Sons and Daughters is an Australian Logie Award-winning soap opera, broadcast by the Seven Network between January 1982 and December 1987 and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation.

It was created by executive Reg Watson, and is distributed by Fremantle. Sons and Daughters is remembered for its regular use of dramatic end-of-season cliffhangers and its most famous character; Patricia "Pat the Rat" Hamilton, initially played by Rowena Wallace, who became the second soap opera actor, rather than personality after Pat McDonald to win the Gold Logie award for her performance in the role - (McDonald had previously won the Gold Logie for her role in 70's soap opera Number 96 as Dorrie Evans, coincidentally she also starred in Sons and Daughters, featuring for its entire run. (From Wikipedia)

The series has inspired seven remakes produced under license from the original producers and based, initially, on the original story and character outlines. These are Verbotene Liebe (Germany, 1995–2015); Skilda världar (Sweden, 1996–2002); Apagorevmeni agapi (Greece, 1998); Cuori Rubati (Italy, 2002–2003) Zabranjena ljubav (Croatia, 2004–2008), Zabranena lubov (Bulgaria, 2008–) and Belahan Hati (Indonesia, 2001–2002).

The entire soap is available to watch for free if you are in Australia from this streaming platform - https://7plus.com.au/sons-and-daughters

I have watched the first 5 episodes couple of weeks ago and I was beginning to get hooked.

Are there any fans of the show here?

 

The show went on for 6 years and 972 episodes. 

 

It was so good but there were a few bumps in the road but every soap has them. (I loved the German version so much too)

Just now, AMCOLTLLover said:

It was so good but there were a few bumps in the road but every soap has them. (I loved the German version so much too)

Now you've gotten me even more excited! I've watched only the first 5 episodes and I felt the potential. I've also seen plenty of clips that give me a taste of how good it gets. And it seems sooo good. The fact that this show was SO ICONIC that they've remade it in so many different countries... is also very impressive. 

Being Croatian, I saw first 2 years of the Croatian version. It was the first time Croatia ever did such soap opera. It was exciting at the time, but realistically it was pretty meh. 

Oh I've watched the Bulgarian version too. It was our first real popular soap opera so many years ago when I was a kid... 

The problem at the time was how badly acted it was. It was not the story but the leads. And the entire production. It was just laugh inducing.

The OG is masterpiece compared to that mess.

The actress who played Beryl just passed.

I binged it, and the sudden tonal shifts are both exciting and weird.  It goes from looking like a traditional daytime soap, to a Dynasty rip-off, then there are action-adventure scenes.  But, there are long term stories that pay off, and very intriguing characters. 

I think this site is an excellent resource http://www.sonsanddaughters.co.uk/

The first 3 episodes.

 

16 hours ago, Maxim said:

Oh I've watched the Bulgarian version too. It was our first real popular soap opera so many years ago when I was a kid... 

The problem at the time was how badly acted it was. It was not the story but the leads. And the entire production. It was just laugh inducing.

The OG is masterpiece compared to that mess.

Yes, same here. Basically all the young actors were unknown inexperienced newbies. As for the older actors, I only knew the actress that played the mother of the twins.. all of the other older actors were also unknown to me, and were also hit or miss.

I watched probably the first half of S&D a few years ago, as the whole series was on YouTube. It is an insanely addictive soap, with almost an Old Hollywood feel to it. If you enjoy melodrama and complicated interconnected families, it's a lot of fun. And those freeze frame sepia cliffhanger endings are so camp!

4 hours ago, Adamski said:

I watched probably the first half of S&D a few years ago, as the whole series was on YouTube. It is an insanely addictive soap, with almost an Old Hollywood feel to it. If you enjoy melodrama and complicated interconnected families, it's a lot of fun. And those freeze frame sepia cliffhanger endings are so camp!

You've described what I love most about soaps. I do enjoy a bit of melodrama, if it's well written. And I love complicated family toxicity... and I LOVE OLD HOLLYWOOD. 

Now... I'm really going to watch it! ❤️

10 hours ago, Manny said:

Yes, same here. Basically all the young actors were unknown inexperienced newbies. As for the older actors, I only knew the actress that played the mother of the twins.. all of the other older actors were also unknown to me, and were also hit or miss.

Yup. The Bulgarian version was so bad that people (producers) got scared of making soaps for quite awhile after it premiered... It was watched, but not for good reasons, people watched to laugh at it. Of course there was a minority of people that LOVED IT, but I was not in that group. Then we got a new Renaissance with a soap called Glass House... which was... absolutely solid. But that Forbidden Love fiasco still stands in my memories as being a huge mistake.

 

Have fun, @Maxim!

12 minutes ago, Adamski said:

Have fun, @Maxim!

Thank you! I just have to find a way to make that Australian free stream work! I'm having trouble starting it... the free Chrome extension vpns are not working so far. But at least the first 10-15 episodes can be found on youtube. I'll have time till I work out the Australian streaming site. 

4 hours ago, Adamski said:

I watched probably the first half of S&D a few years ago, as the whole series was on YouTube. It is an insanely addictive soap, with almost an Old Hollywood feel to it. If you enjoy melodrama and complicated interconnected families, it's a lot of fun. And those freeze frame sepia cliffhanger endings are so camp!

When the never-before-seen-evil-twin Pamela uses implied psychic energy to make her returned-from-South-America-undercover-twin Alison/Pat drive off the road, it may have jumped the shark, but it was fun to watch.

http://www.sonsanddaughters.co.uk/people/characters/hudson_pamela.htm