Obituary: Michele Fawdon

Michele Fawdon, actress in film, stage and television, has died today after a battle with cancer.

Born in London in 1947, Fawdon studied in the United Kingdom before coming to Australia early in her professional career.  Following guest roles in Homicide, The Spoiler and Spyforce, Fawdon was cast as Mabel in the pilot for comedy series Snake Gully With Dad And Dave, produced in 1971, but her big break came the following year when she was cast in the original Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

She went on to appear in many television productions in the years that followed, including Ryan, Matlock Police, The Unisexers, Flashez, Loss Of Innocence, Young Ramsay, Winners, The Flying Doctors, GP, A Country Practice, Marshall Law, All Saints, MDA, Fergus McPhail, Bastard Boys and City Homicide. 

Her last TV role was in the mini-series Killing Time which is yet to be screened in Australia.

Her role in the 1979 movie Cathy’s Child won her Best Actress awards at both the AFI Awards and the Australian Film And Television Awards (The Sammys).

Michele Fawdon is survived by partner Geoff Jenkins and daughter Lulu.

A memorial service is to be held next Monday.

Source: IF, TV Tonight, IMDB, TV Eye

US stars head to Telethon

US actors John Travolta (pictured) and Carrie Fisher head the list of guest stars to appear at this year’s Telethon, taking place this weekend in Perth.

Travolta, in Australia for Qantas’ recent 90th anniversary, and Fisher, who’s been performing her play Wishful Drinking across Australia, will be joined by stars from various Seven Network programs, including Packed To The Rafters, Sunrise, The Morning Show, Home And Away, City Homicide, Dancing With The Stars and My Kitchen Rules, for the 43rd annual telethon which raises funds for children’s charities in Western Australia.

Also appearing will be Justice Crew, the winners of this year’s series of Australia’s Got Talent, Marcia Hines, Jessica Mauboy, Potbelleez, Kate Ceberano, Damian Leith, Stan Walker, Wes Carr, Mark Vincent and Amy Meredith.

Local Seven Network personalities taking part in Telethon include Seven News’ Rick Ardon, Susannah Carr, Basil Zempilas, Natalia Cooper, Emmy Kubainksi, Sally Bowrey and Adrian Barich and Today Tonight’s Monika Kos.

Last year’s Telethon raised $6,374,775 which was distributed to over 20 charities. Since its launch in 1968, Telethon has raised around $94 million so this year should bring the grand total to over $100 million.

Telethon, being held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, begins tonight (Saturday) at 6.30pm (WST) and continues through to 8.30pm Sunday and will be broadcast through Seven in Perth and the Golden West Network in regional WA.

EDIT @ 14.47 AEDST 14.11.2010: John Travolta has had to withdraw from his planned appearance at Telethon after his pregnant wife, Kelly Preston, went into labour. He was intended to appear in the closing stages of Telethon tonight but is now heading back to the US to be with his wife. Seven's Perth general manager Ray Waldrop has told media: "Whilst we are obviously disappointed that John can't come to Perth to appear on Telethon, we completely understand that his family comes first. Channel Seven, and I am sure everyone in Western Australia, send our best wishes to John and his family.''

UPDATED @ 23.57 AEDST 14.11.2010: Telethon has signed off for 2010 with a record total of $9,237,539.  This now pushes Telethon’s total fundraising amount over 43 years past the $100 million mark.

Source: Telethon, PerthNow

The Year That Was... #6: Drama makes a comeback

The year 2006 brought on all sorts of doom and gloom about TV drama production; ABC didn't have money to make any, Seven had axed Blue Heelers after 12 years of loyal service, Ten had some luck with telemovies but Tripping Over didn't fare so well, and their only ongoing production was the veteran soap Neighbours, and Nine had only McLeod's Daughters as the main project on its drama slate.

However, the corner was turned this year as a number of new projects came to fruition and one old-timer got a new coat of paint.

The big newcomers this year were City Homicide (pictured, above) and Sea Patrol - with these shows headlining the crucial battle between arch rivals Seven and Nine, both shows were given huge budgets, lots of live action, and both also promised familiar faces - Shane Bourne, Noni Hazelhurst, Nadine Garner, Aaron Pedersen and Damien Richardson on City Homicide, and Lisa McCune, Ian Stenlake, Josh Lawson, Kristian Schmid and Jay Ryan on Sea Patrol.

Both programs earned strong ratings figures, though City Homicide was perhaps more consistent than its Nine rival however both series have been renewed for 2008.

ABC did manage to get some dramas to air during this year; the rural/farming drama Rain Shadow, the 1998 waterfront crisis in Bastard Boys and the historical Curtin starring William McInnes.

The year also saw an increased drama presence on SBS with a number of productions aired this year - all of which put new emphasis onto familiar themes. The Circuit put an outback and indigenous perspective onto legal drama but its 9.30 Sunday timeslot probably meant most viewers stayed oblivious to it.

Saturday evenings saw the much lighter drama of Kick (pictured, left) an eight-part series based in Melbourne's multicultural suburb of Brunswick and featuring a diverse range of characters and cultures, though little is made of either. Hard to believe that Kick came from the same city that gives us the mono-cultural and sanitised Neighbours.

A late entry to SBS' schedule this year was the Sydney-based East West 101, from the producers of ABC's former series Wildside. Like with Kick, East West 101 was based in an area with a strong multicultural mix and covers the tensions that can come with that sort of diversity whether it be in the community or in the police force that is entrusted to protect it.

While all these new projects were seeing the light of day, one old-stager Neighbours was also in the spotlight. Ratings for the suburban soap have dropped in recent years in the wake of the high-profile battle between current affairs shows Today Tonight and A Current Affair in the same timeslot. With a healthy injection of funds to flow on from the show's shift in the UK from BBC to Channel 5 - in a deal worth around $A700m over ten years - the show's producers decided this year was the time to give the series a much-needed revamp to boost its profile in its home country.

A two-month teaser campaign on Ten promised 'a change is coming' and when the red-letter day, 23 July, arrived there were certainly changes but probably not as significant as the publicity had perhaps indicated. Sure there was a new family moving into Ramsay Street, there were some new sets and some more location filming, and the signature tune was re-worked, as was the iconic Neighbours logo, but apart from these rather superficial changes, there was little else to notice. Producers have been at pains to point out, however, that the revival of Neighbours is a work in progress and now with a new executive producer (Susan Bower) in charge, the changes are set to continue. Neighbours' ratings did take a spike when 23 July came and went, but soon settled back to familiar territory around the 600-700k mark - not a desirable position for a prime-time Aussie-made production but it still rates well in its desired demographic and gives Ten valuable drama content points.

Ten this year also gave us Murder In The Outback - The Joanne Lees Story which traced the mystery surrounding the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio, told from the perspective of his partner Joanne Lees.

Meanwhile at Seven, their drama content was well kept up by Home And Away and All Saints. Both series earning great results this year which considering the age of both programs (Home And Away is now up to its twentieth anniversary, and All Saints is up to ten years) is an amazing effort.

The Nine Network's long-running McLeod's Daughters limped through 2007 as producers may have struggled to find a way to keep finding long-lost 'daughters' to replace outgoing cast members. The series suffered a ratings drop this year, and Nine has already announced that the 2008 series will be its last.

The drama on our screens wasn't just on the free-to-air networks either. This year Foxtel came up with more of Love My Way starring Claudia Karvan, new series Dangerous, the adults-only drama Satisfaction and the award winning telemovie The King: The Graham Kennedy Story (pictured) starring Stephen Curry.