1992: February 1-7

How to succeed away from Wandin Valley
A Country Practice star Georgie Parker (pictured) is suddenly hot property on the theatre circuit, with two producers vying for her services for upcoming stage productions.  Parker, who is currently taping her final scenes for A Country Practice, has been offered the lead role in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, scheduled to premiere in Sydney in September, and has been called for a second audition for the revival of the classic Gypsy.  Parker has also been offered a role in the Seven Network’s upcoming comedy Newlyweds, but has turned it down citing reluctance to accept another television series role so soon after ACP.

‘We’re great together!’
Garry McDonald and Ruth Cracknell, about to return to screens in a new series of Mother And Son, believe the series could go on indefinitely… or at least as long as writer Geoffrey Atherden writes the scripts.  “Over the years it’s become funnier,” Cracknell told TV Week.  “Good comedy doesn’t go away.”  And the two actors quite happily continue their light-hearted banter even when the cameras stop rolling.  Cracknell confides that McDonald tells all the jokes, but her trademark one-liners on screen are carried over off screen with just as much success.  “We’re great together,” she chuckles.  “It would have been a wonderful marriage!”

‘I was absolutely shaken…’
When A Country Practice star Joyce Jacobs (pictured) heard that her fellow cast-mates Syd Heylen and Gordon Piper were being written out of the series, she thought she would be next.  “I was absolutely shaken!,” she told TV Week.  “It was a great shock and my first thought was, ‘It’s me as well’.  I have been more involved with the doctors in the past year or two and in fewer scenes with Cookie (Heylen) and Bob (Piper).  We’ll miss them.  There was always laughter, although you could thump them sometimes.”  Jacobs is now in her 11th year in A Country Practice as snoopy Esme Watson, but she was not the first choice for the role.  In the series pilot she played an extra, Wilma, who had little dialogue.  It was a character that Jacobs didn’t think would go anywhere, much like the woman she used to play in Number 96.  “I used to go into Mr Godolfus’ shop and buy a quarter of a pound of tea, but they blew them all up didn’t they?,” she said.  But she was later chosen to play Esme Watson in A Country Practice after the actress originally cast for the role had dropped out.  But like any television performer, Jacobs admits nothing is forever.  “I think if and when A Country Practice finishes I’d be glad to do a little cameo role in a film now and then.  It would be nice.  I couldn’t go into another series.  I’m too old… past retirement age, you know.”

Briefly…
All Together Now’s Steven Jacobs (pictured) and former Countdown Revolution co-host Tania Lacey have signed on as presenters of Nine’s new Saturday morning show, Saturday At Rick’s.  The program, to go to air live for two hours each week, is reminiscent of the early days of Hey Hey It’s Saturday.  The new show, to debut later this month, is expected to be produced at Warner Bros Movie World on the Gold Coast.  Two more presenters are also to be signed up.

Network Ten has commissioned a second series of sitcom Bingles before the first series has even gone to air.  The series, set in a panel-beating workshop, stars Shane Bourne, Tammy MacIntosh, Nick Bufalo and Russell Gilbert. 

Acclaimed young actor Russell Crowe (pictured) will be a guest star in the second series of ABC’s Police Rescue.  Crowe, who won an AFI award for his role in Proof, is currently appearing on the big screen in the long-awaited Spotswood.  In Police Rescue he plays Senior Constable Tom Younger, a local football hero and new member of the squad.  Producer John Edwards is excited about Crowe joining the show.  “Russell is a fabulous actor,” he said.  “He’s also a charismatic and exciting personality.”

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”When he took my call, Ian Frykberg was on the Gold Coast in Queensland.  It was windy rather than sunny, but, anyway, he was doing some work preparatory to a 12-metre yacht challenge later this year.  Then he was due to leave for Albertville, France, not just for a dramatic change of climate, but for the 1992 Winter Olympics.  Before the Winter Olympics are over, Frykberg is going to be casting an anxious eye towards places as far flung as Mackay in Queensland, Berri in South Australia and Napier, New Zealand.  They are just some of the venues for the World Cup of cricket.  And before that’s over, there’s the not inconsequential matter of the NSW Rugby League starting its 1992 season on 20 March.  Such is life when you’re director of sport at the Nine Network…”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, February 1-7):
Saturday:  Afternoon sport includes a repeat of last Monday’s NFL Superbowl (ABC) and Fifth Test Cricket, live from Perth, on Nine.

Sunday:  ABC’s rural affairs program Landline returns for another year.  Afternoon sport includes Test Cricket on Nine and the Ironman Super Series on Ten.  At 6.30pm, Ten launches Bert Newton’s New Faces, reviving the title and format that Newton hosted at the Nine Network from 1976 to 1985 in the same timeslot.  Also at 6.30pm is the return of Seven’s The Main Event, hosted by Larry Emdur, followed by US sitcom Full House and debut of new US series Dinosaurs.  The Simpsons returns with new episodes on Ten at 7.30pm, followed by the debut of locally-made sitcom Late For School, starring Frankie J. Holden, Sarah Chadwick and Matthew Newton.  Sunday night movies are Runaway Train (Seven), Gulag (Nine) and Uncle Buck (Ten).

Monday:  Current affairs programs Four Corners and Lateline are back for another year on ABC, while Seven’s late-night variety show Tonight Live With Steve Vizard returns for its third year.  Although it was widely tipped for a Saturday night timeslot, Ten debuts its new lifestyle/magazine show Healthy Wealthy And Wise on Monday, hosted by Jacki MacDonald (pictured) and Ronnie Burns and featuring Iain Hewitson, Ross Greenwood, Jim Brown and Lyn Talbot.

Tuesday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Shirley (Lorrae Desmond) is suspicious of Muldoon’s (Brian Moll) sudden generosity, while Matron Prior (Maureen Edwards) tries to keep Kate (Michelle Pettigrove) away from Harry (Andrew Blackman).  Gordon Bray and Karen Tighe present the 41st annual ABC Sports Awards, from the New Maritime Museum in Sydney.  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Amanda Keller (pictured) examines virtual reality systems where the observer exists in a 3D, computer-generated world.

Wednesday:  In E Street (Ten), Steven (Vince Martin, pictured) makes a bold move, while Alice (Marianne Howard) gets an offer she can’t refuse, and CJ (Adrian Lee) gets advice on wooing the modern woman.

Thursday:  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Penny (Sophie Lee) turns to Guy (David Reyne) for comfort, little realising the strength of their mutual attraction.  In Home And Away (Seven), Sophie’s (Rebekah Elmaloglou) fears for her baby’s future seem justified.  Seven presents an ‘encore’ screening of US series Dinosaurs from Sunday night.

Friday:  Documentary series A Big Country returns to ABC, this week focusing on the Spencer family who live in the far north of the Cape York Peninsula.  Seven years ago they made the break from society.  Nine crosses to the Sydney Football Stadium for the Seven’s International Rugby League, with commentators Ray Warren and Darrell Eastlake.  Nine’s late-night music show MTV returns for the new year, hosted by Richard Wilkins.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  1 February 1992.  Southdown Press

Obituary: Paul Lockyer, John Bean, Gary Ticehurst, Ian Carroll

ABC general manager Mark Scott yesterday described it as “the saddest of days” – following the death of veteran ABC journalist Paul Lockyer (pictured), camera operator John Bean and pilot Gary Ticehurst in a helicopter crash on Thursday night.

And last night came news that Ian Carroll, who recently retired from his role as director of innovation at the ABC, has died from pancreatic cancer.

Lockyer, Bean and Ticehurst were on board a helicopter while on assignment producing news and feature stories at Lake Eyre in South Australia.  The aircraft is believed to have crashed around 7.30pm Thursday night.

It is not known what caused the crash but it is believed that there was bad weather in the area at the time.

Lockyer, 61, was a journalist with over 40 years’ experience, most of them at the ABC in various roles, including foreign correspondent postings and reading the news, but also worked for the Nine Network for more than a decade.

His reporting from the Sydney Olympic Games for the ABC earned him a Logie award for most outstanding news reporter.

In recent times he had focused on covering regional issues for ABC and reported extensively on the drought-breaking floods that have hit eastern Australia.  In 2009 and 2010 he reported from Lake Eyre on the biggest floods to hit central Australia in a generation.

He is survived by wife Maria and two sons.

Camera operator Bean (pictured), 48, had been with ABC for more than two decades, working not only in News but also on programs including Catalyst, The New Inventors, Gardening Australia and Australian Story.  He also worked at the ABC’s Washington bureau during 2009.  He is survived by wife Pip Courtney, a reporter for ABC’s Landline program.

Ticehurst, 60, had been the ABC’s lead helicopter pilot since the mid 1980s and with over 16,000 hours of flying time was one of Australia’s most experienced media pilots.  He is survived by wife Therese.

While covering the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in 1998, Ticehurst (pictured) was instrumental in the rescue of 14 crew members from stricken yacht Business Post Naiad, which lost a skipper and crew member.

ABC’s current affairs program 7.30 last night devoted its entire program to the dedicated trio, and a tribute site has been produced by ABC Online.

The national broadcaster has also mourned the loss of former executive Ian Carroll (pictured) from pancreatic cancer.

Carroll, 64, was involved in the development of ABC news and current affairs productions including Four Corners, Nationwide, The National, Lateline and The 7.30 Report and went on to be chief executive of the ABC’s international satellite channel Australia Network.

He also spent a brief period at the Nine Network. 

Since 2007 he had led the broadcaster’s innovation portfolio, overseeing the launch of two digital channels and the popular online catch-up service iView as well as mobile applications and the development of ABC Online.

He was diagnosed with cancer a year ago but continued to work up until two weeks ago.

He is survived by wife, veteran ABC identity Geraldine Doogue.

Source: ABC, ABC, The Australian

1991: March 9-15

Bob pops the question!
For more than two years the romance between Dr Elly Fielding (Penny Cook) and Reverend Bob Brown (Tony Martin, pictured near right with Cook) in E Street has been an on-again off-again affair.  But this week in the Ten Network soap, Bob finally proposes – but Elly doesn’t accept straight away.  “She doesn’t say yes immediately, but she doesn’t say no,” Cook told TV Week. 

It’s no Sale!
Tony Barber has denied that there is more to his shock resignation from hosting Nine’s Sale Of The Century as industry rumours have suggested.  Barber insists that the resignation was to escape his “quiz show host” label, having also hosted Temptation, Great Temptation, Name That Tune and Family Feud before 11 years on Sale Of The Century, and also to recover from a hip operation.  Rumours persist within the industry, however, that his resignation was due to the network denying certain demands in renewing his contract.  And although Seven claims that Barber’s management have approached them about coming across, he has denied any discussions have taken place with Seven and Ten, citing his commitment to his Nine contract which expires later this month.  The timing of Barber’s announcement may have also come at an awkward time.  Just days before the announcement, in an interview pre-recorded for Nine’s In Melbourne Today and In Sydney Today chat shows, Barber was asked about his future at Sale to which he replied, “I can see myself doing it when I am 65 or 70.”   No decision has been made as to a successor for Barber on Sale Of The Century, although Denis Walter, Bert Newton and Daryl Somers appear to be possibilities.

Marcus comes home to play a ratbag
Taking a break after a busy year, actor Marcus Graham (pictured) was in Los Angeles when he was offered a two-year contract with daytime soap General Hospital – an offer any number of actors would jump at.  But he said no.  Despite enormous pressure to sign (“98 per cent of everyone I met in the US said I should do it”) he felt it was the wrong thing to do.  “They wanted me to sign a two-year contract.  I was prepared to do one year, but I couldn’t do two, I couldn’t,” Graham told TV Week.  “I think you’d have a very low self-esteem after doing that show for a while.  They shoot an hour a day and you read your lines off cue cards.  It would kill me.  It’s like selling all your dreams and aspirations for thousands of US dollars and getting recognised in supermarkets.  It’s just not worth it.”  Graham was more enthusiastic in signing up for the Seven Network’s four-hour mini-series Ratbag Hero which debuts this week.  Graham plays ‘Unc’ (Bob), the roguish uncle of Mick (Cameron Nugent), the ‘ratbag hero’ of the show’s title.  “Unc is scruffy, a bit of a larrikin.  He is caught between being an adult and a kid.  He is childlike and loves fun,” Graham said.

Briefly…
Hollywood actress Angie Dickinson, best known from TV’s Policewoman series, will be a special guest at this year’s TV Week Logie Awards, taking place this week in Melbourne.  Also on the overseas guest list are Peggy Lipton and Michael Ontkean from the new US series Twin Peaks, now showing on Network Ten.

British-born comedienne Annette Law, whose celebrity impressions won her the ‘Red Faces’ talent quest on Hey Hey It’s Saturday and subsequently led to a career on the comedy circuit, is now heading back to the UK to start in a new BBC sketch comedy series, My Dog’s Got No Nose.  “I believe it’s the British equivalent to the old American show Laugh-In,” Law told TV Week.

Actor Gary Sweet’s proposed role as a reporter for Nine’s Midday With Ray Martin is now looking doubtful after he made a guest appearance on the daytime show to promote his new ABC series Police Rescue.  It happens that Police Rescue is scheduled directly up against Nine’s new drama Chances and the appearance has angered Nine Network executives.

John Laws says…
”Why did SBS scrap its Tonight current affairs show – and replace it with an almost identical program under another name?  This is exactly what has happened, though the program purveyors at SBS will, no doubt, deny it and claim that Dateline is a different concept from Tonight.  But there’s hardly a scrap of difference.  It has the same presenter, Pria Viswalingam, and has retained its capable “finance reporter” Jane Hutcheon, who continues to do exactly what she did so well on the Tonight program.  The official line is that Dateline comprises “the resources of Tonight, Asia Report and the weekly Dateline” and has “shorter, pithier reports” (whatever that means).  So there you have it – two well-established programs are skittled.  Now you see them, now you don’t.  One hour of current affairs becomes 30 minutes of current affairs.”

Program Highlights (March 9-15):
Sunday:  Seven’s afternoon includes live coverage of the Moomba Masters water-skiing from Melbourne’s Yarra River, followed by live coverage of the Australian Touring Car Championships from Symmons Plains, Tasmania.  After Seven Nightly News, Seven screens the first of the two-part children’s mini-series Ratbag Hero, starring Cameron Nugent (pictured), Elaine Smith, Peter Fisher, Marcus Graham, Gus Mercurio and Simon Chilvers.  Sunday night movies are Beaches (Seven), Scarface (Nine) and The Golden Child (Ten).  Nine then crosses to Trinidad for the One Day International between Australia and the West Indies.  Ten debuts a new late-night sports program, Sports Week, hosted by Eddie McGuire and Stephen Quartermain.

Monday:  ABC debuts its new rural affairs program Landline, screening every weekday.  ABC and Seven in Melbourne both present a direct telecast of the annual Moomba street procession.

Tuesday:  In All Together Now (Nine), Thomas (Steven Jacobs) and Anna (Jane Hall) come home drunk and Tracy (Rebecca Gibney) suspects it is Bobby’s (Jon English) influence that has caused it.  Tina Bursill, Serge Lazareff and Dorothy St Heaps are guest stars in ABC’s drama GP.

Wednesday: Prime Minister Bob Hawke is the guest speaker at the National Press Club Luncheon, broadcast on ABC. 

Thursday:  Former E Street star Paul Kelman enters Nine’s The Flying Doctors as Steve McCauley, who found out he was adopted and hitches a ride to Coopers Crossing, undecided on whether or not to tell his mother about their true relationship.

Friday:  Daryl Somers (pictured) hosts the 33rd annual TV Week Logie Awards from Melbourne’s World Congress Centre and broadcast nationally through the Nine Network.  It is triple Gold Logie winner Somers’ second time as host of the event.  This year will also see the launch of two new Logie award categories – the Most Popular Male and Most Popular Female Comedy Personality – in recognition of the rise in Australian-produced comedy on television.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  9 March 1991.  Southdown Press.