Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, describes The Unloved as 'a kind of follow-up to Divorce Court'; like the latter program, it was based on an American format. In The Unloved, however, the focus was on children who (for various reasons) had been brought before a social worker. According to Moran, 'The emphasis was on verbal exposition and voice-over, with movement and scene changes kept to a minimum. Robert Peach served as on-screen anchor for the series, which maintained a strong documentary/realist tone'.
The idea that this was based on an American series is not upheld in contemporary newspaper, which instead describe it as a fictional account of cases heard by A.E. Debenham, a Sydney magistrate who had retired in 1963. According to contemporary reports, 'Marien Dreyer (Mrs. Rodney Cooper in private life) originally sold the idea of "The Unloved" to NUT, who are producing it for TCN9.' (Nan Musgrove, 'Like a Bird in a Golden Cage', Australian Women's Weekly, 24 January 1968, p.17). Dreyer had been involved in preparing Debenham's memoirs for publication, 'was struck with the potential of the material in Mr. Debenham's files and successfully sold the idea to NLT and TCN9' (Nan Musgrove, 'TCN9 Seeks Young Talent', Australian Women's Weekly, 10 January 1968, p.17).
