SBS scores jackpot in federal budget

SBS might not have had a ticket in last night’s OzLotto $70 million jackpot but it has won an even greater prize… more than $158 million over the next five years, as announced in the Federal Budget.

The funding boost is in contrast to the 2009 round of triennial funding which saw SBS denied funds intended for improving its digital broadcasting initiatives.

The increased funding for Australia’s second national broadcaster includes $63 million over the next four years to facilitate the network’s launching of a national free-to-air Indigenous channel by the end of 2012.

The new channel will largely incorporate the existing NITV, which launched in 2007 but has had limited capacity for market reach.  NITV is currently available via terrestrial broadcast only in remote and outback communities with access in larger, more populated areas limited to pay-TV platforms.  The new channel will be available via SBS digital television across Australia, through terrestrial broadcast as well as the VAST satellite system.

In a statement issued by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy said the increased funding will help SBS maintain its relevance in an increasingly competitive and changing media landscape:

“The Australian Government recognises SBS as one of Australia’s most important institutions.  This represents the most significant funding boost SBS has ever had, and will ensure SBS can continue to provide a unique broadcasting service that includes comprehensive television, radio and online services.”

“This additional funding will allow SBS to address its immediate financial pressures, adapt to the changing media environment and build or upgrade its technology capabilities.”

“The creation of a truly national free-to-air Indigenous television service, built on the foundations of the existing NITV service, will greatly expand the availability of Indigenous broadcast content for all Australians.”

The Budget has also allowed additional funding for ABC, in particular to allow Australians in regional and remote areas better access to ABC radio coverage.  The funding will also enable ABC to migrate distribution of its radio networks from the Optus Aurora satellite, which will cease at the end of 2013, to the Government-funded VAST system.

Australians who have direct satellite-to-home access to VAST will also gain access to ABC’s digital-only radio stations as a result of the transition. 

Source: DBCDE, SBS

Northern NSW going digital in November

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy has announced 27 November 2012 as the date for the switch-off of analogue television services in the Northern NSW coverage area (pictured).

The switch-off will affect local transmissions of ABC, Prime7 (NEN), NBN, Southern Cross Ten (NRN) and SBS in the Northern NSW regions of Newcastle/Hunter Valley, Tamworth/New England, Taree/Manning River, Richmond/Tweed Heads and Northern Rivers.

Some towns within the above regions may be identified for analogue switch-off before the November date, however a list of towns affected is yet to be finalised.

Excluded from the November switch-off will be the Gold Coast and Gosford/Central Coast areas which both fall within the Northern NSW market but overlap with the Brisbane and Sydney television licence areas respectively.  Those areas will have analogue services terminated in late 2013.

According to the latest Digital Tracker survey – covering the period October to December 2011 – 84 per cent of households in the Northern NSW market have already converted at least their main TV set to digital, compared to the national average of 82 per cent.

In preparation for the analogue switch-off, broadcasters are establishing seven new transmission sites to improve areas of poor digital reception, but viewers within the coverage area that are unable to receive an adequate digital signal by 27 May may be eligible for transition to the satellite-based VAST system which will provide access to all free-to-air networks and their digital multi-channels.

Households requiring practical or financial assistance in making the transition to digital television may be eligible for government support and are advised to consult the Digital Ready website or telephone 1800 20 10 13.

The Northern NSW analogue switch-off will follow that of the Southern NSW, Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and ACT markets which are due to switch to digital-only transmission on 5 June this year.

Source: DBCDE

Nine Darwin – 40 years today

Although television started in Sydney and Melbourne in 1956 it wasn’t too much longer before other capital cities joined in – Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in 1959, Hobart in 1960, Canberra in 1962 – but for people in Australia’s smallest and most isolated capital city it was a much longer wait.

It was 1971 before television arrived in the Northern Territory capital of Darwin.  The first channel to air was ABC’s local outlet ABD6, opening in August 1971.

Darwin’s first commercial channel, NTD8, opened three months later – 11 November, 1971.  The first program on opening night was an Australian classic, Skippy The Bush Kangaroo.

Although Darwinites are known to like a drink, apparently the arrival of television had a major impact on attendances at Darwin pubs as many would race home to enjoy the wonders of the new medium.  This would potentially be of concern to the local brewers, except that at the time Swan Breweries was a major shareholder in NTD8 and, as the sole commercial channel in town, business was thriving.

Colour television was to arrive formally in March 1975.  In a TV Times article in October 1974, it was reported that NTD8 was confident that it was on schedule to have its facilities upgraded for colour in time for the March deadline.  The ABC, however, was less optimistic.  With a vast network of hundreds of transmitter sites Australia-wide to be converted, ABD6 was far down the list of sites to be enabled for colour – with a tentative conversion date of sometime in 1978!

But on Christmas Day, 1974 – barely two months after the article’s publication – Darwin was devastated by Cyclone Tracy.  Much of the city was destroyed and Darwin faced a mass evacuation to bring the population down from 45,000 to 10,000 within days as the recovery effort took place.

The cyclone took out all television and radio stations but the ABC, as the national broadcaster, was able to get ABD6 and its radio services back on the air within days.  NTD8, however, was less fortunate and took until October 1975 to return to the airwaves – providing even then a fairly rudimentary service.

But in the years to follow the city of Darwin was re-built as was NTD8.  The channel also undertook a $2 million redevelopment of its studios in the early 1980s, although transmission hours by 1982 were still largely limited to the evenings, with daytime broadcasting only on Sundays and Wednesdays.  The channel was also limited in communication infrastructure to the major cities, as the only inbound microwave link available to Darwin was leased full-time to ABC – leaving NTD with little means of timely access to national news stories or program material from interstate.  The channel did, however, maintain local programming including local sports coverage and discussion and a current affairs program, Spectrum.

The monopoly situation with the microwave link was rectified by 1982, finally giving NTD8 an instant connection to the major cities and enabling it to launch its first news service, News At Seven, in October of that year, initially in affiliation with the Nine Network but later changed to Seven.  One of the original members of the News team was Andrew Bruyn, who became the channel’s general manager in 1991 and continues in that role today.

By the mid-1980s, NTD8 was part of a bid to obtain the licence to operate a Remote Commercial Television Service (RCTS) to remote central Australia via the new AUSSAT domestic satellite.  The bid was unsuccessful, with the licence instead going to Imparja Television, operated by the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA). 

NTD lodged an appeal against the decision but in the meantime the channel was bought out by Kerry Packer, who sought to negotiate operating the new channel as a joint venture with CAAMA but at the last minute his company withdrew the appeal and CAAMA proceeded to launch Imparja in January 1988.

When Packer regained control of the Nine Network in 1990, NTD8 was brought into the network.  Despite ownership by Nine, NTD8 as the sole commercial broadcaster in Darwin continued with the Channel 8 branding, providing a composite schedule of programming from all three commercial networks. 

In 1994, Darwin became the last capital city in Australia to gain access to SBS – and it was 1998 before a second commercial channel, Seven Darwin, was launched in Darwin.

The launch of Seven Darwin (now Southern Cross Television) then saw NTD8’s schedule change to a mix of Nine and Ten network programs until New Year’s Day, 2003, when the channel was re-branded as Nine Darwin, even though it was still broadcasting on Channel 8.  The change saw the loss of most Network Ten programming and local access to a full-scale Ten schedule was not to arrive until 2008 with the launch of Darwin Digital Television (DDT).

DDT launched as a digital-only channel operated jointly between Southern Cross and Nine and the new channel gave incentive for viewers to convert to digital television, leading to Darwin adopting digital television at a faster rate than most other markets.  In the latest Digital Tracker survey, of the markets still in simulcast between analogue and digital, Darwin is leading the nation in digital conversion – with 89 per cent of households having converted their main television set, compared to the national average of 81 per cent.

Despite the arrival of competition – and the subsequent suite of digital multi-channels – into what is Australia’s smallest capital city (population: 120,000) Nine Darwin continues to take pride as the market leader and maintains its local reputation with its flagship being the local Nine News bulletin, fronted by Jonathon Uptin (pictured).  Production of the local newscast has recently been revamped to match the look and style of its Nine Network counterparts in the eastern states. 

As well as maintaining the Nine Network schedule the channel also conducts occasional local programming initiatives, ranging in topics including local history and recreational activities, and provides commercial production facilities to its local clients. 

Nine Darwin also provides transmission of Nine’s digital channels GO! and GEM.  Darwin is scheduled to switch to digital-only television transmission in the second half of 2013.

Source: NTD, Digital Tracker, TV Times, CAAMA, Australian Television Archive

1991: October 19-25

Wandin Valley party
The Seven Network’s A Country Practice turns ten years old next month.  The planned celebration for cast, crew and media is to be held later this month in Sydney – but for three cast members it will also be a farewell party.  Gordon Piper, Syd Heylen and Matt Day are leaving the series, to be followed in the new year by Georgie Parker and John Tarrant.  But one cast member who has been there since day one is Shane Porteous (pictured, with Parker), who recalls a discussion early in the show’s run about its chances of lasting ten years.  “We talked about it, but quickly woke up to ourselves!” he says.  “The most amazing thing about celebrating 10 years is there are kids now in high school who cannot remember A Country Practice not being on TV!  It’s a feather in the cap of the formula.” 

Skipping back!
TV Week has visited the set of The New Adventures Of Skippy, the Nineties remake of the 1960s classic.  The series, being made at the Habitat Wildlife Park on the Gold Coast, stars Andrew Clarke (pictured), Fiona Shannon, Moya O’Sullivan, Kate McNeil, Simon James… and a new Skippy, although unlike the original this one does all her own stunts – no close-ups of fake stick-like paws that do anything from starting lawnmowers to cracking bank safes.  The New Adventures Of Skippy has already been pre-sold to the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy.

Mummy dearest!
Production is underway on the fifth season of the ABC’s Mother And Son – and Ruth Cracknell is having a great time playing geriatric Maggie Beare.  “Never will I think twice about playing Maggie,” she told TV Week.  “Maggie is a character you slip back into pretty quickly.  The thing that makes the show a success is that you get a crowd around you while you’re filming – people who are just as rapt in the show.  They all come – it’s most extraordinary.  That level of interest will always be there as long as the scripts are kept to the standard they are now.”  One of the guest stars to feature in the latest series is former A Country Practice and E Street star Joan Sydney, who joins Maggie for a spot of gambling at the races.  “They have a wonderful day together and get stuck into the champagne,” says Cracknell.

Briefly…
Production is due to start in the new year on a third series of ABC’s Embassy, although this time around there will be a number of cast members missing.  Bryan Marshall, Nina Landis and Janet Andrewartha will not be appearing in the new episodes as producers give the show “a new direction”.

Former Home And Away and Hampton Court star Adam Willits has spoken of being “bashed” by British police when it was suspected he was breaking into the hotel he was staying at while on tour for the Home And Away musical.  “I couldn’t understand why they wanted to arrest me when I had the key in my hand.  They tried to cuff me and I resisted.  The police thought that the only way to get me in cuffs was to give me a few thwacks around the head,” he said.  “I never touched them.  I only tried to resist them putting the handcuffs on me.”  He was later released without being charged.   

Actor Cameron Daddo and fiancee Alison Brahe (pictured) have set a date for their wedding.  Engaged earlier this year, the pair are set to marry before Christmas.  They are currently living in Melbourne, where Daddo is working on the spin-off series from the Bony telemovie.  Model Brahe is set to start work soon on a new children’s show, Guess What?, to be produced for the Nine Network.

John Laws says…
”Did you notice that the sky hasn’t fallen in at SBS?  Did you notice the network hasn’t lost its credibility?  Did you notice that the SBS range of programs remains as diversified as ever?  I say this because it’s some months now since SBS began screening advertisements and we can all recall the prophets of doom who were predicting that SBS as we know it would be besmirched and changed forever – for the worst – if it accepted advertising.  The predictions, of course, were nonsense.  Advertising has been accepted into the SBS format with absolutely no problems.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, October 19-25):
Saturday:  ABC presents live coverage of the First Quarter-Final and Second Quarter-Final of the Rugby World Cup. 

Sunday:  Ten crosses to the Gold Coast for the Uncle Toby’s Ironman Super Series, while Nine crosses to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix.  Sunday night movies are A View To A Kill (Seven), Ghostbusters II (Nine) and Dragnet (Ten).

Monday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), the strange behaviour of Matron Prior’s (Maureen Edwards) son conceals a mystery, and plumbers apprentice Grant Frazer (Rob Carlton) hides a personal problem – until it’s almost too late.  In Col’n Carpenter (Ten), Colin (Kim Gyngell) starts to doubt his own sanity and agrees to see a psychiatrist.

Tuesday:  In Chances (Nine), Alex’s (Jeremy Sims) loyalty and love for Paris (Annie Jones) is tested when her father makes an offer that Alex may not be able to refuse.  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Maxine Gray reports on a drug which, when administered to addicts, triggers massive, rapid withdrawal that leaves their bodies opiate free.

Wednesday: In Hey Dad! (Seven), it’s council clean up day and Martin (Robert Hughes) rouses the troops to do their bit.

Thursday:  Test cricketer Merv Hughes makes a guest appearance in The Flying Doctors (Nine) as the Coopers Crossing Crusaders take on the Broken Hill Brumbies.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  19 October 1991.  Southdown Press

SBS to Go Back for a second time

The controversial SBS documentary series Go Back To Where You Came From, putting a reality show twist into the ongoing debate on asylum seekers, is to be renewed for a second series with hopes that the concept will also be sold overseas.

AdNews reports that producers Cordell Jigsaw will be revisiting the concept for SBS, but will be adding in some surprising twists to keep the idea fresh.

Go Back To Where You Came From screened over three nights last month on SBS1, attracting the channel’s highest ratings for the year so far, with a repeat screening on digital channel SBS2.  Last week the six Australians to feature on the “reverse journey” of the refugees were reunited for a studio forum hosted by Anton Enus.

The first episode, screened on SBS1 on 21 June, was watched by an average of 524,000 viewers across the five major capital cities.  The second and third episodes were watched by 569,000 and 600,000 viewers respectively.  SBS reports that overall the series had a national audience reach (based on 5 minute consecutive viewing) of more than two million viewers plus more than 139,000 unique browsers to the show’s accompanying website and more than 115,000 views of online video content from the program. 

The landmark series became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter and also gained the attention of the rival media outlets in Australia and the international media, most notably The New York Times. 

Michael Cordell, co-owner and executive producer of Cordell Jigsaw, told AdNews that there had so far been no formal approach from any international broadcaster but the concept of Go Back To Where You Came From could be easily adapted for other international markets, specifically the UK and United States.

Source: AdNews

Alice Springs and Mt Isa ready for digital

Viewers in the capital cities may take for granted that their main commercial channels have been broadcasting in digital for over a decade, and that a range of other channels have since sprung up to offer some more viewing alternatives – but for viewers in the more remote parts of Australia those options are only just appearing.

Although ABC and SBS and their respective multi-channels have been broadcast in digital for some time, tomorrow (Monday) will mark the commencement of digital transmission in the remote towns of Alice Springs and Mount Isa for commercial channels Imparja Television and Southern Cross Television.

Up until now viewers have still only had the option to see those networks via analogue transmission.

The day will also mark the commencement of the new third commercial channel operated by Central Digital Television Pty Ltd, a joint venture between both Imparja and Southern Cross to offer viewers with a regular Network Ten signal.  The channel will broadcast exclusively in digital and marks the return of regular Network Ten programming to these areas since Imparja dropped its Ten affiliation in 2008.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) advises that the commercial networks will be offering the full suite of digital channels as are currently available via the VAST satellite platform.

Alice Springs viewers will find their channels on the following frequencies:

	Analogue	Digital
ABC	VHF7	VHF8
Southern Cross	UHF31	UHF38
Imparja	VHF9	UHF30
Central Digital (Ten)	n/a	UHF40
SBS	UHF28	VHF6

And Mount Isa:

	Analogue	Digital
ABC	VHF6	VHF7
Southern Cross	VHF8	UHF37
Imparja	UHF32	UHF39
Central Digital (Ten)	n/a	UHF31
SBS	UHF29	VHF9A

ACMA advises that a further 26 transmission sites within the Remote Central and Eastern television region will be upgraded for digital transmission of the above networks according to an implementation schedule to be submitted by the broadcasters.

The Remote Central and Eastern television regions are scheduled to lose all analogue transmission in the second half of 2013. 

Source: ACMA

Royal Weddings: 1981 and today

Tonight (Australian time), an estimated two billion viewers worldwide will be watching the long-awaited wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton at London’s Westminster Abbey.

The wedding marks the culmination of a media circus that has seen the world’s major broadcasters all converge on London to breathlessly bring viewers in their respective countries every known detail of the wedding – and where there are no facts to report, there has been lots and lots of speculation. 

In Australia there will be live prime-time coverage of the wedding via ABC1, ABC News 24, Seven, Nine and Ten – while 7TWO and GEM will also be utilised to work around sporting commitments for Seven and Nine. 

ABC2’s proposed alternative coverage featuring commentary from the Chaser boys has been controversially axed at the last minute following orders received from the royal family that no coverage shall be used for a satirical nature.

Despite the ruling affecting the Chaser, Network Ten is expected to continue its light-hearted wedding coverage, to be fronted by Nova FM presenters Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald and Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli, bookended by a special edition of The 7PM Project and a late-night edition of The Circle.  The Nine Network’s planned coverage is also set to include an appearance by Dame Edna Everage. 

Pay TV is also getting in on the event with BBC World News, UKTV, E!, Fox News, CNN and Sky News all providing various levels of coverage.

SBS has decided not to partake in all this wedding excitement and its main channel SBS1 will broadcast its normal Friday night fare, including its late-night ‘adults only’ series How To Get More Sex.

The Australian media’s hysteria surrounding the wedding of William and Kate is not entirely unlike that of the wedding of William’s parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral in July 1981.

Like today’s ceremony, the 1981 royal wedding was an Australian TV network programmer’s dream with the ceremony landing straight into Australian prime-time schedules. 

The ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten networks all provided saturation coverage of the wedding with their own correspondents and celebrities despatched to London to provide daily reports in the lead-up to the event and to present commentary on the day’s activities.  Coincidentally, Ten’s celebrity royal wedding correspondent in 1981, Ita Buttrose, is performing a similar role for the Nine Network in 2011.

For Sydney and Melbourne viewers, the only viewing alternative on the night of Wednesday, 29 July 1981, was the then relatively new Channel 0/28, whose lineup of foreign-language movies (Persche Si Uccide Magistrate from Italy, and Buynu Bükük from Turkey) were probably not the most useful viewing alternatives in an era where there were few other viewing options available – no pay-TV, few households had VCRs and there was no such thing as the internet.

Ratings for the night showed that viewers easily preferred the Nine Network’s coverage, with Melbourne’s GTV9 scoring a rating of 34 points in the prime time of 8-8.30pm, followed by ABV2 (20 per cent), HSV7 (15 per cent), ATV10 (10 per cent) and 0/28 coming last with zero per cent.  An hour-and-a-half later, GTV9 was still in front on 31 per cent, followed by ABV2 (17 per cent), ATV10 (15 per cent), HSV7 (13 per cent) and 0/28 (one per cent).

In Sydney, TCN9’s prime-time coverage peaked at a score of 41 per cent, followed by ABN2 (16 per cent), TEN10 (14 per cent), ATN7 (11 per cent) and 0/28 (one per cent).

A handful of commercial channels declined to cover the Charles and Diana wedding – including Adelaide’s ADS7 who instead decided to show a John Wayne movie (The Sons Of Katie Elder) with a delayed telecast of the wedding ceremony the following day.  However, ADS7’s decision to provide an alternative was not well rewarded as the channel fared last in the evening’s ratings and scoring only a third of the viewers of its nearest competitor, ABS2.

Source: The Age, 7 August 1981.  The Age, 11 August 1981. Sydney Morning Herald, 6 August 1981.  TV Week, 25 July 1981.

UPDATE @ 15.00 AEST 30.4.2011:  The Seven Network has won the ratings for the night of Friday 29 April:  Seven (29.8%), Nine (22.7%), ABC1 (18.3%), 7TWO (8.0%), Ten (7.5%), SBS1 (2.7%), GO! (2.4%), 7mate (1.9%), GEM (1.7%*), ABC2 (1.6%), Eleven (1.6%), One (0.5%), SBS2 (0.5%), ABC3 (0.4%), ABC News 24 (0.4%*).

* Excludes simulcasts with standard definition channels.

SBS gets new managing director

Australia’s second national broadcaster SBS has announced the appointment of Michael Ebeid (pictured) as its new managing director.

Ebeid, who takes on his new position in June, replaces current managing director Shaun Brown who will be retiring after five years in charge of the multicultural broadcaster.

Egyptian-born Ebeid joins SBS from rival national broadcaster ABC, where he is currently in charge of corporate strategy and marketing.  His appointment to SBS comes as the broadcaster faces continued financial pressures from the challenges of government funding and increased competition from rival broadcasters on the digital television platform. 

SBS chairman Joe Skrzynski has told media in a statement:

"Mr Ebeid brings to SBS a special set of personal and professional skills, with the right blend of operational and strategic experience from his twenty-four years in the Media, Telecommunications and IT technology sectors which represent the three arms of the convergence changing the entertainment and information landscape in Australia.

"He is extremely well suited to lead SBS in its mission to promote social harmony by helping migrants to settle and participate fully in Australian society, and assisting all Australians to understand and appreciate the benefits of cultural diversity."

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy also welcomed SBS’ new appointment:

"The Gillard Government looks forward to working with Mr Ebeid in his role as Managing Director of our highly valued national broadcaster. 

“It is particularly significant that Mr Ebeid, who came to Australia from Egypt as a young child, is the first Managing Director of Australia's multicultural national broadcaster who is a first generation migrant from a non-English speaking background."

Even Ebeid’s current boss, ABC managing director Mark Scott sent a brief congratulation via Twitter:

“Congratulations to Mike Ebeid, from the ABC Executive, on winning the SBS job.”

Current managing director Brown was promoted to managing director of SBS in 2006, having previously been in charge of the broadcaster’s television operation.  His four-year term as managing director was extended by a year while a replacement was being found.

While in charge of SBS, Brown led two of its more controversial initiatives – the inclusion of commercial breaks within television programs, departing from SBS’ long-held policy of placing commercials only between programs, and changes to its news coverage which led to a period of unrest and ultimately the departure of long-time newsreader Mary Kostakidis.

On a more positive note, under Brown’s leadership SBS re-launched the digital World News Channel as SBS2, despite the lack of government funding support, and digital radio broadcasts.  SBS also expanded its commercial business into pay-TV with the arts-themed channel STVDIO, and increased its online presence at sbs.com.au.

Source: The Australian, Media Spy, DBCDE, Mark Scott

1991: February 2-8

Welcome to my nightmare!
A Country Practice marks its 800th episode with a horrifying leap into the future.  In the episodes to screen next week, Lucy Tyler (Georgie Parker, pictured) experiences a nightmare triggered by the arrival of a film crew in Wandin Valley for production of a post-holocaust movie.  In the dream, Wandin Valley has suffered a nuclear attack and Lucy finds the town and surrounds have been destroyed and her fellow Wandin Valley residents all haggard and suffering radioactive illness.  “It’s quite a philosophical episode, in that we had to try and not get too idealistic about the environment issues,” Parker told TV Week.  “We had to make it digestible, and I think that we managed to do that.”

Tammy’s in love… and nervous!
”My first scene is sex.  I’ve never done anything like that before… I was petrified,” says Tammy MacIntosh (pictured), formerly of The Flying Doctors, describing her arrival into Nine’s adults-only drama Chances.  MacIntosh plays Mandy Foster, assistant and lover of advertising executive Alex Taylor (Jeremy Sims).  “I tell you it feels strange when you have your own love life and you’re there kissing someone else,” she says.  MacIntosh was offered a two-year contract for Chances, to play another role, but was reluctant to commit to another long-running series and opted for the short-term role of Mandy Foster instead.  “I’ve learnt I get all tied up when I do a long series. I get bored, then I go a bit mad,” she says.

Greg’s new date is not just a pretty face!
Meet Greg Evans’ new perfect match, Nicky Buckley (pictured).  The 25-year-old Melbourne model beat 140 other hopefuls to be the hostess of Blind Date, the revival of the show previously known as Perfect Match.  Buckley has worked in the UK and the United States and last year was a model on Sale Of The Century.  But she is more than just a pretty face.  She has studied economics and accounting at university, speaks French, is learning to play the piano and is keen to take up Italian and Italian history this year.  “She is a delightful girl, so amiable and friendly,” Evans told TV Week.  “I think we’re going to get along famously.”  Blind Date begins this week on Network Ten.

Briefly…
Bert Newton (pictured) is set to re-enter Melbourne’s radio market with plans to “lease” ailing radio station 3AK from the station’s owner Peter Corso.  Newton, entering the new venture with business partner Tony Aloi, is set to present the morning shift on the station but has yet to announce who will occupy the other slots in the new-look station, which is currently broadcasting in Italian to few listeners.  It is Newton’s second chance at building a radio station, having previously been in charge of former station 3DB.

Former Young Talent Time and Neighbours cast member Mark Stevens takes on a new image in a guest role as a heavy-metal rocker in Nine’s new comedy series All Together Now.    “My character is a real punk with shoulder-length hair and a studded leather jacket,” he told TV Week. 

Despite studying classical ballet for sixteen years, Sonia Todd is out to prove that she is as good as the boys in the upcoming action series Police Rescue for ABC.  “All the writers and 10 of the directors for the series are men,” Todd (pictured, with co-star Gary Sweet) told TV Week.  “It was a constant battle to let them know I was capable of the action work.”

 

John Laws says…
”SBS television programmers must know something the rest of us don’t.  They must have top-secret information that scattered around Australia are tens of thousands of Russians or Russian-speaking people, all desperately anxious to catch up on the news each day from the dear old motherland.  Why else would our independent broadcaster spend money and time on screening the Russian news program Vremya each weekday at 2.00pm?  This cold whiff of brain-deadening television screens in Russian (without subtitles!) for some 40 minutes and you don’t have to speak the Moscow lingo to quickly realise that it’s little more than tedious communist propaganda.  So what’s the reasoning behind it?  If SBS was showing the nightly news program from Greece or Italy I could understand it.  But Russia!?  There is a further silly side to the whole fiasco.  SBS goes to air with Vremya at 2.00pm – then closes down again when the program finishes!  It returns to begin the “real” programs an hour and 20 minutes later.”

Program Highlights (February 2-8):
Saturday:  Tony Johnston and newcomer Nerida Leishman (pictured) host the return of Nine’s early morning Cartoon Company.  Afternoon sport includes the Davis Cup tennis from Perth on Seven and the Fifth Test cricket from Perth on Nine.

Sunday:  The AFL pre-season Foster’s Cup kicks off with Fitzroy versus Carlton, live on Seven.  Nine has Day Three of the Fifth Test from Perth and Ten crosses to Queensland for the Ironman Super Series.  Sunday night movies are Infidelity (Seven), Shakedown On The Sunset Strip (Nine) and The Chocolate War (Ten).

Monday:  Network Ten’s Good Morning Australia launches a revamped look, with Kerri-Anne Kennerley joined by new co-host Tim Webster.  Also joining the show this year are newsreader Anne Fulwood, weather presenter Shannon Dolan and science whiz Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.  The morning show now has a lighter, brighter format with more emphasis on entertainment, consumer affairs, recreation, health and sport.  Later in the day Ten launches its new 5.30pm game show, Let’s Make A Deal with Vince Sorrenti, followed by Ten Eyewitness News and then the debut of Blind Date, with Greg Evans and Nicky Buckley.  Late night programs Tonight Live With Steve Vizard (Seven) and Robbo’s World Tonight (Nine) return for another year.

Tuesday:  Seven’s popular science and technology show Beyond 2000 begins another year.  In Nine’s new drama series Chances, Connie’s (Deborah Kennedy) long-lost husband re-appears on the scene – is he after a reconciliation or a slice of the family’s recent lottery win?

Wednesday:  Seven presents live coverage of the Foster’s Cup match between Footscray and Hawthorn, from VFL Park in Melbourne. 

Thursday:  In E Street, Reverend Bob (Tony Martin, pictured with Penny Cook) shocks everyone with the announcement that he is leaving Westside as his blossoming relationship with Dr Elly Fielding (Cook) appears to have stalled as she looks set to have patched things up with her estranged husband David (Noel Hodda).  ABC presents the final edition of Aboriginal affairs program Blackout. 

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 2 February 1991. Southdown Press.

D-Day for regional SA

The second stage of the national phase-out of analogue television takes place today (Wednesday) at 9.00am (CDT) when analogue transmissions are switched off in regional South Australia – affecting local broadcasts for ABC, SBS, WIN and WIN Ten (Mount Gambier and Riverland) and Southern Cross GTS/BKN and Southern Cross Ten (Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill).

The analogue switch-off for regional South Australia comes almost six months after the analogue signals in Mildura/Sunraysia were turned off.

The most recent Digital Tracker survey, covering the months July to September this year, found that 81 per cent of households in the affected areas have made the switch to digital television.  If the Mildura experience is anything to go by then that number could be as high as 99 per cent by the time the analogue signals are turned off. 

Both Southern Cross and WIN will gain additional broadcast spectrum after the analogue switch-off to allow them to broadcast the commercial network multi-channels.  Currently both broadcasters have capacity only for broadcasting the primary channels affiliated to the Seven, Nine and Ten networks.

Viewers that had access to the analogue signals but are unable to receive the replacement digital signals will have access to the VAST (Viewer Access Satellite Television) satellite platform, providing access to the full suite of digital channels plus a local news channel.  Households wishing to access VAST may be eligible for government subsidies to assist with the changeover.

More information can be found at Digital Ready and myVAST.

1990: December 8-14

Cover: Olivia Newton-John

Hey Hey it’s… London…?
Hey Hey It’s Saturday host Daryl Somers is set to make an appearance on Aussie expat Clive James’ popular British show, Saturday Night Clive. Somers is hopeful that the appearance could lead to Hey Hey being sold to an international audience.  “I feel we’ve given England such a diet of soapies that it’s about time they copped some comedy/variety/night-time/morning type of stuff.  They just want to talk about me being on TV for a long time, and the show I do, which is unique.  I know Clive and he’s very aware of that uniqueness,” Somers told TV Week.

Oscar winner aims for Oz glory!
Oscar-winning American actor Denzel Washington is likely to win the lead role in the Seven Network mini-series Tracks Of Glory, which goes into pre-production soon.  Producers Barron Films have also been negotiating with LA Law star Blair Underwood, but Washington is now the favourite for the lead role of American champion cyclist “Major” Taylor.  Among the Australian cast list for the mini-series are Cameron Daddo (Bony), Justine Clarke (Home And Away) and John Wood (Rafferty’s Rules).  Tracks Of Glory is set in the 1920s and follows the story of Taylor as he comes to Australia to compete in the richest cycling event in the world.

The show will go on!
Hey Hey It’s Saturday’s Daryl Somers is choosing his words carefully when he announces the disintegration of DAS Entertainment, the nine-year partnership between himself, Gavan Disney and Ernie Carroll, which produces the popular Nine Network program:  “We’ve discussed it.  It’s a mutually agreed split.  Hey Hey will continue, as we are contracted to do until the end of 1991, and we all looking forward to it in a very positive way.  We want the split to be as professional and businesslike as possible, and because we are involved in working that out – the entanglement of contractual obligations with DAS and the (Nine) network and so on – I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to go into great detail at this stage.  But I think it’s safe to say that DAS will be no longer.  Next year the program will be produced by another entity.” Somers and Carroll are expected to take over producing the show – although plans to bring Jacki MacDonald back into the program appear to have stalled.

Briefly…
As the financial situation at Network Ten continues to crumble, producer Ian McFadyen (pictured) is confident that the network will pick up a proposed sitcom he has been discussing with them – a concept based around the lives of employees at a television station.  McFadyen is also confident that Ten will renew sitcom Let The Blood Run Free for a second series.  Meanwhile, his company, Media Arts, also has a deal to produce a sitcom, Newlyweds, for the Seven Network in partnership with Crawfords Australia.  The new sitcom is set to be a starring vehicle for former Neighbours star Annie Jones.

ABC has renewed drama series Embassy for a second series.  The renewal comes after controversy, as Malaysia accused the show’s fictional setting of Ragaan of “making fun” of their country and consequently cancelled official visits to Australia and suspended trade talks, prompting Prime Minister Bob Hawke to step in and reassure Malaysians that the program is entirely fictional.

Aussie actress, former Number 96 and Skyways star Carmen Duncan (pictured), playing the role of bitchy Iris Carrington Wheeler in the US soap Another World, has been named by Soap Weekly magazine as one of the “most desirable women on American television”.  Her character has also been voted one of the most popular on American daytime TV.

Seven Network series A Country Practice has clocked up 800 episodes.  Given the current financial situation at Seven, still in receivership, the cast and crew of the series were allowed only a small celebration at Seven’s Sydney studios.

Neighbours star Ashley Paske has announced that he will not renew his contract with the Network Ten series when it expires in January.  He is expected to be seen on-air until May.

John Laws says:
“SBS has had a great year.  Its fine coverage of the World Cup soccer – possibly more extensive than any other station in the world – was the highlight.  It, more than anything, put the station on the map.”

Program Highlights (December 8-14):
Sunday:  Tennis (Colonial Mutual Men’s Invitational) on ABC.  Golf (Johnnie Walker Classic) on HSV7 and cricket (Benson And Hedges World Series) on GTV9.  Sunday night movies are North Dallas Forty (GTV9) and Stones For Ibarra (ATV10).  HSV7 presents the first instalment of mini-series George Washington.

Monday:  ABC presents a repeat of Geoffrey Robertson’s Hypotheticals, featuring John Halfpenny, Glenn Wheatley, Keith Williams and Wilson Tuckey.

Tuesday:  Prime Minister Bob Hawke presents the Walkley Awards, buried in a broadcast of the National Press Club Luncheon, on ABC at 1.00pm.

Friday:  The final 1990 edition of the late-night Robbo’s World Tonight on GTV9.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 8 December 1990. Southdown Press.

Victorian towns in analogue switch-off

Regional Victoria is not scheduled to lose analogue transmissions until May next year, but a handful of towns have been the exception and have already had their analogue signals switched off – with more towns to follow in the new year.

Local analogue transmissions in the Mansfield Shire towns of Howqua and Bonnie Doon were switched off today.  ABC and SBS have already been broadcasting in digital in Bonnie Doon, with Prime, WIN and Southern Cross Ten commencing digital broadcasting today as the analogue services were switched off. 

In Howqua, all five networks commenced digital broadcasting today to coincide with the switch-off of analogue.

The towns of Hopetoun, Lorne, Jeeralang/Yinnar South and Boolarra will also have a similar transition from analogue to digital-only broadcasting in February next year.

Prime, WIN and Southern Cross Ten have also joined ABC and SBS in digital broadcasting today in Mansfield, Eildon and Alexandra – with those towns included in the statewide analogue shutdown in May.

The town of Jamieson is served by community-based transmission infrastructure which will not be upgraded to digital after analogue switches off in May.  Viewers in Jamieson will have access to VAST satellite service to gain access to ABC, SBS and commercial television broadcasts, and government subsidies are available to eligible households to assist in the transition.  VAST will give viewers who can not access digital terrestrial television the full range of digital channels via ABC, SBS, Imparja (Nine), Southern Cross Television (Seven) and Ten Central plus a local news channel.

The early and quick transition to digital-only broadcasting in these towns is due to lack of availability of broadcast spectrum to enable simulcasting between analogue and digital for all networks.

The remainder of the regional Victoria market (outside of Mildura/Sunraysia which has already lost analogue transmission) will lose all analogue TV broadcasts on 5 May 2011.

More information on the digital transition, including details of the household assistance schemes, can be found at the Digital Ready website or telephone 1300201013.

Source: Digital Ready

Eric Fullilove

Film and television producer and director Eric Fullilove, one of the names behind legendary series Skippy The Bush Kangaroo and a pioneer producer for SBS, has died at the age of 85.

An established film producer with many years’ experience, English-born Fullilove first came to Australia with the Royal Navy in 1952 to film the detonation of the first British atomic bomb, in the Montebello Islands off the West Australian coast. 

By the mid-1960s, Fullilove emigrated to Australia as a “Ten Pound Pom” and became involved in Australia’s fledgling film and television industry – working on programs including Boney, Barrier Reef, Catch Kandy and Song For Melbourne.

He was a director for TV series Skippy The Bush Kangaroo – and met his future wife, Paddy Barker, on the set.

Fullilove (pictured, above, in 1980) was a producer and director of various programs for multicultural Channel 0/28 (now SBS) in its early days – including telemovie The Three Sea Wolves (pictured), which aired on the channel’s opening night in 1980, current affairs programs SCOOP and Forum and dramas City West and The Liberation of Skopje.

Eric Fullilove is survived by Paddy, his children Julie, Michael and Christian and their partners, and seven grandchildren.

Source: TV Week, 18 October 1980; Sydney Morning Herald

Regional viewers offered digital equality

The Federal Government has partnered with regional broadcasters to ensure that viewers in remote and regional areas will have access to the same amount of channels as their capital city counterparts.

In a media release issued today, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy announced that the Government will provide $34 million over four years to enable commercial broadcasters in regional South Australia, remote and regional Western Australia, and remote and central Australia to install the transmitters that will give viewers access to all digital TV channels via terrestrial broadcast:

“This is an historic outcome for regional Australia   For decades, viewers in smaller TV licence areas have put up with having only two commercial TV channels, often missing out on some of the country’s most popular programming.

“True equalisation of TV services in Australia was long considered impossible; the Gillard Government is proud to have achieved the realisation of what has been a long-held dream for many people in regional and remote Australia as part of the digital switchover program.”

The Government promises to provide 50 per cent of capital and operational costs for the new transmitters until the end of the transition period from analogue television in 2013, with regional broadcasters meeting the remaining and ongoing costs.

Commercial channels will initially be offered in standard definition only, while the full suite of ABC and SBS channels – including high-definition channels ABC News 24 and SBS1 HD – will be offered.

Once the rollout of the digital TV channels is completed, if any viewer is still unable to access the channels via terrestrial broadcast then they can access the channels through the VAST platform, announced earlier this year.

Regional South Australia – comprising Loxton/Riverland, Mount Gambier/South East, Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill (NSW) markets – is due to lose all existing analogue signals on 15 December this year.  Viewers in these markets can currently access ABC, SBS and local versions of all three commercial networks in digital but as yet none of the extra commercial channels, such as GO!, GEM, 7TWO, 7mate, One or the upcoming channel, 11 – although Southern Cross, covering Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill, has already been assigned broadcast capacity to start broadcasting additional channels after the analogue switch-off is completed in the area.

Commercial operators in Western Australia – Prime (GWN) and WIN – are only now rolling out the first stage of digital transmission, giving viewers access to GWN, WIN and the new Ten West, but today’s announcement will lead to a roll-out of the additional commercial channels. 

Regional commercial broadcasters WIN, Prime, Southern Cross and Imparja will announce the rollout schedule for the new channels in coming days.

Source: DBCDE

1990: November 10-16

Missing at sea… to rest a knee!
E Street character Lisa Bennett has disappeared, presumed dead by many of her Westside neighbours, after being shipwrecked with wealthy boyfriend Michael Sturges (Graham Harvey) – but the character’s absence from TV screens is for good cause, as actress Alyssa-Jane Cook (pictured) has had to take time off from the series to recover from knee surgery.  Cook told TV Week that the surgery was needed to fix an old skiing injury that could have wider implications if left unattended.  “If I’d left it until I was older, it would have taken longer to repair and I could have suffered severe arthritis,” she said.

 

Publish and be damned?
Graham Kennedy (pictured) tells TV Week he has refused repeated requests by publishers to pen his autobiography.  “Publishers have asked me about once a month for 30 years for an autobiography, which is flattering – flattering because they obviously think it would sell well,” he said.  “I would want to write it myself and I’m too lazy to face such a daunting task at the moment.”  The closest that the King of Australian television has come to book publishing has been to write the foreword for former colleague Toni Lamond’s recently-launched autobiography, First Half.  Kennedy, who this year gained strong ratings for Nine’s Graham Kennedy’s Funniest Home Video Show, accepts the fact that should he not get around to writing his memoirs before turning up his toes that someone may choose to write a less-friendly version of his life.  “Sadly, I have no control over that,” he says.

Agro-phobia!
The Seven Network is screening a one-hour special to celebrate the 10th birthday of its puppet megastar Agro, star of the early morning Agro’s Cartoon Connection and the former children’s program Wombat.  The special will feature many of Agro’s Seven Network colleagues including Derryn Hinch, Julie McGregor, Fast Forward’s Pixie-Anne Wheatley (Magda Szubanski, pictured with Agro) and the Dodgey Brothers (Steve Blackburn and Geoff Brooks) and Tonight Live’s Steve Vizard and Jennifer Keyte.    

Briefly…
Former Family And Friends star Rachael Beck has just completed a guest spot on Home And Away, playing the drug-addicted sister of Grant Mitchell (Craig McLachlan).  Beck is now moving to the stage to co-star in A Little Night Music with Geraldine Turner and John Waters.

Actor Kim Gyngell, whose Col’n Carpenter series is likely to be back in 1991, is keen to start work on a film project dedicated to the long-running drama series Homicide.  The film, to be titled Homicide: The Legend Continues, will have an emphasis on the lasting impact that the drama series has had on Australian popular culture.  Gyngell made his acting debut in the original series in the 1970s and has had discussions with director Pino Amenta and actors Ben Mendelsohn, Nadine Garner and Mary Coustas, who have all expressed interest in being involved in the project.

Former Prisoner star Jane Clifton has swapped her prison uniform for a straightjacket in the play Laughing Wild, now playing in Melbourne.  The play, set in New York, takes a farcical look at the community alienation some mentally ill people experience when they move out and try to live “normal” lives.  For Clifton, the play comes just after a 13 week tour of the United Kingdom in the stage production Prisoner Cell Block H, based on the long-running series in which she starred in.

The prospect of an airline career could see Luke Ross make his exit from A Country Practice – but actor Matt Day is not giving anything away.  “You will have to wait and see,” he teases.  “Who knows what the future holds?”  Ross departs Wandin Valley in episodes to air this week as the season finale but his struggles in adapting to city life and the rigorous airline training will feature in episodes to go to air in the new year.

John Laws says…
”SBS’ recent orgy of self-congratulation for having survived – and prospered – for ten years in the TV jungle was, for the most part, well deserved.  For a network that really didn’t have a clue what it was supposed to be doing when it began broadcasting in late 1980, it has commendably earned the label of “true survivor” in the torrid years since.  Importantly, too, it manages to provide a mostly excellent service even though restricted by what can only be described as a tight budget.  It is positively Scrooge-like in its costings when compared to ABC and other TV stations.  SBS has also led the way in freeing up the screening of sexual activity on television.  Was it through coincidence, or design, that on the very night the station screened an hour-long 10th anniversary tribute to itself that it also screened, for the second time, the English movie Sammy And Rosie Get Laid, one of the most sexually explicit to have shown on Australian TV?  But if there is one things SBS does lack it’s a sense of humour.  If it had one or two top-flight comedy programs it would round off its service admirably.”

Program Highlights (November 10-16):
Saturday:  ATV10’s coverage of the Melbourne Cup Carnival concludes with five hours of the Honda Stakes Day, live from Flemington Racecourse.  GTV9’s afternoon of sport includes the Nissan Sydney 500 Touring Car Race, while ABC presents American basketball, English soccer and American NFL.

Sunday:  The final week of ratings for 1990 will see many programs wind up this week – starting with ATV10’s This Land Australia and The Comedy Company and GTV9’s 60 Minutes.  Sunday night movies are Moonstruck (HSV7), Caddyshack II (GTV9) and Heartburn (ATV10).

Monday:  Sale Of The Century (GTV9) finishes up its 1990 season with the week-long Sports Celebrity Challenge, featuring stars of cricket, athletics, swimming and motor racing.  ABC’s Media Watch and Four Corners present their final editions for 1990, and ATV10’s comedy series Let The Blood Run Free (pictured) also finishes up for the year.  GTV9’s failed soap opera Family And Friends makes a late-night return, playing out the remaining episodes that were not shown following its abrupt cancellation earlier this year.

Tuesday:  A Country Practice, Beyond 2000, GP, The Investigators, The Big Gig and Candid Camera On Australia all present their final episodes for 1990.

Wednesday:  ABC presents a 75-minute special, Bradman, featuring the cricket legend’s first television interview to respected cricket writer Jack Egan.  The special is followed by the final 1990 edition of forum-based discussion program Couchman.

Thursday:  More TV finales with The Home Show (ABC), Graham Kennedy’s Funniest Home Video Show (GTV9), E Street (ATV10) and Lateline (ABC) presenting their last episodes for 1990.  GTV9’s children’s mini-series The Girl From Tomorrow also comes to a conclusion.

Friday:  Midday With Ray Martin (GTV9) presents its 1990 finale with a special two-hour episode.  Also winding up tonight is Tonight Live With Steve Vizard (HSV7), Burke’s Backyard (GTV9), Sale Of The Century (GTV9), Countrywide (ABC) and Neighbours (ATV10).

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 10 November 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: October 20-26

Cover: Alyce Platt (Sale Of The Century)

Mann gets pregnant
In the wake of the axing of Seven’s police drama Skirts, actress Tracy Mann has bounced back with a role in an upcoming telemovie. In How Wonderful, Mann plays Kerry Shanahan, a career woman about to be a mother. “It was one of those rare jobs tailor-made for you,” Mann told TV Week. The telemovie, screening this week on ABC, follows Kerry on her journey including tortuous exercise classes and junk food binges. When asked why Skirts didn’t succeed, Mann feels that it came down to scheduling. “The show should never have gone to 7.30, for a start. The timeslot meant the writers had to come up with happy endings and all the bull which never happens in the real world. The 8.30 timeslot, after A Country Practice, would have been ideal. I just feel it hasn’t been given a fair go.”

Baptism of fire!
E Street feels the full brunt of Sonny Bennett’s (Richard Huggett) revenge this week as he unleashes a bomb on the innocent residents of Westside on the day of the christening of Chris (Paul Kelman) and Megan’s (Lisbeth Kennelly) baby. Four characters make a dramatic exit and one is left seriously wounded after the explosion of a bomb fixed under Reverend Bob’s (Tony Martin) car. In what is, perhaps, the most expensive piece of Australian continuing drama ever filmed, explosive experts, stunt actors and professional weapon handlers were called in to film the show’s climax for the year. “It’s impressive,” says executive producer Forrest Redlich. “I’ve been involved in more than 800 hours of television and this is the most expensive couple of hours I’ve ever put together.” As to the identity of Bennett’s intended victims? “You don’t know who is going to get hit when the bomb goes off because half of Westside are riding in the car that day,” Redlich teased.

Old ACP favourites meet in Street
Upcoming episodes of Network Ten’s E Street will reunite two former residents of A Country Practice’s Wandin Valley. Anne Tenney (pictured), who played the colourful Molly Jones in A Country Practice, comes into E Street as a medico friend of Dr Elly Fielding, played by Penny Cook who played Vicky Bowen in ACP. “It was wonderful working with Penny again,” Tenney told TV Week. “It’s always great when you get the opportunity to work with someone you know – particularly someone you get along with. And Penny and I were together for a long time on A Country Practice.”

Briefly…
A low-budget Seven Network telemovie, Harbour Beat, has been purchased by Paramount Pictures for worldwide video and television distribution. The telemovie, which stars Steve Vidler, Gary Day, Emily Simpson and Scottish actor John Hannah, could potentially spin-off into an ongoing series. “Paramount and Zenith Productions in England are committed,” says Vidler. “We are just waiting on Seven here. The problems with going into receivership are delaying things a bit.” The telemovie screens on Seven this week.

Two-time TV Week Gold Logie winner Gerard Kennedy makes a guest appearance in A Country Practice. Kennedy plays Theo Kouros, father of Dr Cris Kouros (Michael Muntz), who is finding it hard to cope with the fact that his wife is dying. Kennedy’s appearance in A Country Practice comes after his performance as an AIDS victim in The Flying Doctors.

Let The Blood Run Free’s Matron Dorothy Conniving Bitch (pictured, played by Lynda Gibson) has a few words to say about the portrayal of medical drama on other TV series. “I liked (A Country Practice’s) Matron Sloan,” she says. “This new matron (Ann Brennan, played by Mary Regan) is not a matron’s bum. They need Matron Conniving Bitch to work with Shane Porteous. And The Flying Doctors need me to fly around in the plane, and I should be running that little surgery with Penny Cook in E Street. Those other shows, they’ve no idea about the nursing or the medicining or the hospitalising!”

A Country Practice stars Georgie Parker, Matt Day and John Tarrant have formed a band – and have sought inspiration from their financially-troubled former boss, Christopher Skase. The new band is called Chris And The Receivers and a performance at a recent telethon gathered rave reviews, something that has shocked Parker. “We didn’t want the audience think we are kidding ourselves about getting record offers,” she says. “It was only a bit of fun.”

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off:
”Two locally-produced telemovies are among the most entertaining fare you’ll find in the schedule this week. What is unfortunate is where you’ll find them in the schedule! In one of the most cruel programming twists of the year, How Wonderful (starring Tracy Mann, pictured, with Jim Holt, Sheila Kennelly, Toni Lamond and Max Phipps) and Harbour Beat – two Australian productions with heaps to recommend them – will go to air at 8.30pm on October 24. What can I say? Watch one, tape the other? Fine, if you have a VCR. A lot of people don’t.”

Program Highlights (October 20-26):
Saturday: GTV9 crosses to the Gabba in Brisbane for the FAI Insurance Cup: First Semi-Final, with coverage headed by Richie Benaud. In celebration of ten years of SBS, the network screens a re-run of the foreign movie The Mahabharata – a five-hour epic that first aired a year ago. SBS screens the first two-and-a-half hours this afternoon with the remainder to screen Sunday. In the evening, SBS presents the conclusion of its the re-run of award-winning mini-series, Women Of The Sun, starring Justine Saunders.

Sunday: More cricket coverage from GTV9 with the FAI Cup Semi-Final, though the telecast takes a two-hour break in the afternoon for live coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix. Sunday night movies are A Fish Called Wanda (HSV7), Fatal Attraction (GTV9) and Robocop (ATV10).

Monday: SBS’ tenth anniversary celebration continues with the repeat screening of drama series In Between – screening each afternoon through to Thursday. The four-part series, set in an inner Melbourne suburb, follows the story of four teenagers caught between two cultures and between adolescence and adulthood.

Tuesday: Genevieve Lemon guest stars in ABC’s GP as a woman who has been trying for ten years to get pregnant and seeks the help of friend Julie Winters (Denise Roberts) after suffering her fourth miscarriage.

Wednesday: SBS presents a one-hour special, Retro – Ten Years Of SBS Television, recounting the launch and first decade of Australia’s multicultural television service. Featuring in the program are former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, whose government formed SBS, TV pioneer Bruce Gyngell, who launched the new channel, current SBS chief executive Brian Johns and Minister for Communications, Kim Beazley. And a rare ratings battle between ABC and HSV7 with Australian-made telemovies, How Wonderful and Harbour Beat, both screening in the same timeslot.

Friday: SBS presents a 90-minute special, The Best Of The World Cup – Italia ‘90, focusing on the highlights of the year’s premier soccer event. Later on, SBS presents a special, Kids First, focusing on the first-ever world summit for children at the United Nations in New York. Peter Ustinov, actor and UNICEF Ambassador for children, and George Negus are co-presenters of the one-hour special.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 20 October 1990. Southdown Press.