Peta Pans Eden Sex Scenes
From TV Week, 2 August 1986. Written by Tom Barrett (in London).
The beautiful Peta Toppano has returned to Australia shocked at the way London tabloids seized on her remarks about Return To Eden.
Peta, who claims the series "fulfilled what it set out to do - "to be a glossy melodrama" - was quoted widely in Britain slamming the soap for its titillating scenes.
She told a London press conference that she and other actresses formally complained to Eden producers about their skimpy wardrobe and having to strip off.
"We all loathed it," Peta was quoted as saying. "We felt we were being exploited and we didn't enjoy it. It got so ridiculous, especially with my character, that we all complained. It was just titillating and I object to that. It would be more honest for us to have done nude scenes than to run around in a pair of lace knickers. Maybe they thought that sex and naughtiness would sell Return To E
den. But I think it's tedious."
Peta said she was so fed up with the soap's sexy teases that
she plans to check the scripts for "knickers scenes" if she is offered a new series. And if there are too many
she will turn the series down. The beautiful brunette also revealed that she had to film a sensational sex
scene against her will. She was filmed making love on top of a boardroom table with Jake Sanders (played by Daniel
Abineri).
"I didn't want to do that boardroom scene," Peta said. "It was 8 o'clock at night, I was
very tired and I just wanted to go home. "
Peta said that as filming went on more clothes came off.
"I thought we would be showing off the clothes, not taking them off. It was the pits. It
was like a Benny Hill show. It got so ridiculous I complained, but they said it was in keeping with Jilly
Stewart's character."
Peta, 33, said that although the sex scenes upset her, her actor-husband
Barry Quin was able to cope with them.
"He was very well adjusted about the whole thing," she said. "More than I would
have been if the roles were reversed. I hate him doing love scenes with other women. I'm jealous.
"The wonderful thing about playing Jilly is that nobody recognises me from Return To Eden. In the show
I had bright red hair, high heels and slinky dresses. At home I wear jeans and T-shirts. I've never done anything as
glamorous as this before. I'd arrive at the studio in a track suit and by 6 am I'd be decked out in tiaras
and sequins.
I've had very good feedback from the series. It has been good for my career and with
the money I've earned I've been able to renovate our house in Balmain overlooking Sydney Harbor. But although a
lot of people make a career out of being in soaps, I don't want to do that. I don't want to be associated
with one particular character in one particular show."
Peta has been married to second husband Barry for seven years. "When I met him," she said, "it was love at first sight and we had a whirlwind romance. Barry had come over to Australia with the Chichester Theatre Company and I was in A Chorus Line and we were appearing in theatres on the opposite sides of the road. One night his company came to see our show and we were introduced.
We were together for only two weeks before he had to go back to England because his visa had run out. But by then I knew I was in love, or lust, mostly! We were apart for seven months and we really missed each other.
Then Barry made the decision to come out to Australia again and after arriving, near Christmas, he asked me to marry him on Christmas Eve - very romantic! For me he is the perfect partner and I love him. We'd like to start a family soon."
Peta was previously married to a musician. She wed when she was just 19 and the m
arriage lasted four months.
"When I met Barry I had never felt like that about a man before."
Next month soap queen Peta will star on stage in Australia playing Priscilla Presley in
the musical Are You Lonesome Tonight?
"I have only just become a Presley fan," Peta
said. "Until I took out the video of Jailhouse Rock I had never listened to his music or had any interest in
him whatsoever."
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