brent	Annette Andre
Mike Brent	Andrew Clarke
Harry Brent	Gordon Glenwright
The Drysdales
Ben Drysdale	Alan Cassell
Faith Drysdale	Betty Lucas
Keith Drysdale	Andrew Sharp
Phil Drysdale	Damon Herriman
Elizabeth Drysdale	Marina Finlay
Isabella Drysdale	Georgie Sterling
Other characters
Alice Blake	Linda Newton
Sam Farrer	Michael Long
Libby Hilton	Diane Craig
Malcolm Adams	Vic Hawkins
Marie	Jessica Noad

Reception

In 2020, Fiona Byrne of the Herald Sun included Taurus Rising in her feature about "long forgotten Australian TV dramas that made viewers switch off." She described the show as "an ambitious, expensive but unsuccessful attempt by Channel 9 to create a super soap for Australia like the American hit Dynasty." Byrne went onto write "The name of the show, which caused no end of confusion with many viewers thinking it was a series with zodiac links, referred to the Taurus building that the families were trying to build. The show launched to lower than expected ratings in July 1982 and it was all downhill from there. Its name and ratings made references such as 'Taurus flopping' irresistible."

References

• Mercado, Andrew (2004). Super Aussie Soaps. Pluto Press Australia. ISBN 978-1-86403-191-1.

External links

• Taurus Rising at IMDb