FAQ

Tired of the pompous, overbearing ways of his original secretary, Martin Kelly fires the dislikable Miss Stephens. He puts the call through to an agency, in search of a temporary replacement. But when Betty Wilson arrives unannounced on Mr. Kelly's doorstep from Walgett, he mistakes her as being sent by the agency, immediately putting her to work. Betty reveals their family connection, and is invited to stay as a guest until she can find her own flat. Meanwhile, Betty's luggage goes missing, and the police are called to investigate.

Betty is a first cousin of Martin's late wife Margaret. In a letter Betty received from Margaret before she died, Margaret mentioned that if Betty ever needed a place to stay while in Sydney, her family there would look after her.

The series creators originally intended Jenny to be two years younger than Sarah Monahan was in real life. When Sarah first auditioned at the age of six, the producers were looking for someone who was four years old. However, Sarah was small for her age, due to acquiring a growth deformity from almost drowning as a baby.

As Sarah grew up, the writers worried that they would soon be forced to write her character into the same situations as those of the older sister, whose role was already being filled by Rachael Beck at the time. When Sarah -- having figuratively grown up on television -- decided to take a break, leaving the series in early 1993 to take part in a one-year student exchange program in Honduras, Angela Keep was hired to take over the role of Jenny, despite the obvious age difference. At the time of the cast change, Sarah was fifteen years old, Angela was twelve. The rationale was that the similarities between the female characters would be minimised by making Jenny younger, allowing the writers to create more of a variety of storylines tailored for a wider range of demographics.

In a TV Week article dated 23 April 1994, Robert Hughes explained: "I was feeling stuck in the series - the same routine over and over and over again. 'Hey Dad..!' had been very good to me and it helped raise my profile as an actor. But it was time to move on. I was feeling really stale and it can be debilitating for an actor to be so closely identified with one character. I thought I had to make the break." The storyline explanation for his character's departure was that Martin was moving overseas to take on a high-paying job in Saudi Arabia. There have also been reports of a somewhat less-than-harmonious backstage working environment during the show's later years, with friction between certain cast members allegedly playing a part in Robert leaving the series. Robert has not participated in any 'Hey Dad..!' cast reunions. In March 2010, it was alleged by producer Gary Reilly and casting agent Liz Mullinar that Robert left the series after speculation that he was molesting the younger cast members. Liz stated on Today Tonight (1995) that they had to make him quit, while Gary says he and Robert had stand up rows about the allegations. When Robert left, Gary said he was relieved.

Shock DVD has released two 'Best of' compilations in Australia: The Best of Hey Dad, a 2-disc region 4 set containing 13 episodes from Season 3, and The Best of Hey Dad Volume 2, a 2-disc region 0 set with a variety of episodes from later seasons. Shock has stated that due to poor sales, there will be no further Australian releases for this series. German DVD company Polyband has obtained the region 2 rights for the first 149 episodes, releasing a 5-disc set of Season 1 in October 2008, a 5-disc set of Season 2 in March 2009, a 6-disc set of Season 3 in September 2009, and a 3-disc set of Season 4 in March 2010. The only extras included are in the Season 1 set. They are the original unaired versions of the pilot and 'One for the Road', plus a 'Hey Dad..!' refridgerator magnet. Unfortunately for English speaking fans, only the DVDs for Seasons 1 & 2 contain the original English audio, while Seasons 3 & 4 have German audio only.

A bank robber, hiding from the police in the Kelly house, places a time-bomb in the VCR, taking everyone hostage. After the police catch him, they remember the time-bomb is still active. When the countdown reaches zero, nothing happens... until Betty remembers her watch is twenty seconds fast. The cast screams as the bomb supposedly detonates. The camera then pulls back to reveal the studio audience, and the cast break the fourth wall to take their final bows. The producers had asked all former cast members to return for the final episode. They were only going to script a full cast reunion if everyone agreed to return, but some refused. The only former cast members present during the final curtain call were Sarah Monahan, Christopher Truswell and Simone Buchanan.