FLUFF: The real reason 'Packed To The Rafters' ended.

by Mamamia Fluff November 10, 2014

It wasn’t like Grey’s Anatomy, where everyone on the show died at some point (pretty much).

It wasn’t like The Bold And The Beautiful , where someone was always married to their long-lost sibling as a plot twist.

Packed To The Rafters went out on top. They had lost a few cast members (one main character death, and a whole lot of nest-flying) but the show was still averaging 1.381 million viewers in it’s final season. At the time of it’s ending in 2013, we assumed it was because they wanted to wrap things up while ratings were still good.

Part of the Rafters family: Erik Thomson, Rebecca Gibney, Hugh Sheridan,Jessica Marais, James Stewart, Michael Caton, and Angus McLaren.

Turns out, Channel Seven didn’t pull the plug. Rebecca Gibney and Erik Thomson did.

Mr and Mrs Rafter wanted to get stuck into some new projects (after they took baby Ruby on a trip around Australia of course, as per finale).

Rebecca is going on to do a new detective show, Winter, and Erik’s starring in 800 Words, in which he plays a widowed father who moves overseas with his teenagers and becomes a writer. Channel Seven has already recognised that 800 Words will be quite similar to Erik’s last hit show.

“If you think this show has a bit of the same feel and vibe as Packed to the Rafters, you’re dead right. And we make no apologise for that,” said Angus Ross, Seven’s programmer. DAMN STRAIGHT, ANGUS.

Dave and Julie Rafter

Erik Thomson and Rebecca Gibney.

Head of production at Channel Seven, Brad Lyons, has revealed that he would’ve liked to keep Rafters going FOREVER (well, probably until ratings dropped).

“We would never have wanted not to do Rafters continually but as actors they (Gibney and Thomson) want to grow,” he said. “It (finishing Rafters) was really more a creative thing for both those guys. They wanted to do separate projects.”

We saw 122 episodes of Packed To The Rafters. We’re still crying about Mel. But looking forward to the new projects of Mr and Mrs Rafter (WE CAN’T HELP IT) in 2015.

One of our favourite families:

Ruby as a toddler. Photo via Facebook.

Emma and Ben. Photo via Facebook.

Dave and Julie. Photo via Facebook.

The cast. Photo via Facebook.

The original Rafters family. Photo via Facebook.

Some of the cast. Photo via Facebook.

Dave and Julie. Photo via Facebook.

Mel and Ben on their wedding day. Photo via Facebook.

Hugh Sheridan who plays Ben. Photo via Instagram.

Carbo and Retta on their wedding day. Photo via Facebook.

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