Number 96

Number 96 was an Australian television nightly soap opera/serial set in a fictional, small, four-storey, inner city apartment block at 96 Lindsay Street, Paddington, hence the title. Creators Don Cash and Bill Harmon of the Cash Harmon Television production company, produced the series for what was then known as the 0-10 Network, which had requested a similar type of series to the high-rating English soap opera series Coronation Street and specifically one that explored mature subject matter. The premise, original story outlines, and the original characters were devised by David Sale, who also wrote the scripts for the first episodes and continued as script editor for much of the show's run. A then-vacant building at 83 Moncur Street, Woollahra, provided the exterior inspiration for the set built at Channel Ten's in-house studio in Lane Cove, Sydney. Though the series was not the first soap opera in Australia, it was the first to gain a cult following both locally and internationally.