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House Gang: episode guide

Don't Call Me Stupid

Episode 1.01
Year: 1996
Writer: Roxxy Bent
Director: Mandy Smith

It's an emergency! The toilet is overflowing and the kitchen sink is blocked. Belinda, Robert and Trev have tried calling a plumber, but nobody will come because the landlord never pays his bills. Enter Mike, the bankrupt landlord and his bratty private-school daughter, Chloe. The bank has repossessed Mike's home and they have nowhere to live. When Mike fixes the plumbing, Trev suggests that Mike and Chloe move in. Robert and Belinda aren't so sure. Mike's a slob and Chloe's a snob! Jack, the gang's social educator returns from a conflict resolution course and so successfully resolves the conflicts, that it's agreed Mike and Chloe can stay. Jack is horrified at what she's done!

Guest Cast: Shannon Walford as Scott.

Dumped

Episode 1.02
Writer: Roxxy Bent
Director: Mandy Smith

Realising that Belinda has the best and biggest room in the house, Chloe decides to have it for herself. But she doesn't choose a good day to make her move. Belinda has just been dumped by her boyfriend, Scott. Meanwhile, Robert has discovered Jack's herbal smoking-mix and mistaken it for marijuana. Robert shares the news with Mike who decides that Jack must be a drug-fiend. Robert is left alone with the ghastly secret while Mike goes off to sit his taxi-driver's exam. They'll call the police when he gets back. When Chloe and Belinda lock themselves in Belinda's room for a raucous Whose-life-is-the-most-tragic! rage, Robert believes that the girls are drug addicts too. What can Robert do?

Guest Cast: none

Winners

Episode 1.03
Writer: Roxxy Bent
Director: Mandy Smith

Trev is determined to do well at his swimming trials, even if it means disrupting the lives of every other member of the household. Belinda too, has a special interest in Trev's trials. Trev's arch-rival is Scott, the only man who has ever dared to dump her! Chloe meanwhile has learnt that she is a possible prizewinner at the school speech-night, but doesn't want Mike to attend for fear of acute social embarrassment. However, as Mike becomes more engrossed in Trev's training regime, Chloe finds herself suffering pangs of jealousy, and sets out to sabotage Trev's training. Chaos ensues. Ultimately Mike is forced to choose between Trev's trial and Chloe's speech night…

Guest Cast: Shannon Walford as Scott, Kris McQuad as Raelene, Justine Saunders as President of Australia.

Nightmares

Episode 1.04
Writers: Andrew Kelly and Keith Thompson
Director: Mandy Smith

It's Saturday night and the gang is getting ready for its Video Movie Marathon, when Scott phones Belinda begging her to give him another chance. Chloe is horrified when Belinda agrees to meet him. Now she's stuck at home with the boys! However things look up for Chloe when she meets Duane from the local video store. Mike, Trev, Robert and Jack settle down to watch some gory splatter-flicks, when they're interrupted by the early return of Belinda. Scott was a bore! Scared witless by the videos, Robert and Trev are reluctant to go to bed afterwards. And when they do, the nightmares begin… Soon everybody in the entire household is having a nightmare. When will this night ever end?

Guest Cast: Paul Bishop as Duane Bradley

Truth or Dare

Episode 1.05
Writer: Roxxy Bent
Director: Mandy Smith

This year's school excursion is to Noumea and Chloe is already selecting her swimwear. Sadly, Mike can barely afford to pay for her lunch. When Chloe threatens to ask her mother for the deposit, Mike is spurred into working double-shifts to raise the cash. Meanwhile Robert, sick of being nice, invests in a grunge wardrobe and announces that he's going to be bad. Considering herself the expert in evil, Chloe suggests a game of Truth or Dare, but the tables are turned when Robert and Trev return from the bottle shop with VJ, a tough punk girl who has taken a shine to Bad Boy Bob. VJ's suggestions for Truth or Dare make Chloe's hair curl, but nobody can back down. When Mike returns home from his double shift that night, he finds that the house has really gone bad.

Guest Cast: Rebecca Smart as VJ, Susie Porter as Bottle Shop Girl
Additional music: "Can't Help It" by The Truth, "Apple Eyes" by Swoop, "Coma" by Max Sharam

Sex

Episode 1.06
Writer: Roxxy Bent
Director: Mandy Smith

When Belinda comes home from her women's group, with a Safe Sex board-game, Chloe decides that everybody in the house is unhealthily obsessed with "It". Sex, that is. Trev has fallen in love with Lucy and is grumpy because they can never be alone, and Jack is in a dither because she's met someone new. Far worse, Mike has started seeing Chloe's mother again and there is talk of a reconciliation. And then, when VJ climbs in through Robert's window in search of a friend because her dog has died, everybody presumes they've spent the night together. As Chloe begins a crusade to put the household back on the straight and narrow, everybody else is going through the painful business of sorting out their relationships.

Guest Cast: Rebecca Smart as VJ, Marnie Hodge as Lucy, Gennie Nevison as Lucy's Mum, Susan Prior as Chris.

Kissing

Episode 2.01
Year: 1998
Writers: Viki Dun and Roxxy Bent
Director: Phillip Gordon

Chaos is unleashed when party animal Trev noisily returns home one night, awakening his house mates from their dreams. In the ensuing twilight, Robert and Belinda share a long kiss, while Trev convinces Mike that a love shrine is the answer to his mid-life crisis.

Guest Cast: none

Chaos

Episode 2.02
Writers: Viki Dun and Phillip Gordon
Director: Phillip Gordon

Robert's attempt to romance Belinda with a surprise breakfast are thwarted by Chloe on a cash-raising, cake-baking mission. Robert gets his revenge by scrambling her cake recipes. Belinda breezes off to the footy with her pal Donna, spurning Robert and leaving Trev smitten with the new gal.

Guest Cast: Tony Poli as Jeff, Anna Taranto as Jeff's Mother, Lani Tupu as Dennis, Rowan Thacker as Craig, Matiesse Meredith, Olivia McDermott, Jessica Oscure, Heather Everett as Willow, Landi Feller as Trev's Date, and Moya O'Sullivan as Shopkeeper

Surprise

Episode 2.03
Writers: Viki Dun and Roxxy Bent
Director: Phillip Gordon

While Trev and Chloe slumber, the house mates plan a joint surprise birthday party. Dreams of love turn to nightmares when Chloe and Trev wake up screaming after visions of a disco-king Mike on roller blades. Meanwhile, Mike counsels lovelorn Robert. Trev wakes to Donna outside his door, but his reaction is not what he hoped. Life takes a final twist when Mike presents Chloe with roller blades!

Guest Cast: Justin Melvey as Dream Lover

Moving Out

Episode 2.04
Writers: Viki Dun and Keith Thompson
Director: Phillip Gordon

Robert is fed-up. After using up all the hot water and piling the sink high with dirty plates, his house mates take off, leaving him with the mess—again! While flat hunting, Robert meets the equally cleaning obsessed James. Meanwhile Belinda is a little put out to discover her best friends have a date. Robert returns home to find Chloe getting ready to move into his room. Belinda makes him an offer he can't refuse—or can he?

Guest Cast: Jon Pollard as James, Jack Ellis as Dave, Lani Tupu as Dennis, Gaby Mason as Christine, Phillip Gordon as John, Catherine Cullen as Jenny, Serhat Caradee as Joe.

Jealousy

Episode 2.05
Writers: Viki Dun, Roxxy Bent and Cathy Strickland
Director: Phillip Gordon

Robert spies a strange woman leaving the house: Belinda in a scarf, tailing Trev. Catching Robert out, Chloe herself is spotted sneaking in after a big night out. It appears everyone's got something to hide. Donna has a rendezvous with Trev, and when a jealous Belinda confronts her, she denies everything. Meanwhile Mike suspects that his daughter may have a love life. All is forgiven when lovebirds, Donna and Trev come clean.

Guest Cast: Jon Pollard as James

Ambition

Episode 2.06
Writers: Viki Dun, Cathy Strickland, and Gaby Mason
Director: Phillip Gordon

Everyone it seems is preoccupied with love or money. Trev needs Mike to fast track the plumbing business, so he can get rich quick and settle down. Belinda has mother Astra on her mind, who charms the household with her fortune-telling talents. The future gets closer as Donna and Belinda agree to manage the café together, and Robert and James get their Clean Machine business underway. Trev even pops the question to Donna. Time to celebrate? Meanwhile, Mike retreats to his garage.

Guest Cast: Kate Fitzpatrick as Astra; Jon Pollard as James