E Street - The End

The End

Despite winning "Most Popular Serial" in the 1992 Australian Logies, plus actors Bruce Samazan and Simon Baker (then known as Simon Baker-Denny) both winning their respective categories in 1992 and 1993, it came as a blow to cast and crew that E Street had been cancelled by Network 10 early 1993. It was revealed by creator and Executive Producer Forrest Redlich on the recent DVD release The Best of Mr Bad Part 2 that the cancellation was more due to creative differences and the direction Network 10 wanted to take the show, than actual falling viewing figures. High-profile cast departures also damaged the show's reputation, with long-running and popular characters Wheels, Sheridan Sturgess, Stephen Richardson, Joey Valentine, Claire Fielding, Toni Windsor and Craig "C.J" Jones all exiting during the show's last 12 months. Viewer favourite and pivotal character from the start Reverend Bob Brown was then dramatically killed off when Tony Martin quit the show, and it was announced soon after that E Street had been axed. In the final episodes (403 and 404), the remaining cast were placed in life-threatening or cliff-hanger situations: Jo-Jo (Kelley Abbey) battled the attentions of a sleazy loan-shark, several characters were trapped inside the burning Patchetts Pacific pub and Max and Alice were lost in the outback as Bonnie relapsed and slipped into a coma. When the final episode began, time had moved on seven weeks and gradually it was revealed that all the characters are alive and well having survived the previous episodes' various cliff-hangers. The cast gathered around comatose Bonnie's hospital bedside and each read a line from a poem Max had found in recently deceased Rev Bob's prayer book. As the last line was read out by Max, Bonnie finally opened her eyes and said; "Max!". A final 10-minute montage of E Street's greatest moments was then played out to the closing credits, with Elly tearfully laying a single red rose on Rev Bob's grave as E Street's final scene, thus suitably signifying the end of the four-year series.

The final episode aired in Australia Thursday, 13 May 1993, with the UK run ending nearly two years later on Tuesday, 28 February 1995. A repeat run of the 1989 and 1990 seasons commenced on Ten in 2000, and was cancelled at the end of 2003. In the UK E Street has never been repeated.

Several cast members immediately went onto to star in other Australian soap operas and drama serials:

• Penny Cook is now in a recurring role in Neighbours as Prue Brown.
• Bruce Samazan became a huge star through his role as Max Simmons in E Street. He immediately went onto to star in Neighbours as Mark Gottlieb until 1995, when his character famously jilted Annalise Hartman (played by Kimberley Davies) at the altar to become a priest. In 1996, he joined Home and Away for a six-month stint as Brad Cooper.
• Josephine Mitchell immediately joined the cast of Neighbours as Katerina Torrelli, who stalked Bruce Samazan's character Mark Gottlieb.
• Tony Martin was immediately cast in gritty high-school drama Heartbreak High as pushy science teacher Bill Southgate, between 1994-95.
• Diane Craig followed former co-star Tony Martin to Hartley High School, where she spent two years as Principal June Dyson between 1995-96.
• Adrian Lee, Kate Raison, Melissa Tkautz, Malcolm Kennard and Virginia Hey all starred in cult mid-90s soap Pacific Drive. This soap also had a long-running serial-killer storyline – the first victim ironically being Kate Raison's character, Georgina Ellis.
• Melissa Tkautz enjoyed huge popularity during her time on E Street and even left the soap to concentrate on touring and promoting her album which had spawned three hit singles. She was even voted 'Hottest female on Earth' by a teen music magazine. She returned for the last few months of E Street in 1993. After E street Melissa went on to roles in Paradise Beach, Pacific Drive, Echo Point, Medivac and All Saints. In 2005 she released new music and has since appeared in Swift and Shift Couriers on SBS.
• Toni Pearen released an album featuring two Top 10 hit singles in the early 90s, later worked on film and television in the US and most recently has found success as a TV presenter hosting Australia's Funniest Home Videos for five years from 2003 to 2008. She later appeared in the 8th series of Australia's Dancing With The Stars (Sept 2008).
• Briony Behets immediately followed her guest stint in E Street as Margaret Bennett with a three-year run in UK-based soap Families, playing Diana Stevens between 1990 and 1993.
• After E Street, Joan Sydney returned to Wandin Valley as Matron Maggie Sloane in the ill-fated Network 10 version of A Country Practice in 1994. These days, she has been in the recurring role of Valda Sheergold in Neighbours since 2002.
• Richard Huggett's character Sonny Bennett killed four E Street favourites and then himself. He subsequently played the thoroughly decent character Glen Donnelly in Neighbours, the long-lost son of Jim Robinson. Huggett also appeared in a few episodes of Blue Heelers as a boyfriend of Constable Maggie Doyle (played by Lisa McCune). Huggett is currently starring as DC Jeremy Piper in the BBC series Out Of The Blue.
• Melissa Bell spoke the final word in E Street, when she opened her eyes after several weeks in a coma, she looked up and said "Max!" as the rest of the cast looked on around her hospital bedside. She then immediately returned to her previous role as Lucy Robinson in Neighbours.
• Serge Lazareff went on to become a script-writer on E Street, and later, as a writer on Heartbreak High, All Saints and Home and Away. He also worked as script editor at Neighbours.