In the ’70s, nothing set tongues wagging like Number 96, the racy, sex-and-sin soap that boldly tackled an array of shocking and previously taboo topics – while boasting a cast of colourful, memorable, often outrageous characters.
Set in a fictitious Sydney apartment building, Number 96 was an instant ratings smash when it launched 50 years ago. The first episode was sensationally hyped as “the night Australian television lost its virginity”.
But for two of the show’s most beloved stars, Elisabeth Kirkby and Wendy Blacklock, it was also a series that changed their lives. As Elisabeth – who played loyal laundrette manager Lucy Sutcliffe – warmly welcomes Wendy to her secluded home that overlooks Sydney’s beautiful Pittwater, there’s hugs, laughs and a sea of fabulous memories shared during New Idea’s exclusive photoshoot.
“I cannot believe Elisabeth turned 101 in January, the same month that I turned 90. She is a marvel and an inspiration. Her life is extraordinary. And she remains so bright, interesting, upbeat and spry,” smiles Wendy, who won a legion of fans as scatterbrained Edith McDonald in the drama.
“I think the show is so vividly remembered because it was way ahead of its time. There was the show’s original resident sex symbol, Abigail, full-frontal nudity, drugs, infidelity, domestic violence and the acceptance of homosexuality, back when it was illegal,” notes Elisabeth, who says Number 96’s storylines dealt with subjects that had previously been considered strictly off-limits.
To this day, Elisabeth says she’s still recognised in the street by fans. Hilariously, she insists it’s often from kids who watched the series through a crack in their bedroom doors, “as their parents deemed the show way too risqué”.
British-born Elisabeth, who began her showbiz career in 1938 as an assistant stage manager in Lancashire, recalls some of her most jaw-dropping storylines.
Over the years, Lucy went temporarily blind after an assault in the laundrette, she had a surprise menopausal baby that was later kidnapped, and who could forget the Friday-night cliffhanger when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Lucy was in her hospital bed, with her husband, Alf (James Elliott), holding her hand. The following Monday the nation was gripped, and I was told at the time that the episode broke all Australian TV ratings records.
“Importantly, there was a dramatic increase in the number of women being tested for breast cancer,” Elisabeth says, noting the series wasn’t just a sexy soapy, it also served an important social purpose.
Sydney-born Wendy – who’d worked extensively in the UK alongside Benny Hill and Bernard Bresslaw, and was known as ‘The Grand Dame of the Stage’ because of her much-revered theatre career – joined Number 96 two years into its run.
“I came on board in 1974 to play the devoted wife of Mike Dorsey’s prim and proper Reginald MacDonald. We called each other Mummy and Daddy, and Edith was a total dill. She got through the day by quietly sipping gin, taking headache powders and sitting glued to the daytime soap operas,” recalls Wendy.
“The scary thing was, Edith was an all-consuming character, and I started to become like her in real life. I was at a party at my great mate Gordon Chater’s place and revered writer Patrick White quipped that my Number 96 character had definitely rubbed off on me. I was horrified!”
Wendy also confirms the actors on the show had a cult-like following from fans.
“We were mobbed everywhere we went. It was truly groundbreaking. Viewers had never seen anything like it, from bare breasts and nudity to seeing two men so naturally in love.”
Wendy, a mum of two daughters, originally intended to stay with the show for six months fearing she’d be “bored to sobs”, but she had a ball and stayed until the final scene in 1977.
In fact, Wendy was the last Number 96 character to be seen on the screen before the credits rolled for the final time.
“The shooting schedule was hectic, so you barely saw the other actors unless you were working in a scene together, but when we got together it was always fun. It really was like a family,” she explains.
Elisabeth has fond memories of working with her TV hubby, James Elliot, who played “whinging Pom” Alf Sutcliffe.
“Jimmy was anything but a whinging Pom. He had a long career in film and TV, and was a tipstaff to a Supreme Court judge for 12 years until his death in 2011,” says the proud great-grandmother.
The pair say the last time they met up was five years ago at a Number 96 book launch.
“About six of us went out to dinner. It was a wonderful catch-up,” says Elisabeth.
“It was. Time flies way too quickly,” says Wendy warmly.
Read more in this week’s New Idea, on sale now.
