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

Obituary: Sonia Humphrey

Former journalist and television presenter Sonia Humphrey has died at the age of 63.

A former dancer with the Australian Ballet Company, Humphrey later decided on a change of direction and completed a production course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).  Her fondness for history led to her joining an archaeological dig in Israel before working as a field producer for America’s ABC network, covering the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

Returning to Australia in the mid-1970s, she became a weather presenter and reporter for Eyewitness News at TEN10, Sydney.  This led to her joining ABC in 1978 to front current affairs program This Day Tonight and its successor Nationwide.

Humphrey also presented arts broadcasts for ABC, reported for Towards 2000 and presented consumer affairs program The Investigators.

In 1983, ABC management sought to remove her from the airwaves when she became pregnant, fearing that viewers would object to seeing a pregnant woman on television.  She took the case to the Anti-Discrimination Board and won.

After The Investigators, Humphries went on to host a similar program, Probe, for the Seven Network in the late 1980s.

She then went on to produce documentaries for Film Australia before settling in Tasmania with her second husband, Ian MacDougall, after he retired in 2003.

Sonia Humphrey is survived by Ian, her two sons and her parents George and Beverley.

Source: SMH

1979: November 24-30

Sisters: For better and worse!
Although Rebecca Gilling and Diana McLean (pictured, with co-star Peter Lochran) are only sisters on-screen, as Nurse Liz Kennedy and Sister Vivienne Jeffries in The Young Doctors, their friendship off-screen has similar characteristics.  “On camera, I have a similar relationship with Diana as with my own sister Tracy, in that we do have our ups and downs, do tend to take each other for granted.  But in a crunch, we stick together!” Gilling told TV Times – though their separate childhoods were quite different.  McLean was essentially brought up as an only child as her older brother had died from Down’s syndrome at the age of 8:  “I grew up in a grown-up world, with few close relatives, except my maternal grandmother.  Like most only children, I was always conscious of wishing I had lots of brothers and sisters.  Then my mother was stricken with cancer and died when I was 13.  During the previous six years she was ill, I was cared for by a maid and my grandmother.  Sounds like a poor little rich girl, doesn’t it?  But it’s true, I had everything I wanted but nothing I really wanted.”  Rebecca Gilling was the youngest of four children.  “My mother has a highly individual approach to rearing children.  Both my parents encouraged us to have very strong personalities and a strong sense of humour.  The four of us were all very close when we were small.  Being the youngest has its perks and its serious drawbacks.  There was always the dichotomy of being one minute too young – and the next being told, why don’t you grow up?  It also meant I wore hand-down clothes which were a bit battered by the time they’d gone through three tomboys.  Then, when I was 12, I retaliated by growing taller than the others.  Then I had to get new clothes.”

Brush with the law!
Liz Burch (pictured), the girl from the toothpaste commercials, is the new girl in Cop Shop – and it’s given her a ring of confidence.  The 24-year-old joins the series as Vic Cameron’s (Terry Donovan) younger sister, Liz Cameron.  It is her first big break in TV after five years of trying to get into showbusiness, including three rejections from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).  The young actress came from Sydney to Melbourne to audition for a role in Young Ramsay, but was unsuccessful.  Her agent encouraged her to apply for the Cop Shop role, despite the fact that her only TV experience was in commercials.  “My biggest speaking part had been in a toothpaste commercial, telling a bloke he could do his own navigating next time.”

Love behind bars!
ABC stations in all states will be involved in a new public affairs program, Line-Up, to screen from December while the usual public affairs programs are on a break for summer.  The new program, to fill the timeslot normally occupied by Four Corners, will be hosted by former Nationwide and This Day Tonight reporter Paul Griffiths.  Executive producer for the program, Richard Watson, said the program will not be unlike the former magazine-style program, Saturday Week, but will have “more in-depth” content:  “It could be likened to a miniature Big Country.  The team will travel a great deal around Australia to make documentary films of varying durations within a flexible format.”  Another new series, Faces Of The Eighties, will be hosted by former Monday Conference compere Robert Moore (pictured), and will go to air on Wednesday nights in the timeslot normally occupied by Nationwide.  Faces Of The Eighties will feature interviews with Australians who are are leaders in their various fields, and who will continue to shape Australian society during the 1980s.  Overseas programs that will fill the Nationwide timeslot on Mondays include Collision Course, a documentary drama about a mid-air crash between two airliners over Yugoslavia in 1976, and Love Behind Bars, a look at a Texas prison where convicts of both sexes are allowed to mix.

Briefly…
Former Young Talent Time cast member Vikki Broughton is heading to Europe to star in a TV series for Italian network Telenova.  Broughton is currently in Sydney recording the soundtrack for the series of five half-hour specials, which will be filmed on location around Lake Como.

ABC’s rural affairs program Countrywide has won an award in the current affairs category at the recent Penguin awards in Melbourne.  Another ABC program, A Big Country, also won awards for Bob Connolly, for best producer and director, and Bob Plato for best script for a documentary or special report.

Former Number 96 star Joseph Furst’s guest appearance in The Young Doctors has so impressed the producers that they have decided to keep the character for future episodes.  Furst plays a mysterious German businessman, Heinrick Smeaton.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”The way Countdown is cut off during the number one song is thoughtless.  This song has been chosen number one by the public and is the one the majority of people want to hear.” S. Milward, VIC.

“While watching QTQ9, Brisbane, I heard the newsreader say: ‘And how that famous Irishman, Mike Walsh.’  I always thought Mike was a true-blue Australian.” F. Bellman, QLD.

“Why does TCN9, Sydney, leave scenes out of the shows they screen?  To date I have noticed entire scenes missing from shows such as Love Boat and Starsky And Hutch.  This practice does tend to leave one somewhat confused, as the missing scenes are frequently referred to in what is left of the show.  Surely the channels should not have the right to indiscriminately cut scenes from their shows whenever they feel like it (apparently for the purpose of screening more commercials – which, according to the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, should be limited to 11 minutes in any case).” N. Lewis, NSW.

“I agree with S. Pye (Viewpoint, 20 October 1979) about the program So You Want To Be A Centrefold.  A friend and I (both females) watched this program, as our boyfriends said they were both going to watch it.  We were both absolutely disgusted, as well as being embarrassed.  I felt these girls must be cheap to pose nude in front of a cameraman, then to be filmed for TV.  It is bad enough that they do this in magazines, let alone display their unclothed bodies on the screen.  Are there no morals left in this world?”  T. Yesberg, QLD.

What’s On (November 24-30):
HSV7 crosses live to Kooyong Tennis Stadium, Melbourne, for live coverage of the Satellite Circuit Tennis Finals, with commentators Peter Landy, Garry Wilkinson and Allan Stone.  The coverage airs from midday to 6.00pm on both Saturday and Sunday and starts Seven’s daily coverage of tennis action for much of the summer.  From Monday, Seven covers the Toyota Women’s Classic, live from Kooyong each day from 11.00am to 6.00pm.

Starting Monday night, and continuing through summer, GTV9 has a mid-evening news bulletin at 9.30pm in addition to the usual 6.30pm news.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, GTV9 crosses to the Sydney Cricket Ground for the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup, Australia versus West Indies.  Coverage starts at 2.20pm and, apart from a one-hour break at 6.00pm, continues through to 10.30pm.

In Prisoner’s season finale (ATV0, Wednesday), Lizzie (Sheila Florance, pictured) is a bit under the weather, and Greg (Barry Quin) discovers a theft from the examination room.  Pat (Monica Maughan) finds herself in a predicament, while David (David Letch) makes plans for revenge.

Michael Schildberger and Peter Hanrahan have replaced Bruce Mansfield and Annette Allison at the ATV0 Eyewitness News desk.

On Thursday night, 60 Minutes presents a special one-hour report, Year Zero – The Silent Death Of Cambodia, presenter by award-winning journalist John Pilger, the first western journalist allowed inside Kampuchea.

Sunday night movies: Perfect Gentleman (HSV7), Strange Homecoming (GTV9), The Abdication (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 24 November 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: October 20-26

Tom’s accent is on variety
Canadian-born Tom Burlinson has tackled Irish, English and American accents in various roles since leaving the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1976, but has found that playing Mickey Pratt in the 0-10 Network’s The Restless Years has presented the biggest challenge.  “Mickey’s Australian accent is one of the hardest,” Burlinson said.  But while Burlinson (pictured with co-star Penny Cook) admits to not always being keen on some of the tasks he called on to do as Pratt, he says there is a certain amount of leeway in the way he interprets the script and does accept the show’s widespread appeal:  “Whether The Restless Years is good or not, the fact is that it has mass appeal and many viewers accept it as real.  One therefore has a responsibility, particularly to adolescents who watch the program.”  However, Burlinson has said that after a year in the show he is ready to move on.  “I don’t want to become a TV star, I want to be a working actor.  One of the main reasons I want to leave The Restless Years is that I want to work in other areas such as films and stage.”

Big Country in the gun!
In ten years of production, ABC’s documentary series A Big Country has generated as many stories off-screen as it has on-screen.  On many occasions its reporters and crew have come close to injury and death.  In 1970, producer John Mabey and crew visited Jim Jim Plain, near Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, to investigate the latest methods of capturing buffalo.  They found a hunter and asked for an interview.  “I walked up to this man and said ‘I’m John Mabey from the ABC.  I’d like to talk to you about buffalo hunting,” Mabey recalls.  “He looked at me and then slowly reached down to his holster, pulled a .45 automatic from it and pointed it at my head.  He said ‘See this hole? Well you’ll feel one like it if you don’t get out of here now.’  Apparently Four Corners had been through the area some weeks before, filming cruel methods of hunting buffalo, and this chap obviously didn’t see eye to eye with the report.”  An earlier incident, recalled by producer and reporter Ron Iddon, saw the crew on a chartered single-engine flight from Geraldton, Western Australia, to the Abrohlos Islands, 70 kilometres of the WA coast.  On their way back to Geraldton the plane’s engine cut out:  “All of a sudden it was very quiet.  I was sitting two seats back and I remember looking at the pilot who was busy pushing and pulling things.  We were flying at 150 metres and I remember watching the altimeter registering our rapid descent.  When we got down to 31 metres I remember thinking ‘we’re going to crash.’  We were miles from any land and then only seconds from impact – the engine fired.”  The mid-air drama lasted about 90 seconds, but as Iddon said:  “It was the longest minute-and-a-half I can remember.”

Cronin on nostalgia radio trip
As well as revisiting the 1940s in his role of Dave Sullivan in The Sullivans, actor Paul Cronin (pictured) is tackling nostalgia on Melbourne radio with a new weekly program, Remember When.  The three-hour program, on Melbourne’s 3AW, examines the events of the times from 1938 through to the present day.  It is Cronin’s first radio show but, according to 3AW’s Leveda Lynch, he settled right in: “He was nervous for the first five minutes and then he began enjoying himself.  We all thought he was very good, and we had a great reaction from the public.”  Remember When is scheduled to run for 13 weeks while football is off-season, but if ratings indicate public support then it may continue.

Rolf Harris for ABC
Rolf Harris will visit Australia in December to discuss plans for seven one-hour variety specials to be produced by ABC in mid-1980.  The format of the shows will be discussed at the meetings, but Executive Producer Ric Birch said:  “Rolf’s management are very keen to do them although nothing has been signed yet.  We’ll be thrashing out all the details in December.”  The specials are likely to be made in Sydney, though Birch said that they would like to spend a week on location for filming, but this may be restricted by Harris’ scheduled club appearances in Sydney.

Briefly…
Actress Pat McDonald scarcely had her leg out of plaster, after a knee operation in August, when she was off to Perth to appear in a telethon.  Next week she flies to Adelaide for another.

Nine Network’s Pete Smith, a devoted football hater, has won the Anti Football League’s medal for least service to football in 1979.  The award was presented at an empty Melbourne Cricket Ground two days before the VFL Grand Final.

John Walton, the young actor who has starred in The Young Doctors and The Sullivans, is returning to the stage to play the title role of Hamlet with the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Clive Hale (pictured), the host of ABC’s Nationwide, has admitted that it has taken some adjustment to settling in to the new show after ten years on This Day Tonight, where he was often known to ad-lib or editorialise:  “The sort of flippancy on This Day Tonight would look out of place on a more serious program like Nationwide.  I must admit that after ten years on TDT, I enjoy being less flippant.”   A budding artist off-screen, Hale has admitted to wanting to approach ABC management about ideas for arts programs.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”When I read in TV Times that Peter Lochran had been nominated for a Sammy as best actor, I felt really pleased.  In my opinion, he is the best actor on Australian TV, and thoroughly deserves recognition.  The Young Doctors is the best show on TV and it deserves to win all the awards it can.”  F. Gregory, NSW.

“I want to thank TEN10 Sydney for putting on the late John Wayne’s movies.  I have been a fan of his for a long time and I enjoyed every last one of his movies.” N. Hunter, NSW.

“I was very disgusted with a program on ATV0 Melbourne recently called So You Want To Be A Centrefold.  I realise that this adults-only rated program was on at a reasonable hour, but I do think that the only reason it was shown was for men to gloat over.  It made me sick to see those girls flaunt themselves in front of the camera.  It seemed to me that this program was encouraging young girls to become nude centrefolds.  I think that females should think of themselves as being more than just cheap pin-ups for men’s girlie magazines.” S. Pye, VIC.

“I would like to thank TEN10 for screening East Of Eden, starring the late James Dean.  It is the most superb performance by any actor I have ever seen.” L. Madkasoa, NSW.

“If ABC has a transmission fault, they apologise and play some peaceful music while repairs are under way.  If our local commercial channel, RTQ7 (Rockhampton), has a fault they just put a silly picture on the screen… no apology, no music.” R. Ramming, QLD.

What’s On (October 20-26):
HSV7 presents live coverage of the Caulfield Cup race meeting on Saturday afternoon, hosted by Bill Collins.  ABC presents live coverage of International Men’s Hockey, from Melbourne’s Royal Park West.

Singer-songwriter Leon Berger represents Australia in the Pacific Song Contest, held in Christchurch, New Zealand, and shown in a delayed telecast on ABC on Saturday night. 

On Sunday afternoon, ABC presents live coverage of the Castrol Six Hour Race from Amaroo Park, while ATV0 crosses to Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion for the Custom Credit Indoor Tennis Championships with commentators Ray Warren, Bill Bowrey and John Newcombe.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at the growth of Australia’s population over the last 80 years – from 3.7 million in 1901 to almost 14 million in 1979.  Host Peter Luck looks at the elements that make up Australia’s population, including racial composition and class structure.

On Monday night, HSV7 crosses to the Perth Concert Hall for a direct telecast of the crowning of Miss Australia 1980 and Miss Australia Charity Queen.  ATV0 presents a repeat screening of the movie version of the former TV series The Box.

Same as last week, TV Times lists American shows including My Three Sons, WKRP In Cincinnati, Diff’rent Strokes, Angie and Happy Days in place of Family Feud and The Sullivans due to industrial action at GTV9, though The Young Doctors appears to be back in the schedule.

Sunday night movies: Some Kind Of Miracle (HSV7), The French Connection (GTV9), The Paper Chase (ATV0).  ABC presents Mismatch, the second in the series of Australian plays, starring Jane Harders, Stephen O’Rourke, Margo Lee, John Bluthal and Michael Aitkens.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 20 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: May 12-18

TV’s reluctant sex symbol
Former Queenslander Shane Porteous has performed in Shakespearean plays, has appeared on stage in London’s West End and has been “arrested” in Cop Shop.  His first leading TV role, in the children’s series Catch Kandy, was a “disappointment” and his nude scenes with Belinda Giblin in The Box attracted controversy.  And he had a long-running role in the ABC series Certain Women.  But it was his appearance in a series of commercials for a laundry detergent that has made him a familiar face with the public:  “No matter what role I play on TV, no matter what critics might say of a stage play I’ve been happy about, I get the feeling sometimes I’m best known as the ‘Drive’ man.  People in the street and on the train often say ‘got the wine stain out yet?’ or ‘how’s your clever little secretary?’.”   But despite the fame of laundry detergent commercials, Porteous (pictured, with Nick Hedstrom and Zoe Bertram) has made a return to TV series drama as businessman Andrew Nelson in The Restless Years in what is tipped to be “the love story of the year”.

YTT takes the cake!
It was a reunion of past and present members of Young Talent Time when the popular 0-10 Network program recently celebrated its eighth birthday with a party at the ATV0 studios.  Joining Johnny Young and the current Young Talent Team were original cast members from 1971 including Rod Kirkham, Vikki Broughton, Jane Scali, Jamie Redfern and Debbie Byrne.

ABC opens showcase for top talent
Some of Australia’s best-known performers will be featured in a variety series now in production for ABC.  The first of the series of seven programs, to air next month, will feature Jill Perryman.  Other programs in the series will feature Barry Crocker, Peter Regan, Rolf Harris, Johnny Farnham and The Four Kinsmen.  Music for the series is being recorded by the Brian May ABC Melbourne Show Band.

Carleton’s Canberra
Former This Day Tonight reporter Richard Carleton (pictured) is back at ABC, after a three-year absence, as the Canberra correspondent for Nationwide.  His day starts at 6.30am with the arrival of the Sydney newspapers as well as The Canberra Times.  By 8.30 he is on the steps of Parliament House with prime minister Malcolm Fraser and during the day crosses paths with Minister for Foreign Affairs Andrew Peacock, shadow minister Paul Keating and Minister for Post and Telecommunications Bruce Goodluck among others.  But after three years out of the country he realises that there are many of the 188 members of Parliament that he does not know – though he hopes to know all about them by the time the next election occurs.

Briefly…
The Paul Hogan Show’s Delvene Delaney and husband John Cornell have welcomed the arrival of their first daughter, Allira.

Cop Shop star Paula Duncan has welcomed her sister, Carmen, to Melbourne for her role in Seven’s new drama series Skyways.

Walter Sullivan will host the new series of ABC’s Capriccio when it returns this week.  Guest stars for the show this year include Jacki Weaver, Ed Devereaux, Diane Cilento and June Bronhill.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
”I am sick of people knocking ABC.  The ABC has a lot of problems – lack of money, lack of equipment – so their programming may be a bit chaotic.  But consider their public responsibility to show sports events, children’s and educational programs, current affairs and heavy culture.  How they cram in a little light entertainment is a source of continual amazement.” S. Lindsay, QLD.

“I wonder if ATN7, Sydney, knows how much CBN8/CWN6 mutilates the Seven Big League program?  We all put up with genuine product advertisements because they are an accepted and necessary part of commercial TV, but it seems CBN8 saves up the community service announcements for the football replay.” J. Lewis, NSW.

“Congratulations to ABC for showing The Best Of Parkinson and now Parkinson In Australia.  I enjoyed the first show and enjoying the second the second until Frank Hardy appeared on the scene.  From the moment he appeared he turned the interview into a monologue of himself, his manners and language were so atrocious as to be an embarrassment to most viewers.  What was he trying to prove?” D. Spencely, SA.

What’s On (May 12-18):
Weekend sport includes live coverage of the last two quarters of the VFL Match Of The Day on ABC, Saturday afternoon.  Football replays follow with Saturday Night Football on ABC and Seven’s Big League on HSV7.  Late on Saturday night, ABC presents the FA Cup Final, direct from Wembley Stadium, London.

This week’s guests on Parkinson In Australia (ABC, Saturday) are Kate Fitzpatrick, Bob Hawke and Jack Fingleton.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at Australian music over the last century – including film of The Beatles’ visit to Australia and interviews with Col Joye, Little Pattie and footage of the last TV interview with Johnny O’Keefe who passed away in late-1978.

The final episode of Marque: 100 Years Of Motoring (ABC, Thursday) looks at the future of the car industry and host Peter Wherrett chooses his favourite car from the whole series.

James Smillie, Carmel Millhouse and Briony Behets are guest stars in this week’s episodes of Prisoner (ATV0, Tuesday and Wednesday).

Sunday night movies: The Legend Of Lylah Clare (HSV7), Born Free (GTV9), The Last Hurrah (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 12 May 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: April 21-27

Busted!  Linda Stoner’s day in a real cop shop
Cop Shop newcomer Lynda Stoner (pictured, with co-star Gil Tucker) spent a day at Melbourne’s Russell Street police station to get some practical advice on the type of police work the actress may be expected to emulate in the popular Seven Network series.  The former Miss TV Times winner is also finding that, like in her previous role as a nurse in The Young Doctors, the uniforms are proving to be a bit of a problem: “I didn’t like the nurses uniform and this police uniform is a problem, too.  I’m two sizes bigger around the top than the bottom.  The skirts seem to sag while the buttons at the top do not have much chance of lasting long!”  

TV series for ethnic groups
The Government-funded Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is producing a series of three-hour programs to screen on ABC on Sunday mornings from later this month. Executive producer of the weekly program is Rowan Ayers, a former BBC executive who was recently a producer of special projects for the Nine Network.  Ayers was also an executive producer of the Nine documentary series The Africans, which screened earlier this month.  Although the series features programs of interest to as many as forty different ethnic groups, Ayers hopes that the programs offered by SBS will be of interest to all Australians:  “The series is not meant only for migrant groups.  We hope that all Australians will find it interesting as well and will learn about the different ethnic groups in this country.  Each program is basically a ‘network’ of different programs, some from other countries and others made in Australia.  We’ll have material from places such as Korea, Thailand, Greece, Italy, Germany, Turkey and France.”

Bert Newton in TV deal
The Nine Network is about to announce a new contract deal which will make Bert Newton (pictured) possibly the highest paid performer in Australian TV.  The Nine deal, which comes just after Newton was signed to a Melbourne radio station to a five-year contract worth $1 million, follows a very generous offer made by the Seven Network last year in response to Nine poaching Seven personalities including Brian Naylor and Paul Hogan.  The Seven offer eventually failed when network stations outside of Melbourne shirked at the cost of hiring someone whose popularity is not as strong outside of Melbourne.  The previous year, Newton, his on-air partner Don Lane and producer Peter Faiman were also made an offer to move The Don Lane Show across to ATV0.

Airport series set for take-off
Production is well underway on the new Seven Network drama series Skyways.  The series, set in an international airport, has a cast of thirteen – including Deborah Coulls (The Restless Years), Bartholomew John (The Young Doctors, The Penthouse Club), Bruce Barry, Tony Bonner (Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, Cop Shop), Ken James (Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, The Box), Joanne Samuel (Class Of ‘74, The Young Doctors), Brian James, Judy Morris, Gaynor Martin and New Zealand actor Bill Stalker (pictured).  No screening date or timeslot has been announced as yet but inside sources claim the series will be aimed for an early-evening timeslot.

High energy channel!
A report presented on BTQ7’s Haydn Sargent’s Brisbane, on an alternative source of energy, has gained national interest.  Producer Earle Bailey had found that the Horvath Energy System, invented by 49-year-old Stephen Horvath of Sydney, was given only minimal coverage in the southern states.  Bailey then sent a team to Sydney to assess the invention that claimed to produce everlasting, pollution-free and inexpensive energy by a fusion process using hydrogen and its isotopes.  It was claimed that the system, which Horvath had already installed in his car, could be mass-produced within 16 months, reducing the dependency on fossil fuels.  The BTQ7 report was later picked up by HSV7 Melbourne and TVW7 Perth and also distributed worldwide by Visnews.

Briefly…
The Seven Network has joined the Nine Network and ABC in bidding for the rights to televise the 1979-80 Australian Test cricket season.  The 0-10 Network may have dropped out of the race after Sydney press reported details of their bid to the Australian Cricket Board.

Plans to present an edition of The Don Lane Show from within Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison have been dropped.  Producer Peter Faiman said the show, to air this week, will still feature interviews and filmed stories from within the 150-year-old prison but will be presented from GTV9’s studios as usual.  Faiman also promised a surprise, saying that during the show they will breaking a major historic discovery.

After 21 months as Alison Clark in The Restless Years, Julieanne Newbould has asked to be written out of the show: “At the moment I don’t know what I’ll do.  But there comes a time when you can become typecast.”

The ‘Brian Tells Me So’ tune that TCN9 and GTV9 have been using to promote their newsreaders – Brian Henderson and Brian Naylor – has become so popular it is to be released as a single.

Former Number 96 and The Box star Briony Behets has agreed to a guest role in the new series Prisoner.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I am appalled that ABC would put such a blunderer as Ian Meldrum on air, especially as Countdown is one of their most popular shows.  A perfect example of this man’s foolishness was when he was talking to tennis star Vitas Gerulaitas and he addressed him as Bjorn.” J. Ward, QLD.

“I would like to say how exciting it is to see ABC coming back into current affairs with Nationwide.  The closing down of This Day Tonight and Monday Conference left ABC viewers with a feeling of desolation.” L. Mills, SA.

“Why is The Sullivans (pictured) screened every weeknight in Sydney and only twice a week in Perth?  It’s a bit lousy because Perth will never catch up with Sydney!” C. Simmonds, WA.

 

 

What’s On (April 21-27):
Weekend sport on ABC includes live coverage of the King’s Club Regatta from Adelaide and the World Hockey Tournament from Perth.

This Week Has Seven Days (HSV7, Saturday afternoon) features a segment on Australian varieties of lizards.  This week’s medical segment looks at skin burns. And the careers segment looks at the job of the veterinary nurse.

Documentary series This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) presents the first of a two-part episode on war.  Peter Luck talks to survivors of the German and Japanese prison camps.

Monday night on HSV7, Norman Gunston presents his first special for 1979 with international guests including Lee Marvin, the Bee Gees, Dinah Shore, Barry Manilow, Troy Donahue, Dionne Warwick, Karen Black and Harry Reems, a star of the adult film Deep Throat.

ABC presents the premiere of its new drama series Twenty Good Years.  The story begins in 1956.  Ron (Harold Hopkins) meets Anne (Anne Pendlebury), a Jewish girl.  When the relationship becomes series, both the couple (pictured) and their families are faced with some difficult decisions.  The series also stars Leila Hayes, John Murphy, Jonathan Hardy, Anne Charleston, Julia Blake and Michael Carman.

ANZAC Day is commemorated with various programs during the day.  ABC presents live coverage of the ANZAC Day March, followed by a special, The ANZAC Story, which looks at the ANZACs during the Great War 1914-18.  ATV0 presents a one-hour special Return To ANZAC, featuring the 1975 pilgrimage of 70 Australians to ANZAC Cove.  Later in the afternoon, ATV0 presents the ANZAC episode of the series Australians At War.

Sunday night movies: The Savage Bees (HSV7), Adventures Of A Taxi Driver (GTV9), Carry On Round The Bend (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 21 April 1979.  ABC/ACP