WHY SONS AND DAUGHTERS?
Why do I like the programme so much?
Sons and Daughters is so full-on, over the top - if you're a fan, you know what I mean.
I've never seen a soap opera where so much happens. It's relentless and sometimes
ridiculous, but never ever boring. Basically, it's utterly compelling viewing.
I used to watch Home And Away for a while. It wasn't long, though. It was so predictable
that you could tell what was coming a couple of weeks in advance. There's no way you could
say that about Sons and Daughters. It's twist after turn.

MY MEMORIES
I used to rush home from school to watch the programme. I live in London, and Sons and Daughters
used to be on ITV around 3.30pm. I never saw the early episodes, and also never saw the later
episodes. Basically, I lost interest in the programme. I think the problem was that so many characters
got the push, and poorer ones came in. I'm not sure how late in the programme it was, but I remember
Wayne married to a red-haired girl called Julie Webb, and she had a stupid dad who pretended
to fall down the stairs at Dural. I also remember the second Susan Palmer, played by a different
actress. There's so much I remember about the show that I can't mention here - it would spoil it for
any first time viewers. What I can say is that the episodes that have been shown over the last
year contain some of my earliest memories of the programme.

FAVOURITE CHARACTERS
There have been some memorable characters in the show. I'd have to say that the best characters
are always the villains, they always are. No one likes a goody two-shoes!
My favourite three characters have to be Patricia, Wayne and Barbara. Patricia is the ultimate
schemer, although she can show a nice side. Wayne is a complete bastard, while Barbara is a goody,
but she doesn't take any shit from either Wayne OR Patricia! One of my favourite scenes in the
show is when Barbara realises Wayne is pretending to be disabled and pushes him into the
swimming pool, wheelchair and all. Great stuff!

TOTTY!
As I was a boy in his early/mid teens when first watching the programme, I was naturally interested in
the female element in the show. Compared to the Aussie soaps of today, there wasn't a huge amount of
'talent' in Sons and Daughters. There were some very nice girls - Angela, Susan, Jill, Lynn, Katie -
but my favourite was always Amanda Morrell. When the show was revived by Channel Five, I was
pleased to see that Amanda (Alyce Platt) was still rather cute - that's probably why you've
noticed quite a few pictures of her on the site!

WHY THE MORRELL FAMILY?
When I decided to do a Sons and Daughters web site, I decided to concentrate on one family only.
There's no way I could have covered every part of every episode. Firstly, I would never have the time
to do it. Secondly, I'd run out of web space in no time at all. I decided on the Morrell family for
several reasons. When I decided to do the site, Stephen had just come into the series, and Amanda
was on her way. Also, Patricia was a Morrell at the time too.
I just wish I'd started several episodes earlier, but I missed the first episodes that Stephen appeared
in. I knew that Dee Morrell was also on her way soon, and although Stephen has been written out at
the moment, he returns. Patricia and Amanda leave, but Stephen's first wife Caroline and other
daughter Samantha make an appearance.
This means I get a bit of a break now and then. For instance, Stephen isn't in the show at the moment
and Patricia is in London. That means I only have to concentrate on Amanda at this time, meaning not
so much work on the site.

SCREEN CAPTURES AND SUMMARIES (THE TECHNICAL BIT)
I'm lucky to have a DVD recorder (which cost a fortune). So every weekend I record the show onto both
DVD and video (for back up purposes). When I used to just record onto video tape, I transferred the
relevant parts of the episode from video onto DVD so I could do the captures. Nowadays I do the
captures straight from the DVD recording - you'll probably notice they are better quality pictures.
When I've recorded the relevant parts of each episode onto DVD, then I decide how many captures to
do for each episode. It all depends on how much relevant dialogue there is involved, and how many different
scenes there are. There might be a four minute scene involving just two characters - all I'll need is two
or three captures. If there are more, shorter scenes, then I'll do more captures.

THE FUTURE OF THIS SITE
As long as Channel Five continue showing the programme, I'll continue with the site. At the moment,
I've used up about half of my web space and covered about 170 episodes. So I've got a fair bit to
do yet. It's quite hard work doing the captures and summaries every weekend, but I'm really proud
of this site - it's definitely the best I've done yet. I'll probably run out of web space well before I
want to. If I continue the site after that, who knows? I might get fed up with the show like I did
before. In the meantime, stay tuned and enjoy the site!

Chris - The Webmaster, March 2003