The series served as the springboard for such performers as Mia Farrow, Ryan O'Neal, Barbara Parkins, Christopher Connelly, David Canary, Mariette Hartley, and Lana Wood.

The time setting was changed from the early 1940s (of the novel and film) to the present day, and the town's location, which had previously been unidentified, was established as being in the commonwealth of Massachusetts in the fourth episode.

[6] When Dorothy Malone was rushed into emergency surgery, the producers were faced with the dilemma of what to do with her character, Constance MacKenzie, who at that point was too deeply embroiled in the plot line to disappear without reason.

Matthew's third cousin Allison MacKenzie (Mia Farrow), a close friend of classmate Norman Harrington (Christopher Connelly), has begun to fall in love with his older brother, Rodney (Ryan O'Neal); she is smitten as soon as they share their first kiss.

At the end of the episode, Allison's mother, Constance (Dorothy Malone), makes it clear she disapproves of her daughter's newfound relationship with Rodney.

Dr. Rossi also tangles with Dr. Morton (Kent Smith) over emergency surgery for Catherine Peyton Harrington (Mary Anderson), Rodney and Norman's spoiled, sickly, manipulative mother, who suffers a potentially fatal perforated ulcer.

Pressured by Rossi's relentless effort to clear himself, Bradford confesses he faked Catherine's autopsy report to Morton, who informs Leslie of the truth.

Betty's disturbed father, George Anderson (Henry Beckman), whose frustrations and drinking have driven him to spousal abuse and finally a nervous breakdown, is hospitalized in a sanitarium.

Elliot Carson (Tim O'Connor), Allison's birth father, who had been imprisoned for 18 years after being convicted of murdering his wife, Elizabeth, though the actual culprit was Catherine Harrington.

After Leslie tells the Peyton family attorney (Patrick Whyte) that Catherine committed the murder, the reaction makes him realize that most people will believe that Leslie is the real murderer who is dragging his dead wife's name through the mud, a suspicion that rears its head throughout the run of the show, especially when Catherine's father, the show title town's patriarch, becomes a dominant regular character long after initial references to him as a dying invalid.

Meanwhile, Norman falls in love with working-class girl Rita Jacks (Patricia Morrow), whose mother, Ada (Evelyn Scott), owns the local tavern.

The first half of the second season focused on the Rodney Harrington murder trial and the concurrent struggle of Allison Mackenzie after she was injured in a hit-and-run accident and left in a coma.

Leslie can't convince Rodney to file for a change-of-venue, fearing his own past will prejudice a local jury.

Steven's West Coast detective unearths embarrassing information on Stella, including her theft of lab samples and pinning the rap on a former boyfriend, Richard Jensen (Don Gordon).

Betty's mother Julie reveals she rejected Leslie's marriage proposal and plans to reconcile with her recovering husband, George, away from Peyton Place.

Elliot discovers the odd belt buckle once belonging to Chandler that Rachel has carried was made in a Texas prison, and eventually that Chandler—real name Jack Forrest—served time for deadly assault.

Genuinely shocked over learning the conditions in Martin's changed will, Rodney urges suspicious Steven not to believe the detective report's lies.

Meanwhile, shocking facts about her past come to light, particularly her having driven her husband—a highly respected medical researcher under whom Michael once studied—to suicide, when he found himself too ground down to resist the pressure of her demands after he sacrificed his career for her.

Rita contacts Reverend Tom Winter (Robert Hogan), unhappily married to alcoholic wife Susan (Diana Hyland), who also serves as emotional support for rebellious teenager Carolyn Russell (Elizabeth Walker).

Uninvited Steven attends Rod and Betty's wedding ceremony anyway and hands them an unexpected gift, which he got from his grandfather by way of a surprise and uncomfortable one-time meeting with Hannah—then vows to Susan that he'll stop at nothing to break them up.

Ed Nelson remains the show's lead actor following Dorothy Malone's departure near the end of Season Four; Elizabeth Walker (Carolyn) and Barbara Rush (Marsha) are added to the opening credits.

The final season revolves largely around Michael Rossi and Marsha Russell, but also around Rodney Harrington's painful try at recovering from paralysis, Jill and Joe, and African-American neurosurgeon Harry Miles (Percy Rodriguez) who is hit with an unexpected family crisis involving his young son.

Harry and his wife Alma (Ruby Dee) fear their son, Lew (Glynn Turman) doesn't want to come home, but they soon prepare for his arrival.

Lew's constant racial references unsettle Harry, who reminds his son of his own greater struggle in a far less accepting time while going through medical school.

Phone calls between Lew and a woman in New York alarm his parents and cause his girlfriend Joanne Walker—the daughter of a Peyton Place police sergeant—to fear he cheated on her there.

Norman and Rita have settled their argument and now try playing matchmaker for widow Maggie Riggs (Florida Friebus), with Eli Carson as the intended match.

Billed as a reunion movie it focused on the mysterious deaths of Rodney Harrington and Allison MacKenzie, as well as a diabolical plot of a powerful person to ruin the community.

It reunited original cast members Dorothy Malone, Ed Nelson, Tim O'Connor, Joyce Jillson, and Christopher Connelly, while the rest of the returning characters were recast.

The second, Peyton Place: The Next Generation which aired in the spring of 1985 on NBC, was conceived as a one-shot sequel, that would hopefully revive the popular series and was therefore also promoted as a television pilot.

Although a new series of the show never came to fruition, the film did reunite original cast members Dorothy Malone, Ed Nelson, Tim O'Connor, James Douglas, Christopher Connelly, Ruth Warrick and Barbara Parkins, who had declined to appear in Murder in Peyton Place.