City Life

Released: 1996-07-15

Runtime: 60 minutes

Episode Overview

On his way to his own wedding, promising young physician Damon South is killed in a tragic auto mobile accident. Shortly after his death, Damon's closest friends are taken to a theatre to view Damon's video testament. To their surprise, they discover that he has left his big apartment complex, 'The Ancestral Pile', to them. But Rebekah, the woman who was set to marry Damon, has never gotten along too well with his friends. She has a whole different idea about Damon's legacy.

Series Overview

City Life was a New Zealand soap opera that screened on TVNZ from 1996-1998. It was portrayed the lives and loves of ten singles who lived in an upmarket apartment building in Auckland, New Zealand. The show was touted as New Zealand's answer to Melrose Place. The show starred Claudia Black, Lisa Chappell, Laurie Foell and Oliver Driver and featured a guest appearance by well known New Zealand actor, Kevin Smith. The show had a long development period, and the original treatment for the show had it set in Wellington with the working title 96 Oriental Parade. However, it was decided to produce the show in Auckland instead, and as such, the shows setting was changed along with the name to City Life. The first episode began with a controversial first scene, featuring a drunken Damon who owned the apartment building, in a homosexual kiss with his former lover Ryan on the night before his wedding. Damon was later killed off in the same episode after being hit by a car on the way to his wedding, and he left his apartment building to all of his friends. However, Damon's fianceè vowed to fight for her share of Damon's estate, leading to a storyline that would span the show's first five episodes.