High Steaks: Home and Away chief shares rare insight into iconic Aussie soap
Home and Away boss Julie McGauran reveals how a childhood visit to a TV studio led her to helm Australia's longest-running drama series.
At seven years old, while on a tour of a Melbourne TV studio with her girl scout group, Julie McGauran walked on to the set of 1980s police drama Cop Shop and just knew then that she wanted to work in television.
“I remember watching them do a scene and thinking ‘this is amazing’,” McGauran laughs.
“We used to watch all the dramas at home. I loved Australian drama. I mean, we ate our dinner on those telly tables.”
For the past 13 years, McGauran has been at the helm of Australia’s second-longest drama, Home and Away.
And that giddy feeling she experienced walking on to the set all those years ago is the same one I’m experiencing now as I sit down to lunch with her at Summer Bay’s The Pier Diner, which – spoiler alert – is actually located in the Seven Studios in Eveleigh.
The restaurant might not be real but the iconic hamburger phone is. That prop has become such a symbol of the show that the crew gave one to Lynne McGranger when her character, Irene, left Summer Bay earlier this year.
What is also real is the food. For lunch, I’m treated to a lamb burger, ordered from The Pier Diner menu – the same burger that is served to actors during their scenes.
“We have a great art department and in the art department Sam is the cook and Sam makes the food. So, we’re eating an actual burger off the diner menu,” McGauran explains, adding it’s the first time she’s ever eaten at the diner.
In fact, it’s also one of the first times she’s done an in-depth interview. Even though some of the cast have it in their mind that she was an actor, McGauran has spent her career firmly behind the scenes.
The only reason she’s said “yes” to this High Steaks interview is because she wants to celebrate the show.
With the end of Neighbours this year, Home and Away – now in its 37th year – is Australia’s last remaining weeknight drama.
McGauran and her team of up to 200 full-time staff are responsible for producing 230 episodes a year, which equals 2½ hours of drama every week for 46 weeks a year.
They carry the fate of an Australian television icon in their hands.
With her parents working as cleaners at her high school and with no easy way into the entertainment industry, McGauran began her career making commercials. She then “got lucky”, with her first job in TV being as a production assistant on medical drama All Saints.
“It was the best role because you got to see every aspect of the show,” she says.
“From scripting through to casting, through to wardrobe through to post-production.”
It was here she met John Holmes, who was an executive producer on Home and Away, and he became her mentor. At 30, McGauran became a producer on Home and Away, doing that for five years before embarking on other projects.
However, “I saw the light” and came home, signing on as executive producer on her 40th birthday.
Aside from Home and Away, McGauran has worked on a hit list of classic shows and miniseries such as Packed to the Rafters, INXS: Never Tear Us Apart and her personal favourite, A Place To Call Home.
Yet, it’s arguably never been harder to work on Australian television. Free-to-air TV viewership is declining, with less than half of Australians watching it weekly, as younger demographics shift towards streaming services.
While McGauran admits the “challenges are financial” with creating Australian drama, she says there is still a place for it on our TV.
Home and Away is consistently watched by more than one million people a night. This year, the total TV audience is up 7 per cent, while on 7plus the audience is up 32 per cent.
There has also been an increase in the numbers for the drama RFDS, which McGauran also produces.
“There is absolutely an audience (for Australian dramas),” she says, even revealing that if she is home at 7pm, she’s watching Home and Away.
The show has also been a production line for both cast and crew to create international careers, including Chris Hemsworth and Isla Fisher, with McGauran saying she knew when someone had “that special spark”.
“Australians have such an amazing work ethic, and I think that’s what Home and Away is known for,” she says.
“So, anyone who has gone overseas or on to other shows, they understand it’s collaborative work.
“It takes a village, and that’s the truth of Home and Away. Those people have taken those skills that they’ve learnt here and taken them elsewhere, and I think that’s what makes them really great.”
As for those who dismiss Home and Away as simply a soap, McGauran doesn’t care.
“Our job is to ensure we keep on moving with society,” she says.
“The world can be crazy sometimes, more so now than ever.
“So, we need something that is stable, and that’s what Home and Away gives you. It just gives you that escapism. When I was first producing Home and Away and living in my one-bedroom apartment, my electricity went out. I went ‘I’m going to have to get Alex to fix that’.
“Now, Alex was the character on the show played by Danny Racco. But his character was real to me – because he was real to me. That’s what this show does. I mean, we’re forever calling people their character names.”
Not only have the characters become real, they’ve also become family. She met husband Cameron Welsh on the set and they have two children. He was an actor at the time, but has also worked as a director and producer. McGauran is still good friends with many former castmates, including Kate Ritchie.
“It’s cliched, but Home and Away is like a family. We work hard but we respect each other,” she says.
“We laugh, we cry, but we all believe in the same thing, and we want to make the best show possible and we love it.
“Sometimes the world can be a not nice place. At 7pm, you can turn on the show for escapism. You can get what you want out of it. I still remember during Covid, getting messages or emails from people saying ‘We’re isolated, my only family is Home and Away’.
“The way the show is going now, I think it has a very strong, healthy future. How long that is, I don’t know, but long live Home and Away.
“The waters of Summer Bay are magical.”
Home and Away’s feature- length season final airs Wednesday, November 19, at 7pm on Channel 7
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