The Restless Years

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The Restless Years^[1] is an Australian soap opera which followed the lives of several Sydney school-leavers and the drama and relationships faced by young adults. It was created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for Network Ten.

The series debuted in a prime time slot on 6 December 1977 (during the end-of-year TV non-ratings period, in the vein of the Seven Network serial Cop Shop, which had premiered the previous week in the out of ratings period) and was creator Watson's second successful soap opera in Australia, following The Young Doctors. It had a successful run of four years, until December 1981, and ran 781 x 30 minute episodes. It was not renewed by the network due to declining ratings. The series had a predominantly young audience.

The series was Grundy's third foray into creating successful soap operas, and followed a similar theme to their previous school room drama Class of '74.^[1] The Restless Years also holds the distinction, with a handful of other Grundy serials, of having never been broadcast, or been remade, in the United Kingdom.