Return to Peyton Place is an American daytime serial that aired on NBC from April 3, 1972 to January 4, 1974.

She was not included in the original primetime series as her storyline (where she was raped by her stepfather) was considered too risqué for television at the time.

In the beginning, Michael Rossi was revealed not to be guilty for the murder he was on trial for at the end of Peyton Place.

Benny eventually confessed to the murder of his brother, explaining he found out about Jason's scheme shortly after Allison's arrival at the cabin.

Shortly after this incident, Elliot returned from Paris to Peyton Place and expressed his interest in a reconciliation.

In mid-1973, Rita took over her mother Ada's bar near the wharf and hired student waitress Monica Bell, with whom she soon started competing.

He admitted to Monica he accidentally caused a car accident a year earlier, which injured and later killed his girlfriend Ellen, who was D.

A trial followed, during which Tom was charged with murder, the motive being not wanting to become a father, considering Ellen was pregnant at the time.

Monica tried to help him land a job at the local hospital, but Dr. Rossi and Allison were reluctant to hire him, because of the news reports on his past.

Rodney had accepted his inheritance only to have money to bail out Allison, who was at this time still in jail for Benny Tate's murder.

However, before all of this could happen, Martin Peyton announced he was finally returning to town to prohibit the marriages from taking place.

[8] Its launch was highly publicised,[9] with thousands of actors testing for the role of Allison MacKenzie, previously played by Mia Farrow.

Following a long search, Kathy Glass was cast, with scriptwriter James Lipton calling her "one of the most gifted actors I've ever worked with.

"[10] Glass eventually asked to be released from her contract and was replaced by Pamela Susan Shoop, who made her first appearance on March 13, 1973.

Patricia Morrow, who also appeared in the primetime version, initially declined the role, saying she could not combine working five days a week on the show with law school.

However, she accepted a contract of two working days a week which she motivated her return: "I really can't turn down money.

On November 18, 1972, Susan Brown replaced Ackerman as Constance MacKenzie, and Margaret Mason first appeared as Selena Cross.

A prime-time special recapping the climax of the apparent murder of Benny Tate aired on Sunday, January 21, 1973 after Columbo.

While the series performed much better than its predecessor against ABC's One Life to Live or CBS's The Edge of Night, it still landed third in the time slot ratings-wise.

By July 1973, CBS debuted Match Game 73 in the 3:30 pm slot, due to The Edge of Night moving to 2:30 pm one hour earlier because the shows owner P&G wanted a daily marathon of its soaps this also effected the timeslot its other soap Guiding Light moving to 2pm.

That show was cancelled 15 months later after a move to 1:30 pm accommodating Another World the first soap to expand to an hour in length.

"[16] Years after the show's cancellation and the 1977 television movie Murder in Peyton Place, Fox commissioned a one-hour pilot for syndication titled Peyton Place '79, written by Don Wallace and produced by David Lawrence under his Castle Combe Productions banner.