User reviews

We used to call these opulent '80s mini-series "trash wallows." Unfortunately, they don't make them like this anymore. And I don't think anybody ever equaled the gigantic trash wallow of Return to Eden.

First of all, it's Australian, with one gorgeous hunk after another - that in itself made it worth sitting through. Also it's an extreme makeover story before there were REAL extreme makeovers on reality TV. And this one's a doozie. Ugly, matronly, but loaded with cash, our heroine marries a hubba-hubba who, enamored with someone else (like five minutes after the wedding), throws his wife to the crocodiles. Maimed, she survives with the help of an old man and a handsome plastic surgeon who works wonders and falls for her in the bargain. She then becomes the toast of the modeling world and seeks her revenge.

It's really too good. I own it.

I only came across this classic about a month ago on some obscure satellite channel in the early hours of the morning. Within two minutes I was hooked.

Return to Eden has it all - attempted murder, suspense, a gold-digging husband, the backstabbing best friend, a miraculous makeover and some of the best 80s fashions ever seen on film. Follow the amazing adventures of Stephanie Harper from the beginning as she goes from frumpy, middle aged heiress to Tara Welles - toast of the Sydney fashion scene but carrying a secret and plans to get revenge on those who wronged her! This mini series was so successful worldwide that it spawned a weekly serial a few years later.

For fans of glossy 80s soaps Return to Eden is essential viewing from start to finish. The costumes are amazing,the scenery beautiful, the acting is lets say, variable, and the script veers from the sublime to the ridiculous but you will be on the edge of your seat waiting for the next instalment!

I have very fond memories of watching this film every year during my childhood. This film has EVERYTHING! A frumpy, 40-something millionairess gets eaten by a crocodile, survives, pays for a very extensive plastic surgery & rehabilitation program with the money she gets from cashing in some opals at a pawn shop, and then become an international model. Choice scenes of edge-of-your-seat intrigue include her lunch date with Wendy Hughes, the woman who helped feed her to a crocodile. Fifteen pounds thinner with a Pat Benatar haircut, she is completely unrecognizable to her former best friend. Although Ms. Hughes does remark, "Hmm, Stephanie was a beer drinker...." Oh no! Two beer-drinking women in Australia! Do you think she knows?? Intrigue ensues.

A riveting performance from the superb actor, Rebecca Gilling.

This mini-series is a Mile Stone for Australian Television. A heart breaking story about a young woman disfigured in a fight with a crocodile, who falls in love with the plastic surgeon from whom she seeks help.

This is Australian Television at its absolute best.

Oooo, GOEBBS.

A must for all Australians.

Stephanie Harper is newly married to Greg Mardsen, a washed up tennis pro. Little does she know that her new hubby and her best friend Jilly are having an affair. She also doesn't know that her hubby is after her money, and he tries to get rid of her by means of throwing her to the crocodiles at her estate called Eden. The keyword is "tries" because she survives (Unknown to everyone)and makes her way to a clinic. After a surgeon fixes her face, she returns...as Tara Welles, the newest fashion model on the scene. She also returns to settle the score with her hubby and best friend, who has become a lush. This is a great 80's mini, and one of my all-time favorites. I wish that it would hit DVD so I could add it to my collection.

I watched this movie when I was in my 20s and would love to own it if I can. I just remembered it today and glad to have found it here on imdb. Thank you!

Return to Eden, the 1983 miniseries that proves that even the most outrageous soap operas can still find new and innovative ways to insult your intelligence.

We start off with Stephanie Harper, a woman in her forties who's been divorced twice before, ready to give love another whirl. Because the fast track to maturity is rushing into marriage with a fortune hunter after just six weeks of knowing him. (Well, Stephanie, maybe there's a reason you've been divorced twice before...) It gets even better when Stephanie takes her so-called "best friend" Jilly on her honeymoon with her new husband, Greg. And she conveniently creates opportunities for Greg and Jilly to sneak off together, only to end up as crocodile bait. Really, if you're going to get yourself eaten by a crocodile due to sheer stupidity, it's almost Darwinian selection in action.

Stephanie miraculously survives the crocodile attack, undergoes a complete plastic surgery overhaul, and emerges as a glamorous supermodel named Tara Welles. Because revenge is best served with a makeover montage. And speaking of revenge, you'd think Return to Eden would serve up some deliciously gruesome comeuppance as in I Spit on Your Grave, right? Wrong! Stephanie's idea of revenge is seducing Greg and making him fall head over heels in love with her, just so she can break his heart later. Bravo for the ultimate revenge! I mean, really, what a genius mastermind! It turns out Stephanie's surgical enhancements not only fixed her scars but also turned her into a seductive femme fatale. It's like she got a Ph. D. in seduction overnight?!

Return to Eden is like a masterclass in how not to create a compelling storyline, where the plot, or lack thereof, is a convoluted, hormone-driven mess. It's as if the writers decided to throw every soap opera trope into a blender and hoped for the best. And then there's the dialogue. It's cringe-worthy, to say the least. The characters spout melodramatic lines that would make even the cheesiest daytime soap opera blush. The production values are also questionable at best. The special effects are laughably bad, and the sets look like they were recycled from a high school drama production. It's like they had a budget of two dollars and a dream, and it definitely shows.

Does anyone know how I can get a copy of this mini-series? Or how I can watch it on-line? It was so good and I've never forgotten it, 30 plus years later.

There are only a couple of TV shows that I still remember years after I originally watched them, and this is one of them. I watched it when it first aired. I just watched it again, hoping that the rewatch wouldn't tarnish a fond memory. It didn't. I loved it all over again.

The 80s fashions and hairstyles are fantastic. The story line is reasonable and has held up well. The acting is only a little dated, it's held up better than some of its contemporaries. I did find the smoking on screen a little surprising, having not seen that is years.

If you enjoy "retro" shows this is a fabulous walk down memory lane, or a peek back into the "decade that fashion forgot".

Return to Eden is a film of rubber and wood. Rubber faces and crocodiles and wooden acting. It is hilarious. The story is as follows: Rich lonley heiress Stephanie Harper (Rebecca Gilling)falls in love with a gold digging tennis star Greg Marsden (James Reyne). They marry, and not long after this he attempts to kill her by pushing her into crocodile infested waters where she is mauled. She is rescued by a kindly hermit (isn't this always the case) who nurses her back to health and gives her his life savings, consisting of a bag of opals which she sells for $2000. Stephanie then goes to a plasic surgeon who falls in love with herand has her appearance changed, no mean feat for that sort of money. After this she changes her name to Tara wells, becomes a 'Supermodel',and seeks her revenge. The funniest thing about this is that nobody recognises her. As stephanie, she wears a grey Putty nose and jowls, which makes her look as though she has done 2 rounds with mike tyson. As Tara she is the most graceless, unattractive 'Supermodel' i have ever set eyes upon. (the 80s' fashions are hilarious). James Reyne, as Marsden, said in an interview on a DVD i purchased that he wanted to make his character look and act as though he has a rod up his arse. He was succesfull. Although he looked like a man with terminal piles, with a rod up his arse. I was expecting the revelation the he was an android, alas this never came. The plastic surgeon, Dan Marshall, is an actor of fine quality, or would be if this were dinner theater. From the sound of his voice he acts by day and does the top 40 on the radio by night. This mini series is absolutley hilarious try to get a copy, but have a box of tissues with you!

I loved that show! I used to watch it every wednesday with my parents when i was twelve. Too bad it is not available on video as far as i know. Although i think they overdid when they made Stephanie Harper die twice and had her disguised as Tara Welles and then as Princess Talita.

Does anyone know where I can purchase a DVD of return to eden 1983 mini series. Not the return to eden the story continues. I want the very beginning....Thnaks Caz

This was great series and very intriguing indeed.

We are now trying to secure a copy of the very first mini series 1983

Someone somewhere must have a copy surely.

The 6 discs of 22 part where the story continues, has already been purchased. Its the very beginning one we want mini series 1983 where the whole thing first starts.

caz

Norman Rosemont specialises in extremely classy television productions; Aaron Spelling... doesn't. But "Return To Eden," a daft but successful bid to show Australian TV could produce glossy trash just as well as its US counterpart, makes everything he's ever done seem like a gem in comparison (with the exception of "Charmed," which is quite good in its own right).

The three-part miniseries ended with the now transformed Tara triumphant alongside the plastic surgeon who became her lover, and her villainous ex dead and gone; the subsequent and sub-standard series saw most of the cast return, with Peta Toppano replacing Wendy Hughes as the scheming Jilly. Cue riches, boardroom backstabbing, fantastic scenery, beautiful people (well, sort of...), and jaw-droppingly bad writing and acting. And crocodiles in the pool(!).

The miniseries, by the way, was produced by Hanna Barbera Australia. That explains a lot.