I remember the original series very well indeed, it made quite an impact - but I don't remember Gavin being violent to Prue. He was quite a pleasant, charming American chap and he loved Prue who was unbelievably sexy. Frank Finlay was quite sexy as her father and the girl with whom he had an affair (his secretary), was beautiful.
I do remember Prue saying, "Do you know daddy is screwing his secretary?" at the dinner table. She worked up to it by comparing the new secretary with the old one (Monica, I think), saying things like, "She's not like Monica, is she daddy?", with dad saying, "No-one could be like Monica, bless her". I honestly don't remember Gavin punching Prue in the woods after that.
The current Gavin appears to have beaten Prue for no reason at all. Horrible man. Wonder if mum (Cassie) will have an affair with him, as in the original?