1990: October 27-November 2

‘I cried and cried…’
The Flying Doctors’ Tammy McIntosh (pictured) fights back tears as she talks to TV Week about the episode of the Nine Network drama to go to air this week.  In this episode, Sister Annie Rogers (McIntosh) befriends abandoned 14-year-old Alex (Brendan Peel).  She helps him find his grandmother, who dies days later, leaving him alone.  Rogers fights to take responsibility for the teenager, but the Coopers Crossing doctors arrange for him to join a local family instead, leaving her shattered.  McIntosh spent her childhood in a series of foster homes, making it easy to relate to the boy’s situation.  “I didn’t consciously think about the story being too close to home, but I can see that now,” she told TV Week.  “The scene where we had to say goodbye, I cried and cried.  I just lost it.  It was real for me.”

E Street’s bad boy moves to Ramsay Street!
Richard Huggett, the E Street star whose character Sonny Bennett made a sudden exit from the series following the car bomb explosion, has signed up to Network Ten’s other soap, Neighbours.  Huggett (pictured) enters the long-running series as a mystery man who turns up claiming to be the long-lost son of Jim Robinson (Alan Dale). “I’ve been a bad boy for a long time,” Huggett told TV Week.  “So it will be an advantage to do something different.  I’m looking forward to playing a character who won’t be quite so dark as Sonny.”

BBC snaps up Aussie show
A new Australian children’s series which premieres on Nine this week has been bought by BBC for a record price.  The Girl From Tomorrow, a sci-fi series produced by Film Australia, stars Andrew Clarke, Katharine Cullen and Melissa Marshall, with guest appearances by Grant Dodwell, Miles Buchanan and John Howard.  Bruce Moir, managing director of Film Australia, declined to disclose the sum paid by BBC for the series, but confirms that it is a record.  “It was a major decision for Film Australia to branch into children’s drama and we are thrilled at having negotiated this highly-successful sale,” he told TV Week.  Moir says a sequel for the series is already in planning and that negotiations are taking place to sell the first series to countries other than the United Kingdom.

Briefly…
Singer-actress Kaarin Fairfax has taken on a surprise career move with the announcement that she has agreed to present a new science program, Catalyst, for ABC.  The six-part series is being shown in a daytime timeslot to capture the schools audience, and also features Fast Forward’s Mandy Salomon and Let The Blood Run Free’s Peter Rowsthorn.

ABC mini-series Come In Spinner has won a number of awards at the recent Australian Film Industry Awards presentation.  Actress Rebecca Gibney (pictured) won the award for best actress in a mini-series, while the series also won for Best Direction and Best Mini-series.  Frankie J Holden won the Best Actor award for his role in the ABC mini-series Police Crop.

Artists’ Services, the company which produces Fast Forward and Tonight Live With Steve Vizard, has signed a five-year development deal with the Seven Network.  The company, headed by Steve Vizard and Andrew Knight, is already planning a 13-part drama series and other projects include a sitcom.

John Laws says…
”Hosting an awards ceremony must be among the most difficult tasks any performer can be handed.  The fact is, it takes a special kind of showbiz skill to tread the line between keeping viewers interested and the TV professionals satisfied.  It’s to his credit, then, that Andrew Denton so ably managed the hosting of a major slice of the Australian Film Institute awards ceremony which screened on ABC.  Denton resisted any desire to score cheap points with “industry” jokes and, as a result, the awards night was able to flow along freely.”

Program Highlights (October 27-November 2):
Saturday:  GTV9 crosses to the Gabba, Brisbane, for the final of the FAI Insurance Cup cricket.  ABC’s Saturday afternoon sport includes English soccer and American NFL and NBA.  SBS presents a the first two hours of the repeat presentation of drama series Always Afternoon.

Sunday:  Alison Drower and Rob Duckworth host the two-hour National Rock Eisteddfod (GTV9), with judges Glenn A Baker and Angry Anderson.  ATV10 presents Remember When, featuring a look back at the pre-television years when Australians saw their news from movie newsreels.  Sunday night movies are Good Morning Vietnam (HSV7) and Mississippi Burning (ATV10).  GTV9 presents the premiere of mini-series Ring Of Scorpio, starring Catherine Oxenberg, Linda Cropper and Caroline Goodall (pictured).

Monday: In the comedy series Col’n Carpenter (ATV10), Colin (Kim Gyngell) wins a Queensland holiday for two.  Housemates Julie (Vikki Blanche) and Michael (Stig Wemyss) want to go with him.  GTV9 presents the conclusion to Ring Of Scorpio.

Tuesday:  In Beyond 2000 (HSV7), reporter Simon Reeve takes a ride in a flying boat, while Andrew Carroll meets a man who has predicted a major earthquake.

Wednesday:  In E Street (ATV10), the aftermath of the car bomb explosion that claimed the lives of Chris (Paul Kelman), Megan (Lisbeth Kennelly) and Abby (Chelsea Brown), has Dr Elly Fielding (Penny Cook) fighting for her life.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 27 October 1990. Southdown Press.

1979: October 6-12

Cover: Bill Bixby (The Incredible Hulk)

ABC plans a summer of golf
ABC plans to screen nine golf tournaments over spring-summer circuit, including the Dunhill Australian Open, which will be the largest single golf coverage ever undertaken by the broadcaster.  For the Open, 26 hours of coverage will involve 150 personnel, 25 cameras, $8 million worth of equipment, 11 kilometres of camera cable and 40 microphones.  As well as the Dunhill competition, ABC will cover the Garden State PGA Tournament, Westlakes Classic, NSW Open, Australia PGA Championship, Australian Open, Australia-Japan Trophy, Victoria Open and the Australian Masters. 

Why Gwen Plumb wants the last laugh
Gwen Plumb says she was born with a sense of adventure, and that could explain why she never married.  “I never wanted to pitch my tent in the one place for 50 years.  I always wanted to act and travel, I never wanted to be harnessed.  I never met a man who said I could I remain an individual after we were married.”  Beginning her career as a copywriter at a Sydney radio station, Plumb later (pictured) found herself being cast in local radio dramas and became nationally known in ABC radio serials Blue Hills and The Lawsons.  After a lengthy stay overseas, Plumb returned to Australia to host Women’s World for ABC in the 1960s and then switched to new Sydney channel TEN10 for a daily chat show, Gwen.  She was then cast as the gossiping Ada Simmonds in The Young Doctors when that started late in 1976.  Travelling, particularly overseas, is one of her greatest enjoyments.  “I last went to Europe about four years ago and since then I’ve been to New Zealand and the New Hebrides.  I’d love to go to New York this Christmas because I want to see a lot of theatre and TV. I know a lot of people there who could be into all sorts of interesting things.”

New series for Toothbrush gang
New episodes of The Toothbrush Family, the cartoon series created by Australian Marcia Hatfield and currently viewed by millions across Australia, the United States (via the national Captain Kangaroo program on CBS), Canada and New Zealand, are to be produced in Australia.  For the last two years the cartoon has been produced in Canada but the next batch of five-minute episodes are to be produced by the Grundy Organisation in Sydney.  The new episodes are to coincide with a national promotional campaign to promote dental hygiene.  The Toothbrush Family currently airs in Australia on the Nine Network’s Super Flying Fun Show in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and commences next month in an afternoon timeslot in South Australia.

Briefly…
John Bluthal joins the cast of the upcoming ABC series And Here Comes Bucknuckle, reprising the role originally performed by Frank Wilson in the show’s predecessor And The Big Men Fly.  Production starts this month and the series is expected to air next year. 

Mr Squiggle has just celebrated his 20th anniversary on television, and now his creator Norman Hetherington is planning a one-hour fantasy drama featuring Mr Squiggle and his regular offsiders Miss Jane (Jane Fennell), Bill Steamshovel, Gus the Snail, Kelly the Worm and Blackboard.

Yugoslav actress Vera Plevnik, from the telemovie The John Sullivan Story, gets a chance to do something different playing an Ocker farm girl in an upcoming episode of Young Ramsay.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”Congratulations to Sydney’s TEN10 for the rodeo specials they have been running.  Everything about the programs was first-class – except, maybe, the late-night viewing time.” L. Haywood, NSW.

“I’m getting a little sick and tired of all the criticism of our Aussie series (eg. Cop Shop, Skyways).  No doubt the people who complain are the same people who get engrossed in the American “soapies” during the day.  At least I get a good old laugh during our programs.  Complaints of homosexuality and illicit sex scenes are also a little unreasonable in comparison.  Skyways has “killed off” lesbianism, and evidence of sexual encounters is portrayed “before” and “after” – by the wearing of a bath robe or towel.  We very rarely go into the bedroom with them.  Perhaps the critics should note that the times these shows are on is late enough for children to be in bed.”  M. Brugel, NSW.

“Sydney TEN10’s presentation of the Felini film Amarcord was a disgrace.  This fine film, which won Best Foreign Film at the 1974 Academy Awards, was shown at 11.10pm on a Friday night.  It received no promotion at all.  Why does TEN10 insist on showing fine films other than American at late hours?”  R. Porter, NSW.

What’s On (October 6-12):
Saturday afternoon sport includes the Citizen Australian Seniors’ Championship (ABC), live from Manly, Sydney.  HSV7 has live coverage of Davis Cup tennis from White City, Sydney, and ATV0 crosses to Flemington Racecourse for five hours of racing coverage.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at the struggles of Australian Aborigines in society.

Mal Walden presents the crowning of Miss Victoria 1980, live from the St Kilda Town Hall. (HSV7, Monday)

HSV7 presents 12 hours of coverage of the Super Tennis tournament over Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday nights.  The competition, held at Festival Hall in Melbourne, offers a prize money of $530,000.

0-10 Network news reporter Ken Burslem presents a one-hour special, The High Cost Of Dying.  The program aims to remove some of the mystery and some of the rip-offs that occur in the dying business.  Common questions on the subject of dying are tackled and answered.

In Cop Shop (HSV7, Monday and Thursday), O’Reilly (Terry Norris) is beginning to feel something of an outcast and his loneliness leads to depression.  Vic Cameron (Terence Donovan) finally confides in Kate’s (Jacqui Gordon) teacher about his past and the effect it has had upon Kate.

Sunday night movies: Petersen (HSV7) (although TV Times also had this scheduled for the week September 8-14), Murder On The Orient Express (GTV9), High Plains Drifter (ATV0).  ABC presents Measure For Measure, another in the six-year BBC series of TV adaptations of the entire works of Shakespeare.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 6 October 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: August 18-24

Young Doctor in love
Dr Peter Holland (Peter Lochran, pictured) has often been seen as the heartless playboy out for a good time in The Young Doctors.  But the arrival of Maria Pazios (Sigrid Thornton) is set to change all that.  It is love at first sight for the pair but it is set to be a rocky road to romance, as Maria’s parents have arranged a marriage for her in Malaysia.  She was born in Greece but raised in Malaysia.

Jackie Collins’ plans for Don Lane
Best-selling author Jackie Collins is determined that she will direct as well as write the next movie adaptation of one of her books – and Don Lane may have a key role in it.  In Australia to promote her book and movie The World Is Full Of Married Men, Jackie and her husband Oscar Lerman spoke at length with Lane and told him he would be the right fit for a key character in their next film.  Lane, admitting he had been “bitten” by movie offers, has adopted a wait-and-see attitude.

Not just a pretty voice!
Top-rating Melbourne radio announcer Greg Evans (pictured) has made the big break into television.  The popular night-time announcer on 3XY, voted Victoria’s most popular radio DJ four times, now presents a weekly segment on The Mike Walsh Show.  The 26-year-old is out on the streets interviewing adults on various topical subjects for the weekly segment.  “With my radio shift being an evening one, it means that I can utilise my daytime hours to fir in nicely with The Mike Walsh Show,” he told TV Times. 

Agreement over jail recess row
The dispute between the cast of Prisoner and Melbourne channel ATV0 has been resolved amicably.  The cast had protested when it was rumoured that production would stop with ten weeks over summer because of the channel’s commitment to racing – in particular the Melbourne Cup Carnival in November.  This would have meant a ten-week break without pay.  Producer Ian Bradley said a six-week break was now decided: “Facilities have been found for the remaining weeks of production.  Really, the dispute has been a non-event.  We have been having continuous discussion with the cast and Actors’ Equity and have reached an amicable solution without any trouble.”  Despite the shorter production break, two of the show’s cast, recently-married Barry Quin and Peita Toppano (pictured), will be taking a two-month holiday to the UK over the Christmas period.

Born to be wild
A former New Zealand bikie with a tough public image in his home country, actor Bill Stalker (pictured) is cautious about his portrayal of gruff airport security officer Ken Peterson in Skyways as he is not keen to sustain the same reputation in Australia.  “I started an acting career in 1969 and won a role in an episode of a series called Pukemianu as a character called Sammy, a bikie.  The casting people suggested me – then described as ‘that bikie who does a bit of acting.’  It was a fair description too.  As a teenager I did ride a big motorcycle in a gang and got up to the crazy stunts bikie gangs are known for.  We drank a lot, had wild parties and enjoyed the girls that go with them.  I wasn’t really surprised when I became an actor with the reputation of being a hell-raising tough guy.”  But now 31-years-old, Stalker is no longer the rebellious teenager and is hoping that he can break out of the tough image of his earlier years.  Before coming to Australia for Skyways, he had been in Shakespeare plays, a children’s film and a Spike Milligan comedy.  In 1976 he was nominated for actor of the year for his role in New Zealand drama Close To Home. 

Briefly…
Prisoner star Val Lehman has been allowed a two-week break from the series to star in an upcoming ABC play, The Dole Bludger, with former Prisoner co-star Carol Burns.

Sydney actor Robert Hughes, who has been appearing in underwear commercials warning about getting caught with your pants down, is currently working on Graham Kennedy’s ABC radio comedy show and is to be appear in upcoming pilots to be made by RS Productions for the Seven Network.

Actress Liddy Clark, fresh from her role in ABC’s Ride On Stranger, is now being seen on the 0-10 Network’s Prisoner.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
”I would like to congratulate ABC for their long-awaited Sunday morning ethnic programs.  It is about time the large ethnic community in Sydney was given a fair go on TV.” J. Gailis, NSW.

“It is with great disappointment that we will no longer be able to view the great Australian show, Cop Shop, due to BTQ7 Brisbane removing from its normal time of 8.30pm.  If it stays at 7.30pm we will sadly not be able to see it, as The Restless Years on TVQ0 is a more more suitable show for children aged nine to 13.  We will not be bothered to turn the dial back to Seven to watch Skyways, as the previews of it seem to consist of nothing but smut.  Good for our children to see, isn’t it?” M. Gundry, QLD.

“Congratulations to ABC for yet another fine Australian series, Twenty Good Years.  The acting must be about the best on TV.  Just look at the brilliant case.  Harold Hoplins, Peter Cummins, Anne Pendlebury, Michael Carmen, all those wonderful people from the Melbourne Theatre Company… Sandy Gore, Gary Down, Jonathan Hardy, Julia Blake and that wonderful pair Leila Hayes and John Murphy!  The sets, scripts and everything else are always at that perfect ABC standard.” J. Kelly, VIC.

What’s On (August 18-24):
Joining Ernie Sigley and Belinda Leigh on HSV7’s Saturday Night Live are guests Michelle Fawdon, Normie Rowe, Julie McKenna, Shirlene Clancey, Russell Morris and Neil Williams.

ABC’s Sunday afternoon movie the the US drama Barnaby And Me, featuring Young Talent Time cast member Sally Boyden.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at the development of Australia’s motion picture and theatre industry – including footage from the world’s first feature film The Story Of The Kelly Gang.

Marc Hunter, Renee Geyer and Air Supply are guest performers in the latest Paul Hogan Show special screening on GTV9 on Tuesday night.  Later in the evening, ATV0 presents an adults-only special So You Want To Be A Centrefold – a ‘special investigation’ showing Australia’s centrefold girls at home, at work and in the studio.

The Federal Budget is handed down in Canberra on Tuesday.  ABC presents five and ten minute summaries at 8.25pm and 9.20pm before follow-up coverage in Nationwide at 9.30pm.  HSV7 presents a half-hour report at 10.30pm with Laurie Wilson in Canberra.  GTV9 has a one-hour Budget report at 10.30pm and ATV0 has five-minute reports at 9.30pm and 10.35pm.

ABC presents the first of a six-part series, Hospital.  The first episode, titled Casualty,  depicts the hectic day and night of the casualty section of St Vincent’s Hospital with cases ranging from small cuts to heroin doses, and coping with the drama faced by people entering hospital.

Sunday night movies: Maneaters Are Loose (HSV7), Harold And Maude (GTV9), Magnum Force (ATV0).  ABC presents Romeo And Juliet, the second in the series of all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays to be adapted for television by BBC.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 18 August 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: August 4-10

The Sullivans’ war secrets
Jovan, the Yugoslav name for John, is the name of the telemovie telling the story of the missing years of John Sullivan (Andrew McFarlane, pictured), the eldest son of The Sullivans.  McFarlane returned to reprise the role, describing it as “the most satisfying and stimulating role of my career.”  Jovan also features Frank Gallacher (Against The Wind), Olivia Hamnett (Rush), Carol Burns (Prisoner) and, in her first acting role, Vera Plevnik. The telemovie was written by Brian Wright, who wrote the Biggles and Hop Harrigan serials for radio and was a founding member of the management team of ATV0 in the mid-‘60s before becoming a scriptwriter for ABC and Crawford Productions.

96 team back in harness
The team behind the top-rating series Number 96 have re-united to make a new drama series for the 0-10 Network.  Producer Bill Harmon, script editor Johnny Whyte and writer-director David Sale are devising a new series, tentatively titled Arcade, to begin production later this year and to debut early in 1980.  Details of the new series are sketchy, though it is believed that it will be shown once or twice weekly.  Arcade will be produced at TEN10’s Sydney studios where The Steve Raymond Show was produced before it was axed last week.  Harmon said the new show will not be like Number 96:  “It’s not 96 set in a shopping centre.  At this stage, with only four scripts in hand, it’s too early to tell you what it will be like.  All we can say is what it will not be like.”  Casting for the new series is to commence in the next month.

Cop Shop shock: Paula’s ‘recaught’
Actress Paula Duncan (pictured) has decided not to drop out of the popular series Cop Shop.  Several weeks ago, Duncan informed producers that ill-health would force her to leave the show.  However, a successful operation, followed by a Queensland holiday, has given Duncan a clean bill of health. 

Nine plans new series for kids
The Nine Network has commissioned an action/drama pilot for a children’s TV series from the Reg Grundy Organisation.  The new series, proposed for the ‘C’-rated 4.00 to 5.00pm timeslot, will be produced by Roger Mirams, a veteran of many children’s productions including The Terrible Ten, The Magic Boomerang, Animal Doctor and The Lost Islands.

Busy time for Paradise people
Some of TV’s most familiar actors and actresses are taking part in what could be the first drama series to be based on the Gold Coast.  A pilot for a new series, Paradise Village, is being produced by McCabe-Paradine Productions and BTQ7 Brisbane, with financial assistance from the Queensland Film Corporation.  The pilot stars Gerard Kennedy (Division 4), Syd Heylen (Sunnyside Up), Lynette Curran (Bellbird), Joan Bruce (Certain Women), Dennis Grosvenor (Chopper Squad), Anne Haddy (Play School, Prisoner) and Bill Kerr.  Other names cast in the pilot include Suzy Gashler, Stephen O’Rourke, Paul Chubb, Olga Tamara and Christine Broadway.

How Bunney stays together going to bits
Barely three years ago, Bunney Brooke (pictured) was on TV screens several nights a week as the much-loved Flo Patterson in Number 96.  Since the show wound up late in 1977, Brooke has been keeping a much lower profile on screen, playing smaller bit parts in dramas including The Young Doctors, Kirby’s Company, children’s series Wayzgoose and telemovie Good Thing Going.  Her latest role is as Granny Jones in ABC’s Ride On Stranger.  “I love doing these character parts.  They’re a challenge and they pay the rent,” she says.  Brooke has also just finished the outline for a TV comedy series which, after a brief rundown, suggests that there could be parts for herself and former Number 96 colleague Pat McDonald.

Briefly…
Peter Couchman is suddenly going to be seen a lot more on Melbourne’s TV screens.  From this week, ATV0’s late-night program Peter Couchman Tonight extends to early evenings with Peter Couchman’s Melbourne.  The new program comes after some other ill-fated attempts to fill the 7.00pm timeslot since the demise of Blankety Blanks.

Denise Drysdale is about to wed actor Chris Milne, and for the former ‘60s go-go dancer and Ernie Sigley Show co-host, her new married life will be a lot quieter with the pair settling in a country property outside of Melbourne.  “From now on I will be working a lot less.  I don’t want to earn a fortune – just enough to pay the bills.”

TV Times’ Eric Scott recently spent a day on location at the mock version of Singapore’s Changi prison, constructed in Melbourne by Crawford Productions for an upcoming storyline in The Sullivans.  Freezing in the middle of a Melbourne winter, wearing nothing but a wet sarong and having brown make-up dabbed on with a cold, wet sponge, Scott wonders why anyone would want to be an actor.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”Surely the skipper of the warship in the series Patrol Boat should be wearing a naval cap, and not that awful American baseball cap?”  M. Tringham, NSW.

“As I once wrote a letter to you complaining about Cop Shop not being what it should be, I thought it only fair to express my new reaction to this series.  I am happy to say that it has improved beyond all I ever expected of it, and has now become one of our favourite programs.” D. Dickey, NSW.

“Congratulations to the complete staff and printers on a fine example of an Australia publication – TV Times on its 21st birthday (TV Times, 7 July 1979).  May the same standards apply to all future issues.  I find the features included most absorbing and palatable and the simplicity of program layout most rewarding.” N. Gray, NSW.

What’s On (August 4-10):
Just The Way We Are, featuring The Four Kinsmen, is this week’s Saturday Special on ABC.

On Sunday afternoon ABC presents live coverage of Round 6 of the Australian Sports Sedans Championship, from Calder Raceway.  Geelong and Collingwood are this week’s teams in the Sunday afternoon Commodore Cup on HSV7, live from St Kilda Football Ground, and ATV0 presents live coverage of VFA Football.

On Monday, ATV0 debuts Peter Couchman’s Melbourne, an extension of the late-night Peter Couchman Tonight.  The new 7.00pm program includes special reports and contributions from Derryn Hinch, Marie van Maaren, Tony Porter and Bob Maumill.

In Skyways (HSV7, Monday and Thursday), MacFarlane (Tony Bonner) leaves his assistant, Louise (Tina Bursill) in charge of the airport while he attends to a domestic problem.  Her dismissal of a drunken baggage handler sparks off a strike.

Sunday night movies: Westworld (HSV7), Jovan – The John Sullivan Story (GTV9), Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (ATV0).  ABC presents a two-hour BBC special, Einstein’s Universe, presented by Peter Ustinov.  The documentary coincides with the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s birth.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 4 August 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: January 13-19

Not just bunging on an act!
Cop Shop's Detective Danni Francis spends her time putting criminals behind bars, but her alter ego Paula Duncan (pictured) has also spent plenty of time behind bars of a different sort:  "When I was little my parents ran hotels for a living, so I was brought up behind bars.  Right behind them - they never let me anywhere near the licenced premises.  But the atmosphere was great and life was a lot of fun."  With ambitions of a showbusiness career dating back to childhood, she was successful in gaining entrance into the National Institute Of Dramatic Art (NIDA), but for reasons she still does not know, was not accepted for a second year.  Despite the setback, Duncan went on to appear in ABC's production of Pirates Of Penzance and made guest appearances as a singer on The Barry Crocker Hour before being cast in a regular role on the ABC series Certain Women in 1973.  Duncan then appeared on soap dramas Number 96 and The Young Doctors before auditioning for a role on The Sullivans.  "I missed out on the role because I was too young but Crawford Productions later offered me the role on Cop Shop." 

ABC will buy stunning Shakespeare showcase
ABC has announced it will purchase the 37 plays that comprise the complete dramatic works of William Shakespeare, to be produced over the next six years between BBC and Time Life Films in a project worth over $A12 million.  The task of presenting all 37 plays is a feat that has only been achieved in the theatre twice in the last 400 years and marks one of the most ambitious dramatic productions in the history of BBC.  No dates have been scheduled for the screening of the plays in Australia but ABC's acting controller of programs, Grahame Reynolds, said they will probably screen at the rate of one a month.  The first play, Romeo And Juliet, premiered on BBC last month and is to screen in the US later this month.

Sesame Street Australian-style
Children's TV programming could receive a boost with plans for a big-budget locally produced series this year.  Great Treasures Marketing, a book distribution house with global interests and headquarters in Melbourne, is said to be keen to invest in a TV production based loosely on the successful Sesame Street series.  Melbourne-based writer Stan Marks, one of the panel of judges for the Penguin Awards who criticised the standards of children's television production, was approached by Great Treasures Marketing to be involved in the TV series project.  The project has yet to be offered to a TV network.

News lures Annette south
After 15 years in Brisbane television, Annette Allison (pictured) has accepted a lucrative offer to move south to Melbourne channel ATV0.  Allison was approached last year by ATV0 manager Mike Lattin, who had previously appointed her to host Brisbane BTQ7's daytime show when he was program manager there in 1977.  The 33-year-old will present the channel's Eyewitness News alongside Bruce Mansfield and will also appear on the new daytime talk show Everyday.  "Everyday will go to air live and basically it's a similar format to my previous BTQ7 show, Annette.  I think they are aiming the program at being a Women's Weekly of Australian TV."  Allison left BTQ7 on 7 January, fifteen years to the day since she joined the channel, and starts at ATV0 on 15 January.   "I haven't taken this decision lightly.  I have to uproot everything and I consider it to be the major move of my life."

Briefly...
Tim Evans, a former co-writer for The Don Lane Show, will stay behind the scenes in his new role as producer of HSV7's The Penthouse Club.  The show will return soon for 1979, again with Ernie Sigley as host, but auditions are under way for a new female co-host to replace Mary Hardy who left the program last year.  The program is also being expanded this year to broadcast through Victorian regional stations as well as to Tasmania.

Chris Bartlett, voice-over man for Perth-based game show Family Feud, has left for Japan to work as assistant production manager on an American TV mini-series based on the best-selling book Shogun.

Actor Michael Caton is to reprise his role as Uncle Harry in The Sullivans, but as Caton said, "it'll be a somewhat different Harry.  He has, er, been changed by circumstances, but he still has plenty of schemes."

A one-hour documentary on Melbourne's massage parlours is being produced by former This Day Tonight producer John McIntosh for screening on the Seven Network.  McIntosh is the husband of Sue McIntosh, formerly of the children's series Adventure Island and a presenter on GTV9's children's program You Me And Education.

GTV9 newsreader Peter Hitchener (pictured) has settled his differences with the channel and has renewed his contract:  "I am delighted to be staying at Nine.  (Incoming newsreader) Brian Naylor and I get on well together and I look forward to an interesting and exciting year."

 

Viewpoint: Letters To The Editor:
"I am so annoyed with the amount of sport on TV!  We often see the commercials about Life Be In It, and how it's better not to be Norm - "warming the set and cooling the tinnies."  These ads are put on for people to realise that being part of a sporting team is better than sitting on one's backside with a cold can and watching it on TV." E. Fogarty, NSW.

"I am writing to complain about cricket taking over the time slots of regular programs, especially Countdown!  Consider those people who live in country areas, who have no choice of channels." R. Hurditch, NSW.

"I can no longer contain myself.  When I saw that The Quest was to be appear at 11.00pm on Monday 4 December, quite frankly, I saw red.  With weeks between episodes, altered nights and times, TCN9 should be ashamed.  Don't the powers-that-be recognise an above average program when they see it?" V. Longhurst, NSW.

What's On (January 13-19):
More cricket on our screens with the 2nd One-Day International on ABC on Saturday, live from the Sydney Cricket Ground, World Series Cricket on GTV9 on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, the final of the Gillette Cup on ATV0 on Sunday, and the Sheffield Shield on ABC on Friday.

A re-run of the historic drama Cash And Company begins on HSV7 on Saturday night. 

Saturday's late night movie on ATV0 is the 1962 thriller The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies.  The following night, HSV7's late night classic is the 1958 sci-fi horror The Blob.

Sunday night movies are The Little Hut (HSV7), The Horsemen (GTV9) and The Family Way (ATV0).  ABC screens the telemovie She'll Be Sweet, the fifth telemovie produced by the broadcaster in association with the US-based Transatlantic Enterprises.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 13 January 1979.  ABC/ACP

Ten News knocked Out Of The Blue

There is a new weeknight soapie coming to Australian TV - something of a rarity these days apart from Neighbours (pictured) and Home And Away which have been plugging away since the 1980s - but, like those two soapie stalwarts in their earlier days, there are some quirks surrounding this new show.

Out Of The Blue was commissioned by BBC1 to fill the gap left by Neighbours when rival network Five picked up the series for local broadcast.  But despite Out Of The Blue being made by the Brits, it was actually produced in Australia.  Sort of an attempt to fight Neighbours' defection to Five with a fresh-faced sun-drenched Aussie soap, and seeing as our own networks haven't created anything of that sort for a while BBC decided to make their own. 

However, the viewers didn't really take to Out Of The Blue when it debuted in the UK earlier this year.  As a result, the series was bumped from the mainstream BBC1 to the alternative BBC2 where ratings have continued to dive.

Now it's been announced that Five, the network whose Neighbours purchase prompted Out Of The Blue (pictured) in the first place, has picked up all 130 episodes of the series and will re-screen it on their multi-channel, Fiver, in the new year.  If the show can attract a new following on the more youth-focused Fiver, as opposed to the more conservative BBC, then it may potentially pave the way for production of a second series.  And if it does that, it would be very reminiscent of our own Neighbours being axed by Seven after one season, to be revived by Network Ten.

But before Five snapped up the show, Network Ten has had eyes on the show for screening here.  The network has a few (pardon the pun) idle timeslots at present, not least the 6.00pm to 7.30pm bracket, and a new locally-based soap would also give them additional points to fulfilling their local drama quota and, if slotted into the early evenings, might also renew some viewer interest in Neighbours.

Curiously, news from Ten is that it does indeed plan to show Out Of The Blue in a weeknight timeslot.

10.30pm.

A strange choice of timeslot given the series appears to have been made with a daytime/early-evening audience in mind given its BBC timeslots.  It's also an odd choice in that it bumps Ten's late night news, after eighteen years, to 11.00pm.

Ten News had dutifully held the 10.30pm (or thereabouts) timeslot for the network since the early-'90s, when the first Gulf War erupted and Ten had the resources of news giant CNN behind it.  Ten Second Edition News (not to be confused as being Ten-Second Edition News!) was first with Eric Walters at the helm, then Anne Fulwood, then Sandra Sully (pictured) since 1996.  Despite Ten's normal lightweight news position against Seven and Nine, it has fought off late-night news bulletins from both networks.  Even though Nightline was axed from Nine only recently, it had long ago been bumped from the 10.30pm to a later hour to avoid competition with Ten.

It is a curious move to put in an untested series into that timeslot at the expense of the one program that has worked there for many years - and at the moment Ten has very few consistent performers in its schedule.  And when it comes to news, viewers don't like change, they like stability and consistency.  So, even though Ten News is only being moved thirty minutes later, that is enough for a lot of viewers to decide to give the news a miss and head to bed.  It might also see ABC1's Lateline pick up a few new viewers as well.

Out Of The Blue. Premieres Monday 17 November, 10.30pm.  Ten.

Source: TVRage, TVTonight

More moves in the TV neighbourhood

As we know by now, the Nine Network has put its 50-year-old studios in Sydney and Melbourne on the market - but it seems that it is not only Nine that is selling up its history to raise a few dollars into the bank account...


The BBC's iconic Television Centre, located in London's west, has been the national broadcaster's studio base for over 50 years and the corporation has been given approval by the BBC Trust to sell the premises, expected to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

The decision to sell is part of BBC's widespread cost-cutting program which will also see staff numbers slashed and a reduction in the number of new productions being commissioned. The cuts are a response to the national broadcaster's anticipated reduction of income from household licence fees.

BBC purchased 13 acres of land at Shepherd's Bush, west of London in 1949 and after some delays commenced construction of the building in 1951. The Television Centre was officially opened in 1960 but had hosted some television production when the complex was still partially-completed. The building's unusual design was inspired by architect Graham Dawbarn who recalled that he drew the triangular shape of the site on the back of an envelope and inside the shape drew a question mark - and realised that the question mark would be the design of the building. The envelope is now kept in BBC's archives.

The Television Centre, now comprising twelve studios, was home to many famous BBC programs including Top Of The Pops, Blue Peter, The Goodies, Dr Who, The Two Ronnies, Absolutely Fabulous, Keeping Up Appearances, The Catherine Tate Show and Little Britain. The studio facilities have also been used for some programs for rival networks Channel 4 and ITV.

Sources: Media Guardian, Unofficial history of BBC Television Centre, bbc.co.uk