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The new series would indeed be set around characters living and working by Queensland 's Gold Coast and would be filmed largely on location, offering superb views of crashing waves, golden beaches and scantily clad Babes and Hunky guys. ''Paradise Beach'' was intended not only as a rival to Australian soaps '' Neighbours '' and '' Home And Away '' but also to be the first breakthrough Australian soap to make it in America . Veteran Australian Producer Jock Blair was the driving force behind ''Paradise Beach'', with Nick McMahon as Executive Producer, and the first episodes of the soap were clearly aimed at the American audience. Australian actress Tiffany Lamb faked a very suspicious sounding American accent in her role as Lisa Whitman, and her opening storyline revolved around her childhood sweetheart Cooper Hart (played by '') as Tom's younger brother Nick. The rest of the original cast consisted of unknown actors all in their first acting roles. These included Ingo Rademacher , now famous for his separate roles in American series '' Titans '' and '' General Hospital ''. Here, he played Sean Hayden, and became particularly well known on set for his over-bearing confidence, earning him the nickname "Ego Runamucker"! Slightly more grounded perhaps was his on-screen sister, Tori, played by Megan Connolly . Sadly, the actress died on 6 September 2001 of a drug overdose, following short stints in '' Breakers '' and '' Home And Away ''. Finally, Raelee Hill was cast as scheming Loretta Taylor, Jaason Simmons was cast as bronzed lifeguard Harry Tait and Kimberley Joseph played Cassie Barsby, sister of Tom and Nick. The series was largely savaged by the critics. With negative comparisons to the American shows '' Baywatch '' and '' Beverly Hills, 90210 '', the soap failed to make an impression in America. It was scheduled against '' The Oprah Winfrey Show '' at 3.30pm and, not surprisingly, failed to make any impact at all. It was a similar disastrous launch in Australia, where it aired at 5.30pm, and even in the UK where Australian soaps of any quality are notoriously very popular, it flopped in an early evening 6.30pm timeslot. With ''Paradise Beach'' now off air in America, all traces of Americanism were removed from the soap and the Producers concentrated on making the series work in its homeland and Europe. Matt Lattanzi departed, but not before Olivia Newton John made a brief cameo, beaming down from the entrance of an Aeroplane. Further additions to the cast included more experienced actors from other soaps including Melissa Bell from '' Neighbours '' as Emily Harris, and former-'' E Street '' regular Melissa Tkautz arrived as Vanessa Campbell. However, after two seasons, Nine Network eventually cancelled ''Paradise Beach'' after just 260 episodes. After the series ended, Jaason Simmons joined the cast of ''Baywatch'' the following year. Kimberley Joseph is currently featuring in a recurring role in the cult-TV hit '' Lost '' as Air Hostess Cindy Chandler . In the UK, the soap was launched in a blaze of publicity on Sky Television in September 1993 in the 6.30pm time slot. Sky moved the more popular, but recently axed E Street to a weekend slot, but when ''Paradise Beach'' flopped in Britain as well as Australia, Sky moved ''E Street'' back to weekdays and ''Paradise Beach'' was screened in double episodes on Saturdays and Sundays. Paradise Beach was screened in Venezuela by RCTV (Radio Caracas Television) on their matinal block of soup operas with a low rating. CAST
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