The budget of the 6-hour 1983 mini-series, 'Return To Eden' was $2.5 million - "the largest of any series made in Australia (at that time) and channel Ten has paid the highest price to screen it." In 1984, producer Hal McElroy sold 'Return To Eden' to Worldvision and Paramount for international distribution for close to $4 million. In 1985, the mini-series was turned into a weekly series, budgeted at $8 million. 'Return To Eden' the series was then pre-sold to the U.S. and U.K. markets before it went on air in Australia.
Daniel Abineri appeared in the 22 episodes observed, "I think they really go for all that 'Dynasty' stuff in Britain and 'Return To Eden' was just like 'Dynasty.'" When it was shown in the U.S. in September 1985, "some American audiences have viewed 'Return To Eden' and reaction has been highly favorable." Hal McElroy maintained, "We didn't set out to make 'Dynasty' or 'Dallas' per se. We could never emulate them, because they spend $1 million an hour - 4 or 5 times more than we have to spend. But it's prime time, adult-oriented melodrama, so, necessarily, it will have the same sort of qualities."
The playground of the high-living super rich and multi-million dollar mining empire did not appeal to many Australians. Ratings in Australia for the weekly series were lackluster. However 'Return To Eden' "has been immensely successful overseas, especially in Britain." Wardrobe supervisor Miv Brewer believed, "In 'Return To Eden' we have the ideal vehicle to put real glamor on Australian television. It also gives us the opportunity to expose some of our talented young designers who are well and truly up to the standard of Europe's best."
Casting director Liz Mullinar picked Peta Toppano to play Jilly. Peta made known, "I incorporated my fiery Italian background into the role. I never really watched 'Dynasty' very much and I don't watch 'Sons and Daughters' so I wasn't drawing from anything. Jilly's my invention. I didn't think ... 'I'll take a bit of Joan Collins, a bit of Pat the Rat and a bit of this one and that one,' because I don't watch them. The wonderful thing about playing Jilly is that nobody recognizes me from 'Return To Eden'. In the show I had bright red hair, high heels and slinky dresses. At home I wear jeans and T-shirts. I've never done anything as glamorous as this before. I'd arrive at the studio in a track suit and by 6:00am I'd be decked out in tiaras and sequins."
Daniel Abineri remembered, "About halfway through it got really silly, and, for an actor, as soon as you can't take something seriously it becomes very hard to play it with a straight face. Keeping a straight face for the last 10 episodes of 'Return To Eden' was unbelievably hard for all of us on the show. We were getting the scripts a day or 2 before shooting and pearls of laughter would ring out from all the actors."
Of the scenes in the final episode, "I wanted to die with a smile on my face but they wouldn't let me. They really worried that I never had it done up tight like a real business tycoon. So, just for a little revenge, I had a scene where I had to throw Jilly around the bedroom and my tie came loose. I made a point of staring right down the lens of the camera and straightening my tie. The producers were cool though. They knew what I was up to. They put a big dramatic, orchestral sting in, a big 'bu-bomp' just as I straightened my tie - made it much more dramatic."
Peta confessed, "I wanted this role more than anything in the world. I think people will be surprised and my mother will have a heart attack!" Out of jail and hellbent on revenge, Jilly re-entered the life of Harper Mining shareholder Phillip Stewart (played by John Lee). Peta recounted, "Jilly's been stringing Phillip along like a fish on a line for a while now. She's been manipulating him and conning him and telling him how much she loves him, how much she's changed and how trustworthy she's going to be from now on.
"Yet all the time she's been seeing Jake, sleeping with him, and then coming home to Phillip and telling him what a wonderful man he is! He really loves her but she's playing this double-handed game and deceiving Phillip right down the line - destroying him. I think she hates him; she despises him for being weak and loving her so much. She sees Phillip as somebody to step on and destroy. He's just a pawn in her masterplan to get everything that Stephanie Harper (played by Rebecca Gilling) has.
"Jilly marries Phillip for the money and the power. She also marries him to get back on the social ladder again because she is hurt at having been ostracized by both his family and friends and by the Harpers. She sees her marriage to Phillip as a way back into the money and social sphere she used to know. I'm starting to find out who Jilly is and delving into areas of my own personality I feel are appropriate for her. I think there's a bit of Jilly in every woman. For Jilly I'm calling on a side of myself I've never had to call upon as an actress before - it's a side of me that I don't like. I have been typecast as a sweet, girl-next-door type. That's why I was so grateful to be given the chance to play a conniving character."
Peta confessed, "I wanted this role more than anything in the world. I think people will be surprised and my mother will have a heart attack!" Out of jail and hellbent on revenge, Jilly re-entered the life of Harper Mining shareholder Phillip Stewart (played by John Lee). Peta recounted, "Jilly's been stringing Phillip along like a fish on a line for a while now. She's been manipulating him and conning him and telling him how much she loves him, how much she's changed and how trustworthy she's going to be from now on.
"Yet all the time she's been seeing Jake, sleeping with him, and then coming home to Phillip and telling him what a wonderful man he is! He really loves her but she's playing this double-handed game and deceiving Phillip right down the line - destroying him. I think she hates him; she despises him for being weak and loving her so much. She sees Phillip as somebody to step on and destroy. He's just a pawn in her masterplan to get everything that Stephanie Harper (played by Rebecca Gilling) has.
"Jilly marries Phillip for the money and the power. She also marries him to get back on the social ladder again because she is hurt at having been ostracized by both his family and friends and by the Harpers. She sees her marriage to Phillip as a way back into the money and social sphere she used to know. I'm starting to find out who Jilly is and delving into areas of my own personality I feel are appropriate for her. I think there's a bit of Jilly in every woman. For Jilly I'm calling on a side of myself I've never had to call upon as an actress before - it's a side of me that I don't like. I have been typecast as a sweet, girl-next-door type. That's why I was so grateful to be given the chance to play a conniving character."
