From the very first moment she hit our television screens as Wandin Valley’s lovable Molly Jones, Anne Tenney became a firm favourite among A Country Practice fans.
So, when Anne chose to leave the soap in 1985 after four and a half years – so as not to be “typecast” as ‘Mad Molly’ – her exit was always destined to be a big storyline.
This week marks 40 years to the day since Molly’s death storyline aired on Channel Seven, on June 4 and 5. The episodes were watched by an estimated 2.2 million viewers.
“Molly was so popular that I had fans from kids to people aged up to 92,” Anne, now 71, said in 2019.
“When the producers said they were going to write Molly out, and that she is going to die from leukemia, I knew quite a lot of people were going to be affected by that.”
How did Molly die on A Country Practice?
Few who watched Molly drift away on that couch in the field, as her TV husband Brendan and daughter Chloe (played by Anne’s real-life partner Shane Withington and child star Emily Nicol) flew a kite nearby, could ever forget the tragic scene.
Mustering every ounce of strength within her ravaged body, Molly raises her arm to wave to her husband and daughter.
The scene then switches to Molly’s perspective, watching the pair play, before the screen slowly fades away to black, mimicking her eyes shutting for the last time. Brendan turns back around to look and, realising what is happening, sprints towards his wife, screaming ‘Mollllyyyy!”.
To this day, it is still voted as the saddest death in Australian television history, beating out the likes of McLeod’s Daughters Claire McLeod and Offspring’s Patrick Reid.
Anne has since said the 10-week storyline about Molly’s diagnosis and death was inspired by the similarly themed 1983 film Terms of Endearment.
She has also said she thinks Molly’s death was so affecting because “it wasn’t just her dying, it was the death of a partnership and marriage, and a young child was left without a mother”.
In the lead up to the episode’s airing, newspapers ran full-page adverts saying, “Thanks for everything, Molly.” Anne later confessed she fled the country to avoid the intense reaction.
Where is Anne Tenney now?
“I loved Molly too,” Anne once shared. “I just didn’t want to be identified with her forever.”
Sadly, she didn’t get her wish.
After leaving A Country Practice, Anne went on to have a varied career, appearing in projects like the acclaimed miniseries Brides of Christ (as Naomi Watts’ mother), Always Greener, and, of course, The Castle.
She’s also worked extensively in theatre, and has been cast in the new Paramount+ drama series Playing Gracie Darling.
However, a source tells New Idea, “Molly is still the role people ask her about the most. You could say she’s haunted by her!”
Catch Anne in Playing Gracie Darling when it premieres on Paramount Plus later this year. Sign up now here.
