50 years of BTQ7, ABQ2

This weekend marks yet another television station’s 50th anniversary.  Brisbane’s BTQ7 was launched on 1 November 1959.  It was Brisbane’s second TV channel, following QTQ9 that had launched in August of that year. 

Brisbane also didn’t have to wait long to get their third TV channel, as national broadcaster ABC opened its Brisbane channel, ABQ2, on 2 November 1959. 

Like QTQ9, BTQ7 was broadcasting from studios and transmission towers constructed up on Mount Coot-tha in Brisbane.  ABQ2 opted instead to have its studios in the suburb of Toowong but had its transmission towers at Mount Coot-tha.

Early personalities on BTQ7 included Brian Tait, children’s presenters Nancy Knudsen and Lester Foxcroft, women’s presenter Sybil Francis and newsreader Brian Cahill.

One of BTQ7’s earliest variety shows was The Late Show with Tait.  The program won the first TV Week Logie award for most popular program in Queensland.  In the early ‘60s, BTQ7 launched Theatre Royal, a show that took the vaudeville style of comedy onto television, featuring comedian and The Late Show star George Wallace Jnr and a team of performers including Eddie Edwards, Dick McCann, Jackie Ellison and a young actress by the name of Rowena Wallace (no relation to George).  Theatre Royal was immensely popular, screening every Friday night for six years, and was also shown interstate.  It won six TV Week Logie awards as Queensland’s most popular program.  The show ended after George Wallace suffered a stroke and died in 1968 at the age of 50, but his legacy continued as TV Week then initiated the George Wallace Logie for Best New Talent.

Also to come through BTQ7 in the ‘60s and ‘70s was Annette Allison, a performer on early variety and teenage shows before hosting her own daytime show, Annette.  She then went to Melbourne to ATV0 to read the news and co-host the morning show Everyday (later Good Morning Melbourne).  Dina Heslop was a host of the BTQ7’s children’s program Dina And Percy and was also a contributor to the national This Week Has Seven Days before becoming a producer for later shows like the Logie Award-winning Wombat.  Jacki MacDonald also had a stint at BTQ7 in the ‘70s, hosting her own show, Jacki’s People.  After Jacki left BTQ7, they then employed her sister, Fiona, to host a children’s program and was later a presenter on Wombat.

In the mid-‘70s, Reg Grundy produced a soap opera, Until Tomorrow, at the studios of BTQ7.  The series was a rare venture into daytime drama and screened nationally on the Seven Network, featuring Babette Stephens, Ron Cadee, former TV Week Gold Logie winner Hazel Phillips and a young Barry Otto.

Other programs to have come through BTQ7 over the years included  daytime show Bailey And The Birds, teenage shows National Top 40 and Teen Time, children’s shows Boris’ Breakfast Club and Seven’s Super Saturday, game show Family Feud and variety shows Top Of The Bill and Wak’s Works.

Of course, it would be remiss not to mention BTQ7’s landmark promotional jingle, ‘Love You Brisbane’, that was produced for the channel in the early ‘80s and was used by BTQ for several years.  Sung by popular local performer Kim Durant, the song was even released as a single and was a top-seller.  The jingle was later adapted to TVW7, as ‘Love You Perth’, and regional Queensland broadcaster Sunshine Television (now Seven Queensland) before BTQ7 and Seven Queensland reprised it a few years ago:

Newsreader Brian Cahill had two stints at BTQ7, he was the channel’s first newsreader when it launched in 1959 and, after a stint at QTQ9, was there again in the ‘70s.  During the ‘60s, Cahill was joined at the news desk by former ABQ2 newsreader Ron Brady.  Others to have presented news at BTQ have included Mike Higgins, Nev Roberts, Donna Meiklejohn, Janne Rayner, Ken Hose, Garry Wilkinson, Frank Warrick and present-day newsreaders Rod Young, Kay McGrath and Sharyn Ghidella.

As well as news, BTQ7 produced local current affairs with programs including Haydn Sargent’s Brisbane, State Affair, Carroll At Seven and magazine programs PM Magazine and The Great South East.

BTQ7 last week screened a special, Flashback – 50 Years Of Channel Seven, and tonight (Sunday) newsreader Brian Cahill makes a return to the Seven News desk to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his presenting the first news bulletin on opening night at BTQ.

And, by coincidence, BTQ7’s fiftieth anniversary coincides with a new era for the Seven Network as it launches its new digital channel 7TWO on the same day.

A lot of the material in this article, particularly related to the earlier years at BTQ7, is sourced by the book On-Air 25 Years Of TV In Queensland.  Compiled and edited by Christopher Beck. (1984)

1979: July 14-20

Prisoner’s key women
TV Times talks to three of the stars of the popular new series Prisoner about their roles and what the show means to them.

Elspeth Ballantyne, who plays prison warder Meg Jackson, said that Prisoner has proven that women can handle a show on their own.  “Prisoner is a very good series.  It has a lot of dramatic qualities.  It moves quickly and has good storylines provided by some top writers. I have made some good friends while working on the series, such as Fiona Spence.  The cast members are a terrific group of women who are very professional.  I’m also amazed that there hasn’t been any bitchiness.”  But mother-of-two Ballantyne will not allow her children – Matthew, 9, and Tobias, 7 – to watch the program: “It’s an adult show and they are in bed when it’s on at 8.30pm.”

Patsy King, who plays prison governor Erica Davidson, has had a varied background in radio and television – including appearing in the children’s programs Play School and Adventure Island and in the long-running drama Bellbird.  King was also on tour around northern Australia in the play Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll:  “There were seven of us in the cast and we were chauffeur-driven up the Birdsville Track, playing at every little town we came to.  Then we had a couple of rest days, which we spent by a river infested with snakes and crocodiles, and spiders as big as your hand.  What a rest that turned out to be.”  Her new role in Prisoner is hard work, but hopes that the series goes on for a long time:  “I’m enjoying playing Erica because she is different and the character is really developing now.  I can see a lot more aspects to her.”

Fiona Spence, who plays prison warden Vera Bennett, had spent the last few years travelling and studying drama at the University Of New South Wales.  After a guest role in Glenview High and some TV commercials, the role of Ms Bennett is Spence’s first major role:  “I’m happy with Vera.  She’s very dramatic and in some ways like myself.  She is very unpopular with the public and the more they hate her, the better it is for me.  Then I know the character is working.”  Eventually, Spence hopes to go into theatre:  “I’ve never done professional stage work, only university plays.  Then I’d like to try films.  I’m not really fussy about what I do.  However, I can’t sing or dance, so I don’t want to be in a musical.  Drama is what I’m best at.”

700 million will see Miss Universe crowned
A worldwide audience of an estimated 700 million will see Miss Universe 1979 when it is held in Perth this week.  The two-hour ceremony, from Perth’s Entertainment Centre, has been years in the planning and will be beamed to 50 countries.  Viewers around the world will see the event live but Australians will see it on a delayed telecast as the ceremony is timed to start at 9.00am, Perth time, this Friday.

Current affairs for kids
Children are to get their own daily current affairs program along the lines of Willesee At Seven and This Day Tonight.  The new program, yet to be titled, is being produced for the 0-10 Network by former Willesee At Seven reporter and producer Simon Townsend (pictured) and has been approved by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal for screening with a ‘C’ classification.  The pilot for the program was produced by Townsend in 1977 on a grant from the Nine Network.  Nine decided not to proceed with the program and even though Nine funded the pilot, it remained Townsend’s property.  Only days after the pilot was given the ‘C’ classification, Townsend received a call from the 0-10 Network.  No screening date for the program has been set as yet.

Briefly…
Actor Peter Cousens has been announced as host of ABC’s new children’s environmental series Earthwatch.  Cousens will be joined by a forum of four to six children, and the program will include singing and dancing, news clips and a current affairs segment. 

The winner of last year’s series of The Inventors, David Little, will be a guest when the show returns this week for its tenth year.  Little’s invention, a solar tracker/heater, is now ready for world distribution and Little is now hoping for a financial return of several millions of dollars.

Viewers of The Young Doctors may see a slimmer Ada Simmonds (Gwen Plumb, pictured) next year.  The actress has accepted a challenge to lose 6 kg or give $1000 to the next Appealathon, due for early next year, on Perth’s STW9.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”Whatever happened to the good old Saturday night B-grade horror movies?  They were bad but I still miss them.” G. Barnard, NSW.

“I couldn’t believe it when I read, in the Sunday papers, about all those people who rang up channels ATN7 and TCN9 about TEN10’s screening of Last Tango In Paris.  If these people bought some meat from their butcher and, upon coming home, found it was off, would they then go to their nearest chemist and complain about it?”  M. Powell, NSW.

“I am only 15 years old and even I know it is very rude to say people 100 years old.  Also, Mrs Doolan (Viewpoint, 16 June 1979), can’t you find something a little better to pick on than a commercial?  Which, by the way, I, and I am sure many others, find amusing.” D. Hassell, QLD.

What’s On (July 14-20):
ATV0 crosses to Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse on Saturday afternoon for live coverage of Grand National Day, with races called by Clem Dimsey.

This Week Has Seven Days (HSV7, Saturday) features an interview with Peter Mayle, author of Where Did I Come From. 

ABC programs The Inventors and A Big Country both return with new episodes this week. 

In Prisoner (ATV0, Tuesday and Wednesday), Lyn (Kerry Armstrong, pictured) is released from Wentworth Detention Centre and is met by an unexpected welcoming party.  Joyce (Judy Nunn) makes Monica (Lesley Baker) an offer she finds hard to refuse.

On Friday night, GTV9 presents a delayed coverage of the 1979 Miss Universe pageant, held at Perth’s Entertainment Centre earlier that day.  The event is hosted by American personalities Helen O’Connell and Bob Barker.  Donny Osmond will be a guest performer, and judges include Carol Lynley, Lana Cantrell, LeVar Burton and Ita Buttrose.

ABC presents live coverage of the 1979 British Golf Championship from Royal Lytham, St Anne’s Lancashire, England.  Telecast starts on Friday night at 9.25pm and continues for six hours.

Sunday night movies: The Great Waldo Pepper (HSV7), The Dove (GTV9), Freebie And The Bean (ATV0).  ABC presents the first episode of Ride On Stranger, a four-part series set in Australia in the 1930s starring Liddy Clark, Noni Hazlehurst, Henri Szeps, Barbara Wyndon, Bunney Brooke and Michael Aitkens.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 14 July 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: July 7-13

Skyways taxis for take-off
The Seven Network’s long-awaited airport drama series, Skyways, debuts this week in Sydney and Melbourne. With on-location filming conducted at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport, the series is based on a fictional airport, Pacific International, and features its own airlines, Federal Airlines and Trans Asia. Producer Hector Crawford has described it as “strong drama, with a humorous touch; not exaggerated, but with a very honest approach to life.” HSV7 general manager Ron Casey said the series has a higher risk factor than most other programs: “The logistics of the program caused major problems. Our technical people had to solve many unexpected hitches. For instance, our equipment was seriously affected by the airport radar, and our schedules were put back about six week until our technicians solved the problem.” Producer Jock Blair said the program portrays a balanced view of life at an airport: “We are aware of the public sense of fear associated with flying, but I think the way we show safety measures and the quite incredible safety training of the flight crews will mean audiences will get a balanced picture of the everyday workings of an airport.” Skyways’ cast includes Bruce Barry, Deborah Coulls and Bartholomew John (pictured).

And now… TV drama for Kennedy?
The guessing game over Graham Kennedy’s return to television continues, following recent reports that he was to appear in a new comedy series for the Seven Network, and there have also been rumours of hosting variety shows for the Nine and Seven networks or hosting a nightly current affairs show for ATN7 Sydney. Kennedy’s manager, Harry M Miller, responds to some of the rumours: There have been no discussions with Nine at all about a return to the network. Kennedy has had an approach from Mike Willesee about hosting the Sydney-based Willesee At Six, but nothing further has developed. Kennedy is not doing the comedy role, but may appear in a drama series. Kennedy is also considering offers for movie roles, including one based on David Williamson’s play The Club.

21 years of TV Times!
TV Times celebrates its 21st birthday this week. The magazine initially started as Sydney-based TV News in June 1958 and was re-launched as TV News-Times in August 1959. The title was shortened to TV Times in November 1959. The first issue (pictured) reported on Jack Davey’s move from ATN7 to TCN9 in Sydney and remarking that he was planning a series along the lines of I Love Lucy. Actress Gwen Plumb was the star of an ABC series What’s In The Picture? and Ross Higgins was compering ABC’s Children’s TV Club.

Saga of a show called Carrots
From 1 July new rules were in place for the broadcast of programming aimed specifically aimed at children between 4.00pm and 5.00pm weekdays. Programs have to be approved by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal to receive the new children’s ‘C’ classification in order to be shown in that timeslot. Networks are angry as some of them were already developing new children’s programs before the Tribunal, as late as May, had issued guidelines on what would be approved. The Seven Network had spent $250,000 on a new series, Carrots, that was to air weekdays at 4.30pm and has failed to obtain the ‘C’ classification at the last minute. Seven claims that its program was based on the recommendations in the Self-Regulation for Broadcasters report, which at the time was the only guideline available to broadcasters. Producer Julian Jovers defended the program: “It has a cast of good actors, it’s fully scripted, has a permanent set and budget. We’re spending an excess of $20,000 a week producing four episodes.” The program had been screened to groups of children from varying backgrounds to assess their responses and they had largely responded positively, though some changes were made based on feedback. Earlier this year, episodes had been submitted to the Tribunal for comment. The tribunal did not respond until 11 June when it advised ATN7 that Carrots, and eight other programs that had been submitted by networks, had been rejected.

Briefly…
Actress Kate Shiel has won the female lead role in the new ABC series Timelapse, starring opposite Robert Coleby and John Meillon.

Lorraine Bayly is enjoying the sights of Los Angeles and has not given any indication as to a return date to The Sullivans.

Reporter Ray Martin (pictured) says there is absolutely “no difference” between being a reporter for ABC’s Four Corners and the Nine Network’s new 60 Minutes – although he has noted that, since leaving ABC as its New York correspondent, the fan mail is now coming from much younger viewers rather than “old ladies.”

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I am 15 years old, and for the first time in history I found a teenage show that didn’t star starry-eyed little goodie-goodies. I refer, of course, to James At 16.” M. Wolfshaar, QLD.

“I thoroughly enjoyed both Roots and Roots: The Next Generations. I cried. It was very moving. I hope they keep the family name going on and the story behind it. Good on you, Alex Haley.” G. Williams, NSW.

“I have been a fan of Doctor Who ever since I can remember, but lately Blake’s Seven became the highlight of my week’s viewing. Thanks again ABC for taking the brave step that at present the commercial stations are not taking – showing a sci-fi program in adult viewing time.” R. Sallis, VIC.

What’s On (July 7-13):
This Week Has Seven Days (HSV7, Saturday) looks at the recycling of plastic wastes being used in school art classes. Other topics covered today include kidney disease, a visit to Japan by two Australian students and looking at the career of a religious leader.

ABC’s Saturday Special is Peter Regan’s Musical World, featuring Brian May and the Melbourne ABC Showband.

Guest stars on HSV7’s Saturday Night Live include Little Pattie, Delilah, Bartholomew John, Angela Ayers and Dita Cobb.

In the debut episode of Skyways (HSV7, Monday) there is a commotion at Pacific International Airport when an attractive East German girl defects. Then, in sinister circumstances she disappears from the airport. Acting airport manager Paul MacFarlane (Tony Bonner) loses his promotion because of the trouble.

ATV0’s game show $10,000 Winner’s Circle, hosted by Sandy Scott, is bumped from its 7.00pm weekday timeslot to the less-appealing 3.30pm timeslot.

Sunday night movies: Sleuth (HSV7), The Partisan (GTV9), The Front Page (ATV0). ABC screens the landmark British mini-series Edward And Mrs Simpson, tracing the controversial love story between King Edward VIII and an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, which ultimately led to the King abdicating the throne. The mini-series starts on Sunday night and continues through to Thursday.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 7 July 1979. ABC/ACP

1979: June 23-29

Cover: Andrew McFarlane, Robert Coleby (Patrol Boat)

Timeless Land stars are cast
Michael Craig and Angela Punch will both return to Australia to star in ABC’s new big-budget series The Timeless Land, described as Australia’s own Forsythe Saga.  Production of the eight-part series, set in the 25 years following the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, is to commence in October.

The complete guide to Paul Hogan
Paul Hogan is known to viewers as the ocker Aussie, but on a recent appearance on Parkinson it was a more philosophical Hogan that appeared – giving his insight into Australian versus British class distinction, snobbery, politics and larrikin humour.  Michael Parkinson’s interviewing style impressed Hogan: “Parkinson’s an excellent interviewer.  He’s got a pretty laid-back style.  That helps.  But it’s the way he really listens to your answers and follows through on them.  To some journos you could answer a question about your wife’s health with ‘I killed her last week,’ and their next question would still be from their notes, ‘Yes, and how many children do you have?’.  Hogan also tells TV Times about his dining habits (“Where do we eat out as a family?  Simple.  The kids want to go wherever it costs a lot!”), wines (“I drink white wines mostly”), money (“It means the same thing to me as it’s always meant.  Freedom.  The right to say no.”), travelling (“At Rome airport I found myself surrounded by about 80 Australian Italians and they all introduced me to their mammas as Luigi.”) and the topic of canned laughter (“Nothing makes me angrier than shows like Donny And Marie.  A line that should get a giggle gets a belly laugh, a roar.  That’s not real.  We’ve been accused of using laugh machines.  We don’t, except for editing purposes to bridge or integrate something.  We’ve edited more laughs out than in.”)

Don Lane’s US debut a secret
Viewers of The Don Lane Show in the near future may notice a subtle change in the program as it prepares to be taped for a proposed US TV special.  Producer Peter Faiman said the upcoming special episode will not be significantly different to routine shows but it will be seen to be less parochial.

All grown up!
After more than 15 years playing the parts of schoolgirls and teenagers, former Bellbird and Alvin Purple star Anne Pendlebury has finally been cast as a middle-aged mother in ABC’s Twenty Good Years.   “I’ve been happy the way things have been, but this role is the highlight of my career so far and I’m happy to play an older woman.”

Briefly…
Stuart Wagstaff and Noeline Brown are to play the lead roles in a sitcom being made for the Seven Network by RS Productions (producers of The Naked Vicar Show).   The program has the working title of Two-Up and is expected to go into production next month.

Production of the Seven Network’s Young Ramsay is continuing despite its failure to gain approval for a ‘C’ classification for airing in the 4.00pm-5.00pm timeslot.

Former The Box actress Judy Nunn (pictured) is returning to the ATV0 studios to appear in an upcoming role in Prisoner.

Three years after joining Young Talent Time, team member Debbie Hancock has decided to leave the show to become a teacher after being offered a job with a modelling agency and school.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
”I wonder if any other viewers are as besotted as I am with Doctor Who’s helpmate K9?  I look out for him in every episode.” M. Bennett, NSW.

“I have recently noticed that no horror movies are being screened at all.  I do think many people would appreciate at least one horror movie a week, preferably on a Friday night.” M. McEachern, SA.

“I agree with J. Lewis (Viewpoint, 12 May 1979), and wonder if ATN7 Sydney knows how much CBN8 (Orange) and CWN6 (Dubbo) mutilates the Seven Big League program.  I am fortunate in that I am able to receive the League replay two nights later than Orange and it is 200 per cent better than CBN8’s version.  RVN2 (Wagga Wagga) gives League fans 60 minutes of football compared to CBN8’s 35 minutes.” J. Holland, NSW.  (TV Times responds: “A CBN8 spokesman said he had discussed the question with RVN2 and that both stations used the natural breaks already inserted by ATN7.  They both allot the same time to commercials, not adding to the breaks provided by Sydney.”)

What’s On (June 23-29):
On Saturday night and into early Sunday, ATV0 airs live coverage from the UK of the final of the Prudential Cup cricket.  Also late on Saturday and Sunday nights, GTV9 screens delayed highlights of the US Open golf championships that were shown live on ABC last weekend.

This Week Has Seven Days (HSV7, Saturday) visits DPTV10, a closed-circuit TV station broadcasting to 5000 viewers in the community of Debney Park.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at the portrayal and role of women in Australia’s history.

HSV7 on Monday night presents a one-hour special, Parlour Games, providing an insight into operation of Melbourne’s massage parlours.

In The Wild With Harry Butler (ABC, Wednesday) goes to Tasmania as Butler shows the impact of man on the Tasmanian wilderness and the animals that inhabit its wild, wet terrain.

ABC presents the debut of drama series Patrol Boat, starring Andrew McFarlane, Robert Coleby, Danny Adcock and Margo Lee. 

Maurie Fields, Val Jellay and Smacka Fitzgibbon are some of the guests featured this week on Peter Couchman Tonight (ATV0, weeknights).

Sunday night movies: The Wind And The Lion (HSV7), Ten Rillington Place (GTV9), The Eiger Sanction (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 23 June 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: June 9-15

Wishing on a star
TV Times asked six TV stars to nominate the secret role they’d most love to play.  Victoria Nicolls (The Restless Years) said she would love to do musical comedy roles.  “And if they were making The Ann Miller Story, I’d be desperate to play her.”  Michael Beecher (The Young Doctors) nominated the role of King Lear: “but unfortunately I don’t look old enough yet.”  Former Prisoner actress Carol Burns has a yearning to play Sally Bowles, the lead in Cabaret.  Bert Newton (pictured) sees Napoleon Bonaparte as his ideal fantasy role.  “Napoleon seems to me to have been a great personality and even today there is a great mystery about it.”  The Norman Gunston Show’s Pamela Gibbons would love to play a Marlene Dietrich-style role: “I’ve always admired Marlene Dietrich’s quality and charisma.  She was courageous in her era, introducing the trans-sexual look, which she virtually created in The Blue Angel.”  And Michael Caton, from The Sullivans, would like to play Fagin from the musical Oliver: “Fagin was an opportunist – a great character to play!”

Second century for Luck
The Seven Network has commissioned a further seven episodes of the documentary series This Fabulous Century.  This now brings the show’s tally to 37 episodes, starting with the 24 that were originally commissioned by Seven and six that were added later.  Producer David Salter said there will be no problem in filling the additional episodes on order: “There are some episodes we’d done some work on, then put aside in favour of other subjects.  We can move on to developing this material again.”  Also since the series had first gone to air, people had contacted the production company, Peter Luck Productions, offering more film footage from private collections.  Some of this ‘new’ footage has also been added to the national film archive.

Our China series big hit overseas
This week Australian TV networks will be vying to buy The Human Face Of China, the Film Australia documentary series acclaimed by buyers from 23 international territories at the MIPTV market in Cannes in April.  The series of five half-hour programs was researched and filmed in China over five months last year – the first time a non-socialist western film crew was allowed to film in China since 1949.  The program has already been picked up by US broadcaster WNET as well as broadcasters in Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan and Denmark.  There are still negotiations taking place with broadcasters in the United Kingdom, Finland, Israel, French Canada, Sweden, Norway, South Korea, Japan, Greece, Italy and France.

Variety’s the spice of Kathy’s life
I’m Looking At The World Through Rose-Coloured Glasses was the first song Kathy Lloyd (pictured) sang after her son was abducted.  She had to – it was already scheduled for her next Sound Of Music TV show.  After she was awarded custody of her son, Perry, her former husband took the boy to the US without her knowledge or consent.  That was eleven years ago and Lloyd hasn’t seen her son since.  Work offers for the singer dried up after news of the divorce and abduction was splashed across the media – though Lloyd is making a TV comeback with a role in the ABC series TV Follies, though it wasn’t without its own problems.  She was bruised when she fell two metres off the set of the show and landed on her back.  She “took five,” had a drink of water and went back to work.  The show must go on, she says, whether it’s after a fall or a personal tragedy.

Briefly…
Children will have the chance to become “earth watchers” when a new ABC series, Earthwatch, goes to air later this year.  The series of 26 half-hour episodes aims to educate on the natural and man-made environments and will incorporate a club which viewers will be able to join.

Debbie Hancock, a cast member of Young Talent Time, was runner-up in the recent Victorian Miss Teenage Quest for 1979 – raising more than $7000 for the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne.

The Survivors, a four-part children’s series telling the story of a group of teenagers who become lost while on a camping expedition, has been produced by ABC in Tasmania.  The series debuts this week in Tasmania and will air in other States later in the year.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”Why must SAS10 Adelaide insist on trying to shove Steve Raymond’s show down our throats?  They deliberately swapped their two very good “soaps,” The Young And The Restless and Another World with Raymond so that Another World, and NWS9’s Days Of Our Lives are in competition with each other.” L. McKenzie, SA.

“Sometimes I am horrified when I hear people say ABC is the worst channel on TV.  An informative, musical, scientific, action-packed, dramatic or professional line-up of night and pre-evening screening is shown every night.  Along with a comprehensive coverage of sport with no advertising, cheap publicity, false images or plastic imitations, it makes me shake my head in bewilderment at the automatic criticising of this down-to-earth station.” W. Stevens, SA.

“Are we so short of things to laugh at that we have to be fed Norman Gunston’s interview with Lee Marvin, prior to the latter entering a court of law.  He reminds me of the boy who passed wind in class and somebody laughed, thus realising an ambition to become a comedian.” L. Barton, QLD.

What’s On (June 9-15):
This Week Has Seven Days (HSV7, Saturday) looks at ten-pin bowling – how to do it and also to see how a bowling alley works.

This week’s TV Follies (ABC, Saturday) tells the passions and human drama of life behind the scenes in Hollywood in the remake of Death At Copacabana.  Starring Kathy Lloyd and Normie Rowe.

On Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday, ATV0 presents coverage of the 1979 Prudential Cup one-day cricket between Australia and England, live from Lords, England.   Richie Benaud heads the commentary team, with local commentary from Phil Gibbs, Bob Simpson and Tony Greig.  The Prudential Cup continues on Wednesday night with Australia versus Pakistan.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at the media with a collection of film clips and interviews with the stars of radio and television.

On The Paul Hogan Show (GTV9, Wednesday) the tax man pays Hoges a visit, with hilarious results when Hoges unveils his latest deduction.  Hoges also offers his views about dentists, and the job of a receptionist will never seem the same.

ABC presents the series debut of In The Wild With Harry Butler, this week looking at South Australia as Butler shows the many moods of the desert.

Sunday night movies: Love And Pain And The Whole Damn Thing (HSV7), A Good Thing Going (GTV9), You Only Live Twice (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 9 June 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: April 7-13

The Prisoner Files
So who’s who on both sides of the bars at Wentworth Detention Centre?  TV Times presents a special guide to the prisoners and officers in the new 0-10 Network series.

Karen Travers (Peita Toppano): Deeply religious, Travers is convicted for the murder of her brutal husband.  Sentenced to life behind bars.  Peita Toppano, the daughter of showbusiness couple Enzo Toppano and Peggy Mortimer, was a singer in many stage productions before turning to acting.

Bea Smith (Val Lehman):  A former hairdresser, Smith was convicted for the murder of a co-worker.  Having served ten years behind bars, she is released on parole but returns to Wentworth after murdering her husband.  Val Lehman has had extensive acting experience in both Australia and the United Kingdom, including touring with Children’s Arena theatre and appearing in four movies.

Jeannie “Mum” Brooks (Mary Ward, pictured):  A well-spoken, gentle woman who befriends new inmates and is well regarded by both officers and inmates.  Brooks was convicted for murdering her husband but, while on parole, is caught shop-lifting.  Mary Ward has worked in Australia and the United Kingdom, and before Prisoner had appeared in Bellbird and performed for the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Doreen Anderson (Colette Mann): A victim of child abuse, Anderson becomes easily led into crime and is serving four years in prison for breaking and entering.  Colette Mann’s career began in the musical Godspell in 1971 and has since worked as a singer, dancer, actress and choreographer.

Marilyn Mason (Margaret Laurence):  Serving twelve months for soliciting, Mason has a history of soliciting and stealing, and is known to have worked in a pornographic movie.  Margaret Laurence did her early theatre training in the United Kingdom and later worked in the US in dramas including Days Of Our Lives and The Young And The Restless.  Since coming to Australia, Laurence has appeared in Number 96 and worked for the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Freida “Franky” Doyle (Carol Burns): A former shop assistant, convicted for armed robbery and murder, Doyle has a record of association with bikie gangs.  She is a lesbian with an unrequited passion for Karen Travers.  Carol Burns has worked extensively in the theatre since 1970 and has worked as a senior lecturer in drama at the Darling Downs College of Advanced Education (Queensland).  In recent times, Burns has appeared in a number of ABC plays.

Lynn Warner (Kerry Armstrong): A naive country girl, serving ten years for the kidnapping and attempted murder of a child of an employer, though maintains her innocence of any crime.  Kerry Armstrong began acting while still at school and later became a weather girl at GTV9 Melbourne.  She has recently appeared in Cop Shop, The Truckies and The Sullivans, but Prisoner is her first ongoing role.

Elizabeth “Lizzie” Birdsworth (Sheila Florance, pictured): A housewife and mother of four, Birdsworth is a kleptomaniac and an alcoholic with a long string of convictions for theft.  She is sentenced to life in prison for the “accidental” killing of four shearers when she laced their food with arsenic “to teach them a lesson.”  Sheila Florance has more than 45 years experience in showbusiness across both Australia and the United Kingdom, and has appeared in many Australian TV productions including Consider Your Verdict, Division Four, Matlock Police, Bellbird, Homicide and Bobby Dazzler.

Meg Jackson (Elspeth Ballantyne): Born inside prison, Jackson is a warder that is sympathetic to the inmates.  A happy marriage to prison psychologist Bill (Don Barker) ended abruptly when he is murdered during a prison riot.  Elspeth Ballantyne is an established television and film actress with roles in dramas including Bellbird, Power Without Glory and Cop Shop.

Vera Bennett (Fiona Spence):  A harsh prison warden who is ruthless with the prisoners.  Is hopeful that her strong rule with get her the prison governorship.  She is single and lives at home with her elderly mother.  Fiona Spence is a recent graduate from 680 Playhouse and has appeared in the drama series Glenview High and in several television commercials.

Erica Davidson (Patsy King): The prison governor whose academic approach sometimes keeps her remote from the inmates and fails to understand their passions and frustrations.  Is married but her private life is kept a mystery as it is known she does not see her husband, being either separated or divorced.  Patsy King has worked extensively in Australia and New Zealand, including roles in Matlock Police, Homicide and Division Four, as well as appearing as a presenter on ABC’s Play School.

Greg Miller (Barry Quin): The prison doctor who is re-united with a former romantic interest when Karen Travers enters the prison.  Barry Quin is an actor with over ten years experience in the United Kingdom.  He met co-star Peita Toppano when touring Australia with the Chichester Festival Theatre Company and the two are now engaged to be married later this month.

Eddie Cook (Richard Moir): The electrician who is often called to the prison and spends a lot more time there than he should after falling for prison inmate Marilyn Mason.  Richard Moir is a former film assistant from ABC’s Four Corners and later became a reporter for A Current Affair before moving into acting.  Moir has appeared in Chopper Squad and The Restless Years as well as the movie The Odd Angry Shot.

Certain Women stars return to TV soaps
Three former stars of ABC’s Certain Women are returning to TV with key roles in The Restless Years and The Young Doctors.  Shane Porteous joins The Restless Years as businessman Andrew Nelson who becomes involved in what is being described as “the love story of the year.”  Also joining The Restless Years is Ivar Kants as the rough-but-gentle Ken Garrett, a friend of Peter Beckett (Nick Hedstrom).  Actress Carmen Duncan, who has also starred in Number 96, joins The Young Doctors as a widow who checks into the hospital for a minor operation but ends up vying for the affection of Dr Rod Langley (Chris Orchard).

Bert hits the jackpot
Bert Newton (pictured) has hit the jackpot with the signing of a five-year contract with a Melbourne radio station for a reported $1 million.  But the Don Lane Show sidekick and New Faces host has also had reason to celebrate with wife Patti giving birth to their second child, Lauren Elise.  The Newtons already have a son, two-year-old Matthew.

New ABBA special
The 0-10 Network and British broadcaster BBC have just completed a one-hour TV special ABBA In Switzerland – despite two of the pop group’s performers, Agnetha and Bjorn, having recently divorced.  The special, which also features Kate Bush, Leo Sayer and Boney M, is expected to screen in Australia later in the year.

Briefly…
Easter is a time for telethons – as Melbourne’s HSV7, Brisbane’s BTQ7 and Adelaide’s ADS7 prepare for their annual children’s hospital appeals.  The Melbourne and Brisbane appeals will go to air on Good Friday, while Adelaide’s telethon is held on the Saturday before Easter.

The star of ABC’s Patrol Boat, HMAS Bombard, has been towed back to Sydney for repairs after a fire onboard caused extensive damage.  ABC is now rescheduling filming as the stand-in boat, HMAS Advance, is about to be recalled for official duty.

The Nine Network’s million-dollar documentary series, The Africans, has been sold to 18 countries ahead of its screening in Australia later this month.  The two-part series was filmed over four months in Algeria, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Rhodesia and South Africa. 

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
”Once again I’ve missed the start of a program because channels won’t stick to their timetables.  I watched ABC’s The Onedin Line until 9.20pm and the news until 9.30, then crossed to WIN4 for The Sweeney only to find it well-started, although it was due to begin at 9.30 after Roving Eye.  Why do they do this?” E. James, NSW.

“Why is there not a TV channel which shows only sport? They could show Test matches, races and re-runs for seven days a week.  The rest of us could then be informed and entertained without constant interruptions by meaningless contests.” P. Casey, NSW.

“I would like to say how much I enjoy watching The Waltons during daytime viewing.  Grandma Walton passed a comment on putting strawberries and cinnamon on a rhubarb pie.  I cooked it this way and found it delicious, a nice change from apples.” D. Pratt, NSW.

What’s On (April 7-13):
On Saturday afternoon, GTV9 presents live coverage of the Golden Slipper Stakes from Sydney’s Rosehill Racecourse.  ABC has Sydney Rugby League’s Match Of The Day.

On This Week Has Seven Days (HSV7, Saturday afternoon), host Honor Walters, with studio guest furrier Stephen Dattner, studies how a fur coat is made.  Interior Designing is the subject of the careers segment, and this week’s medical topic is dermatology.

The Australian Beauty Quest ‘79, the selection of the Australian representative for the Miss Universe pageant, is telecast on GTV9 on Saturday night, live from Perth. 

On Tuesday night, GTV9 presents a delayed telecast of the 51st Academy Awards.  Best Picture nominations include Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, Heaven Can Wait, Midnight Express and An Unmarried Woman.  The awards presentation is hosted by Johnny Carson.

ABC’s motoring history series Marque, with Peter Wherrett (pictured), looks at the era of the 1930s featuring some of the industry’s great names such as Duesenberg, Packard Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Hispano-Suiza and Alfa-Romeo.

Friday is Good Friday, and HSV7 presents its annual Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.  The telecast starts at 8.30am and, apart from news updates at 8.45am and midday and Seven National News at 6.30pm, continues through to midnight.  The all-day appeal features celebrities from across the Seven Network (including Shirley Strachan, pictured with hospital patient Narelle McKenzie) and guest artists including Johnny Farnham, Colleen Hewett, the Australian Children’s Choir, Christie Allen, Russell Morris and TMG.  Players from all VFL teams also appear during the day.  The telephone numbers for donations are (03) 630 291 in Melbourne and (052) 21 3333 in Geelong.

Sunday night movies: The Salzburg Connection (HSV7), Catch 22 (GTV9), The Arrangement (ATV0). 

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 7 April 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: March 24-30

Cover: Tom Baker (Doctor Who) 

Who will play Dame Nellie?
Several Australian actresses are hoping for the lead role in the Grundy Organisation’s proposed eight-part mini-series on the life of Australia’s first great opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba.  The mini-series, to be made on location in Australia, United States, United Kingdom and Europe, will be directed by Bruce Beresford.  With a budget of $2 million for eight episodes, it is set to become Australia’s most expensive TV drama to date.

Two more stars to quit
Following the announcement that Lorraine Bayly is planning to leave The Sullivans, two more TV actresses have also quit their respective roles.  Cop Shop’s Rowena Wallace is due to finish up in the series in the next four months but will continue to be seen on screen until the end of the year.  Carol Burns, who plays lesbian bikie Franky Doyle in the new hit series Prisoner, will appear in the series until around August.  While Bayly is leaving her role to travel overseas, the other two are leaving to avoid typecasting.  “It’s up to the actress to extend her horizons,” Burns told TV Times.

Having a wonderful time
Before Young Talent Time returned to screens earlier this year, host Johnny Young and the team were busy taping an outdoor special for the 0-10 Network.  The one-off special features the Young Talent Team performing songs on location at various tourist spots around Melbourne including St Kilda Beach, Royal Melbourne Zoo, Captain Cook’s Cottage and the Yarra River.  Following the Melbourne-based special, the team hope to do similar programs based in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, Hobart and Perth.

Briefly…
The cast of the stage play Bedroom Farce – including Belinda Giblin, Pat McDonald, Willie Fennell and Barry Creyton – have agreed to appear on HSV7’s upcoming Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.

Former Division Four actor Ted Hamilton is now a restaurateur with an establishment in Los Angeles that is becoming popular with the stars.

Singer Judy Jacques, a long-time favourite on TV in shows including In Melbourne Tonight, Dig We Must and Sounds Like Us, has returned to television after six years with a guest appearance on ATV0’s Peter Couchman Tonight, and more appearances are planned.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
“It’s great to see good entertainment back on TV with Hey Hey It’s Saturday. Daryl Somers and Ossie Ostrich (pictured) are a wonderful comedy team and they are funny with adults and children.  I wish they did not have what few cartoons they have on their three-hour show and have time filled with their beaut comedy.” G. Barnard, NSW

”Regarding ABC’s classic movies.  Cheers!  It’s high time we had something worth watching.  But not at the ridiculous time of 10pm and later – 8.30 or 9pm is quite late enough to start.” M Swan and G Slade, NSW.

“What a wonderful program The Curiosity Show is.   My friend and I (16 and 15 respectively) never fail to watch, as there is always at least one segment which appeals to all ages.  On the whole it’s far better, to my mind, than This Week Has Seven Days, What In The World or similar shows.” G. Coleman, TAS.

“TCN9 Sydney should bring back Bobby Limb’s Sound Of Music.  When Bobby had his Sound Of Music at St George League’s Club in Sydney it was the most successful season that club had had for a long time.  People are still talking about the show.” B. Denniss.  NSW.

What’s On (March 24-30):
Weekend sport includes Australia versus Pakistan in the cricket Second Test, live from Perth on ABC.  ATV0 has highlights of the Grand Master’s Tennis Championship from Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion.  And HSV7 on Sunday afternoon has Claremont versus Melbourne in the Australian Football Championships.

HSV7’s Penthouse is now Saturday Night Live with Ernie Sigley and new co-host Belinda Leigh.  This week’s guests include Betty Cuthbert, Bob Maumill and Sid Paterson.  Also direct coverage of harness racing from Moonee Valley and Tattslotto draw 340.

Maggie Millar and Peter Finlay are guest stars in Cop Shop (HSV7, Monday and Thursday) where a receptionist pleads confusion in an attempt to cover-up a $37,000 theft.  While Valerie (Joanna Lockwood) finds that getting a permanent job involves a lot more than she had expected.

The Paul Hogan Show (GTV9, Thursday) investigates the strange Australian ritual of BYO barbeques, while Paul Hogan takes a look at World Series Bowls.  Guest stars include the Little River Band, Karen Pini and Sue McIntosh.

Friday night sees GTV9 cross to Perth for live coverage of the 1979 Australian Pacing Derby, hosted by Garry Carvolth.

Sunday night movies: No Sex Please, We’re British (HSV7), The Legend Of Hell House (GTV9).  ATV0 presents the mini-series The Pirate on Sunday and Monday nights.

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

1979: March 17-23

Julie Anthony's singing the blues away
This week, the Seven Network will screen The Julie Anthony Special, a one-hour production taped late last year on the Gold Coast.  But since the special was taped, the former South Australian farm girl who grew up to charm London audiences in the stage production of Irene, has lost her voice and been ordered by doctors not to sing at all until the problem has been properly diagnosed and, hopefully, cured.  Anthony, and her husband and manager Eddie Natt, have since travelled to Germany to consult a throat specialist with the hope that laser surgery can cure the recurring voice problems that also caused her to drop out of Irene ahead of schedule in 1977.  In the operation is a success then Anthony hopes to be able to do another TV special.

The Restless Years together
It's the marriage that fans of The Restless Years have waited over a year for.  Dr Bruce Russell (Malcolm Thompson) has married Alison Clark (Julieanne Newbould) in a formal church wedding followed by a reception attended by around 40 guests.  The on-screen wedding was performed by a real-life Anglican priest, Reverend R W Long, at his church of St Martin's in the Sydney suburb of Killara. 

David switches channels in comeback bid
Two years after "retiring" from the newsroom at Melbourne's HSV7, David Johnston (pictured)  is making a comeback to journalism as the host of ABC's new Victorian-based current affairs program, Statewide.  Although Johnston has continued to co-host HSV7's children's magazine program This Week Has Seven Days, in the two years since leaving Seven National News, Johnston has been made various offers to join rival channels but rejected them as "I wasn't that interested.  I wanted a complete change."  The offer to present Statewide came several months ago, but at the time Johnston was reluctant to sever all ties with HSV7:  "Then I learnt This Week Has Seven Days was about to fold, so I accepted the ABC offer."  Since announcing his new role as host of Statewide, HSV7 has given a reprieve to This Week Has Seven Days and it will continue with Johnston's former co-host Honor Walters.

Exit Lorraine, enter Ilona
Former English and New Zealand actress Ilona Rodgers has joined the cast of The Sullivans and, despite denials from producer Hector Crawford, it is suggested that her role of Kate Meredith will ultimately replace that of Grace Sullivan (Lorraine Bayly) as the show's central character.   Bayly is set to leave the series in the next few weeks but will continue to be seen on screen until late in the year.  Hector Crawford told TV Times: "Ilona has a very important role.  She is an enormously competent actress.  We don't know how far the role will go until we knew whether... when... Grace will return."  Having built up a huge following as Grace Sullivan, Bayly is said to be keen to pursue acting opportunities overseas.

Briefly... 
A friendly tennis match between the cast of Prisoner and members of the news team at rival HSV7 took an unfortunate turn when actress Kerry Armstrong (pictured) fell and tore two tendons in her leg.  The former TV weathergirl, who plays inmate Lyn Warner in the new 0-10 Network series, is now on crutches which appears timely given that a script for an upcoming episode has Warner suffer an accident that also leaves her on crutches.

Diane Craig, actress wife of Garry McDonald (Norman Gunston), is currently appearing on the Nine Network's The Sullivans but is about to change camps to an ongoing role in Seven's Cop Shop.

John Proper, producer of GTV9's New Faces, has just faced the cameras in a guest role as a drunken Irishman, Paddy Stevenson, for Cop Shop.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
"I am writing to complain that these days there are no horror movies on TV." N. Kinghorne, NSW.

"I was extremely thrilled to learn of the return of Doctor Who, after a long-awaited and promised return.  But why at 6.30pm? Again, ABC has committed Doctor Who to this timeslot.  As before, we will be unable to view the so-called "A"-rated versions because of this timeslot.  The past Doctor Who adventures have all been enjoyable, but I am sick and tired of having stories shown cut, and in "bits and pieces" or just not having them at all." M. Kavazos, NSW.

"On the day John Dease died, Sydney TCN9 newsreader Brian Henderson solemnly informed viewers that later in the news there would be tributes to this great broadcaster and actor.  I sat there waiting, expecting that we would hear from personalities that knew him as a friend and professional colleague.  But had Nine gone to the trouble of gathering tributes from these people?  No, they took the el cheapo way out and ran a bit of the movie Newsfront, in which Dease appeared.  And I'd seen the movie anyway." M. Cook, NSW.

What's On (March 17-23):
Saturday afternoon sport includes ATV0's coverage of Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day, live from Flemington and hosted by Peter Hanrahan with race caller Clem Dimsey.  HSV7 has tennis with the 1979 Simpson Satellite Circuit from Kooyong in Melbourne.  While ABC has a repeat of the highlights of the 1978 Coca-Cola Swimming Championships.

In This Week Has Seven Days (HSV7, Saturday afternoon), snake expert Frits Maaten is in the studio with poisonous Tiger, Copper, Adder and Black snakes.  He also shows harmless varieties and how to correctly apply a tourniquet.

Children's programs on weekday afternoons are dominated by overseas titles, including Land Of The Lost, Battle Of The Planets, Scooby Doo, Flipper, Catweazle and Sesame Street, though ABC has the perennial Play School and GTV9 has Rory O'Donohue hosting a children's game show, Razzle Dazzle.

This week's guests on Peter Couchman Tonight (ATV0, weeknights) include Denise Drysdale (pictured), Eddie Charlton, Helen Noonan, Matt Flinders, Pamela Gibbons and Jimmy Hannan.

Friday night sees the debut of Statewide, a local current affairs program hosted by David Johnston, as the lead-in to ABC's 7pm news.

This week's Australian Football Championships matches (HSV7) are Footscray versus Tasmania, and South Melbourne versus South Fremantle.

Sunday night movies: Killer On Board (HSV7), Steptoe And Son Ride Again (GTV9), McQ (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 17 March 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: February 3-9

Cover: Rod Stewart

The $1m newsman is as hard as nails!
Brian Naylor, former long-time newsreader for HSV7 in Melbourne, was last year subject of the biggest takeover bid in the business when he was signed up by arch rival GTV9 to front National Nine News.  With more than 20 years at Seven behind him, Naylor is reluctant to confirm exactly how much he was paid to come over to GTV but $1 million has been reported in various circles - and both channels GTV9 and ATV0 have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in previous years to get viewers to switch over from Seven's top-rating news, without much luck.  GTV9's last option was to buy Naylor from Seven.  News director John Sorell had tried once before but Naylor didn't bite.  But then five months ago GTV9 was faced with losing newsreader Eric Pearce to semi-retirement and Sorell knew that Naylor's contract was coming up for renewal at Seven, so Sorell kept his eye on the calendar and when the time was right managed to make a successful offer.

Nationwide - 'a unique mix'
ABC's new current affairs program, Nationwide, will be "a unique mix of national and local current affairs," according to executive producer John Penlington.  The new program, which replaces the long-running This Day Tonight, begins on ABC on 19 February and will screen Monday to Thursday nights.  Former Adelaide TDT host Clive Hale (pictured) will present Nationwide from Sydney and will be joined by Canberra correspondent Richard Carleton and investigative reporters Paul Griffiths and Andrew Olle.  The program will also have local segments compiled in each state capital to include stories of local interest.

Many happy returns for Dorrie
Director Peter Williams was a schoolboy when he first saw Pat McDonald (pictured) perform in stage play The Cell in Canberra.  The young Williams went backstage after the show to meet McDonald and the rest of the cast.  Now Williams will be directing McDonald as she takes over from Ruth Cracknell in the stage comedy Bedroom Farce which is about to tour Australia.  Bedroom Farce marks McDonald's return to the stage after six years on TV as dotty pensioner Dorrie Evans in Number 96.  McDonald, whose career started in theatre, told TV Times she loves working on stage but would like to do another TV series if the public would accept her as someone other than Dorrie.

Briefly...
John Bond, winner of ABC's first Mastermind series, is "rather scared" at the prospect of facing Mastermind winners from Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Nigeria in a Mastermind International special to be taped this week at BBC in London.  The program will air in Australia later this month on ABC.

American-born Evie Hayes has returned from her annual trip back to the home country to start her eighth year as an adjudicator on Young Talent Time, and despite reports to the contrary, has no thoughts of moving from  her adopted home of Melbourne.

Rolf Harris has returned to his home town of Perth to appear in a televised concert to commemorate Western Australia's 150th anniversary.  The 49-year-old entertainer, now based in the UK, has also been negotiating with ABC to televise a concert that he is appearing in with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in May.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
"So Pensioner, you think you have it bad in Canberra (Viewpoint, 6 January 1979).  Here in Darwin, TV starts at 5.30pm-6.00pm and finishes at 11.30pm.  And that's on a late night!  At least Canberra TV starts at midday with The Mike Walsh Show.  We don't even get it - or The Sullivans.  One program here is The Cisco Kid made in the 1950s.  It's about time it was put in moth balls.  The movies are third rate." C. Kidd, NT.

"I'm a great fan of horror films and I think there should be one or two scary movies a week, at early times like there used to be on Saturday nights.  And I'm sure my blood thirsty friends would enjoy them as I will when, or if, it happens." T. Amalfigano, NSW.

"To that Canberra pensioner (Viewpoint, 6 January 1979) who wants another commercial channel!  Please point out to her the rubbish we have in Sydney with four channels.  Tennis, cricket, cricket, tennis.  I am a pensioner in bed with one leg in plaster.  I would like to see the people who run these stations spend time in hospital or in an old people's home and look at this trash.  So tell her Canberra is no worse off."  'Pensioner', NSW.

What's On (February 3-9):
Another week of cricket with World Series Cricket on GTV9 on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and One Day International on ABC on Saturday and Sunday.  With school going back in various states, ABC's schools programming resumes between 10.00am and 2.30pm weekdays.

Also for kids is This Week Has Seven Days on HSV7 on Saturday afternoon.  This week's show includes David Johnston examining the history and background of the ancient city of Athens and Honor Walters' careers segment features optical mechanics.

Daytime show The Mike Walsh Show returns for another year, and GTV9's drama double, The Young Doctors and The Sullivans (pictured), are returned to their normal 6.00pm and 7.00pm timeslots for the 1979 season.  Game show Family Feud is settled back into its 5.00pm timeslot.

The new comedy series Doctor Down Under (based in the British Doctor In The House series) begins on HSV7 on Monday night, and The Naked Vicar Show returns featuring cast members Noeline Brown, Kevin Golsby, Ross Higgins, Colin McEwan, Laurel McGowan and guest stars John Farnham and Linda George.

Sunday night movies are The Mad Bomber (HSV7) and The Fox (ATV0).  GTV9 has World Series Cricket through to 10.30pm.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 3 February 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: January 27-February 2

Stardom and the single man
TV Times talked to a cross-section of showbusiness bachelors about the pros and cons of single life while in the public eye. For Don Lane, currently in a relationship, there was a time when he would question if a girl was interested in Don Lane, the person, or Don Lane on TV. Actor Terry Donovan has had to combine his professional and social life with raising a son, Jason, but is enjoying being a bachelor. Ugly Dave Gray said it took some adjusting, after the end of his marriage to wife Gail, to getting out and being social again, but admits to being the marrying kind, and "I'd really like kids if I marry again." For Sherbet singer Daryl Braithwaite, being single has the benefit of not having any responsibility, but the downside is that he tends to be the only member of the group to come home alone after being away on tour. But he is reluctant to get involved in a serious relationship again, for a while at least.

TV greets the Year of the Child
All networks are planning locally produced or imported programs focused on the International Year Of The Child (IYC), and most channels are planning increased quality and quantity for children's programs:

ARVO (ABC): New series to launch in April. To go to air weekday afternoons 4.00pm-6.00pm, and will include children's entertainment, such as Sesame Street, and reports and interviews with children about their own IYC projects. ABC is currently looking for a host for the program who gets on well with children, and bunyips, as ARVO's co-host will be a bunyip called Alexander.

Twin Towers (ABC): A new six-part children's drama is in production, starring John Ewart, Tessa Mallos, Ray Meagher, Justine Saunders and Candy Williams. Storylines for the new series have been developed with contributions from children at a Sydney primary school.

Earth Patrol (ABC): New drama series to debut in June and will screen in combination with the Earth Patrol Club which will provide a forum for children's involvement in community and environmental issues. Many of the episodes for Earth Patrol will be filmed in Sydney and Queensland.

Mad Dog Gang (Nine): New Zealand-based series to be screened in March.

Falcon Island (Nine): A Perth-based children's drama about the search for a wrecked sailing ship off the coast of Western Australia.

The Gene Machine (Nine): Seven-part British series about how genes affect the lives of humans and animals.

A Gift Of Song: The Music For UNICEF Concert (0-10): The official launch concert for IYC that took place in New York on 10 January. Performers include the Bee Gees, Olivia Newton-John, Kris Kristofferson, John Denver, Earth Wind And Fire, Andy Gibb, Rod Stewart, ABBA and Rita Coolidge. To be screened in Australia possibly in February or March.

The Seven Network has also obtained local broadcast rights to a mammoth 20-hour telethon in aid of IYC which will be beamed direct from the United States over two days in June to more than 30 countries worldwide. Seven's telecast is expected to include an Australian component featuring local personalities from the Seven Network, and rival network identities will also be invited to appear.

New shows for '79
The four networks - ABC, Seven, Nine and 0-10 - all unveil some of the new and returning shows for the coming 1979 season.

ABC: New Australian-made drama with The Oracle (starring John Gregg, pictured), Patrol Boat, Twenty Good Years, Ride On Stranger and One Day Miller, a spin-off of the comedy series Tickled Pink. Another new drama, Golden Soak, based on the novel by Hammond Innes, a six-part series co-produced by ABC with British and German interests. Also to come this year are new episodes of British series Are You Being Served?, The Two Ronnies, Doctor Who, The Goodies and George And Mildred. Peter Wherrett presents a new ten-part series Marque: 100 Years Of Motoring tracing the history of the motor car industry and takes a peek at where it's headed. There's new episodes of Holiday With Bill Peach and Mastermind. And a new era in current affairs with Nationwide replacing the long-running This Day Tonight.

Seven: A new series of Father Dear Father In Australia will also be joined by Australian versions of UK favourites Love Thy Neighbour and Doctor In The House. There's new local drama this year with the Melbourne-based airport drama Skyways. Journalist Peter Luck (pictured) presents a new 16-part documentary series This Fabulous Century. New imported series include CHiPs, The Incredible Hulk, The Upchat Line, Return Of The Saint, The Professionals, The Unknown War and Lillie. A new mini-series, Centennial, traces the lives of seven generations of Americans living in the Colorado area and boasts the largest production budget ever for a TV series. Returning this year are overseas series The Sweeney, Quincy, Welcome Back Kotter, Good Times, The Muppet Show, Eight Is Enough, Mind Your Language and The Dick Emery Show. There will also be more locally-made specials featuring Norman Gunston, Julie Anthony and Malcolm Douglas.

Nine: The long-awaited current affairs program 60 Minutes (pictured) makes its debut while returning favourites include The Mike Walsh Show, The Don Lane Show, The Paul Hogan Show, The Sullivans and The Young Doctors. New overseas drama with Vega$, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, The Source and mini-series The Immigrants. New US comedy series Taxi, WKRP In Cincinnati, Who's Watching The Kids and Mork And Mindy. Returning US series include The Love Boat, Happy Days, Fantasy Island, Laverne And Shirley, Charlie's Angels, Hawaii Five-0, Donny And Marie and Family.

0-10: New Australian drama with the Melbourne-based Prisoner (pictured) starring Val Lehman, Peta Toppano, Carol Burns, Fiona Spence, Kerry Armstrong, Elspeth Ballantyne, Colette Mann, Sheila Florance, Patsy King and Mary Ward. New US comedy with Flying High and Grandpa Goes To Washington. New US drama includes Dallas, The Eddie Capra Mysteries, The American Girls, The Paper Chase, Sword Of Justice and Roots: The Next Generations, the next chapter to Alex Haley's saga of his ancestors' early life in America. A three-part mini-series, Pearl, tells the events surrounding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941. Returning US series include MASH, The Adventures Of Wonder Woman, Grizzly Adams, The Waltons, Project UFO, Alice and The Rockford Files.

Bush vet comes to town - again
Crawford Productions is to begin work later this year on a further thirteen one-hour episodes of drama Young Ramsay for the Seven Network. The series will again feature John Hargreaves as Peter Ramsay, the young city vet who goes bush. Co-star Serge Lazareff is also expected to return for the new episodes, though Barbara Llewellyn will not be returning. A replacement for Llewellyn has not yet been cast. It has been more than twelve months since the first series of Young Ramsay was shown in Melbourne.

The taming of a workaholic
In the five months since Brian Naylor resigned from Melbourne's Seven National News, there had been plenty of speculation as to who would replace him. However, none of that speculation seemed to include the former reporter that had been filling Naylor's position in the meantime, Mal Walden (pictured): "I must admit that all the newspaper reports at the time were very crushing for the ego. After all, I was doing the job at the time and it was embarrassing to be completely dismissed by the press. Even Pamela Graham, who was filling in my usual spot, got a mention. I just would have liked someone to acknowledge the fact that I was there." As it turned out, Walden was the one that management wanted for the role, although it did take a lot of convincing from station manager Ron Casey to get him to accept it. A former country radio announcer, Walden came to radio station 3DB in Melbourne in the late-1960s. Then in 1970, after a year-long hitch-hiking tour through Europe and Asia, Walden joined 3DB's sister TV station, HSV7, where he reported for the news, hosted the quiz show Jeopardy and filled in for David Johnston on the children's program This Week Has Seven Days. In 1974, Walden was the first reporter to arrive in Darwin after the city had been devastated by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day. "Naturally it is one of those jobs you never forget, but as a reporting job it wasn't hard. The news was everywhere. All you had to do was point a camera and put a microphone at someone's mouth and you had a story. The big problem was getting the stories out of Darwin. I'd spend hours trying to get the reels of film on some sort of plane to Melbourne."

To the rescue, with classics
ABC has purchased a package of more than 140 classic movies for screening on Saturday and Tuesday nights from next month. The package includes titles from three different sources, MGM, the Goldwyn estate and London Films. The first movie to be shown from the package will be Woman Of The Year, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, which will head a block of movies to be shown as the Spencer Tracy Festival. Geoff Daniels, head of ABC drama, explains the plan behind the purchase: "Our philosophy is that ABC can't afford first-run movies - no way we can ever be in that. We want to build up an audience who are interested in these type movies. It's worked successfully for BBC and there's no reason why it shouldn't work for us." The line-up of classic movies is part of a new-look evening line-up for ABC this year, following the axing of This Day Tonight, that will see comedy scheduled after the news at 7.30pm, followed by local or imported drama at 8.30pm and new current affairs program Nationwide at 9.30pm.

Briefly...
After guest roles in Matlock Police, Division Four and The Truckies, singer-turned-actress Leila Hayes is about to play the mother of the hero in the new ABC series Twenty Good Years.

Janise Beaumont, a former Sydney journalist and reporter for The Mike Walsh Show and later The Steve Raymond Show, is a new addition to The Don Lane Show's on-air line-up.

In the four months since arriving in Australia from New Zealand, actor Sam Neill has been signed for three movie roles and a three-month stint in The Sullivans starting in May.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
"The spate of televised tennis matches shows no sign of abatement, but, it must be admitted that the tennis does at least keep out the more idiotic serials and crime movies which have dominated the afternoon box." F. Rowley, NSW.

"Thank you ABC, from the bottom of my heart, for screening the TV movie Shimmering Light and the series Who Pays The Ferryman, the two most outstanding shows of the year." G. Papadopoulos, NSW.

What's On (January 27-February 2):
This weekend's This Week Has Seven Days includes a segment on orienteering, a tour of the galleries and museums of the City of Boston and a discussion on psychiatry with a doctor from the Royal Melbourne Hospital. In the arts and crafts segment, Shirley Shackleton demonstrates the Fairisle knitting pattern.

On Sunday, ABC presents the cricket Fifth Test from Adelaide, and GTV9 presents World Series Cricket from VFL Park in Melbourne. HSV7 presents coverage of the 1979 Superbowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys which was played 21 January. This is followed by a documentary covering the activity in Saint Peter's Square during the two-day wait for the announcement to be made and the coronation of Pope John Paul II.

ABC's 7.30pm line-up features a magazine program, Horse Talk, on Monday night with Heath Harris and Suzy Jarratt, while from Tuesday through to Friday is a repeat of the documentary series Australians At Large featuring Australians in far-removed parts of the world.

The Early Bird Show, Fat Cat And Friends and The Holiday Fun Show keep the kids amused in the early mornings, as well as the perennial Sesame Street and Play School. But with TV still basically in summer mode, afternoon TV is largely a sea of classic and black-and-white movies and sitcoms on HSV7 and ATV0 every weekday although ATV0 does include The Steve Raymond Show and GTV9 has more World Series Cricket.

Sunday night movies are repeats of The Chairman (GTV9) and Masquerade (ATV0). HSV7 presents Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll, the third part of the Ray Lawler trilogy featuring Bruce Myles, Peter Curtin, Carole Skinner, Sandy Gore, Christine Amor and David Downer. ABC presents a 50-minute special Australia Day concert featuring the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 27 January 1979. ABC/ACP