6. Number 96
March 1972 August 1977On air: 5 years 5 monthsEpisodes: 1,218 13 March 1972 was described in the contemporary press as "the night Australian television lost its virginity". Number 96 arrived with a bang and was like nothing Australians had ever seen on TV. Set in a block of flats at a fictional address in the inner-eastern Sydney suburb of Paddington, production was almost entirely studio-bound except for the exterior shot of the building, which was an actual block of flats located, in reality, only a suburb away from Paddington. Regardless of the Sydney-centric setting, Number 96 was an immediate success all over the country. From the off it introduced a highly unusual mix of characters, notably a nymphomaniac-cum-virginal blonde seductress, a good-looking conservative gay solicitor, his bisexual lover and his bisexual lover's catty girlfriend. It was one of the first local productions to not just tackle homosexuality, but to also feature a sexually active openly gay character. Over its five years Number 96 featured as many commonplace concepts as it did taboo ones, the more controversial among them including rape, adultery, racism, drugs, stalking, snow-dropping, murder, a bombing and on-screen nudity. Many of Number 96's main cast became stars, if not national treasures, in their own right and have featured prominently in other successful TV productions to the present day. Number 96 was #1 in the ratings for 1973 and 1974. It was also one of the first Australian programs to have an overseas adaptation, with an American remake produced for NBC in December 1980. Billed as "the series they tried to ban in Australia!", it lasted less than a month.