Australian and New Zealand Actress Nude Guide November 2021

10/11/2021

The White Whale is in: Chances on DVD

One Australian TV show I've always wanted to do a deep dive into was the 1991-1992 adult soap opera Chances, a TV show I was too young to see but definitely knew about as people sure loved tee-heeing about the existence of this 'naughty' show. Amazingly for a show that was never a hit, it somehow ran for 127 episodes, probably because the higher-ups liked the idea of the naughty show as there's no other logical reason for why the show went so long. It certainly wouldn't happen in today's environment or any time in the last 20 years.

The show basically disappeared, except for a 3 double DVD boxed set that was released between 2003-2005 with videos and caps featured (and continues to be) on this site. There were 24 episodes, mostly in order and mostly from the tail end of the show when all restraint was gone. It featured the final ever episode and an infamous episode where fairly well-known TV and radio host Kate Langbroek had a nude scene. There was also a pretty extensive history of the show in the liner notes which I should dig out and take a look at.

Then nothing much for over 15 years. There's a Russian torrent of various episodes which I downloaded, some of which are just copies of the DVD. There are episodes taped off a Russian showing of the show but the episodes were aired in halves, so 1 full episode equalled 2 episodes on Russian TV. And they mostly looked very familiar, episodes that already featured on the DVD release. Some very nice person made the first double episode of Chances available recently, taped off it's initial screening so the quality was down but it was better than nothing. Then the same person released the unaired pilot of the show, shot 2 years earlier with a somewhat different cast although the script was virtually the same. Last week, I was all set to do a post where I went through what was available, but before I finished it, I took a look at the Via Vision Entertainment website, an underrated Australian DVD distributor who has been releasing DVD box sets of long lost shows and got the shock of my life:

Chances is on DVD!!! And it was released in August and I'm only just finding out about this, so I'm slow on the uptake. Quicker than The Flash, I ordered the box set and now I have it in my hot little hands. It is in 2 parts, 16 discs and 59 episodes plus the unaired pilot. Part 2 is the rest of the show, which will be released next week so the time I would be ready for those episodes, hopefully the price drop will happen. JB Hifi is usually good for that.

 

As I said earlier, the unaired pilot of Chances, shot in 1988, is available in the box set. It is at least 6 minutes longer than the first double episode that aired on TV in 1991. The cast is somewhat different but it's about 50/50 same/different. Peter Phelps is in the pilot playing a character that gets married then dies in a car accident the same night, interesting choice killing off a character played by a fairly known actor at the time (he would turn up in Baywatch around Chances airing). His replacement in the show was Rodney Bell, hardly a well-known actor. Marcus Graham is also in the pilot replaced by Jeremy Sims who would become one of the most infamous actors on the show with a bare bum scene in many episodes (including the very first episode). One change that is a little disappointing for this site was former Home And Away star Mouche Phillips who was in the pilot playing the teenage daughter replaced by Cathy Godbold who had just come off her own stint on Home And Away.

The main difference between the unaired pilot and what aired apart from the actors was that the aired show is a tighter effort, not necessarily better though. Both end with the family winning the lottery but the unaired pilot has a terrible freak out, ending with an 'it's all just a dream' ending with Natalie McCurry's character waking up and not repeating the so-called 'mistake' she made of seeing the groom before the wedding. It is rubbish...

There isn't a lot to cap in either the first 3 episodes or the unaired pilot, no real nudity although in the reshot pilot Natalie McCurry wakes up naked in bed and we briefly see a bit of side-boob (if you're interested Natalie has a decent nude scene in Dead End Drive-In). There's also a scene below featuring Julie Berriman and Ursula Brooks which they have just taken shots from the pilot and shot the scene with different male actors. They aren't even credited in the aired episode.

Mercia Deane-Johns in Chances Unaired Pilot

14358kb 44sec 768x576 (plenty of cleavage, short skirt)

 

Caz Lederman in Chances Unaired Pilot

20488kb 1min 02sec 768x576 ('nude' under covers)

9228kb 27sec 768x576 ('nude' in bath)

 

Julie Berriman and Ursula Brooks in Chances Unaired Pilot

3122kb 7sec 768x576 (Julie in bikini top and shorts)

 

Natalie McCurry in Chances

32650kb 1min 41sec 768x576 (brief side-boob, 'nude' under covers, plenty of cleavage in nice dress, lengthy)

 

Margot Knight in Chances

25360kb 1min 20sec 768x576 ('nude' under covers)

13330kb 43sec 768x576 (in towel, 'nude' under covers)

7184kb 21sec 768x576 (plenty of cleavage, short skirt)

 

Julie Berriman and Ursula Brooks in Chances

3124kb 8sec 768x576 (Julie in bikini top and shorts)

 

I'm going to try and cap a couple of disks a week (8 episodes) but that might be hard, particularly when things take a turn. Things seem a little slow at the moment but I've seen a sneak peek of the next disc and a preview features Tammy MacIntosh (who only appears briefly so far) taking off her top so there's that to look forward to as plotwise, Chances is just another boring soap opera. For now...

 

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Tags: Natalie McCurry, Mercia Deane-Johns, Margot Knight, Caz Lederman, Julie Berriman, Ursula Brooks