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The Godfathers is an Australian comedy drama television series which aired on the Nine Network from 1971 to 1972. This family series was created by Robert Bruning and Michael Laurence, who also had starring roles.^[1]

Plot summary

The Godfathers follows the story of widow Maria Varga, who decides to take in boarders into her house to help make ends meet. Her young son Mike is initially opposed to the idea and resents the new boarders until they throw him a surprise birthday party. He adopts the three boarders as his 'godfathers'.

Cast

Main / regular

Anna Volska as Maria Varga
Ashley Grenville as Mike Varga
Robert Bruning as Chris Johnson
Michael Laurence as Peter Fairhall
Eric Oldfield as Gary Peterson
Harold Hopkins as David Milson
Tina Grenville as Elizabeth Dent
Eve Wynne as Mrs. Parsons
Queenie Ashton as Mrs. Frenchman
Diane Craig

Guests

Benita Collings as Miss Lark (1 episode)

Production

Child Welfare Officer Elizabeth Dent was played by Tina Grenville, who was the real life mother of Ashley Grenville, who starred as Mike Varga.

When writing, producing and starring in the series became too much for Michael Laurence, he wrote his character Pete out of the series after 26 episodes but returned for guest appearances. He was replaced by a new godfather Dave, until the series ended at 72 episodes.

The theme song for the series was written and performed by Michael Caulfield.

Spin-off

A spin-off series The People Next Door was created as a replacement series and screened in 1973 for 20 episodes. It featured two characters from The Godfathers, Elizabeth Dent and David Milson. The series began with Elizabeth and her husband Bill Dunstan moving into a new house and taking in Dave as a boarder.