Birds in the Bush


Birds in the Bush is an Australian/British sitcom that was broadcast in 1972.

Plot

The series was set on a remote Australian property run by seven beautiful but naïve young women. When the property is inherited by an English water diviner he and his Australian half-brother and an assistant begin living on the property and attempt to teach the nubile young women the ways of the world.
The series focused on the physical attractiveness of the young women, who all wore skimpy blue smocks and had names like "Abigail", "Lolita", "Tuesday", "Wednesday" and "Buster", along with Carry On-style innuendo.

Cast

Production

The series was written and directed by David Croft and was intended primarily for a UK audience. As UK television was by now broadcasting in colour, it meant that Birds in the Bush was also shot in colour, but this necessitated shooting the series on film rather than videotape, as the ATN7 television studios in Australia were yet to be converted to colour.

Reaction

The series began on air in Australia on 3 May 1972 but rated poorly there. Likewise UK ratings were low and the series run was cancelled there before all the episodes had been shown. Just one season of 13 30-minute episodes was produced.
Cast member Kate Sheil, who played one of the naive girls, later said of her participation in the series that "I'm still trying to live that down because a lot of people hated it. We just run around saying these amazing things. I used to watch it for the scenery".