The Best Australian Soap Operas

ColinBoddy
Updated November 22, 2021 1.8K votes 424 voters 21.9K views
Voting Rules
Only Soap Operas made in Australia on this list
List of Australian Soap Operas. Which one is the best ????
Ranked by
  • Neighbours
    1

    Neighbours

    Alan Fletcher, Stefan Dennis, Jackie Woodburne
    104 votes
    • Premiered: March 18, 1985
    • Genres: Drama,Soap
    The daily lives of families living in a quiet cul-de-sac.
  • Prisoner
    2

    Prisoner

    Kerry Armstrong, Betty Bobbitt, Wendy Playfair
    69 votes
    • Premiered: February 27, 1979
    • Genres: Soap opera, Crime Fiction, Drama
    Prisoner is an Australian soap opera, set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional women's prison. In the United States and United Kingdom it was billed as Prisoner: Cell Block H, and in Canada as Prisoner: Cell Block H and/or Caged Women. The series was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation in Australia, and aired on Network Ten, running 692 episodes from 27 February 1979 to 11 December 1986, after originally only devised as a 16 part mini-series. The series was inspired by British television drama Within These Walls, which had achieved moderate success in Australia. Prisoner producers even approached Googie Withers of Within These Walls to play the role of Prisoner '​s governor, an offer that she declined. Because of an injunction brought by UK-based ATV, which considered the title too similar to their own series, The Prisoner, it was originally not possible for overseas broadcasters to screen the show under the Prisoner title, which necessitated a name change. In March 2012, it was announced that the series would be "reimagined" on Foxtel in a new version entitled Wentworth.
  • Home and Away
    3

    Home and Away

    Isla Fisher, Chris Hemsworth, Heath Ledger
    104 votes
    • Premiered: 1988
    • Genres: Soap opera
    Home and Away is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and has been produced in Sydney, New South Wales since July 1987. It commenced broadcast on the Seven Network from 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running Australian drama and has endured worldwide success, becoming one of the most popular Australian soap operas to screen internationally and the most popular in its home country. The pilot episode was screened as a ninety-minute television film, with each subsequent episode airing at twenty-two minutes per episode. The series is broadcast Mondays through to Thursdays at 7:00 pm. Home and Away is set in Summer Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales, and follows the personal and professional lives of the residents within the town.
  • Sons and Daughters
    4

    Sons and Daughters

    Judy Nunn, Danny Roberts, Peter Phelps
    79 votes
    • Premiered: 1982
    • Genres: Soap opera, Drama
    Sons and Daughters is a Logie Award winning Australian soap opera created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation between 1981 and 1987. The first episode aired on Monday, 18 January 1982, during the Christmas/New Year non-ratings period in both Sydney and Melbourne, and the official broadcast date of the final episode was 19 August 1987, although this varied across Australia and the final episode was screened in Melbourne on Sunday 27 December 1987. There are 972 half-hour episodes, but during the series' original run in Australia, later episodes were shown in an hour-long format. The first pilot episode was shown in Australia and some UK ITV regions as a 90-minute special, although subsequent screenings have seen that episode split into three half-hours. The program has been broadcast internationally, and has been particularly popular in the United Kingdom and Belgium.
  • The Sullivans
    5

    The Sullivans

    Sam Neill, Gary Sweet, Damon Herriman
    54 votes
    • Premiered: November 15, 1976
    • Genres: Soap opera, Historical fiction
    The Sullivans is an Australian drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran on the Nine Network on 15 November 1976 until 10 March 1983. The series told the story of an average middle-class Melbourne family and the effect the Second World War had on their lives. It was a consistent ratings success in Australia, and also became popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Gibraltar and New Zealand.
  • A Country Practice
    6

    A Country Practice

    Nicole Kidman, Ryan Kwanten, David Wenham
    54 votes
    • Premiered: 1981
    • Genres: Soap opera, Drama, Medical fiction
    A Country Practice was an Australian television drama series. It ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes at 7.30 pm Monday and Tuesday nights, from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping, Sydney. Exterior locations were filmed on location in Pitt Town in the outskirts of Northwest Sydney. Several of the regular cast members became highly popular celebrities through their roles in the series. It also featured a number of native Australian animals adding to its enduring appeal both domestically and internationally. After the series was cancelled by the Seven Network in 1993 a reworked version of the series ran briefly on Network Ten in 1994.