Farewell 2010… and “hello” to ‘11

It’s New Year’s Eve and another year comes to a close.  We saw the launch of more digital channels – 7mate, GEM, ABC News 24.  There was another hit season of MasterChef Australia, joined this year by Junior MasterChef.  Hey Hey It’s Saturday was back for a longer run but failed to match the ratings high of its reunion shows of 2009.

Neighbours celebrated 25 years and SBS turned 30.

Bert Newton was back as host of the TV Week Logie Awards.  Home And Away’s Ray Meagher won the Gold Logie and the late Brian Naylor was posthumously inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame.  A Current Affair celebrated Reg Grundy.

GTV9 said farewell to 22 Bendigo Street and ATN7 moved out of Epping.

Television turned 50 in Tasmania.  ABC celebrated 50 years in Adelaide, Perth and Hobart – and analogue television was switched off in Mildura, regional South Australia and Broken Hill.

Kerry O’Brien signed off from The 7.30 Report.  Talking Heads wound up after six years. 

The Winter Olympics were on Nine, and the Commonwealth Games were on Ten.  Nine said farewell to Wimbledon after more than thirty years.  Sport was given the 3D treatment on free-to-air and Foxtel.

Right here we documented the year 1990 as reported in the pages of TV Week – and will continue the theme into 2011 as we follow the corresponding period in 1991.

2011 brings with it the long-awaited launch of Network Ten’s new digital channel, Eleven, across most of Australia – and the launch of Ten’s expanded news portfolio with a new 6.00pm program with George Negus and city-based 6.30pm news bulletins.

There will be more MasterChef, but will Hey Hey It’s Saturday be back?  Will Neighbours survive the transition to Eleven?  Will the revamped The 7.30 Report make up for the loss of Kerry O’Brien?   

Will Hamish and Andy, having walked away from most of their radio commitments, make a determined shift into TV?

There will be more drama from Underbelly on Nine, East West 101 on SBS and a new series, Winners And Losers, on Seven. Packed To The Rafters will try to move on from the death of character Melissa (Zoe Ventoura) – and what will become of the bubbling sexual tension between Nina Proudman (Asher Keddie) and Chris Havel (Don Hany) in Offspring?  Will Ten’s planned prison drama come to fruition?

ABC’s Four Corners will celebrate its 50th anniversary, while ABC News Breakfast plans to move from ABC2 to ABC1.  Regional television in Victoria will turn 50 and will farewell analogue transmission. Television in Darwin will turn 40.  And it will be 20 years since aggregation came to Northern NSW and the Gold Coast.

US show Sesame Street will reach 40 years on Australian television – and The Simpsons turns 20.

Digital television turns ten years old on 1 January – while certain areas of Australia are still yet to see the benefits of the new technology.

And one blogger will – shudder – turn 40 years old!

May you all have a happy new year and a great 2011!

30 years of SBS Television

SBS Television is thirty years old this weekend.

An initiative of the Fraser Government, the Special Broadcasting Service was established in the mid-1970s to operate the new multi-lingual radio service that had commenced in Sydney (2EA) and Melbourne (3EA).  By the end of the 1970s, the organisation was given the responsibility of operating Australia’s first multi-cultural television station – although there had been plenty of discussion and debate as to whether Australia actually wanted, or needed, such a service.  It’s a discussion that probably continues to this day but it should be noted that prior to SBS’ introduction, multicultural or even indigenous representation on Australian television was all but non-existent in a sea of American, British and white Australian culture.  There were a few exceptions, though.  The 0-10 Network presented weekly programs aimed at the Italian and Greek communities as well as presenting an educational program, You Say The Word, which was devised to improve the English language skills of a growing migrant population.  The popular drama series Number 96 also provided a glimpse of a multicultural society in Australia, often featuring characters or actors of mixed racial or cultural origin.  It might not have presented these characters in the most appropriate light, but it was a representation nonetheless.

SBS made its first television appearance with a series of test transmissions broadcast on ABC in Sydney and Melbourne on Sunday mornings in 1979.  This video (taken from SBS’s 20th anniversary special, 20/20 Vision, in 2000) recounts those early test transmissions and the formation of the new channel:

Then on United Nations Day – 24 October 1980 – the chief executive of the Special Broadcasting Service, Bruce Gyngell (pictured), presented the launch of the new Channel 0/28, which was officially opened by prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

Channel 0/28 started broadcasting from very modest facilities, occupying a few floors of an office building in the Sydney suburb of Milson’s Point.  In 1991, both radio and television branches of SBS moved to more modern facilities in the suburb of Artarmon.

Friday 24 October 1980: 6.30pm Opening Special: Bruce Gyngell presents the official opening and a preview of upcoming shows on the new Channel 0/28. 7pm Who Are We? Peter Luck presents a documentary on the people who make up Australia. 8pm Giochiamo Al Variete.  Italian variety program. 9pm Movie: Three Sea Wolves (pictured).  Australian production starring Chantal Contouri, presented in Greek and English. 10.30 Movie: Don’t Lean Out.  Yugoslav movie about a young man returning from Germany to his homeland. Saturday 25 October: 5pm Cartoons: from Italy, Hungary and Russia 5.30 La Sonrisa de un Nino.  Children’s musical program in Spanish. 6.30 Special: The Chinese Acrobatic Troupe 7.30 Montreaux Comedy Festival.  Includes To Norway, Home Of The Giants – featuring John Cleese taking a lighthearted look at his ancestry, Slim Sala Bim from the Netherlands, and Nonstop Nonsens from Germany. 9pm Movie: Hotel Pacific.  Polish film depicting life in a large Warsaw Hotel of the 1930s. 10.30 Movie: Varinka.  True story of a Russian girl who unwittingly smothers her boyfriend in bed.  French movie set in the 19th century. Sunday 26 October: 1pm Soccer: Live coverage of Australia’s National Youth Team versus Johnny Warren’s All-Stars 2pm Soccer: Philips Soccer League Grand Final.  Live coverage from Canberra 5pm Buona Sera con Rita al Circo.  Italian children’s program 5.30 Hunt For Janne.  Swedish children’s series. 6pm Das Vorstadtkrokodile. German story of a paraplegic boy who joins a children’s club. 7.30 Studio 80.  Italian variety program 8.30 Movie: Elvira Madigan.  Swedish film depicting the intense and happy love affair of two people ready to die rather than live apart.  10.30 Soccer: Highlights of the Philips Soccer League Grand Final

George Donikian (pictured) presented Channel 0/28’s first news bulletin on Monday 27 October 1980.  World News initially screened at 9.30pm weeknights but by March it had moved to the earlier 7.30pm timeslot.  The main bulletin would later move to 7.00pm before taking up its current 6.30pm timeslot by the late 1980s.  Weekend bulletins started a few years after SBS’ introduction, as did a mid-evening 9.00pm bulletin which has since moved to 9.30pm. 

But not everything associated with the fledgling channel went smoothly.  Gyngell had commissioned a talent quest series, Cabaret, from the Grundy Organisation and Willard King Productions.  The first episode, hosted by Graham Kennedy and including a panel of judges, was taped in advance and featured entrants representing various ethnic groups.  However, just days before the show was to go to air, Gyngell made a last-minute decision to change the show’s format from a talent quest to a general variety show, feeling that it unwise to involve a competitive element between multicultural communities.  The first episode was hurriedly re-taped in the new format, and Lebanese-born actor Joe Hasham, best known from the popular Number 96, took over hosting the series from that point.

On a more positive note, 0/28 did earn early applause for its adoption of soccer coverage, giving the sport a higher priority and profile than any of the other networks had done.  And soccer would continue to feature prominently on the channel, with regular programs and coverage of various leagues and the premier event, the FIFA World Cup, being broadcast on the network every four years since 1990.  Les Murray (pictured), who fronts the network’s soccer coverage, has been with the network since it launched.

Channel 0/28 broadcast initially in Sydney and Melbourne only.  In 1983 it expanded to Canberra and nearby regional centres Goulburn and Cooma – coinciding with the channel’s name change to Network 0/28.  Adelaide, Brisbane, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Gold Coast joined the network after it had changed its name on-air to SBS in 1985.  Perth and Hobart followed in 1986, and Darwin in 1994.  SBS became Australia’s first sole UHF network with the VHF Channel 0 broadcasts in Sydney and Melbourne terminated in January 1986.

As well as World News, current affairs programming, often taking a different perspective to its commercial rivals, has also featured over thirty years – with programs including SCOOP, Vox Populi, ICAM, Issues, First In Line, Insight, Living Black and the long-running Dateline, which has been running in various formats since 1984.

One of SBS’ first drama productions, the mini-series Women Of The Sun, won acclaim for its portrayal of Australian history through the eyes of Aboriginal women.  Other Australian-made dramas have included City West, The Girl From Steel City, Five Times Dizzy, In Between, House Gang, Going Home, RAN (Remote Area Nurse), The Circuit, Kick and East West 101.

Since 1983, SBS has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest – with the event gaining a following in Australia that leaves Europeans mystified.  Another European TV tradition – the comedy sketch Dinner For One – has featured on SBS every New Year’s Eve since 1989.  The Japanese game show Iron Chef created an appetite for food-inspired competition years before anyone had thought of MasterChef.  The boundaries of comedy have been tested with shows like Pizza, Life Support and Wilfred – and a US series, South Park, became a hit.  RockWiz (pictured), ADbc, The Squiz, Hot Spell! and Letters And Numbers are among those have represented the quiz and game show genre.

In 1986, movie presenter David Stratton was joined by Margaret Pomeranz to host a weekly review program, The Movie Show.  The pair fronted the show for almost twenty years before they moved across to ABC to host a similar program, At The Movies. 

Mary Kostakidis (pictured) was part of the subtitling and management teams when Channel 0/28 launched in 1980.  She later took over from George Donikian as presenter of World News, a role she maintained for almost twenty years.  Her sudden departure from the broadcaster in 2007 was the culmination of a certain period of unrest, brought about by changes to a more populist style of news coverage and the appointment of an additional newsreader, Stan Grant.  Other news presenters over the years have included Karina Kelly, Christina Koutsoukos, Patrice Newell, Silvio Rivier (who was part of the original Channel 0/28 and  now hosts the Global Village documentary series), Indira Naidoo, Ben Fajzullin, Amrita Cheema and current day newsreaders Anton Enus, Janice Peterson, Lee Lin Chin, Rena Sarumpaet and Ricardo Goncalves.

The sensitive topic of commercials on SBS was first touched on by the network for its coverage of the FIFA World Cup in 1990, and from 1991 SBS was permitted to play five minutes of commercials each hour to supplement its taxpayer-funded income, but commercials would only appear in between programs.  In 2006, the network took a controversial step to introduce commercial breaks within programs.  It’s a change that continues to attract mixed reaction.

SBS commenced digital transmission in 2001 and, in 2002, launched a new channel, World News Channel, presenting continuous broadcasts of news bulletins from other countries in languages other than English.  Last year, World News Channel was replaced by SBS2, still presenting international news bulletins but now including more general programming such as documentaries, dramas and movies as well as some time-shifted programming from the main SBS channel (now SBS1) and extensions of the network’s coverage of sporting events such as the Tour de France.

SBS is now at a stage where its role in the media landscape is again under question.  Its move away from traditional multicultural programming, particularly on the primary SBS1 channel, has attracted criticism that it is abandoning the very reason it was created in the first place.  Its increasing reliance on commercial sponsorship and adopting populist programs such as Top Gear (a program that has since been picked up by Nine) have also attracted criticism as being in conflict with what should be the core values of SBS.  Now with the commercial networks hungry for content to fill their multiple digital channels, this is putting up the cost of certain English-language programming that SBS in the past might have been the only buyer.  SBS might be wise to rediscover the niche market of multicultural programming and tap into the vast sources of television programming produced in languages other than English instead of trying to be another ABC or another commercial network.

To commemorate its 30th anniversary, SBS’ weekly program Dateline will present a special report of highlights from its many years in covering international current affairs.

SBS have also published a website for the occasion of its 30th anniversary – including an interactive timeline and links to videos of certain milestones.

Dateline, Sunday 24 October, 8.30pm. SBS1 (Repeated Monday 1.30pm on SBS1 and Wednesday 7.30pm on SBS2)

Source: The Age, 27 October 1980; The Age, 13 November 1980; TelevisionAU: SBS

The 52nd TV Week Logie Awards

Home And Away actor Ray Meagher (pictured) has been awarded the TV Week Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television.  Despite Meagher’s lengthy career, including 22 years on Home And Away, it is his first Logie award.

Home And Away also won an award for actor Luke Mitchell as Most Popular New Male Talent.  And Seven’s other drama Packed To The Rafters also swept up several awards last night – Most Popular Drama Series, Most Popular Actress (Rebecca Gibney) and Most Popular Actor (Hugh Sheridan).

Seven also won Most Outstanding News Coverage for Seven News’ coverage of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria and Most Outstanding Sports Coverage for the V8 Supercars: Supercheap Auto Bathurst.  Better Homes And Gardens won Most Popular Lifestyle Show.

The Ten Network was well rewarded last night with two Logies for its hit show Masterchef Australia (pictured) – including Matt Preston winning the Graham Kennedy Award for Outstanding New Talent – and Talkin’ ‘bout Your Generation winning three Logies, including Shaun Micallef for Most Popular Presenter.  The 7PM Project also scored a win with Carrie Bickmore winning Most Popular New Female Talent, and Bondi Rescue won Most Popular Factual Program.

The Nine Network didn’t score all that well at last night – winning only one award for The Footy Show (NRL) as Most Popular Sports Program.

ABC won awards for Most Outstanding Children’s Program (My Place, ABC3) and for its Four Corners report, Code Of Silence.  SBS’ drama series East West 101 won two Logies – Most Outstanding Drama and Most Outstanding Actor (Don Hany) – and the telemovie Saved won Most Outstanding Actress for Claudia Karvan.

The tribute to those in the industry that have passed away in the last 12 months included a performance by PJ Lane, son of Don Lane (pictured), who was joined on stage by several performers from the earlier days of IMT and The Don Lane Show, including Philip Brady, Toni Lamond, Patti Newton, John Michael Howson and Geoff Harvey.

Bert Newton, hosting the awards solo for the first time since 1993, did an admirable job for what has become one of the toughest gigs in television – keeping up the tradition of topical humour as well as a candid interview with guest k.d. Lang.  Restoring Newton to the hosting role could be regarded as a safe option after the last few years’ instability in the Logies hosting, but he did well to restore some of the Logies’ sense of occasion.

Newton also presented an excellent introduction to the Hall of Fame presentation, with former Melbourne newsreader Brian Naylor (pictured) posthumously inducted in the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame in an outstanding tribute including speeches by Naylor’s former colleagues Mal Walden, Peter Hitchener and Peter Mitchell.

Musical performances came from Gabriella Cilmi, k.d. Lang, John Mayer (who seemed rather disinterested in being at the awards) and the Rogue Traders.

Last night’s four-hour presentation at Melbourne’s Crown Casino earned an average of 1.4 million viewers for the Nine Network across the five cities – a decline on last year’s awards which were watched by 1.58 million viewers and the Red Carpet arrivals which scored 1.7 million viewers.  The Logies were beaten in the ratings last night by Nine News, Masterchef Australia and Seven News – though none of those had a four-hour run time and the Logies did not wind up until after 11.30pm.

Nine also won the night’s ratings convincingly with a 32.8 per cent share, well ahead of Seven (25.4%), Ten (19.1%), ABC1 (9.9%) and SBS1 (3.4%), with digital channels GO! (4.5%), 7TWO (2.5%), ONE (1.4%), ABC2 (0.7%), ABC3 (0.2%) and SBS2 (0.1%).

GOLD LOGIE:
Ray Meagher, Home And Away

SILVER: MOST POPULAR ACTOR
Hugh Sheridan, Packed to the Rafters
SILVER: MOST POPULAR ACTRESS
Rebecca Gibney, Packed to the Rafters
SILVER: MOST POPULAR PRESENTER
Shaun Micallef, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation

MOST POPULAR DRAMA:
Packed to the Rafters, Seven
MOST POPULAR REALITY:
MasterChef Australia, Ten
MOST POPULAR NEW TALENT: MALE
Luke Mitchell, Home And Away
MOST POPULAR NEW TALENT: FEMALE
Carrie Bickmore, The 7PM Project
MOST POPULAR LIFESTYLE:
Better Homes and Gardens, Seven
MOST POPULAR LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT:
Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, Ten
MOST POPULAR SPORTS:
The Footy Show NRL, Nine
MOST POPULAR FACTUAL:
Bondi Rescue, Ten

OUTSTANDING AWARDS:

SILVER: MOST OUTSTANDING ACTOR:
Don Hany, East West 101
SILVER: MOST OUTSTANDING ACTRESS:
Claudia Karvan, Saved
SILVER: MOST OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES, MINISERIES OR TELEMOVIE:
East West 101, SBS1
MOST OUTSTANDING NEWS COVERAGE:
Victorian Bushfires, Seven News
MOST OUTSTANDING PUBLIC AFFAIRS REPORT:
Code of Silence, Four Corners, ABC1
MOST OUTSTANDING LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT:
Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, Ten
MOST OUTSTANDING SPORTS:
V8 Supercars: Supercheap Auto Bathurst, Seven
MOST OUTSTANDING CHILDREN'S:
My Place, ABC3
MOST OUTSTANDING FACTUAL:
Law And Disorder, SBS1

GRAHAM KENNEDY AWARD FOR MOST OUTSTANDING NEW TALENT:
Matt Preston, MasterChef Australia

TV WEEK LOGIE AWARDS’ HALL OF FAME:
Brian Naylor

TV icons of the Sunshine State

Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper has obtained a secret list of people, places and events nominated by Queensland politicians as icons of the state.

The list is being prepared as part of Queensland's 150th anniversary celebrations.  From the initial list of 700, a bipartisan panel of MPs will attempt to trim the list to 300 which will then be put to a public vote.  The top 150 will be formally acknowledged during the state's Queensland Week celebrations.

Out of the 700 nominated so far, there are a handful that are TV related:

• Actress Babette Stephens, who was also a panelist on Brisbane game shows in the 1960s and also starred in Brisbane's first soap opera drama Until Tomorrow in the 1970s.
• Pop group The Bee Gees, who rose to fame on early variety shows in Brisbane before appearances on national shows such as Bandstand.
• Actor William McInnes, from TV dramas including Seachange, Blue Heelers, Marshall Law, Curtin, East West 101, The Shark Net and comedy series Kath & Kim.
• Wally Lewis, former rugby player and now sports presenter for Nine News in Brisbane.
• Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.
• Vilma Ward, morals compaigner, media commentator and panelist on daytime TV programs including Bailey And The Birds.
• Mt Coottha's TV transmission towers.

We can't help but wonder that maybe a few famous Queenslanders have been overlooked for recognition: 

Jacki MacDonald comes to mind as a glaring omission.  A winner of a swag of TV Week Logies for most popular personality in Queensland and a TV career that has included all three of Brisbane's local commercial channels as well as a national profile through Hey Hey It's Saturday and later Healthy Wealthy And Wise.

Rowena Wallace, who first rose to national fame in the 1960s drama You Can't See Round Corners, followed by The Rovers, Division 4, Number 96, Cop Shop, Outbreak Of Love, Prisoner and, most famously, as vicious 'Pat the Rat' in Sons And Daughters - a role that won her a TV Week Gold Logie in 1985.

Kerri-Anne Kennerley (pictured), back when she was Kerri-Anne Wright was a child star of Brisbane television in the 1960s and 1970s before featuring in the soap opera The Restless Years and later becoming co-host of Network Ten's Good Morning Australia, where she stayed for over a decade and went on to further success in daytime TV as host of Midday in the late 1990s and Mornings With Kerri-Anne since 2003.

Sigrid Thornton, from early days in Homicide, Father Dear Father and Prisoner, later becoming famous for her roles in historical dramas such as All The Rivers Run, 1915 and Paradise before taking the lead role in ABC's Seachange in the late 1990s.

Reg Grundy (pictured), while not born in Queensland the former radio announcer turned game show host got his big break as a producer of game shows in Brisbane in the 1960s, forming the basis for what became a global empire.

Gerard Kennedy, actor from early crime shows Hunter and Division Four and later in historical dramas Tandarra and Against The Wind.  Most recently seen in the Nine Network series Underbelly.  Winner of two TV Week Gold Logies.

Ray Barrett, accomplished television, stage and film actor with recent roles in Something In The Air and After The Deluge.

Don Seccombe (pictured), long-serving newsreader for QTQ9 and host the game show I've Got A Secret which ran for ten years.

Hugh Cornish, one of Brisbane television's earliest on-air personalities as well as general manager at QTQ9.

Newsreader Brian Cahill who read the news for many years at BTQ7, later at QTQ9 and then TVQ0 before moving into politics.

Then there are current-day local TV identities who have long histories in television.  Names such as Kay McGrath, Bruce Paige, Frank Warrick, Heather Foord and Sharyn Ghidella.

Other well-known TV identities to have hailed from the Sunshine State include (in no particular order):

Brian Blain (The Bluestone Boys, Sons And Daughters)
Delvene Delaney (The Paul Hogan Show, Sale Of The Century)
Jo Pearson (Eyewitness News, Live At Five)
Annette Allison (pictured) (Eyewitness News, Good Morning Melbourne)
Shane Porteous (The Box, A Country Practice)
Judy Morris (Skyways, Dirtwater Dynasty, Mother And Son)
Ian Leslie (60 Minutes)
Michael Caton (The Sullivans, Packed To The Rafters)
Tom Richards (Matlock Police, Sons And Daughters)
Paul Bongiorno (Ten News, Meet The Press)

Who do you think is worthy of a mention on Queensland's top 150 list?

Source: Courier Mail
Many of these names from this list have also been sourced from the book On-Air: 25 Years Of TV In Queensland (Christopher Beck, 1984)

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.