Қызықты жылдар: Австралиялық опералық сериал

Australian soap opera
the 1958 film

The series debuted in a prime time slot on 6 December 1977 (during the end of year TV non ratings period, in the vein of the Seven Network serial Cop Shop, which had premiered the previous week in the out of ratings period) and was creator Watson's second successful soap opera in Australia, following The Young Doctors. It had a successful run of four years, until December 1981, and ran 781 x 30 minute episodes. It was not renewed by the network due to declining ratings. The series had a predominantly young audience. The series was Grundy's third foray into creating successful soap operas, and followed a similar theme to their previous school room drama Class of '74. Olivia subsequently snatched a baby and went on the run. The Restless Years, unlike previous series, did not focus on a physical locale, although presented a loose set of relationships where frequent phone calls defined the facilitated links, and frequently occur in the various foyers of the apartment building where the characters resided. Although various scenes were featured at a local bar called "Thommo's", a much frequented cafe, and subsequently a youth refuge and a cafe called the "Beck and Call", the series although filmed in the in house studios, including shopping centres, parks, gardens and the beach. The physical relationships from the various residences were not clearly defined, and the established logic was restricted to a subset of regulars.

There was a high turnover of young performers in the series, and indeed it was a training ground for many stars including Peter Mochrie in his debut as Ric Moran. He would go on to appear in film Winter of Our Dreams starring Bryan Brown and Judy Davis. Others included Lenore Smith, Penny Cook (A Country Practice and E Street), Anna Hruby, Martin Sacks (Blue Heelers), Warren Blondell, Joanne Stanley, Lisa Crittenden (Sons and Daughters, Prisoner) and Jacqui Gordon, while Peter Phelps and Kim Lewis would also find fame on Sons and Daughters.

The Restless Years originally screened in most areas at 7.30 pm in one hour installments, twice a week Tuesday and Thursday. For all but the last three weeks of its 1981 season, the series screened in Melbourne as five thirty minute episodes stripped across each weeknight at 7.00 pm. It was moved to 5.30 pm for the last three weeks, with final episode reached on Thursday, 12 November 1981. In Sydney in mid 1981 the series switched to running as a single one hour episode on Wednesday nights at 7.30 pm.

The show was remade in the Netherlands as Goede tijden, slechte tijden (first broadcast 1990) which in turn was remade in Germany as Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten (since 1992): both these titles mean "Good times, bad times". As of 2021, the Dutch and German shows are still running – although they have long since diverged from the original Australian storylines – and are the highest rated soap operas in their respective countries. Apart from the similar title, the shows are currently also very different from each other with unique characters and very different plotlines.