1979: September 15-21

Cover: Mike Walsh

Top job for Robyn
Actress Robyn Nevin has scored a major role in the upcoming mini-series Water Under The Bridge.  Nevin will play the role of over-possessive foster mother Shasta in the mini-series based on Sumner Locke Elliott’s novel.  The role will also provide Nevin a more personal challenge – she scored the role of chain-smoking Shasta only days after quitting the habit in real life, “but I plan to stop again once the series has finished.”  The million-dollar production, funded by the Victoria Film Corporation, Australian Film Commission, South Pacific Television (New Zealand) and the 0-10 Network, will be produced in Melbourne even though the story is set in Sydney in the 1930s and 1940s. 

Jarratt tip for TV Kelly
Sydney actor John Jarratt (pictured) is the hot favourite to win the lead role of Ned Kelly in the new Seven Network mini-series now in production.  Ian Jones and Against The Wind producer Bronwyn Binns are now working on locations, scripts and other logistics for a start to production soon.  Jones, however, was reluctant to give away any clues as to who would play the lead role: “It would be dreadful to release a statement about such a thing and then have the actor miss out on the role.”

Graham Kennedy: The man and the myth
TV Times presents the first instalment on a series of articles about Graham Kennedy.  Born on 15 February 1934, the young Kennedy lived with his grandmother after his parents had separated.  As a Melbourne schoolboy, he worked at his uncle’s barber shop in Collins Street, in the same building as the newsroom for Radio Australia – he was then offered a job as copy boy for the broadcaster.  But his big radio break came at the age of 17, as the sidekick to Melbourne radio legend Cliff Nicholls “Nicky” Whitta on 3UZ: “Nicky became my mentor.  I was his straight man.  He taught me how to use radio, not just be in it.  He taught me how to send up a commercial and sell it at the same time.”  A guest appearance on a GTV9 telethon in 1957 brought him to the attention of TV producers, looking for a host for the channel’s new tonight show, In Melbourne Tonight.  IMT producer Norm Spencer said of Kennedy, “I think Kennedy is the greatest TV salesman ever.  If he advertised a product, it sold.  He got comedy out of the commercial spots and his unique rubbishing a product made fortunes for manufacturers.  Mind you we often got into trouble with the (then) Control Board because sometimes an ad spot might run for five minutes, but how do you judge where a commercial pitch stops and the comedy starts?”  Writer Hugh Stuckey, who was one of the writers for the early In Melbourne Tonight shows, writing as many as 16 comedy spots a week plus nightly topical gags, remembers Kennedy would sometimes insult his writers on camera, particularly if a gag fell flat:  “Sometimes I had to be physically restrained while watching this at home on TV from driving back to the studio and donging him one!  (But) off-camera he was always pleasant to us and never complained about his material.”  Philip Brady, the butt of many Kennedy jokes, has worked with Kennedy for years but seldom saw him lose his temper.  Though, the 1975 incident where Kennedy’s ‘crow call’ saw him banned from appearing on live TV led to some cutting remarks about the Minister for the Media.  Watching the delayed telecast from his dressing room, he exploded when he saw that his comments had been cut out.  He stormed out of the studio and, according to Brady, “I don’t think he ever came back.” While many took the attitude that the King had lost his crown, he was back on-air in 1977 as the host of a new game show, Blankety Blanks, an adaptation of an American format.  The Kennedy ad lib magic turned the show into one of the biggest hits of the year.  Next Week: Graham Kennedy – Myths, money, movies and women.

Briefly…
The Seven Network has turned down the McCabe-Paradine series Paradise Valley, though they still want to show the pilot as a telemovie.

The Sullivans will be taking production overseas next year, with plans to tape scenes in the Netherlands.  It will be the first time that location filming for the series is to be done outside of Australia – as storylines that featured Changi prison, the Middle East and Europe were all filmed in Australia.

Actor Paul Karo has returned to Australia after a lengthy stay overseas.  The former The Box star has been offered a role in a touring stage production, Flexitime, as well as a guest role in The Sullivans.

Tom Burlinson (pictured) has announced he is leaving The Restless Years, having played the role of Mickey Pratt for over a year:  “I want to work in other areas, such as films and stage.”

Despite his recent return to The Sullivans, Andrew McFarlane is not in any hurry to re-commit to an ongoing role in the series.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I haven’t seen the movie Picnic At Hanging Rock, but I liked the book very much and was wondering when the movie will screen on TV.” D. Findlay, VIC. (TV Times responds: The Seven Network will screen it next year.)

“Congratulations on the new series of The Inventors, but the viewing public are still stuck with the ever-boring Diana Fisher.” R. Nelson, WA.

“I have watched every episode of The Sullivans, The Restless Years, Prisoner and The Young Doctors, and in my opinion the two outstanding actresses are Victoria Nicolls and Susan Hannaford.  Val Lehman, as Bea in Prisoner, is also excellent.  I know that June Salter won a best actress title last year, but she was always June Salter and not really Miss Mackenzie in The Restless Years.  I am over 80 and I always read every word in TV Times.” N. Montagu, NSW.

What’s On (September 15-21):
Ask The Leyland Brothers (GTV9, Saturday) travels to New Zealand to visit Queenstown and take a ride down the Shotover River.  The Leylands also visit South Australia’s Coorong Lagoon and discover some of the unique wildlife it supports.

In Prisoner (ATV0, Tuesday and Wednesday), Monica (Lesley Baker) is worried about her parole.  Bea Smith (Val Lehman) is released from solitary and is a changed woman.  Karen (Peita Toppano, pictured) gets involved in the prison reform group.

GTV9 reruns a one-hour telemovie, Do I Have To Kill My Child?, looking at child abuse, both physical and emotional, its causes and effects.  Starring Jackie Weaver, Brendon Lunney and Willie Fennell.

Jimmy Hannan hosts the 1979 Quest of Quests, a direct telecast from the Albert Hall, Canberra.  (GTV9, Wednesday)  A repeat of The Barry Humphries Show screens the same night on ATV0.

Sunday night movies: The Fourth Wish (HSV7), The Three Musketeers (GTV9), Hannie Calder (ATV0).  ABC screens A Family Man, starring Paul Mason, Jenny McNae, Moya O’Sullivan and Arkie Whiteley, the fourth instalment of the series of plays A Place In The World.  Other movies to appear during the week include: Last Tango In Paris (ATV0), Yours Mine And Ours (HSV7), The Great Escape (ATV0) and Rescue From Gilligan’s Island (GTV9).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 15 September 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: August 4-10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1979: July 21-27

TV’s bravest star
Being confined to a wheelchair has had little effect on the enthusiasm of actress Louise Philip.  Since her car accident, in late 1972 while on a break from the long-running series Bellbird, Philip has been paralysed from the waist down.  In a recent national magazine poll, Philip was ranked third as one of the most admired women in Australia.  As well as starring in TV series Cop Shop, Philip (pictured, with co-stars Terry Norris and Greg Ross) also runs a card shop in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley.  But such is her popularity in the series that when it appeared likely that she would leave the program, the fan mail begging her to stay was so overwhelming that her contract was renewed for a longer period than anyone else in the series.

Kelly rides again for TV
Former Crawfords producer Ian Jones admits that he has no idea who will play Ned Kelly in his upcoming mini-series The Last Outlaw.  Jones and Bronwyn Binns are preparing the series for the Seven Network.  Writing and pre-production is under way but Jones doesn’t want to comment on when production will start. 

At last, Sheila steals the show
Sheila Florance has fought against the odds, suffering personal tragedy and plugging away in showbusiness for 45 years but was never a star.  But now, since appearing in the 0-10 Network’s Prisoner, she is constantly recognised by people in the street, but doesn’t give any complaint of her past misery.  “You can’t afford to let things get you down or you go under.  I’ve always thought that way.”  Working in London during the war, with two babies and another on the way, Florance learned that her English husband had been killed.  While living in the Yorkshire countryside, she met her second husband, a Polish fighter pilot, Jan.   Having suffered severe injuries during the war, Jan was on crutches when the pair married in the early-1950s.  His health has deteriorated to the point where he is now a permanent invalid, but the pair battle on.  Florance has also had two of her four children pass away, one son died in England and a daughter died later after the family had come to Australia.  But for now, Florance is enjoying her new role as ‘lovable old rascal’ Lizzie Birdsworth (pictured) in Prisoner: “I think Lizzie is a gorgeous character. The public seem to like her, too, and when I watch the show I find she makes me laugh as well.  I know that sounds peculiar as I play the part, but it’s true.  When I watch Lizzie, I see nothing of myself at all – just a funny old lady.  Lizzie and I are so completely different.”

Newcastle: That’s Australia all over!
Mr and Mrs Typical Australia are alive and well and living in Newcastle, NSW.  The region, described once by former PM Sir Robert Menzies as “a microcosm of Australia,” is recognised by TV advertisers as the number one test market for new products and campaigns.  So what Newcastle buys today Australia may well be buying tomorrow.  As the only local commercial TV station in the region, NBN3 is the major outlet for advertisers wanting to reach this captive market of around 500,000 viewers throughout Newcastle and the Hunter Valley.  The channel is watched by approximately 60 per cent of viewing audience, many of who also have access to watching TV channels from Sydney, and in the 1977-78 financial year achieved a profit of $1.3 million.  General manager George Brown isn’t modest in discussing the success of the channel: “We are successful simply because we present 130 hours of good TV each week.  We buy the best possible programs from any place at any time.  We do things here before the rest of the Australian TV industry.”  NBN3 also produces about 20 hours of local content each week, including breakfast and children’s shows, including a local version of Romper Room, a local one-hour news bulletin each weeknight (believed to be the first one-hour news bulletin in Australia), a weekly performing arts program and a two-hour Sunday sports show.  The channel also produces the program Variety Italian Style which is shown nationally through the 0-10 Network.  Program manager John Kidd said that NBN also conducts regular surveys with a panel of 1000 local viewers to determine how a program is performing: “Our viewers are very interested in news and current affairs.  We were staggered, for instance, to see how well 60 Minutes did after only a short time on air.  By and large, successful Sydney programs are successful in Newcastle, but if a program is dying you will see it in Newcastle first.  We pulled out of Number 96 and The Box before Sydney because we thought those programs were dying.”  NBN3 is also proud of its commitment to the local community, with considerable amounts of airtime given to promoting local community causes and charities. 

Briefly…
While taping a drowning scene for the pilot episode of Paradise Village for the Seven Network, actress Suzy Gashler got caught in an undertow and had to be rescued by real lifesavers.  Once recovered, she re-did the scene – in shallower water.

Actress Deborah Coulls has spoken out about the circumstances surrounding her sudden exit from The Restless Years, last year: “So much was written about me that was distorted.  I came out of as a big-headed starlet who had been sacked for playing up.  Nothing was further from the truth.  The simple truth was that for one publicity call I overslept and was half an hour late.  The day after the incident I was carpeted.  In retrospect, though, it was obvious I was used as an object lesson for the rest of the cast.”  Coulls is now starring as a flight attendant in the new Seven Network series Skyways.

Prisoner actor Jim Smillie is providing the voices for the characters of Swag the Emu and Professor Wombat for a new indigenous children’s program, The Bush Bunch, currently being considered for purchase by the networks.  If it goes ahead the series is expected to cost around $40,000 an episode.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”How much longer do we have to have Tony Barber on Family Feud?  A few people I have spoken to feel the same way, finding him at times quite childish, bordering in being conceited.” A. Eveele, NSW.

“We are fans of Cop Shop and are hoping that when George Mallaby leaves, he will return soon.  We will miss him.” N & L Leoni, QLD.

“In my area we are unfortunate enough to only receive ABC and local CWN6.  During the week I must admit we do get some good programs, but this entails staying up late or missing them because we have to get up early for work.  But Friday, Saturday and Sunday when we like to have some entertainment and don’t mind staying up a little later we have very poor shows, particularly Saturdays and Sundays.” H. Slattery, NSW.

What’s On (July 21-27):
ABC’s Saturday Special is Rolf Harris In Concert, taped at the Perth Entertainment Centre and featuring Rolf Harris with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

ABC presents the final instalment of multicultural television programs from the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) on Sunday morning.

On Sunday afternoon GTV9 presents a replay of last Friday night’s Miss Universe 1979 pageant, held in Perth.

ATV0 begins a Monday night screening of police drama Matlock Police (pictured), featuring episodes from towards the end of the show’s run which had never previously screened though they were made three years earlier.

Marcia Hines, Jon English and The Little River Band are guest performers on The Paul Hogan Show, screening Wednesday night on GTV9.  Later in the week, the final episode of Marcia Hines’ series, Marcia’s Music (ABC, Friday) features guest performer Doug Parkinson.

Sunday night movies: Monty Python And The Holy Grail (HSV7), The Alf Garnett Saga (GTV9), Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (ATV0).

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