{{other uses}} {{more citations needed|date=May 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=March 2012}} {{Infobox television | image = | caption = | genre = Soap opera | creator = Reg Watson | developer = | writer = | director = | open_theme = | end_theme = | composer = | country = Australia | language = English | num_seasons = 1 | num_episodes = 85 | list_episodes = | executive_producer = | producer = Sue Masters | editor = | location = | cinematography = | camera = | runtime = | company = Reg Grundy Organisation | network = Nine Network | first_aired = {{start date|1983|4|5|df=y}} | last_aired = {{end date|1983}} | related = ''The Young Doctors'' }}
'''''Starting Out''''' is an Australian television soap opera made for the Nine Network by the Reg Grundy Organisation in 1983.
==Background == The five-night-a-week series was created by Reg Watson as the network's replacement for the long-running serial ''The Young Doctors''. It was produced by Sue Masters who had also been the producer of ''The Young Doctors''. It was set at a medical college with an emphasis on young people getting their first experience of living away from home and leading independent lives. ''Starting Out'' debuted on 5 April 1983 in Melbourne and 18 April 1983 in Sydney. It aired in an early evening slot of 6pm week night's before the network's news service.<ref name="MercadoA-pp198-200">Mercado, Andrew. ''Super Aussie Soaps'', Pluto Press Australia, 2004. {{ISBN|1-86403-191-3}} p 198-200</ref>
==Cast== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}} * Leander Brett as Aggie Dean * Antoinette Byron as Laurel Adams * David Clencie as Ben McNamara<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114074158/starting-slowly/|title=Starting slowly|last=Brown|first=Jenny|date=7 April 1983|work=The Age|access-date=4 December 2022|via=Newspapers.com}}{{free access}}</ref> * Nikki Coghill as Margot Fallon-Smith * Tottie Goldsmith as Trixie Sheldon<ref name="Together">{{cite magazine|date=30 April 1983|title=Starting out together...|magazine=TV Week|page=41}}</ref> * Alexander Sebastian as Simon Hamilton * Rowena Mohr as Michelle Rivers * Julie Nihill as Tessa Staples * Peter O'Brien as Craig Holt * David Reyne as Paul Harding<ref name="Together"/> * Yves Stenning as Will Brodie * Gary Sweet as Rod Turner * Paul Williams as Peter Nolan
{{col-2}} * Maurie Fields as Mac Rankin * Suzy Gashler as Yvonne Rivers * Caroline Gillmer as Eleannor Harris * John Grant as Dr. Greg Munro * Jill Forster as Dr. Judith Holt * John Hamblin as Dr. James Holt * Gerard Maguire as Dr. John Rivers * Anne Phelan as Mrs. De Soosa * Marie Redshaw as Mrs. Lynch * Colin Vancao as Russell Dean {{col-end}}
==Cancellation == The series failed to gain sufficient ratings and was quickly cancelled and removed from network schedules by 20 May 1983. Some of the unaired episodes were screened sporadically out-of-ratings in late 1983. Not until a late night repeat run during the later half of 1989 several years after production did all of the 85 produced episodes go to air.<ref name="MercadoA-pp198-200"/>
==Reception== Robert Fidgeon of the ''Herald Sun'' named ''Starting Out'' as one of "Australia's All-time Top 50 TV Turkeys". He stated "For some reason Peter O'Brien said yes to this dumb soap about dumb teen medical students living in a boarding house. Planned 17-week run lasted three."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A86198811/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=cb8576be|title=Top of the flops|last=Fidgeon|first=Robert|date=15 May 2002|work=Herald Sun|access-date=11 March 2024|via=Gale|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Fidgeon's colleague Fiona Byrne included ''Starting Out'' in her feature about "long forgotten Australian TV dramas that made viewers switch off."<ref name="Byrne">{{cite news|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A632926541/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=fde4ac46|title=Truly terrible TV shows that flopped|last=Byrne|first=Fiona|date=19 August 2020|work=Herald Sun|access-date=4 October 2024|via=Gale|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Summing it up, she wrote "It debuted on Channel 9 in April 1983 with little fanfare. It was pulled from the network's schedule after little more than a month and naturally there was not a second season."<ref name="Byrne"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0289827|title=Starting Out}} *[http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Number%3A493544;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10 ''Starting Out'' at the National Film and Sound Archive]
Category:Australian television soap operas Category:Nine Network original programming Category:1983 Australian television series debuts Category:1983 Australian television series endings Category:English-language Australian television shows Category:Television series produced by The Reg Grundy Organisation