50 Years of Television in Australia

by Nick Place

  Doyle was the star of the show’s first year – despite the fact that she left the show early and was killed off well before the year ended. By that time the show had already captured many thousands of fans and Channel 10 had indefinitely extended the show’s initial 16-episode run.

  Franky, played by actress Carol Burns – who smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day, and pigged out on steaks and banana sundaes to balloon her weight to play the role – spoke the first words in the drama (‘She bumped into me’) when it debuted. She attempted to dominate the jail, and single-handedly destroyed the recreation room when her then-girlfriend, Doreen, was moved to another cell.

  Her death came at the end of an extended storyline which saw her escape from Wentworth Detention Centre and stay on the run for eight episodes. She was shot after an attempt to rob a hardware store went horribly, horribly wrong. Lying in Doreen’s arms, her last words were ‘bloody bastards’.

  Her death even made waves as far afield as Los Angeles where 20 female bikies were reported to have laid a wreath for Franky outside local station KTLA-5.

  Sale wows ‘em

  September: Halfway through the ratings season, Channel Nine’s new game show Sale of the Century is proving a ratings bonanza for Nine.

  Although it’s a re-badged version of the 1970s game show Great Temptation, host Tony Barber and the bubbly Victoria Nicholls have taken the new show to great heights in a short time. Viewers have fallen for the canny blend of general knowledge and great prizes, leading to a ratings performance that producers wouldn’t have dreamed of before it hit our screens. Even though it was launched halfway through the current ratings season, Sale still managed to set new ratings records in the crucial 7 pm timeslot.

  There were emotional scenes in The Sullivans when the family learned that Grace had died during a bomb raid in London. The clan gathered to farewell her at a funeral that provided some of the most harrowing TV moments of the year.

  Shirl is king of the kids

  November: Graeme ‘Shirley’ Strachan was once best known as the strutting, confident frontman of pop band Skyhooks. But now he’s just as likely to be mobbed in the street by pre-teen fans of his TV show, Shirl’s Neighbourhood.

  The show has just notched up its 200th episode, also celebrating its first birthday, and Shirl says he’s loving every minute of it. In July last year, Shirl and Neighbourhood identity Claude the Crow even jumped networks to host Countdown.

  ‘I’m a big kid,’ Strachan told TV Week. ‘I’ve had 12 months of silliness – no, joy! I’ve learnt more about kids in this last year than ever before.’

  Shirl said the key to his success has been a willingness to dive in and get involved with his audience. ‘You can’t just sit on the fence and watch; it doesn’t work,’ he said.

  Featuring characters such as Norm the Kangaroo, and brilliant puppets, including Claude, by rising artist Ron Mueck, Shirl’s Neighbourhood features studio-based fun and location shoots.

  Lane ‘Piss off’ row

  August: A furore has erupted after Don Lane angrily told visiting Canadian sceptic James Randi to ‘piss off’ on air during the Don Lane Show on 11 August.

  Randi had queried the legitimacy of elderly psychic Mrs Doris Stokes – a Lane Show favourite – and the aspersions he cast clearly outraged the Lanky Yank.

  He stood up from his seat, swiped Randi’s props off the table in front of him with an angry sweep of his arm and told Randi loudly that he could ‘piss off’.

  Channel 9 received a number of complaints later about Lane’s language and reaction – but just as many applauding his actions and attacking Randi.

  It’s new TV, in any language

  October: Australian multiculturalism has a new voice. On Friday 24 October at 6.30 pm, the new Special Broadcasting Service (SBS -TV) goes to air, with transmissions to Sydney and Melbourne.

  Believed to be the first station of its kind in the world, SBS will feature programming from non-English-speaking countries. It is headed by chairman Bruce Gyngell, who was the first man ever to appear on Australian TV in 1956.

  The Age reports that the opening night line-up is set to include Three Sea Wolves, a local comedy starring Chantal Contouri and members of Melbourne’s Greek community, as well as an Italian variety show and a Yugoslavian film about a man who leaves home to look for work in Germany.

  MEMORIES

  > New-look Peter Couchman Tonight show is launched, with Couchman jumping into a cage full of tigers for the first show.

  > Channel Ten news reporters discover a radioactive uranium ore dump in the Northern Territory, protected only by a warning sign.

  > Computers play a part in Nine’s cricket coverage, a first for sport.

  > The first 26 years of Australia’s colourful history come to life in the ABC’s big-budget mini-series, The Timeless Land.

  > Former South Australian Premier Don Dunstan launches his own variety talk show on the ABC, called Capriccio.

  > Paul Hogan stars in a special titled The Prophecies of Hoges, where he imitates celebrities and TV personalities.

  > An insurance company tells 60 Minutes reporter George Negus he’s too hot to handle, and he couldn’t afford to pay for his own personal insurance because the premium would be astronomical.

  > The ‘Who Shot JR?’ episode of Dallas screens in Australia and Larry Hagman uses the hype surrounding his character’s shooting to demand a pay increase from $12,000 to $100,000 per episode, finally settling on $50,000 and a percentage of all JR merchandise.

  > Young Channel 10 newsreader Jana Wendt hopes to stay in newsreading or reporting, ‘until I die’.

  > TV Times and TV Guide are acquired by TV Week. All three are incorporated into the TV Week masthead.

  > On 20 January, Melbourne ATV-0 changes to ATV-10. The 0-10 Network changes its name to Network Ten.

  > Gold Logie: Mike Walsh

  > Outstanding contribution to children’s television: Simon Townsend’s Wonder World

  1981

  Fasten your seatbelts – 1981 is a bumper year in TV. A Town Like Alice finds a huge audience when it screens, the supposedly tropical Holiday Island starts filming in chilly suburban Melbourne and one of the biggest events ever witnessed on Australian TV – Charles and Di’s wedding – breaks all sorts of ratings records.

  There’s no town like Alice

  July: With a budget of $1.25 million and shot over 16 weeks, the six-part mini-series A Town Like Alice was one of the Seven Network’s most ambitious projects ever.

  But it has paid back every cent. The series has also proved to be one of the network’s biggest-ever success stories, achieving dream ratings in some territories. In Sydney it rated 49 while Melbourne recorded a 44.

  Australians were not alone in loving the story either. When the series screened in Britain recently, it was watched by more than 15 million people, which made it Britain’s third-highest-rating mini-series ever, behind only Roots and Holocaust.

  Filmed by award-winning Russel Boyd (Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave), shooting took place in Broken Hill, England, Malaysia and Sydney for the Marriner Films production, financed by Seven, the BBC, the Victorian Film Corporation and the Australian Film Commission.

  It featured Helen Morse and Bryan Brown in a grand screen adaptation of Neville Shute’s book. A Town Like Alice is the story of British woman Jean Paget who, while a prisoner of war in Malaya, falls in love with Australian POW Joe Harmon, a classic Australian hero, with a ready sense of humour, courage and honesty in any situation. Believing Joe has been executed by the Japanese, a heartbroken Jean returns to England at the end of the war. It is only when she revisits Malaya to build a well for the villagers who helped the POWs that she discovers Joe is alive and living in Alice Springs.

  The series marked the biggest starring TV roles to date – and instant global stardom – for both Brown and Morse, although they have had guest spots in other shows. A familiar face in several major Australian films in recent times, Bro
wn was a late starter to acting, but has made up for lost time. His portrayal of POW survivor Harmon is a highlight of A Town Like Alice.

  Following such a huge response from both the local and overseas markets, pundits are asking one big question: will the mini-series become the Next Big Thing in Australian TV?

  Holiday Island warms up

  June: Residents of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs may have been puzzled by all the palm trees in the back lot of Channel 10’s studio recently, but Holiday Island is finally set to take to the screen.

  Described as a tropical series full of mystery, romance, adventure and escape, the series is expected to be a huge success, according to Crawford Productions, which has spent a reported $300,000 building the outdoor set.

  Space 1999 star Nick Tate has flown back from London to play a major role in the series, which is set at a tropical island resort somewhere in the Whitsundays in Queensland.

  He will be joined by award-winner Tracey Mann and veteran Frank Wilson. Former Young Doctors star Rebecca Gilling is set to feature in the opening two-part episode.

  Production has been slowed by bouts of colds and flu among the cast, who have been attempting to look tropical and warm in bikinis and shorts, despite the depths of a Melbourne winter.

  Is Robert Redford Ten’s news reader?

  March: Good Morning Australia’s largely female audience continues to swoon over the husky new man reading the news. In fact, 29-year-old TV rookie Tim Webster bears a striking resemblance to Robert Redford, according to his growing fan base.

  ‘It’s flattering in a way, I guess,’ the former radio breakfast announcer told TV Week, admitting his workmates were already calling him ‘Bobby’. ‘People saying I look like Robert Redford have become the bane of my life,’ he complained. ‘It’s much worse now I’m seen on TV.’

  Webster moved from Triple M in search of national exposure and hopes to one day front a 60 Minutes or Willesee type of show. ‘As for just reading the news – while it’s very important, I think it would get to the stage with me where I’d be seeking some other creative outlet,’ he said.

  US version of Number 96 ends prematurely

  January: The United States version of hit soapie Number 96 has been axed after only four shows. NBC TV had bought the title and Australian storylines with the intention of recreating the groundbreaking and sexually adventurous show, but the American version ended up being a pale imitation.

  Starring a cast of 18, including John Travolta’s sister, Ellen, the show struggled to overcome the United States’ strict nudity laws and a general lack of interest from viewers.

  ON DEBUT

  > Good Morning Australia – with Gordon Elliott and Sue Kellaway on Ten

  > Punishment – 26-episode series about life in a men’s prison

  > Daily at Dawn – series about life in a busy newspaper office, starring Noelene Brown

  > Bellamy – action police drama

  > Towards 2000 – science show

  > And Here Comes Bucknuckle – comedy sporting series about Australia’s ‘race that stops the nation’ – the Melbourne Cup

  > Falcon Island – children’s series based on book of the same name

  > Fatty and George – children’s series about the two sons of an eccentric scientist

  > The Patchwork Hero – children’s series about a boy and his widowed dad

  > Outbreak of Love – historical mini-series centred on the social elite in Melbourne

  > The Levkas Man – mystery series about an archaeologist who smuggles Greek artefacts in his quest to prove a theory

  > Menotti – comedy series about a young Catholic priest; with Geoffrey Rush

  > I Can Jump Puddles – teen series depicting Alan Marshall’s autobiographical story about life afflicted with infantile paralysis

  > The Bush Gang – children’s series about the lives of an outback family

  > Intimate Strangers – mini-series about the breakdown of a marriage

  > Sporting Chance – action series about two sports journalists

  > Nargun and the Stars – children’s series about a boy who learns about the Dreamtime

  > Oz ’81 – comedy where Australian eccentrics are interviewed by entertainment personalities And from overseas comes:

  > Hill Street Blues – US cop show

  > Not the Nine O’Clock News – British comedy

  > Monkey – Japanese children’s series on the ABC

  Young Doctors notches up its 1000th episode

  August: Despite an uncertain start that saw it dropped by the Nine Network 13 weeks into its initial run back in the summer of 1976–77, The Young Doctors has fought back to become Australia’s leading soap opera, screening its 1000th episode.

  The show has launched the acting careers of many celebrities, including Dave Gray (known as Ugly Dave Gray when performing comedy), former pop stars Mark Holden, Darryl Cotton and Doug Parkinson, and model Kim Wran, daughter of NSW Premier Neville Wran.

  It has had its share of sex symbols, too, with the beautiful Delvene Delaney, former Miss World runner-up Karen Pini, blonde bombshell Lynda Stoner and Paula Duncan all walking the halls of the show’s mythical hospital, the Albert Memorial Hospital in Sydney.

  The show has been regularly panned by critics throughout its existence, but audiences have come to love its over-the-top mixture of romance, drama and suspense, reflected in storylines that have included murder, kidnapping, explosions and any number of steamy liaisons between the gorgeous young doctors and nurses.

  The show now appears likely to eclipse Number 96’s record for the longest running Australian series, currently standing at 1218.

  It’s been a big year for Bert Newton, with the premiere of his new show, Ford Superquiz, (co-hosted by wife Patti) on top of his continued hosting of New Faces and appearances on the Don Lane Show. And it’s all led to another Gold Logie for ‘Moonface’.

  Cop Shop star dies in accident

  November: The TV world is in shock today after learning that Cop Shop actor Bill Stalker has died in a motorcycle accident – just one day after filming the scene that will be the final one of his farewell episode.

  Stalker had decided it was time to move on from his character, Peter Fanelli, who he had portrayed in both Skyways and Cop Shop. The show’s final scene saw Fanelli getting married and beginning a new life by moving to Darwin.

  But the next day he was involved in a motorcycle accident that ended his life, and sent his TV colleagues into mourning.

  Re-inventing the Wheel

  July: The TV world is buzzing with the news that Ernie Sigley will compere a revived version of the classic gameshow, Wheel of Fortune.

  The popular show originally aired in 1959, and Channel 7 believes the time is right for it to make a return.

  In shock news, however, The Age Green Guide has reported that Denise Drysdale, Sigley’s partner in crime, will not be by his side for this new venture. In her place will be Argentinean-born Adriana Xenides, who last year won the South Australian Model and Mannequin of the Year. Whether she has what it takes to make it as an assistant in the cut-throat world of TV game shows remains to be seen.

  Phelps impresses

  September: The Restless Years’ contract of young actor Peter Phelps has been extended well beyond the original eight-week term after he has impressed on the show. Phelps was working as a surf lifesaver when he auditioned for the role of surfer Shaun Williams. He lost out on that role to Warren Blondell, but was invited back for a second reading and later cast as promising young boxer Kevin Ryan.

  Phelps is making the most of his new fortune. After a plotline where his boxer character was approached on the beach and invited to pose as a male centrefold for $2000, Phelps quickly confirmed that he’d happily accept a similar offer in real life.

  The ‘Little Aussie Bleeder’, Norman Gunston, is back on our television screens this year, taking a typically offbeat look at Australian history and culture in his brand new series, Gu
nston’s Australia. The show will air on the Seven Network and should spark renewed interest in safari suits and walk socks.

  MEMORIES

  > A Town Like Alice wins an Emmy for the world’s best mini-series.

  > Punishment features Barry Crocker in his first TV drama role and Mel Gibson makes a rare TV appearance as a prisoner.

  > Terry Donovan resigns from Cop Shop because his role in the movie Breaker Morant has made him hot property.

  > Ten attempts to rival the success of New Faces with a new talent show, Search for a Star, compered by Jimmy Hannan.

  > Simon Townsend’s Wonder World reporter Angela Catterns leaves the award-winning show.

  > Play School’s Big Ted and Little Ted go missing.

  > Seven has been screening The Muppets for five years and is negotiating with the distributors for a new contract when Ten steps in and snaps up the show. Seven accuses Ten of playing dirty.

  > Spike Milligan files five reports for Willesee ’81 in the lead-up to the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Milligan has been invited to the wedding, as Charles is a great fan of The Goon Show.

  > Gary Sweet is setting hearts aflutter as the new heart-throb in The Sullivans.

  > The Royal Wedding between HRH Prince Charles and Diana Spencer becomes the highest rating show in Australian TV history, with a combined rating of 75 in Sydney and 82 in Melbourne.

  > Pamela Stephenson is linked romantically in the British press with Scottish comic Billy Connolly. They deny the rumours.

  > Joan Collins finally accepts a role that was turned down by Sophia Loren in the US series Dynasty, for a million dollars.

  > Gold Logie: Bert Newton

  > Special Logie for Sustained Excellence: The Sullivans