Sons and Daughters is remembered for its regular use of dramatic end-of-season cliffhangers and its most famous character; Patricia "Pat the Rat" Hamilton, initially played by Rowena Wallace, who became the second soap opera actor, rather than personality after Pat McDonald to win the Gold Logie award for her performance in the role - (McDonald had previously won the Gold Logie for her role in 70's soap opera Number 96 as Dorrie Evans, coincidentally she also starred in Sons and Daughters, featuring for its entire run.

From February 1983, British television broadcaster ITV began airing un-networked episodes of the series to audiences across the United Kingdom, meaning that some parts of the country were months or even years behind others in the storyline.

Watson was inspired by the glossy US prime-time soap opera, Dallas, and its more down-to-earth spin-off, Knots Landing, which were averaging huge ratings in the US in their respective time slots on network CBS.

Curious to see how an Australian soap opera, similar in style to those shows, would fare with early evening or prime-time audiences, he began coming up with new material with the possibility of them becoming ongoing serials.

With an instant boost to viewing figures, and Giblin's portrayal of Alison/Patricia a huge success, the serial was deemed to be saved from cancellation and continued through 1985 and into 1986, but still on very shaky ground.

In late 1986, and after several previous offers, Rowena Wallace finally relented and agreed to return to the series, but this time, she'd play Patricia/Alison's long-lost twin sister, Pamela Hudson.

The two fall in love, not realising that they are actually twins, separated at birth 20 years earlier following an affair between their parents, David Palmer (Tom Richards) and Patricia (Rowena Wallace).

With a new identity and now going by the name of Scott Edwards, John attempts to build a new life, with the help of Fiona and her friend Jill Taylor (Kim Lewis), another former prostitute.

Following the shock revelation of John and Angela's true heritage and the subsequent reunion of the two families, a series of dramatic events unfolds, intertwining the lives of both the Palmers and the Hamiltons.

The Palmers' youngest son Kevin (Stephen Comey) and his girlfriend Lynn Hardy (Antonia Murphy) find their lives turned upside down when she becomes pregnant, despite their families' best efforts to keep them apart.

Amidst a web of intrigue concerning the numerous instabilities within both families, and shady big-business deals concerning Gordon's company, his ownership of country estate Woombai, and the increasing involvement of his manipulative son Wayne (Ian Rawlings), the drama builds throughout the season.

John tracks down his real father Martin Healy (Paul Sonkkila)—a prominent officer in the Air Force—and also manages to find Patricia's estranged sister, Margaret Dunne (Ilona Rodgers).

Other plot developments included Jill's involvement with illegal Irish immigrant Brian O'Donnell (Lee James), whom she agrees to marry so he can obtain a visa to stay in the country.

Unlucky Jill is shockingly raped by drifter Terry Hansen (Andrew Clarke), who is revealed to be Fiona's long-lost son, whom she conceived with on-off past love, Scott Thompson (David Nettheim).

This leads to the introduction of a third family for the show—the wealthy and powerful Morrells, including Stephen's mother Dee (Mary Ward), a ruthless elderly businesswoman, and his daughter, scheming and beautiful, Amanda (Alyce Platt).

Upon Dee's insistence that a male heir continue her business, Stephen tracks down the young man he believes to be his long-lost son, Andy Green (Danny Roberts).

Other new characters introduced during the season include Irene Fisher (Judy Nunn), a GP who opens a new boarding house with Fiona; Karen Fox (Lyndel Rowe), a deceitful businesswoman who wreaks havoc whilst having a romantic affair with Wayne; Ross Newman (Robin Stewart), a gambling-addicted surgeon, under the influence of Roger Carlyle; and Bob 'Mitch' Mitchell (Philip Quast), an ex-convict who becomes romantically involved with Amanda whilst coming to blows with Karen and Wayne.

When Rowena Wallace chose to leave, the producers initially attempted to replace Patricia with several strong female antagonists in the form of Karen Fox (Lyndel Rowe), Leigh and Caroline Morrell but none of these proved as successful.

Further cast changes include the departure of the entire O'Brien family - not long after the tragic death of Jeff, in a house fire he caused whilst drunk on vodka - as well as an original character, Jill O'Donnell, who all left during the aftermath of Patricia's disappearance in episode 584.

Fiona becomes involved in a bitter battle to have deceased fiancé Barney Adams' secret wartime diaries published, running into opposition from Colonel Bainbridge and his son Chris.

One of the bigger storylines for the season sees a planned redevelopment threaten to destroy Woombai under the direction of the scheming Bill Ashley (Peter Dahlsen) although the development is a scam.

A new production regime swept away popular regular characters, including the long-running Barbara Hamilton, and also Irene Fisher; both were hastily written out of the series in very quick succession.

In Cornelia Frances's 2003 autobiography, she states that it was not her decision to leave the series, but that of a producer, Posie Jacobs, who suddenly axed hers, and Judy Nunn's character, due to there being an overabundance of "aunty" types in the cast.

There was also a trio of new, good-looking younger characters; Glenn Young (Mark Conroy), Debbie Halliday and Ginny Doyle and in a nod to the early years, the return of a re-cast Susan Todd Palmer, played now by Oriana Panozzo.

New additions include feuding brothers, Nick (John Hannon) and Michael Benson (Phillip Spencer-Harris); a new set of twins, Greg (Tom Jennings) and Sarah Hudson (Melissa Docker); and, in an attempt to boost flagging ratings, producers finally lured back Rowena Wallace, who'd originally played Patricia, to play her own twin sister Pamela Hudson — a storyline which ultimately failed to save the series.

The series eventually began to suffer from declining ratings, and was ultimately cancelled April 1987 though the final episodes did not screen till after Christmas on 27 December 1987 at 6.30pm Sunday night on Channel Seven Sydney.

Despite ATN being considered the “home station” of Sons and Daughters, as it was filmed at their studios in Epping, New South Wales, episodes of the serial were often broadcast in other markets before they were shown in Sydney, particularly during the later seasons.

Sons and Daughters has been broadcast on four British TV channels: The first airing was on the ITV network from 6 February 1983 when Central Independent Television started the serial.

Five months later in July, Yorkshire Television began, and over the following two years, all mainland ITV regions across the UK picked up the series and were free to show it as and when they wished; it was therefore seen as regional daytime filler and, despite strong ratings for daytime, there were rarely, if ever, articles about it in the British media, or any interviews with its stars (except for one notable feature on TV-am when Anne Diamond interviewed Ian Rawlings, Pat McDonald and Brian Blain in January 1988, after the series had been cancelled in Australia).

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