Arcade (TV Series)

Arcade (TV Series)

Arcade is an Australian television soap opera shown in 1980 that became one of the biggest flops in the history of Australian television. It aired on Network Ten with the premiere (76-minute) episode shown on Sunday, 20 January 1980. The series then ran five nights a week, Mondays to Fridays, as a 30 minute serial. It was produced solely by Network Ten (as an in-house production) with a start-up budget of almost $1 million.

Set in a fictitious shopping centre (the "Arcade" of the title) in the northern suburbs of Sydney, Arcade dealt with the lives and loves of the characters who worked at the various shops within the shopping centre.

The plan was to have the show on the air before the ratings season started to build an audience, however the serial quickly proved itself a ratings disaster, which actually caused the shows on rival networks it was programmed against to improve in the ratings!

A total of 50 episodes were actually shot and produced, but the series was cancelled after six weeks, so only 30 episodes ever went to air.

The disco-style, metaphoric theme song "(Walking Through an) Arcade" was composed by Mike Perjanik and performed by Australian singer Doug Parkinson. The opening title sequence feature aerial shots of a real building and shopping arcade, which was actually the exterior of the famous 'Strata Motor Hotel' located on Military Road, in Sydney's North-Shore suburb of Cremorne.

The show's set was one of the biggest and most realistic ever built for an Australian television series at that time. Rupert Murdoch and Network Ten spent almost $1 million to pour a new concrete floor in Studio A at the Sydney Channel 10 studios; install a complete new lighting grid and lighting system; new editing software; upgraded control rooms and cameras and, of course, the construction of the massive Arcade set itself.

Not long before the show was axed, there was talk the series might be moved to a later timeslot allowing it to become a bit "raunchier" (similar to the hit series Number 96) and a large new set had been built featuring a "western-style" saloon bar, so that more of the action could take place in a venue that supplied alcohol. There were also moves (before the show was axed) to have some of the regular characters "perform" in the bar/nightclub setting, as many of the actors appearing in the show had a background as cabaret artists, singers, comedians and so on, and it was felt that these skills should be utilised and might help save the series. However, the series was cancelled before these plans could be brought to fruition.