Autumn Affair

The love lives of a middle aged widow, Julia, and her daughter, Meg.

Muriel Steinbeck who played Julia Parrish

• Muriel Steinbeck as Julia Parrish[2]
• Queenie Ashton as Granny Bishop
• Leonard Bullen as Steve Meadows
• Janette Craig as Meg Parrish
• John Juson as Mark
• Diana Perryman[3] as Julie
• Owen Weingott as Larry Muir[4]

Originally conceived as Julia: An Early Autumn Affair, the title was later shortened to just Autumn Affair.

Many of the actors and writers involved in the production had previously worked on radio soap opera, and were inexperienced with television acting.

Episodes were fifteen minutes in duration, recorded as kinescopes in black and white, and were screened Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8:45 AM.[5][6]

The series went into production without a sponsor, as the station ATN7 wanted to gain experience in television drama production.

The cast comprised just six regulars; the story focused on Julia (Muriel Steinbeck), a widow in a love triangle situation with two men.

Filmink later wrote that "Steinbeck was... a natural choice to play the lead... She laughed, loved and suffered with jolly good decency – the quintessential Muriel Steinbeck part." [7]

The series was well-received when originally broadcast.[8]

The series ended in 1959 after 156 episodes.

In a 1960 article in Sydney Morning Herald, it was noted that although mistakes were made during the production of the series due to inexperience, it nevertheless paved the way for improved locally produced drama productions.[9]

Actors who appeared in the show included Muriel Steinbeck, Queenie Ashton, Diana Perryman (MBE (died 1979)[3](the sister of actress and singer Jill Perryman), Janet Craig, Leonard Bullen and Owen Weingott.[10]

Cast members Queenie Ashton and Janette Craig had previously appeared in a 1957 ABC TV play together called Tomorrow's Child,[11] though it is not known if a copy of the production still exists.

Every episode except for two of this series are held by the National Film and Sound Archive.[12]

In 1964 HSV-7 Melbourne repeated the series, along with early 1960s Australian soap opera The Story of Peter Grey.[13] In 1964 CTC-7 in Canberra screened the series along with Peter Grey,[14] the station having not been in operation during the original run of the series. CTC kept the repeats on their schedule into 1966.[15]

• Shell Presents – 1959–1960 series of one-off plays produced for Australian television
• Emergency – Short-lived 1959 Australian medical drama
• List of television plays broadcast on ATN-7
• List of live television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1950s)

• Autumn Affair on IMDb
• Autumn Affair at the National Film and Sound Archive