Echo Point

Echo Point is an Australian television soap opera produced by Southern Star Group for Network Ten on 1 June 1995 until 1 December 1995.

The series was devised as an attempt by the Ten Network to rival the opposition soap Home and Away on the Seven Network. The series focused on several families and teenagers in a coastal community, and a key on-going storyline concerned renewed interest in a long-unsolved local murder mystery.

Broadcast
Echo Point originally aired at 7:00pm weeknights in direct competition with Home and Away to low ratings. Fewer viewers watched the show compared to the repeats of Rosanne that it replaced, while Home and Away's viewership increased. Having attracted audiences of 501,000 and 339,000 viewers for its first two episodes, Echo Point had the worst soap opera debut since Nine Network's Family and Friends in 1990. Ten soon moved the series to the 6.00pm weeknight timeslot, but ratings continued to decline. Ten then moved it to the 11.30pm graveyard slot, and after four months and 130 episodes, Echo Point ended.

The show was later sold to Germany, where it became so successful that it sparked a rumour about it being revived in Australia to help Network Ten's local drama content quota.

In the UK, only two ITV stations purchased the series. Grampian Television started screening the series from 1 September 1997 as a replacement for Paradise Beach, shown Monday to Wednesday at 17:10–17:40, until November 1997. The series reappeared in early August 1998 when it was broadcast at 10.30am each weekday, From November 1998, it was screened each weekday at 04.30am alongside Shortland Street to clear off the episodes. Central Television screened the series Tuesday to Thursday at 13:00–13:30 as the replacement for A Country Practice from Tuesday, 1 September 1998 and completed the series in June 1999.

TV3 in New Zealand picked up the series for just a few weeks in 1996, but then later cancelled the show, which featured former Shortland Street actor Martin Henderson.

Cast
In alphabetical order:


 * Rose Byrne – Belinda O'Connor
 * Liddy Clark – Iris Delaney
 * John Clayton – Maurie Barnard
 * Louise Crawford – Shelley Radcliffe
 * Kimberley Davenport – Holly Winton
 * Jack Ellis – Marty Radcliffe
 * Philip Gordon – Daniel Blake
 * Diarmid Heidenreich – Dean Loman
 * Martin Henderson – Zac Brennan
 * Mick Innes – Darcy Brennan
 * Tom Long – Dave Campbell
 * Allan Lovel – Gordon Amadio
 * Rebecca Murphy – Frannie Loman
 * Jessica Napier – Edwina Amadio
 * Victoria Nicolls – Trish Loman
 * Hayley Phillips – Lisa Loman
 * Sean Scully – Neville Loman
 * Rowena Wallace – Elizabeth O'Connor
 * Roxane Wilson – Coral O'Connor
 * David E Woodley – Hooper Hadley