Return to Eden [DVD]

With a cast of over the top characters and a sprinkling of nudity, “Return to Eden” was Australia’s take on the American soap scene. It boasted a budget of over $1 million dollars on designer frocks, glamorous cars and copious amounts of hair gel. The plot centres around multi-millionaire Stephanie Harper (Rebecca Gilling), orphaned age 23 and inheriting her father’s mining fortune as well as the palatial estate, Eden. Two unsuccessful marriages later and dowdy Stephanie is about to walk down the aisle for the third time with smooth, gold-digging tennis champion, Greg Marsden (David Reyne). Loyalties are divided between friends and lovers when Stephanie’s best friend Jilly (a devilish Wendy Hughes) and her smarmy husband commence an affair. In the now infamous scene, Greg pushes Stephanie into the jaws of a crocodile. Surviving the attack with mainly facial injuries, Stephanie undergoes reconstructive facial surgery to look, remarkably, like her former self. Returning to Sydney, Stephanie reinvents herself as a glamorous model called Tara and introduces herself to the lives of Jilly and Greg who no longer recognise her thanks to the canny use of make-up, a change of wardrobe and a natty new hairdo. Stephanie/Tara manages to convince Greg to take her back to Eden, her old home and the scene where it all began. Filmed on location in the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Queensland, watch this film for a moving tribute to eighties fashion set to a Brian May musical score. Eager to push the boundaries of credibility and good taste that had already been crossed, 22 episodes were made to continue the saga and to include many more Australian actors in the star studded cast. Written by Michael Lawrence and produced for Network 10.