Number 96 the Beginning and the Bomb

This month 40 years ago an new Australian Tv drama series started and this show would open up subjects that were taboo at the time as well become groundbreaking s it was described as the The Night Australian Television Lost it's virginity which it is Number 96. The show started on March 13th 1972 which would last until August 11th 1977 and 1,218 episodes on Channel 10 who had been struggling for ratings and with this show that was salvation for the Network. In this DVD the Beginning and the Bomb it has 16 of the black and white episodes including the very first episodes, hippies stripping in the laundrette, Vera Collins(Elaine Lee) being raped by husband Harry Collins(Norman Yemm), bikies were running amok, as well as nudity, rape, homosexuality and interracial romance which what made the show groundbreaking and many others as well as well as the characters like Dorrie Evans(Pat McDonald) and husband Herb(Ron Shand), Alf and Lucy Stucliffe(James Elliott and Liz Kirkby, gay student Don Finlayson(Joe Hasham), Bruce Taylor(Paul WeinGott), Maggie Cameron(Bettina Welch), ALdo Godolfus(Johnny Loockwood) and Daughter Rose(Vivienne Garrett), Helen(briony BeHets) and Mark Eastwood(Martin Harris) etc. In this DVD as well are 16 episodes of one of the shows famous storylines the Mad Bomber storyline from August 27th 1975(episode 832)to Episode 847(September 16th 1975)which came at the time when the show was in trouble with the ratings and it includes the episode when the bomb blew up the deli which would kill 4 of the characters of the show that stopped the nation. It's an excellent and an BRILLIANT DVD with great stuff among the special features are Andrew Mercado with the Hon Michael Kirby who is an Australian judge doing the audio commentary on episode 35, interviews from 2009 with Elaine Lee and David Sale the creator of Number 96 and as well as an Interview on Ten news with ELizabeth Kirkby and as well as National Film and Sound Archive interviews with the late James Elliott who played Alf and Peter Benardos who was the show's director. it's great to those black and white episodes as sadly out of the 584 b&W episodes only 19 exists so of 16 of are mainly from the early weeks of 1972 as well as the only black and white episode from 1974 episode 450 as well as the Mad Bomber storyline which it's BRILLIANT to See. it's great to see Tom Oliver who played Jack Sellars in the series in some of the episodes in episode 450 as well as some of the Bomb storyline long time before playing Lou Carpenter on Neighbours and also some of the early episodes had some parts edited as it was shown in Sydney but for the other cities those parts were edited which included Rose Godolfus appearing topless as well as Mark Eastwood putting his hands on his wife's leg and sadly those have never been found. it's must for any fan of Australian TV particularly fans of Number 96 and let's all hope for more Number 96 stuff again in the future on DVD. I give this 5 stars and it's in the shops now which i hope you enjoy seeing these episodes that started an classic show as well as an very popular storyline as bring back memories for those who watch this groundbreaking Australian series.