"Sweet and Sour" (1984) TV series

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Creator:

Tim Gooding
(more)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Plot:

A young band, The Takeaways, try to succeed in the music business.

Plot Keywords:

Rock Music

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Tracy Mann	...	Carol Howard
David Reyne	...	Martin Kabel
Sandie Lillingston	...	Christine Yates
Arky Michael	...	George Poulopoulos
Ric Herbert	...	Darrell Winters
George Spartels	...	Nick Poulopoulos
Martin Vaughan	...	Shrug Yates

Directed by
Geoffrey Nottage
Riccardo Pellizzeri
Graham Thorburn
Posie Graeme-Evans		(1984) (as Posie Jacobs)
Helena Harris		(1984)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Tim Gooding		co-creator (1984)
Tim Gooding		writer (1984)

Produced by
Jan Chapman	....	producer

Original Music by
Martin Armiger

Cinematography by
Dick Bond
Tony Connelly
Murray Tonkin
Glenn Traynor

Sound Department
Stephen J. Hope	....	dubbing mixer

Editorial Department
Peter Hanrahan	....	vision mixer
Bruce Wilson	....	vision mixer

Production Companies

• Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Gary Owen Hotel, Rozelle, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Soundtrack:

Sweet and Sour

1980's Aussie Monkees, but great music

This series focused on a bunch of twenty-somethings trying to get a band going, and featuring original music. The songs were written by some reasonably distinguished people in the Australasian music biz, most notably Sharon O'Neill, and much of it was very good indeed. Sharon's songs in particular rank as post-Blondie pop classics; they are some of the best work she has ever done. Do get the soundtrack - it is fantastic, and includes many different styles.

Some of the actors were quite well-known too, notably the lead Tracy Mann, and David Reyne, brother of Australian Crawl vocalists James Reyne. In fact all the main actors are quite glamorous. There are numerous cameos from prominent people in the Australian pop music biz of the time. My comparison to the Monkees, by the way, wasn't derogatory. The Monkees may have been a manufactured band, but they did release some excellent songs even if they didn't play them. I guess I'm trying to say this is no Partridge Family. The story may be no masterpiece, but it was fun when I watched as a teenager, with some quite amusing situations. I'd probably cringe a lot more nowadays, though, at some of the mawkishness.

In summary, this series deserves to be remembered as a cult favourite, far more so than the nauseating Australian/American Idol. It was well done as far as these sorts of shows go.