 |
Creator: Wayne Doyle Director: Steve Mann, Andrew Friedman, Chris Langman, Sean Nash, Riccardo Pellizzeri, Brian McDuffie, Viktors Ritelis, Leigh Spence, Graham Thorburn Writer(s): Greg Haddrick, Judith Colquhoun, Grant Fraser, Anthony Morris, Sean Nash, Alexa Wyatt, Rick Maier, Jenifer Sharp Genre: Soap Filming: Filmed on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Budget: Viewing figures: Runtime: Each episode lasted 25 minutes. |
A group of young people, all from different parts of the world, settle in Australia in search of love, excitement and success.
Sean Hayden and his younger sister Tori convince Sean’s best-friend Roy McDermott to escape from the rat-race which is the city. They end up in a seaside town called Paradise Beach where they settle down and start relationships, but not all is paradise in Paradise Beach.
Made by Village Roadshow Pictures in association with New World Television for the Nine Network between 1993 and 1994.
Ingo Rademacher … as Sean Hayden
Megan Connolly … as Tori Hayden
John Holding … as Roy McDermott
Rebekah Elmaloglou … as Karen Wolfe
Kimberley Joseph … as Cassie Barsby
Andrew McKaige … as Nick Barsby
Jon Bennet … as Kirk Barsby
Robert Coleby … as Tom Barsby
Zoe Bertram … as Paula Taylor
Aus – Ran from May 31st 1993 to July 10th 1994, totalling 260 episodes. Aired on weekdays.
Internationally – Aired in France, the UK and Switzerland in 1993, Italy in 1994/5, then in the Netherlands in 1998. Also aired in the US.
As there is not much information available about this series, we do not know much about Robyn Devereaux. She came to Paradise Beach to meet her family, as the teenaged half sister of Kirk Barsby, daughter of Nick Barsby, and niece of Tom Barsby. In one of her earliest episodes we see her introduce herself to half-brother Kirk, who is not that interested to meet her. At first there is doubt as to whether Robyn is who she says she is, but she remains determined to get to know her long-lost family. Her father Nick then lets her stay in Pardise Beach, which means she has to enroll in school which she is not impressed with. In another episode she is seen being mischevious on the beach with a friend, and being spoiled with a pony by her Uncle Tom, to the displeasure of her father. However, in the final episode of the show, we see a vicious and forceful Robyn telling a mysterious person on the phone that she has killed her uncle, Tom Barsby! Unfortunately we don’t know how she got herself into that mess!
AustralianTelevision.net has the most extensive episode guide for the series, and Robyn is mentioned in a few of the episode descriptions.
Photos: Gallery at Isla Fisher Web
Videos: Videos at Isla Fisher Web
• Isla got this role off the back of Bay City.
• Shane Ammann, who played Andrew in this show, went on to star with Isla in Home & Away too. Rebekah Elmaloglou also went from Paradise Beach to Home & Away, becoming one it’s most popular stars.
• Was co-produced by an American company, and the show was then syndicated there.
• Australian writer and TV executive Bevan Lee reportedly helped develop this series, and he later also worked on Home & Away as a script producer and writer. It’s possible he had a hand in casting Isla in the latter!
• The first 3 episodes, and then the last 3 episodes, were made into 90 minutes television movies that aired the Sunday after the individual episodes aired.
– Isla Fisher: “I wore a bikini throughout. If there was a funeral, I was there in a bikini.” (speaking about the show, in 2009)
– Isla Fisher: “Paradise Beach, a 1990s Aussie soap. I had to wear a bikini the whole time – including during funeral scenes.” (when asked what her worst job was)
– Robyn: “Kirk Barsby? Ironman champion?”
– Kirk: “Yep, so what?”
– Robyn: “So what do you think?”
– Kirk: “What do I think about what?”
– Robyn: “About me!”
– Kirk: “Gimme a break….”
– Robyn: “No, no way, didn’t Cassie mention me? I’m Robyn, I’m your sister! Half sister. ”
– Kirk: “Yeah…”
– Robyn: “Pleased to meet you.”
– Kirk: “Likewise. So Robyn, how long do you plan on staying in Paradise Beach?”
– Robyn: “Oh not very long.”
– Kirk: “Good. Have a good day. See you around.”
– Robyn: “Pig!”
[Showing her a surprise present of a pony]
– Uncle Tom: “Ready?”
– Robyn: “I’m ready!”
– Uncle Tom: “Open your eyes! Happy birthday.”
– Robyn: [gasps] “It’s for me?!”
– Uncle Tom: “Yep, he’s all yours! As long as your father agrees…”
– Robyn: “Say yes papa, please say yes!”
[on the phone to a mysterious person]
– Robyn: “He was fine. Then the hospital rang. He’s dead! Tom Barsby is dead. No it was me – I killed him.”
Very little can be seen from the series now, although recently I have discovered some clips from it on YouTube, and from the few scenes in them it seems that Isla played a sassy and fun-loving teenager who developed into a murderous young woman! While the series received bad reviews and did not do well upon airing, criticised for it’s poor script among other things, it seems that Isla had a devilish and over-dramatic soapy role to dig into as the show progressed and from the looks of it she approached it with her usual confidence!
We are not aware of any promotion Isla might have done for this series.
• News & Updates for Paradise Beach at Isla Fisher Web
• AustralianTelevision.net – extensive episode guide
• TV.com – a few short episode guides
• TVGuide.com – a few short episode guides
• TVRage.com – lists all original Australian air dates of episodes
• LA Times – short article on airing the show in the US
• Amazon.com