1991: November 9-15

Great expectations!
Seven Network publicists couldn’t believe their luck when it was discovered that key characters in both Home And Away and A Country Practice will discover they are pregnant in the same week.  In Home And Away, teenager Sophie (Rebekah Elmaloglou) faces the prospect of being a single mum, with the baby’s father David (Guy Pearce) recently killed in a car accident.  The outlook is a bit more optimistic in A Country Practice with Lucy (Georgie Parker) and husband Matt (John Tarrant) overjoyed at the news that they are going to become parents.

New series spin-off for Wheels!
The producers of E Street are developing a spin-off series to star Marcus Graham, who recently reprised his role of Wheels in the Network Ten series.  The new series, described as a police action-drama, is set to star Graham as a streetwise undercover cop.  A pilot for the concept is to be produced after Graham has finished his commitment to E Street at the end of this year.  The Nine Network is said to be interested in the project.

‘Goodbye, boys and girls…’
A Country Practice stalwarts Syd Heylen and Gordon Piper will soon make their final farewells from the long-running series after ten years, and both are at a loss to understand why two of the show’s most popular characters are being written out – although Heylen suspects the show’s new focus towards younger viewers has led to this outcome despite the pair being loved by younger and older viewers alike.  But despite the disappointment of being written out of the series, they say they would not have missed ten years with ACP for anything.  Piper says he is forever grateful to producer James Davern and Lyn Bayonas for offering him the Bob Hatfield role.  “Bob gave me the chance to play so many things – the town boofhead, the scallywag, the grandfather, a community spirit, everything,” he told TV Week.  Heylen fondly remembers the time that “real beer” was put behind the bar on the set.  “Fair dinkum beer,” he recalls. “Before that I had to serve lolly water or juggle beer out of cans – as well as remember my lines.”  The pair will tape their final scenes for A Country Practice in December but will continue to be seen on air until March.

Briefly…
Former Perfect Match hostess Tiffany Lamb has returned from the US after 10 months and has taken on two very different roles.  The first will be as a prostitute in Nine’s adult drama Chances, and the second will be as a schoolteacher, Mrs Fish, in the upcoming children’s production Lift Off.

Showbiz legend Toni Lamond is tackling a new venture – her first novel.  After the success of her emotional and revealing autobiography The First Half, her new project is a fictional tale of life in the showbiz industry.  “It’s racy and risque,” she said.  “I’m surprising myself.  Writing has kept me sane in those out-of-work periods – the bane of an actor’s life.”

Actress Melissa Thomas, who played the studious Brigid in Brides Of Christ, is returning to television again as a student but in a very different role.  In Network Ten’s new comedy Late For School, Thomas will play the role of Lily Price, a student coping with the embarrassment of being in the same class as her mother, played by Sarah Chadwick.  The new series will also star Ross Higgins and Matthew Newton.

Garry Shelley’s Sound Off
”On Tuesday night, the ABC’s first-rate drama series GP signs off for another year but the good news is, it will be back again in February.  However, the bad news is we’ll be losing lovely Judy McIntosh, who for the past 18 months has won a lot of hearts through her role as Dr Nicola Tanner.  I’m sorry she’s leaving, but I understand her replacement, Dr Tessa Korkidas (Marilynne Paspaley), will win us over before we can say myocardial infarction.  GP is good, honest television, extremely well-written with an even blend of the serious and humourous.  It tells us how it really is, and is not afraid to pack a punch.  This is not namby-pamby stuff – it’s explicit, it shocks and it doesn’t snigger behind its hand.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, November 9-15):
Saturday:  Network Ten covers Honda Stakes Day, the last day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, hosted by Tim Webster with racecaller Dan Mielicki.  ABC begins a repeat screening of the 1970s drama series Seven Little Australians, starring Leonard Teale and Elizabeth Alexander.  Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) presents the first of its two special shows from the Warner Bros studios in Hollywood, with guest appearances by Chevy Chase, Toni Childs and Murphy Brown star Joe Regalbuto.

Sunday:  Nine’s Sunday current affairs program celebrates its tenth anniversary with a special edition.  ABC debuts mini-series The River Kings, a four-part series set in the early 1920s about a boy growing into manhood under difficult circumstances, starring Tamblyn Lord (pictured, near right, with David Bradshaw) and featuring veterans Willie Fennell, Bill Kerr and Edward Hepple.  Sunday night movies are Stella (Seven), Look Who’s Talking (Nine) and Family Business (Ten).

Monday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Shirley (Lorrae Desmond) becomes suspicious when husband Frank (Brian Wenzel) receives a love letter from Italy.  Sale Of The Century (Nine) begins its Champion Of Champions series, featuring former winning contestants.

Tuesday:  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Simon Reeve visits Japanese electronics giant Matsushita who have devised a system where the customer determines the dimensions and particulars of the bike they want, and Dr John D’Arcy reports on an instant pap smear that could revolutionise cancer detection.  In All Together Now (Nine), Wayne (Bruno Lucia) is on the run from an Italian gangster – the episode guest stars Vince D’Amico.  In Chances (Nine), Alex (Jeremy Sims) meets a nun who may be able to help him piece together his past.

Wednesday:  In E Street (Ten), the neighbourhood comes together for the funeral of a favourite son.

Thursday:  The Flying Doctors (Nine) features guest star Jan Friedl.

Friday:  Celebrity gardener Jim McLelland is the guest on this week’s Burke’s Backyard (Nine).  In Neighbours (Ten), Guy (Andrew Williams) and Brad (Scott Michaelson) have a violent confrontation.  Star Search (Ten) presents its series grand final edition.

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

1991: November 2-8

Hey, Ben’s a dad!
It might be a shock to some to realise that Ben Oxenbould, the newcomer to the cast of Hey Dad!, is himself a dad.  The 22-year-old, who got his big break at the age of seven in the film Fatty Finn, has a one-year-old son but is very protective of him and won’t have him photographed by the media.  “He keeps me very busy when he’s with me,” Oxenbould (pictured with co-star Rachael Beck) told TV Week.  “He’s a classic combination of his mother – with whom he lives – and myself.  And, thankfully, I think he got everything good from us.  So that’s something.”  The Hey Dad! role is Adelaide-born Oxenbould’s first comedy role, having previously appeared in E Street and GP and will star in the upcoming SBS series Six Pack.

No naked ambition!
Former The Flying Doctors star Liz Burch (pictured) is no stranger to nudity, having starred in the controversial stage production Steaming, but when speaking of her upcoming role in Nine’s Chances she says the producers wouldn’t dare.  “They wouldn’t dream of asking me to take my clothes off… the ratings would plummet!  I did Steaming, but that was very different.  We rehearsed that for four weeks, the show was well-written and there was justification for it.  With Chances, the issue of nudity never comes into it,” she said.  In Chances, Burch plays a chemist, Sally Kirk, who is involved in a relationship with Jack Taylor (Tim Robertson) – but Alex (Jeremy Sims) plots to steal her away from Jack after realising she has information that could earn him millions. 

‘I was moved to tears…’
Maryanne Fahey, best known from The Comedy Company, is about to tackle one of the most demanding roles in her career – portraying the life of one of Australia’s most controversial and amusing personalities, Mary Hardy (pictured), in the upcoming play Mary Lives.  Hardy, who committed suicide in 1985, was well-known to Melbourne radio and television audiences in the 1960s and 1970s, in particular as presenter on the long-running variety show The Penthouse Club and on radio 3AW.  She also won a number of TV Week Logies for her popularity with Victorian audiences.  “I was moved to tears when I first read the play,” Fahey told TV Week.  “It was something I really wanted to do.  Mary was one of the real forerunners of women’s comedy in this country.  Hopefully, I will do her justice.  She was outrageous and prepared to cop the flak because she was an idealist, and I admire that more than someone who just goes out there to be funny.”

Briefly…
Hard Copy reporter Jane Hansen (pictured) has confirmed reports that she has been approached by former 60 Minutes producer Gerald Stone to join his new current affairs venture for the Seven Network, though stresses that nothing has been signed or agreed to as yet.  The new program, yet to be named, may potentially be slotted against Nine’s ratings giant 60 Minutes.

Joan McInnes, the host of Network Ten’s morning program ‘Til Ten, has announced her engagement to winemaker and yachtsman James Hardy.  The pair have known each other for more than five years but began seeing each other seriously two years ago and are expected to wed in December.

New Zealand actress Catherine Wilkin (Cop Shop, Rafferty’s Rules) is set to return to Australia after three years, starring as an ambassador in the next series of ABC’s Embassy.  “I’ve played a lot of strong-minded career women but never an ambassador,” she said.  “I’ll have to pay the Australian ambassador a visit here and do a crash course in diplomacy before I leave New Zealand!”

John Laws says…
”Who was it, I wonder, who allowed the Beyond 2000 format to slip from the clutches of the ABC and into the hands of the Seven Network all those years ago?  Those responsible must still be suffering recurring bouts of programmers’ guilt – as must be those misguided Seven executives who elected to give up on Neighbours and meekly hand it to Ten, where it was transformed into a long-running international smash-hit worth millions.  Watching Beyond 2000 the other night – and admiring its bright, informative segments on everything from eatable potato-chip containers to sonar fences to stop whales beaching themselves – only reinforced my long-held belief that it is one of Australia’s best programs.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, November 2-8):
Saturday:  Network Ten’s coverage of the Melbourne Cup Carnival kicks off with all-day coverage of Derby Day, live from Flemington Racecourse, presented by Tim Webster with racecaller Dan Mielicki.  This week’s contestants on Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune (Seven) are Rod Marsh, Lynda Stoner and Larry Pickering.  ABC presents live coverage overnight of the Rugby World Cup final from Twickenham, United Kingdom.

Sunday:  Nine’s crosses to Adelaide for its all-day coverage of the Australian Grand Prix, hosted by Ken Sutcliffe with commentators Alan Jones, Jackie Stewart, Murray Walker, Darrell Eastlake and Barry Sheene.  Author Colleen McCullough is this week’s guest on ABC’s Sunday Afternoon With Peter Ross.  Sunday night movies are Sex, Lies And Videotape (Nine) and The Great Outdoors (Ten), up against the debut of two-part mini-series Love And Hate (Seven).

Monday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Matt (John Tarrant) admits he has had enough of marriage to Lucy (Georgie Parker).  Ben Mendelsohn guest stars in Col’n Carpenter (Ten).

Tuesday:  Melbourne Cup Day, and Network Ten presents live coverage of the highlight of the Australian racing calendar, starting at 9.30am and continuing through to 5.30pm, hosted by Tim Webster.  In GP (ABC), the sudden return of Dr Nicola Tanner’s (Judy McIntosh, pictured) wild brother Danny (Brett Climo) leads to the uncovering of a dark secret in the Tanner family.  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Simon Reeve reports from the UK on the Weatherall racetrack, made up of granulated rubber from old car tyres. 

Wednesday:  In E Street (Ten), Lisa (Alyssa-Jane Cook) tries to find the answer to Michael’s (Graham Harvey) death.  In Hey Dad! (Seven), Simon (Chris Mayer) is panic stricken with the fear of incipient baldness while Betty (Julie McGregor) solves the problems of the ozone layer.

Thursday:  Former Prisoner star Betty Bobbitt guest stars in The Flying Doctors (Nine).  ABC’s documentary series Wildscreen looks at the camel as a wild animal, detailing its fascinating and complex social behaviour.

Friday:  Talent quest series Star Search (Ten) presents its series semi-final, hosted by Mike Hammond.

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

1991: August 17-23

Cover: Matthew Krok, Rachael Beck (Hey Dad!)

The end for Hey Hey?
Nine Network executives may have be sent into a mild state of panic following a statement from Daryl Somers that he may be looking at ventures other than Hey Hey It’s Saturday in the not-too-distant future.  “It is not a foregone conclusion that Hey Hey will be on next year,” he said.  “This is the last year of our current three-year contract and we’ll certainly be talking to Channel Nine.  I love doing the program, but there are a lot of things I want to do apart from Hey Hey.  I’ve had to turn down two roles in London stage shows, whereas I’d like to be able to do these things because years down the track I may not get the opportunity.”  Meanwhile, plans are continuing for Hey Hey’s Hollywood-based special to be held later this year for the show’s 20th anniversary.

Horror head-on!
In a dramatic episode of Home And Away to screen this week, who will survive Summer Bay’s tragic car crash?  It is only known that David (Guy Pearce) and Adam (Mat Stevenson, pictured) are involved in the head-on crash – but only one will survive. 

Just another quiet night in suburbia…
A car bomb which leaves two police officers dead launches the new ABC police drama Phoenix.  The explosive scene was enacted outside the Camberwell Civic Centre in Melbourne.  Surrounding streets had been blocked off by police as a Ford Falcon loaded with more than a dozen charges was detonated, triggering a 20-metre high fireball.  Almost 100 cast and crew and six cameras were involved in the production of the explosion.

Briefly… 
The Bugs Bunny Show host Sophie Lee (pictured) is philosophical about rival Network Ten’s bid to knock the popular cartoon show down a few notches by recently launching a music video show, Power Cuts.  “I’ve read about it, but that’s cool,” she said.  “I don’t know the people involved.”

Simone Buchanan was looking forward to a change from comedy when she left Hey Dad! – and that’s exactly what she got when she took on the role of a rape victim in A Country Practice in episodes to go to air this week.  “It will allow me to break free from the typecasting from Hey Dad!,” she told TV Week.  “The ACP scenes are some of the heaviest I’ve ever been involved with.  They left me feeling emotionally and physically exhausted.  I had 19 scenes in a row.  I had to cry in all of them!”

The Barcelona Olympic Games are less than a year away and the Seven Network, given its recent financial instability, is under pressure to deliver results for the $40 million it paid for the Australian television rights.  “This will be the biggest-ever single undertaking by an Australian television network,” Seven’s network sports director Gary Fenton told TV Week.  “We’ll be taking about 150 people across, building a complete studio over there, then dismantling it all and bringing it back home.  What we plan to do is make sure that viewers see more of the Australians competing at the Games than ever before.”

John Laws says…
”Why, I wonder, would the main ABC employees’ union and the Friends Of The ABC organisation be “surprised” – as they say they are – by the ABC’s offer of a new five-year contract to managing director David Hill?  Is it because Hill dances to the beat of a different drummer?  Opposition to Hill being reappointed must, I guess, be expected because the past few years have been heady and controversial ones for the ABC.  But it’s probably never had a higher profile right around Australia, and that’s due in no small measure to Hill’s input.  Staff-management problems are to be expected in an organisation the size of the ABC, and there’s no doubt Hill has had to make some necessary – and to some people, unpleasant – decisions about staffing levels, programming and future direction.  The next five years are going to pose fresh challenges to the ABC because TV is changing all the time, and there are going to be new demands on the national broadcaster, not least of which is the possibility that, one day, it is going to have to accept some form of advertising and sponsorship.  There will also be the challenge of pay-TV.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, August 17-23):
Saturday:  On the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, Seven devotes much of its afternoon and evening schedule to paying tribute – with movies Kissin’ Cousins, Elvis On Tour and Jailhouse Rock and a two-hour special The Elvis Files, presented by Bill Bixby, that promises “startling new information surrounding Presley’s death and the very real possibility that he is still alive.”  This week’s guests on Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) are Craig McLachlan, Rita Rudner, Cameron Daddo and Cathy Dennis.

Sunday:  Nine presents the long-awaited debut of two-part mini-series Golden Fiddles, starring Cameron Daddo, Rachel Friend, John Bach, Kate Nelligan, Pippa Grandison, David Reyne (pictured) and Adriana Xenides.  Golden Fiddles tells the story of the struggles of the Balfour family during the depression of the 1920s, and the news which could offer them a happy and prosperous future.  Sunday night movies are Cocktail (Seven) and Death Hunt (Ten).

Monday:  Ernie Bourne (The Magic Circle Club, Prisoner, Neighbours) and Beverley Phillips (Neighbours) guest star in Col’n Carpenter (Ten).  Craig McLachlan begins his week-long stint as guest host on Tonight Live (Seven).

Tuesday:  ABC presents a direct telecast from Canberra of the first Budget speech from Federal Treasurer John Kerin.  Beyond 2000 (Seven) reports on a new discovery that may lead to a better contraceptive; and the Norwegians have developed a revolutionary system for beating rising damp.  GP (ABC) presents a special episode dedicated to Camp Quality which gives unique holidays to children with cancer.

Wednesday:  In the series return of Hey Dad! (Seven), eight-year-old Arthur McArthur (Matthew Krok) falls for an older woman.  In Neighbours (Ten), Madge (Anne Charleston) is shocked by Harold’s (Ian Smith) new business partner – Brenda Riley (Genevieve Lemon).

Thursday:  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Clare’s (Beverley Dunn) life is turned upside down when her old flame arrives in town for the opening of Steve’s (Paul Kelman) new garage.  In E Street (Ten), the new marriage between Lisa (Alyssa-Jane Cook) and Michael (Graham Harvey) could be on shaky ground – is she still in love with Wheels (Marcus Graham)?

Friday:  Star Search – The Next Generation (Ten) presents a ‘celebrity special’ looking at past guests and winners.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  17 August 1991.  Southdown Press

1991: July 27-August 2

Wheeling into the wedding
The E Street wedding of Lisa Bennett (Alyssa-Jane Cook) and Michael Sturgess (Graham Harvey) takes a interesting twist when the bride arrives at the church… on a motorbike with former boyfriend Wheels (Marcus Graham, pictured with Cook).  Wheels’ return threatens to steal the limelight from Lisa and Michael’s big day, particularly as the groom has had concerns that his bride-to-be might choose to go back to her ex-boyfriend, but Wheels’ sudden return is only as a friend to Lisa and the wedding goes ahead without a hitch. 

This Guy’s a heartbreaker!
Former Neighbours star Guy Pearce has arrived in Home And Away as David Croft, the nephew of school principal Fisher (Norman Coburn), who strikes up a relationship with high school student Sophie (Rebekah Elmaloglou).  The relationship faces the disapproval of David’s sister Lucinda (Dee Smart) and Sophie’s foster-dad Michael (Dennis Coard) and, as Pearce reveals, “Yes, there will be tears in Summer Bay!” 

Meet the new Nudge!
The producers of Hey Dad! have signed up a new cast member to fill the gap left by departing cast member Christopher Truswell, who played viewer favourite Nudge.  Ben Oxenbould (pictured), a former child star of the early 1980s movie Fatty Finn, is joining the show as Ben Hubner, a university colleague of Simon’s (Christopher Mayer).  Hubner is described as “a terrific footballer, but not very studious”, and seeks Simon’s help with his studies.  Oxenbould, who more recently has appeared in E Street, GP and Home And Away as well as a lamb roast commercial where he knocks back a date with a Nicole Kidman look-alike, makes his on-screen debut in September.  Producers have said the new character will be semi-regular but if audience response is positive he will stay on as “the new Nudge”.

Briefly…
Blind Date host Greg Evans has told TV Week of his surprise when he found out that co-host Nicky Buckley (pictured) had suddenly left the show to be replaced by Swedish-born model Ankie Nordberg.  “I had no idea about it at all, but you never get any warning,” he told TV Week.  “I’m not certain of the details or the politics.  In fact, I haven’t been able to get in touch with Nicky.”  A Network Ten spokesperson has only said that Buckley has left “to pursue her modelling career and personal interests.”  Nordberg makes her on-air debut on Blind Date this week.

Rebecca Gibney was surprised when she read the script for her upcoming return to The Flying Doctors – two years since leaving the show she is now a mother of two.  But despite her ‘two littlies’, played by Kelvin Barnes and Delaney Unwin, Gibney says she hasn’t any real maternal urges at this stage.  “I suppose I’ll get clucky one day, but I have 16 nieces and nephews, and they are enough to satisfy any urges I might have!,” she laughs.

The Australian Children’s Television Foundation has announced production of a new series of children’s program Round The Twist.  The $3 million production, which has already been pre-sold to the BBC, will unveil a new package of adventures for the Twist family and their obnoxious neighbours.  Many of the adult cast members of the first series, including Frankie J Holden, Richard Moir, Judith McGrath and Bunney Brooke, are expected to be reunited for the new episodes, but the show’s junior characters will be re-cast as the original actors have now outgrown their roles.

Former Countdown Revolution presenter Lochie Daddo (pictured) has followed in his older brother Cameron’s footsteps in hosting a children’s show.  The younger Daddo is now hosting Ten’s new Kids’ Stuff on weekends, noting that Cameron got his start in TV hosting another children’s program, Off The Dish, in the mid 1980s.

John Laws says…
”It’s rare that two people can successfully work together presenting the same TV program and not fall into the trap of staleness.  I’ve more or less been waiting for David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz to show signs of “long-run fatigue” with their weekly The Movie Show (SBS) – but the program remains as fresh and interesting as it was when the pair introduced it several years ago.  If Stratton and Pomeranz can maintain the present standard – and I see no reason why they can’t – their little 30-minute offering looks like being with us for many years to come.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, July 27-August 2):
Saturday:  Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) is presented from Perth’s Burswood Casino in a tribute to the musical Grease.  Featuring in the concert special are Craig McLachlan, Wendy Matthews, Rhonda Burchmore, Nathan Cavaleri and Melissa Hannan.

Sunday:  Seven crosses to Football Park, Adelaide, for the early-evening AFL match between Adelaide Crows and Essendon.  Sunday night movies are DOA (Seven), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (Nine) and Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (Ten).

Monday:  Ten’s music video show Coca-Cola Power Cuts, previously seen on Sunday afternoons, now moves into the 5.00pm Monday to Friday timeslot, followed by game show Blind Date with Greg Evans and new co-host Ankie Nordberg (pictured).

Tuesday:  Former E Street star Penny Cook makes her debut in GP (ABC), while Ally Fowler and Susan Leith guest star as a lesbian couple desperate to have a child through IVF.  Former Hey Dad! star Christopher Truswell makes his guest appearance in All Together Now (Nine).  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), a Spanish coffin-maker has designed the world’s first environmentally-friendly coffin.

Wednesday:  In Neighbours (Ten), Helen (Anne Haddy) and Michael’s (Brian Blain) wedding takes place with a few hiccups.

Friday:  Wheel Of Fortune host John Burgess is the guest on this week’s Burke’s Backyard (Nine).  Mike Hammond hosts the series Grand Final of Star Search – The Next Generation (Ten).

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  27 July 1991.  Southdown Press

1991: May 11-17

Cover: Cher

The Great Ramsay Street Shake-Up!
A massive revamp of the Neighbours cast line-up is about to see eight characters written out with a swag of “young and spunky” newcomers to give the ailing soap a breath of fresh air.  Producers keen to boost the show’s popularity have also enlisted a team of consultants to oversee changes in set design, wardrobe and lighting.  While long-serving cast members Ian Smith (Harold Bishop), Lucinda Cowden (Melanie Pearson), Mark Little (Joe Mangel) and Beth Buchanan (Gemma Ramsay) have chosen to leave the series, others to depart will be Amelia Frid (Cody Willis), Ben Guerens (Toby Mangel), Miranda Fryer (Skye Bishop) and Ian Williams (Adam Willis).  Joining the series will be former Cleo covergirl of the year Rachel Blakely and former models Scott Michaelson and Andrew Williams.  John Holmes, Network Ten’s executive producer of drama, said the show needed a revamp:  “After five or six years, the show was looking very tired.  It definitely slid in 1990.  It went from being a boomer, especially in Melbourne, to getting same ratings the other soaps were getting.  It needed a fresh approach.  We need to get the young and spunkies back in and we’ve started that with Richard Huggett and Melissa Bell.”  But despite the young and colourful revamp headed for the show, Holmes said Neighbours will not become another E Street.  “E Street has a tougher edge, but Neighbours has never been about that.  Neighbours is a light, easygoing show with a strong moral base.  We’re not out to follow those tougher stories.”

Col’n finds true love… with Annie!
Actress and TV Week Logie Award winner Annie Jones has been signed to appear in two episodes of Network Ten’s Col’n Carpenter.  Jones, who won a Logie for her performance in Jackaroo, will play Alison Button, the first true love for Col’n (Kim Gyngell, pictured).  A spokesperson for the show says the actress is “delighted” to be returning to work at Ten, her home for several years when she starred in Neighbours.

Out of the shadows…
NIDA graduate Josephine Byrnes has only been acting professionally for 18 months but is already gaining the title Queen Of The Aussie Mini-Series.  The young actress, who won a Logie Award nomination for her role in last year’s Shadows Of The Heart, has since filmed two more historically-themed mini-series – Half A World Away and Brides Of Christ (both coming to ABC) – but is afraid of becoming typecast.  “I’ve loved the ladies I’ve played,” she told TV Week,  “but I think it’s time I did something contemporary.”

Briefly…
A Country Practice star Matt Day has told TV Week he was ready to move on from the long-running series until producers came up with an offer he couldn’t refuse.  “I’d been with the show two years, which is the longest run I’ve ever done,” he told TV Week.  In trying to keep Day on board, the show’s writers had promised Matt some radical character changes following the departure of co-star Sophie Heathcote, who played his romantic partner for a year.  Also, there was an increase in salary but Day says that money was not a factor.  “Money wasn’t discussed until after the decision to stay was made,” he said.

Burke’s Backyard host Don Burke, whose company recently spent 18 months producing a one-off program about the environment, is unapologetic about his obsession for accuracy, particularly when it comes to the environment – even if it puts him offside with the ‘greenies’ and bureaucrats, and the scientific experts whom he claims are ego or grant-driven.  “Much of what has been put out on the greenhouse effect has been unsubstantiated,” he told TV Week.  “What has put out on recycling has been terribly misleading.  If we lose the public by feeding them scientifically imprecise material, that would be a tragedy.”

E Street star Melissa Tkautz (pictured) has signed a contract to record three singles and an album for Polygram Records.  The 17-year-old will have her first single, titled Read My Lips, debuted on Network Ten’s Video Hits later this month.

John Laws says…
”To the delight – and surprise, I’m sure – of Nine, the first Sale Of The Century shows with the new team (Glenn Ridge and Jo Bailey) attracted healthy ratings.  So healthy, in fact, that in some viewing areas the opposition programs were out-rated.  Glenn and Jo did a workmanlike job in their first nervous week.  Naturally enough, Glenn lacked the polished zest of Tony Barber, but he showed enough to indicate that he may well be capable of assuming the departed supremo’s mantle.  Whether Glenn and Jo can succeed in keeping Sale high in the ratings is going to be one of TV’s most intriguing test-cases.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, May 11-17):
Saturday:  Mark ‘Jacko’ Jackson, A Country Practice star Joyce Jacobs (pictured) and Phil Smythe are contestants on this week’s Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune (Seven).

Sunday:  SBS debuts a new documentary series Through Australia Eyes, a six-part series covering a wide variety of otherwise unrelated material – except they, as the title suggests, focus on life through Australian eyes.  Seven crosses to the Gabba, Brisbane, for the AFL match between Brisbane Bears and St Kilda, followed by highlights of the Richmond versus Collingwood match.  Sunday night movies are Breaking Point (Nine) and Cocoon – The Return (Ten), while Seven presents the debut of mini-series Family Of Spies (to be concluded the following night).  Nine’s late-night line-up includes coverage of the Spanish 500cc Grand Prix and the Monaco Grand Prix.

Monday:  Ten presents a delayed telecast of the international event Save The Kurds – The Simple Truth, a charity concert to benefit the International Red Cross Relief Campaign for Kurdish refugees.  The concert includes performances by MC Hammer, Peter Gabriel, Rod Stewart, Sting, New Kids On The Block, Gloria Estefan and Chris De Burgh.

Tuesday:  In GP (ABC), Sister Julie Winters (Denise Roberts, pictured) feels she’s grown stale at the Ross Street surgery, and re-enters nursing – but discovers that nursing has become more demanding since she last did it.  She also gets embroiled in a nurses’ strike after a patient is endangered by hospital understaffing.  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Andrew Carroll examines Indonesia’s fledgling aircraft industry and Simon Reeve introduces a cookware that allows omelettes to be cooked in 15 seconds.

Wednesday:  ABC presents Spinning Out, Anne Deveson’s documentary which gives new understanding of the most misunderstood of all mental disorders – schizophrenia.

Thursday:  Maggie Tabberer and Richard Zachariah return with a new series of The Home Show on ABC.  In Chances (Nine), Charlie (Kimberley Davenport) announces she is pregnant – but who is the father-to-be?  Is it scheming Alex (Jeremy Sims) or lovable Ben (Rhys Muldoon)?

Friday:  Some changes starting in appear in the Network Ten schedule launched earlier this year – the 5.30pm game show Let’s Make A Deal appears for the final time, while Star Search moves to the new timeslot of Friday 7.30pm with new host Mike Hammond.  Seven presents a delayed telecast of Friday night AFL – North Melbourne versus Adelaide.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  11 May 1991.  Southdown Press

1991: April 27-May 3

‘I’ve had to become a little harder…’
At 18, E Street’s favourite girl next door Toni Pearen (pictured) has suddenly become a sophisticated woman – but her transformation isn’t just about make-up or a new outfit.  “I’ve had to grow up as a means of survival,” she told TV Week.  “I’ve had to become a little harder to ensure I don’t get hurt too easily.  This, after all, is a very cut-throat industry.  I’m concentrating on working hard and enjoying it while I’m still here.”  Pearen has also become aware of the growing presence of paparazzi, citing the experiences of former talent school colleague Rebekah Elmaloglou:  “Rebekah has done so incredibly well and success hasn’t changed her.  But she does have to cope with so much now – she can’t even walk down the street any more.  Can you imagine the pressures?”  Pearen also responds to rumours of a relationship with Home And Away star Mat Stevenson.  “That was amazing,” she says.  “Mat and I have been friends for a long time.  We met through Rebekah.  He didn’t have anyone to take to Hamlet, so he asked me to tag along and a rumour was born.”

Comedy duo fast forward to radio!
The Seven Network has given the go-ahead for a sitcom pilot likely to feature Fast Forward stars Marg Downey and Michael Veitch (pictured).  The new project, Without Wires, is set in a radio station in the 1950s and is being developed by Fast Forward co-star Steve Blackburn with writer Peter Herbert and Artist Services’ Andrew Knight.  “We love it… it’s a very strong idea,” Knight told TV Week.  “There are three levels of comedy in it.  There are broad elements of farce, talent quests and the music of the time.”  Production is expected to begin in May or June.

‘Absent friends’ mar Pippa’s big day
This week’s Home And Away wedding between Pippa (Debra Lawrence) and Michael (Dennis Coard) mostly goes without a hitch – but the return of Ben (Julian McMahon) in army uniform hoping to convince pregnant wife Carly (Sharyn Hodgson) to join him as he returns to the army is set to interrupt the celebrations.  Two uniformed military police arrive at the reception to inform Ben that he is under arrest for going absent without leave.  Some pleading from Ben explaining his marital situation leads to the officers giving him a reprieve, and Carly agrees to leave with him.  The scene marks the series departure of cast members McMahon and Hodgson.

Briefly…
The recession hits Neighbours this week as the Willis family are forced to give up their home.  Doug (Terence Donovan) and Pam (Sue Jones) are shocked to learn they may have to move out of Ramsay Street when the bank forecloses on their mortgage.  “It’s very appropriate at the moment with the way things are in Victoria,” Jones tells TV Week.  “What happens to the Willis family is a situation faced by many normal people.  People aren’t paying them and they can’t pay their debts.  It’s a vicious circle.”

Star Search producer Jacqui Culliton and host Jeff Phillips are awed by the amount of phone-in votes that pour in after the Network Ten talent quest goes to air on Saturday nights – currently around 20,000 calls a week are received.  The series is about to hold its first Grand Final for the year, following two semi-finals.  One of the show’s acts through to semi-final stage is junior dance troupe, the Brent Street Kids (pictured).

Actor Cameron Daddo is in training for his role in the mini-series Tracks Of Glory, which tells the story of Australian champion cyclist Don Walker.  Daddo’s training routine, under the supervision of Olympic champion Mike Turtur, starts each morning at 5.30am with a mini-triathlon… bike for an hour, run for half an hour and then swim.  “If I want to look like a cyclist, I’ve got to cycle,” the determined Daddo told TV Week.

John Laws says…
”Like all comedy programs that are successful, Fast Forward’s biggest problem is going to be how to come up with fresh routines.  The first of the new series kept up Fast Forward’s reputation as slick and satirical, with little you could really criticise.  Whether it can maintain its previous high standards is anyone’s guess.  I hope it can, because it’s a marvellous vehicle for some very good local comedy talents.”

Program Highlights (April 27-May 3):
Saturday:  Seven crosses to Carrara, Queensland, for live coverage of AFL – Brisbane Bears versus Essendon.

Sunday:  Seven crosses to Adelaide for live coverage of a twilight AFL game between Adelaide Crows versus Footscray.  Sunday night movies are Surrender (Seven), The Accused (Nine) and The Sicilian (Ten).  Late night sport includes Australian Touring Car Championships (Seven), San Marino Grand Prix (Nine), Australia versus West Indies in the Fifth Test (Nine), Sports Week (Ten) and the Sydney Rugby League Match Of The Day (Ten).

Monday:  ABC presents the debut of The Life And Death Of Sandy Stone, featuring the suburbanite character (pictured) portrayed by Barry Humphries, talking about life in Glen Iris in a series of touching and witty monologues.

Tuesday:  ABC’s live comedy series The Big Gig returns with a new series.

Thursday:  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Geoff (Robert Grubb) collapses with a mystery illness that baffles the doctors who race against time to save him.  In Acropolis Now (Seven), is Uri (Rhys Muldoon) from Russia really a student, or is he a KGB spy as Jim (Nick Giannopoulos) suspects.

Friday:  Seven crosses to Nimes, France, for late night coverage of the Davis Cup quarter finals, Australia versus France.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  27 April 1991.  Southdown Press

1991: February 16-22

Private property!
Home And Away star Rebekah Elmaloglou (pictured) is determined to keep her professional and personal lives separate.  Unlike many fellow soap stars, Elmaloglou has refused to talk publicly about her boyfriend of twelve months and the pair have never been photographed together.  “It’s just one of those things I don’t find important to talk about,” the 17-year-old told TV Week.  “My private life is the same as any other girl of my age.  I’ve got my schoolfriends, I’ve got my family, I’ve got my boyfriend.” 

It was 20 years ago today…
Hey Hey It’s Saturday returns to air this week, starting its 20th year.  “The official celebration is in October (the show debuted on 9 October 1971), but we’re out to make this the best year ever of Hey Hey so we’re starting the celebrations early,” host Daryl Somers told TV Week.  This year the show is taking on some changes as Somers and colleague Ernie Carroll take over producing the show after last year’s split from producer Gavan Disney.  “Ernie and I are happier, and I know a lot of the people around us are feeling happier, too,” Somers said.  “I think it’s going to be a very harmonious situation for all concerned this year.”  The year ahead could also see Hey Hey head to London and even Hollywood for some special shows.  Somers is also excited to have new executive producer Jim McKay on board for the show.  McKay was the program manager at GTV9 who originally named the program back in 1971 and hired the 19-year-old Somers for the job of host.  “He came up with the name and paid me $75 a week, that was it!  It’s taken me 20 years to get him back – that’s what he’s on now,” Somers laughed.

‘If it was me, I wouldn’t do it’
Andre Eikmeier (pictured), the 18-year-old who is probably best known to viewers as the pizza delivery boy in Kylie Minogue’s Coca-Cola commercial, has been acting for ten years but is taking on the change from child actor to young adult with a controversial role in ABC’s medical drama GP.  In an episode to air this week, Eikmeier plays the role of student Tony Wood who is suffering from stomach ulcers and the pressure of exams and finds himself under attack from his father who discovers that he has been having a relationship with a man ten years older.  For Eikmeier it was a challenging role to take on.  “It was very hard, because I’d never had any contact with gay people.  I guess I’d been sheltered from it, so I didn’t really know how to approach it.  I gave the part a lot of consideration, and my dad said, ‘Well, it’s up to you – but if it was me, I wouldn’t do it’,” he told TV Week.

Briefly…
Jeff Phillips (pictured), host of Network Ten’s new talent quest series Star Search, says he knows that shows like this can give a young star their big break.  “I was a product of this type of show,” he told TV Week.  “I drove from Perth to Melbourne in my Volkswagen to go on New Faces.  I went on the show on Sunday night, won it, and was immediately invited by Graham Kennedy to be on In Melbourne Tonight and got sudden recognition.  I was only 19 at the time.”

The Flying Doctors star Brett Climo makes his dramatic exit from the series this week as his character, Dr David Ratcliffe, attempts a rescue on a cliff face and finds himself hanging upside down from a safety rope before falling to a ledge below.  “This episode is definitely among the best moments of my career,” Climo told TV Week.

Actress Kaarin Fairfax, best known to viewers as Dolour in The Harp In The South and Poor Man’s Orange, is joining Network Ten comedy Col’n Carpenter as the show’s new female lead following the departure of Vikki Blanche.  The series will also be seen in a new timeslot – Sunday nights at 8.00pm, after The Simpsons – when it returns to screens next month.

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”On went the VCR for a first look at Chances (featuring Natalie McCurry, pictured), the new Nine Network series so heavily publicised, yet so closely guarded at the same time.  All the pre-publicity had promised adults only fare and, while this was hardly a return to the full frontal days of Number 96 or The Box, it did make it seem worthwhile checking that the little ones were, indeed, just like everyone in the show – in bed.”

Program Highlights (February 16-22):
Saturday:  Daryl Somers and Ossie Ostrich head Hey Hey It’s Saturday’s return for 1991, up against the debut of Ten’s new talent quest series Star Search, hosted by Jeff Phillips.  Seven crosses to AFL Park, Mount Waverley, for the Fosters Cup: St Kilda versus West Coast Eagles.

Sunday:  SBS begins a national screening of the twelve-part documentary series My Place, My Land, My People – a production of Queensland-based regional broadcaster QTV and a winner at the 1990 TV Week Logie Awards for most outstanding achievement by a regional television station – followed by the series return of SBS viewers’ feedback program Hotline.  Sunday night movies are Beverly Hills Cop II (Seven) and Working Girl (Ten).

Monday:  SBS debuts a new weekly music series, MC Tee Vee, and later in the evening Pria Viswalingam hosts the series return of nightly current affairs program Dateline.  Ten presents the movie-length debut of popular US series Twin Peaks.  After the late edition of Ten Eyewitness News, Ten presents US talk show Donahue, with each night’s episode repeated the following afternoon.  Ten’s overnight coverage of the Gulf war continues via CNN.

Tuesday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Bob Hatfield (Gordon Piper) becomes a vegetarian after he is asked to kill six sheep.  Aussie actress Penny Downie (The Box, Prisoner, The Sullivans) stars in the new six-part British series Campaign which debuts on ABC.

Wednesday:  ABC presents 90-minute documentary One Australia?, a study on racism and multiculturalism in Australia and asking whether cohesion in our society can be achieved while maintaining diversity.

Thursday:  Veteran actor George Mallaby (pictured) guest stars in Nine’s drama Chances.  SBS current affairs program Face The Press and sports magazine The Sports Machine return for 1991.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.   16 February 1991. Southdown Press.