channel 5 soap family affairs. the harts boat explodes.

[RNC200711]

I think the death of the Hart's revitalised the show but it would of been interesting if a few of them lived and dealt with the trauma of their loved ones deaths, It is doubly traumatic how all their problems and skeletons in the closet came out just before they all died with none of them having to deal with the fall out

You gotta love the "There's a smell of gas from somewhere" and "No! Not the candle" lines though

[laidbakboy88]

its kinda strange that all best characters in soaps get killed off, Hart (Family affairs), Burton Twins (Hollyoaks), Tiffany Raymond (EE) , how long had dave matthews been seeing both holly and annie for

[spinout3]

the producer ruined this show when he killed off the hart family just for extra ratings..it backfired on him cos people switched off after the harts were gone.if he had left them in i think this show would still be going now.

[pufferfishish]

Shame that Cordelia Bugeja only managed to get work in a string of adverts after this- and the only thing I've seen Sandra Huggett pop up in lately (apart from her role as [the other Holly] Miles in 'Casualty'), has been that Kingsmill ad where she burns her hubby's shirt with the iron!! :)

[spinout3]

@pufferfishish cordelia bugeja has just starred in a new comedy on channel 4 called milton jones's house of rooms.

[pufferfishish]

@spinout3 Cool! Thanks for the info. Makes a change from the endless adverts about 'good bacteria' and antiperspirants :) I think she does voice-over work too.

[spinout3]

@pufferfishish ye i know, shes too good an actress to be just doing adverts. i watched her in this new comedy last night and she was really good.

[laidbakboy88]

Whats the whole storyline between Dave Matthews/Holly Hart in the weeks b4 this episode

[kimberley1308]

@laidbakboy88 Dave was having an affair with Holly and her mother Annie!

[laidbakboy88]

why did the Hart and Gates Families in FA despice Pete Callahan so much, Which characters actually died in boat explosion

[pufferfishish]

@laidbakboy88 Jack Gates crashed his car driving drunk and placed his unconscious wife in the driver's seat. She had amnesia and he then became pissed off at the Harts for nearly triggering her memory of what really happened so he killed her to bury the truth, left Pete Callan everything in his will and then topped himself. Pete also led Roy into drug dealing making the Harts hate him further. Who died: Chris, Annie, Holly, Melanie, Jamie, Angus and baby Sam.

[RNC200711]

@laidbakboy88 The whole Hart Family(minus Duncan who was away travelling) died in the boat explosion

[laidbakboy88]

what was point of this boat explosion ?

[Kaynas1988]

Does anyone know where I can find clips of Family Affairs with Beth Cordingly in as Sara Warrington

[DisInfoWars]

Pete should be in Eastenders, He's the best baddie ever

[chrissy17169]

@DisInfoWars always believed that had he been in a mainstream soap the character would have received far more recognition so to the actor.used to scare the s*** out of me!

[SickPuppyBeatz]

Show was finished when they killed off the Harts.

[blademanx]

lol thats how you make an impact.

[StevieWondersWhy24]

i dont know what posessed me to look this up. but i remember this like it was yesterday. i thought it would have aired in about 2002. cant believe it was 99. i was 14 years old. this is freakin me out!!!!!

[midnitehour1]

The foundation of every good sap are the families within it. You kill off the families, you effectively kill the show.

[GLBizzie]

0:02 is this guy not Tom King from emmerdale ?

[spinout3]

@GLBizzie ye well spotted...its actor ken farrington, before this he was in coronation street and emmerdale.

[SBOWsteffan]

The show never recovered after they killed off the hart family

[199019852007]

killing off the main family killed this show

[Messylin]

I remember this vividly - granted, Liz Crowther got to do a fine bit of Greek tragedy acting right there at the end, but still - there was no payoff to the story since the Dave Matthews reveal died with them. It was totally sadistic on the part of the producers to wipe out the family we had watched so intensely for two years in this manner! I think Holly Hart at least should have survived and stormed off the boat beforehand - imagine the guilt for her character. A tremendous of story potential.

[Messylin]

oh yes, and the coffins was TOO MUCH! Notice the little white coffin on the alter for baby Sam? Sicko writers were hellbent on traumatizing the faithful viewers of the Hart era!!! It sucks - Annie was really interesting as a character after the fallout from her father murdering her mother - a love rivalry with Holly and Cat over Dave Matthews would have been great! The Harts should have been blown up METAPHORICALLY - not literally!

[chrissy17169]

i realise its only acting but the scene with the coffins still makes me want to puke just as it did 12years ago,just as it would in a real life situation.to kill off a new born baby was a step too far. killing off those 2 beautiful girls still hurts me to this day even though they have found roles elsewhere im sure they would love to have continued these roles instead

[spinout3]

@Messylin you are right, they made a mistake killing off the main family. the show was never the same again.

[pufferfishish]

@Messylin That was totally on the money. I remember thinking at the time it was unusual for a soap to have done that; most of the time in soap operas secrets always get revealed sooner or later, but this one ended up going nowhere. Holly tried to walk out a number of times but Annie kept stopping her. If only she'd made it off the boat...

[chrissy17169]

@Messylin you should have been the scriptwriter. the idea of at least one survivor could have kept some continuity within as opposed to killing the whole family off just to be dramatic and placing good young actors out of work. the idea that all the family secrets died with them and the remaing characters totally unaware of the events seemed very eerie.why did the hart family change from stable family to dysfunctional? didn't make sense

[pufferfishish]

@chrissy17169 You're right, she totally should have been a scriptwriter. From what I remember, the Harts were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and this was largely what caused the cracks to appear; together with one daughter being a lesbian one minute and straight the next, the other one dating a drug-dealer, and the eldest son shacking up with his mum's best friend :)

[chrissy17169]

@pufferfishish thought me and my late mum were the only ones who watched it!glad to know we weren't alone,though we lost interest after the main family were killed off.cordelia did appear as a pro in some drama a few years back.sandra does appear in other dramas from time to time though never a main character,plus the actimel ads!

[pufferfishish]

@chrissy17169 Remember when Duncan Hart finally returned from his travels? I had waited for that moment for over a year and when he finally came back, not only was he played by a different actor, but the way his grief was dealt with was apalling; he threw a glass at the wall, had a few nightmares, then a few days later he was ok and back to normal. It was as though the producers had totally washed their hands of the Harts and wanted to gloss over it as quickly as possible.

[chrissy17169]

@pufferfishish yes i do remember.i think that was the point where i lost interest and only tuned into the very last episode out of sentiment, by which time i failed to recognise any of the characters.would have been nicer if the hart family had just sold up and moved and lived happily ever after but not dramatic enough i guess

[pufferfishish]

@chrissy17169 Yeah, it turned into a total pantomime towards the end; there was actually a character called 'Meredith Lovechild' and three young kids called Elvis, Elton and Prince. Pathetic.

[chrissy17169]

@pufferfishish know if you remember but in the weeks leading up to the boat explosion an ominous message"beware of the flames and the man with the bottles"somehow appeared on the youngest lads computer. somehow relating to dave matthews yet this was never followed up after the event and the harts house was never revisited.puzzling?

[pufferfishish]

@chrissy17169 that must have gone over my head as i don't remember it. i know what you mean re. the Harts' house never seen again; before the explosion they had bought Jamie a moped for his birthday and taken a Polaroid family shot. These would have still been in the house. I think they never revisited it because during that time the producers were switching the setting of the show from Maidenhead to West London and it was difficult enough to do all that without anyone noticing... but we did(!)

[chrissy17169]

@pufferfishish as you say they were on the brink of bankruptcy it would have been a better idea if they had sold up and downsized to another area.roy could have been jilted at the altar,holly seeing sense,spurning matthews and going her seperate ways.too boring for brian park i suppose

[pufferfishish]

@chrissy17169 He probably thought that killing them in an explosion would gain some notoriety and in turn, increase ratings- but as far as I'm concerned, it just made us all miss the halcyon days of the Hart family. I still remember the original trailer on Channel 5: 'welcome to the Hart family. Here's Duncan: Hart breaker, here's Melanie: Hart stopper; Holly with her Hart set on success, while Chris and Annie are heading for a Hart attack! Family Affairs- weeknights at 18:30 on Channel 5.' :)

[chrissy17169]

@pufferfishish believe it was almost 13 years ago and we still think about it.you mention the bankruptcy yet as you also say they could still afford a moped and weddings dont come cheap.shows how incredulous the story lines were becoming.accept callan was a great villain but interest began to wane not long after.appreciate all your comments

[sugarpuffsandwich]

i'm not a soap fan but i really got into family affairs in the late 90s. i loved the show, the storylines were really good and great characters. and melanie was the eye candy for me lol. then that arse brian park came in and ruined it. once the hart's left, it was finished. thanks for that!!

[WorldNews92]

I was nine when this happened, and all I remember about this episode was that my dad was one of the fire safety officers involved in the explosion, and he even had a part as a fire officer running across the screen before the adverts.

[spinout3]

@WorldNews92 thats class, i would have loved a part in this. producers ruined it when they killed the main family off.

[spinout3]

@WorldNews92  thats class

[zaniac100]

"Orright mate?"... BOOOOM! I did think the Harts were a bit too drab and ernest, however I'd personally have just set them adrift forwever down the river, not blown them up.

[RNC200707]

They all died arguing then? This must of been the biggest UK soap massacre...poor Roy, survived that only to be killed in a fire himself some 3 years later....pity they all died and things couldn't be resolved. Anyone know why the Hart's were killed off?

[spinout3]

i think they brought in a new producer and decided to give the show a fresh look. they made a mistake cos ratings went down after killing the hart family off. pity cos it was good up untill then.

[pufferfishish]

Shortly after the accident Maria said: 'well at least they died happy.' and we were left thinking: if only she knew!

Ironic that Roy was to also die in a fire, but kind of brought his characer round full circle seeing as how he tore himself apart over not being able to save Mel, but managed to save Nikki from the cafe fire at the cost of his own life.

[fangora2001]

Weren't they always arguing?

Revamp was for ratings. Same producer Brian Park had also killed off Derek in Coronation Street for similar reasons.

[spinout3]

oh ye i remember him, they called him the axeman.

[MarkieMcQueen33]

It was tragic. The Harts were axed by the producer Brian Park who wanted to move the show in a new direction- Roy died in 2005 some six years later

[chrissy17169]

@RNC200707 someat to do with poor ratings. dunno what they expected considering 5 has never been a mainstream channel. surely not all the actors playing the hart family could be to blame collectively

[pufferfishish]

i remember when this went out. i loved the way the announcer said: 'and the post-Hart era begins on Monday' and it came back totally revamped with brand new theme tune and titles.

[spinout3]

i agree the coffins at the end was a bit much. i think the show died when they killed off the main family.

[MarkieMcQueen33]

It was terrible when this happend!!! And I always thought the bit with the coffins at the end was a bit sick with the music lol

[stevemularz]

Daz,

Cool vid !!! 5 *****

Steve