brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Blistering performances.

I only came across this classic about a month ago on some obscure satellite channel in the early hours of the morning. Within two minutes I was hooked.Return to Eden has it all - attempted murder, suspense, a gold-digging husband, the backstabbing best friend, a miraculous makeover and some of the best 80s fashions ever seen on film. Follow the amazing adventures of Stephanie Harper from the beginning as she goes from frumpy, middle aged heiress to Tara Welles - toast of the Sydney fashion scene but carrying a secret and plans to get revenge on those who wronged her! This mini series was so successful worldwide that it spawned a weekly serial a few years later.For fans of glossy 80s soaps Return to Eden is essential viewing from start to finish. The costumes are amazing,the scenery beautiful, the acting is lets say, variable, and the script veers from the sublime to the ridiculous but you will be on the edge of your seat waiting for the next instalment!

Does anyone know where I can purchase a DVD of return to eden 1983 mini series. Not the return to eden the story continues. I want the very beginning....Thnaks CazThis was great series and very intriguing indeed.We are now trying to secure a copy of the very first mini series 1983Someone somewhere must have a copy surely.The 6 discs of 22 part where the story continues, has already been purchased. Its the very beginning one we want mini series 1983 where the whole thing first starts.caz

Michael Laurence's great mini-series, sets the scene for the famous TV series which came later. Story wise the plot would keep even the most hardened soap devotee on the edge of their seat. That's as long as you don't question the fact that a mother would abandon her children by choice. This mini-series gives a slightly plausible explanation, but then again it is meant to be a drama and primarily made to entertain. And entertain it certainly does. Its the classic plot device of good against evil, except in this drama the good person starts out ugly and ends up beautiful! As for James Reyne's Greg Marden, well I'm a bloke I don't fancy him, on the other hand Rebecca Gilling's a different story, post op of course. She's even more sexy in the follow up series.Wendy Hughes plays a more sympathetic Jilly than Peta Toppano's devious, cold bitch in the sequel. True, she's still sneaky but nowhere near as arrogant as Peta! The resolution to the mini-series is a satisfying one, which I won't reveal. Go buy the DVD if you can find it.Performance wise this show is pretty well cast, it's almost like an ensemble piece, a quality shared by its sequel. You have to decide though, who gave the best performance in it? I'd say Rebecca Gilling, what her character endured in the duration of this show and how she dealt with it is gripping viewing! Wendy Hughes comes a close second, with James Reynes' slightly hammy acting in third.Comparing the mini-series with it's follow-up only shows that this show dared to be different, it's sequel is a little more formulaic and without giving too much away more contemporary.Return to Eden stands though as a solid compelling drama. The TV series spin off is just as compelling, both of them show the rise and fall of Stephanie Harper. If you come across either on DVD, buy it, they-re two of the very best examples of their genre.

Return to Eden is a film of rubber and wood. Rubber faces and crocodiles and wooden acting. It is hilarious. The story is as follows: Rich lonley heiress Stephanie Harper (Rebecca Gilling)falls in love with a gold digging tennis star Greg Marsden (James Reyne). They marry, and not long after this he attempts to kill her by pushing her into crocodile infested waters where she is mauled. She is rescued by a kindly hermit (isn't this always the case) who nurses her back to health and gives her his life savings, consisting of a bag of opals which she sells for $2000. Stephanie then goes to a plasic surgeon who falls in love with herand has her appearance changed, no mean feat for that sort of money. After this she changes her name to Tara wells, becomes a 'Supermodel',and seeks her revenge. The funniest thing about this is that nobody recognises her. As stephanie, she wears a grey Putty nose and jowls, which makes her look as though she has done 2 rounds with mike tyson. As Tara she is the most graceless, unattractive 'Supermodel' i have ever set eyes upon. (the 80s' fashions are hilarious). James Reyne, as Marsden, said in an interview on a DVD i purchased that he wanted to make his character look and act as though he has a rod up his arse. He was succesfull. Although he looked like a man with terminal piles, with a rod up his arse. I was expecting the revelation the he was an android, alas this never came. The plastic surgeon, Dan Marshall, is an actor of fine quality, or would be if this were dinner theater. From the sound of his voice he acts by day and does the top 40 on the radio by night. This mini series is absolutley hilarious try to get a copy, but have a box of tissues with you!