Family Affairs

Family Affairs is a British soap opera that aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997, the day of the launch of said channel and was the first programme broadcast on the channel. It was screened as five thirty-minute episodes per week, followed by an omnibus edition on Sundays. The series never achieved high ratings, so it went through a number of dramatic revamps involving wholesale cast turnover. The premise of the series was also refocused from a family in a quiet suburb just outside London, to a range of different people living on a bustling outer London street. The series was shot on video to give a film look. In 1999 and 2004, single episodes used standard video presentation for testing purposes. On 2 August 2005, Channel 5 announced they would not renew Family Affairs. Production ceased on 4 November, and the final episode was broadcast on 30 December 2005. Producer Sean O'Connor changed to standard video presentation from September 2005 until the final episode. History Original format The serial originally focused on the Hart and Gates family and some of their friends and close associates living in the fictional outer London suburb of Charnham. The Hart family consisted of builder Chris (Ian Ashpitel), his wife Annie (Liz Crowther) and their four children: ladies' man Duncan (Rocky Marshall); his twin sister, trainee solicitor and confused virgin Holly (Sandra Huggett); feisty Melanie, who became a police officer (Cordelia Bugeja); and schoolboy Jamie (Michael Cole). Annie gave birth to a fifth child during the series, Sam.