50 Years of Television in Australia Read online

  George Mallaby, who plays Riverside’s top cop Detective Sergeant Glenn Taylor, is no stranger to police shows – he also appeared in both Homicide and Matlock Police. Mallaby believes that Cop Shop’s appeal lies in the way it encompasses elements of both crime shows and soapy serials.

  ‘The audience is quite different from the Homicide fans,’ he told TV Week. ‘Some people who ordinarily don’t like cops shows, but who enjoy watching serials, are watching us. And some crime fans who in the past avoided serials are being hooked.’

  Producer Marie Trevor agrees that Cop Shop’s mix of crime and soap seems to be a winning formula. ‘Cops who are people and people who are cops – that’s the strength of the show,’ Trevor explained.

  Paula Duncan, who plays policewoman Danni Francis, admits to having had a few doubts whether the concept would take off. ‘But the relationships between the people who work in the actual police station are really interesting and so are their home lives,’ she explained. ‘I think that, rather than the crime aspect of the show, is what has kept everyone interested.’

  And with the marriage in May of ex-stripper Valerie (Joanna Lockwood) to hard-nosed Detective Jeff ‘JJ’ Johnson (Peter Adams) earning the title of ‘TV’s wedding of the year’, it seems like Duncan might be right on the money.

  Blowing a gale of ratings

  September: Gambling $1 million on the 13-hour historical series Against the Wind has paid off handsomely for Seven, with a big win in the ratings and impressive overseas sales on the cards.

  Against the Wind followed Mary Mulvane (little-known Irish actress Mary Larkin) from her unjust conviction for involvement in rebellious activities against the British, through her horrendous sea voyage on a convict ship bound for New South Wales, to her romance with fellow convict Jonathan Garrett (pop singer Jon English).

  With exceptional performances, scripting and direction, the series has been hailed as a groundbreaking Australian production of world quality.

  Kennedy blanked

  October: Graham Kennedy’s ‘nightly nonsense’, Blankety Blanks, was axed in July, marking the end of another reign by TV’s king. Blankety Blanks was the perfect vehicle for Kennedy to show off his quick wit, naughty humour and love of double entendres, and it quickly rose in the ratings after its debut in early 1977.

  Having turned a silly little game show into Australia’s favourite program, Kennedy was awarded the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian TV in March.

  But when The Sullivans was ‘stripped’ into 30-minute episodes and put up against Blankety Blanks five nights a week, Kennedy and his crew proved no match for the charming wartime family.

  Things were far from rosy at the taping of the show’s final two episodes, where the mood became dark and the humour was much bluer than normal.

  Channel 10 executives even summoned their lawyers to the studio, to see what could be done to ensure at least 30 minutes of usable footage was captured. Needless to say, there was a lot that ended up on the cutting room floor.

  TV’s technological revolution

  June: Imagine not being at the mercy of TV programmers, and having the power to watch what you want, when you want. Well, that’s the promise of videocassette home recorders (VCRs), which are being billed as ‘the biggest development in Australian television since colour’. Philips, Sony and JVC have led the way, introducing the first VCRs into the Australian market. And it’s expected there’ll be more than a dozen different brands available by the end of the year.

  A VCR is as easy to use as an audiocassette recorder, and though the three models operate on entirely different systems (VHS, Betamax and N1700) and use a different type of videocassette tape, each is compatible with almost any modern TV set.

  Already a number of organisations are looking to provide TV programs and films on videocassette, and it’s thought that ‘videocassette clubs’, run along the lines of lending libraries, will boom as a result.

  ON DEBUT

  > The Truckies – adventure drama with John Wood and Colleen Hewitt

  > Peter Couchman Show – late-night variety show

  > Tickled Pink – comedy series

  > Chopper Squad – action-packed adventure series following a helicopter air/sea rescue team

  > Steve Raymond Show – big-budget daytime program

  > Run from the Morning – mystery adventure series

  > Catspaw – wartime drama with Gus Mercurio and Warwick Sims

  > Tea Ladies – comedy series set in Parliament House, starring Pat McDonald

  > Thank God It’s Friday at the Zoo – disco-style variety with Sydney DJ Ian McCrae

  > Nine Will Fix It – children’s program

  > Wayzgoose – children’s program with Bunney Brooke

  > Give ‘Em Heaps – Monty Python-esque children’s program

  > Capriccio – looks at the musical tastes of celebrities

  > Case for the Defence – series of feature-length courtroom dramas

  > Cuckoo in the Nest – comedy series starring Jeanne Little

  > Loss of Innocence – historical miniseries

  > Micro Macro – quiz show with Noel Ferrier

  > Superminds – supernatural series with John Laws

  > Bride and Groom – daytime show in which couples get married on camera

  > The Better Sex – quiz game with Mike Preston and Ann Sidney And from overseas comes:

  > I, Claudius – high quality BBC dramatisation of Robert Graves’ book starring Derek Jacobi

  > The Quest – US western about two brothers searching for their sister

  > Soap – controversial comedy series

  > The Secret Garden – British family series about a girl who discovers a secret garden on her uncle’s Yorkshire estate

  Got ’im! Yes! Packer scores with his own game

  November: White balls, bright uniforms, night matches, cricketers paid and acting like celebrities … it might not be how things were played in the old land, but boy, has it spiced up the game’s TV coverage!

  World Series Cricket, the brainchild of Nine’s Kerry Packer, was the result of his dispute with the Australian Cricket Board over cricket’s TV rights. He’s basically bought the game’s best players and set up a rival competition, featuring a host of innovations, including cricket played at night.

  The initial viewer response to the brash new game last summer was lukewarm, and coverage of the ‘traditional’ Tests outdid the WSC Super Tests. But it seems things might be a bit different this summer, if the 50,000-strong crowd who turned out for a day-night game at the SCG last week is any guide.

  Those who’ve been taking it all in from the comfort of their armchairs have possibly had the best view in the house, thanks to Nine’s instant slow-motion replays, fast-paced editing, close-ups of players and fans, and cameras at both ends of the pitch. We’re also hearing more than ever, courtesy of the in-pitch mikes that pick up not only the sound of bat on ball but also, sometimes embarrassingly, the colourful language of the players.

  But the best things in life are not free, so fans have also had to adjust to commercials popping up between overs. Yet with night cricket propelling the sport into prime time, sponsors have not been hard to find and the ratings suggest audiences are happy to see their cricket subsidised in that manner.

  The Restless Years

  October: When The Restless Years debuted late last year, it featured a cast of relative unknowns and a format untried in this country. Almost 12 months on, that double gamble is paying off for Grundys and the 0-10 Network.

  TRY follows a group of young people as they leave school and move out into the big wide world. Producers scoured drama classes and acting schools to gather a cast, most with little or no experience. Many of those ‘unknowns’ are now bona fide stars, but not all seem to have a handle on fame. Sonny Blake (who plays Alan Archer) refuses to appear at shopping centres because he believes it would be prostituting his image, and doesn’t respond to fan mail because
he doesn’t have the time to be ‘answering letters from silly kids.’

  The popular British sitcom Father Dear Father has made it way down under for an Australian version of the series. Stars Patrick Cargill and Noël Dyson have made the trip and have been joined by local talent including Sigrid Thornton (far left) and Sally Conabere.

  World of Sport makes TV history

  It started in 1959 as a way of trying to sell more TV sets, by having a football show sponsored by Westinghouse running on Saturday mornings when people would watch it in stores. After 13 weeks, founders Ron Casey and Doug Elliott asked that World of Sport’s time slot be changed to Sunday lunchtime and the rest is history. Record-breaking history, as it happens. By notching its 1000th episode, World of Sport has become the longest-running live television show in the world.

  Casey, who became the general manager of HSV-7 in 1972, still hosts the show that he fronted, along with Elliott and former Collingwood captain Lou Richards, when it started all those years ago. Others to make names for themselves in the shambolic, rambling program have included Jack Dyer, Bruce Andrew, Colin Long, Jack Elliott, Merv Williams, Bill Collins and Bob Davis.

  World of Sport has evolved from straight-out discussion of the VFL footy to a diverse show covering a wide range of sports and featuring studio-based competitions such as the woodchop and cycling.

  ‘I think really why we’ve survived against some pretty solid opposition is that sport can’t be as serious as all that – particularly on Sunday, the day after,’ Casey told Scene.

  0 boy, here comes the news

  March: ATV-0 is set to launch the biggest news service in Australia this week, with a new name, some new faces and the latest in technological gadgetry. Eyewitness News will see ‘Melbourne’s top newsman’ Bruce Mansfield joined at the desk at 6 pm by ‘smart as a whip’ brunette Annette Allison to present one hour of news from ATV-0’s $500,000 newsroom at its Nunawading studio.

  One newcomer to the team is Peter Couchman, who accepted a lucrative offer to come across from his position as anchorman on ABC’s This Day Tonight. Ending a 16-year association with the national broadcaster, Couchman will present in-depth reports and current affairs segments for Eyewitness News from a fully equipped news studio at the Melbourne Age building.

  MEMORIES

  > The Melbourne Cup is televised live nationally for the first time on 0-10.

  > Highly acclaimed documentary special, Australian Music to the World, sells internationally.

  > Current affairs favourites Monday Conference, This Day Tonight and A Current Affair wind up.

  > The Confessions of Ronald Biggs, a documentary about the great train robber, tells his side of the story for the first time.

  > A Big Country marks its 200th edition with a re-creation of Burke and Wills’ last expedition.

  > A government taskforce recommends the establishment of a domestic national communications satellite system as soon as possible.

  > After 18 months away from the small screen, Denise Drysdale launches a comeback with successful appearances on the Don Lane Show.

  > The Paul Hogan Show stars John Cornell and Delvene Delaney were secretly married at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve.

  > The Seven Network snares Norman Gunston (Garry McDonald) away from the ABC.

  > Nine plans a new current affairs show, said to be similar to the top-rating American CBS program, 60 Minutes.

  > A relentless send-up of A Current Affair in the second Paul Hogan Show ruffles feathers and is only allowed to air after the approval of ACA host Mike Schildberger.

  > An American production team visits Australia to make a five-part documentary on the Australian way of life, called Australia Coming Up Down Under.

  > Mark Holden goes missing from the Logies just before he’s announced as the Most Popular Australian Teenage Personality, so didn’t get to accept his award on TV.

  > Gold Logie: Graham Kennedy

  > Best Comedy Performer: Paul Hogan

  1979

  No Grace, no Sullivans? What will the ‘C’ classification and ethnic TV mean for the future? Who is Fogarty kidding? Are Skyways and 60 Minutes on track for a long run? And what was Newton thinking? These were the questions on everyone’s lips in ‘79.

  A Grace-ful farewell

  June: Lorraine Bayly is a born actress. She loves to tread the boards, loves to hone her craft and loves to bring characters to life. And it’s with a heavy heart that this week she walks away from ‘one of her best friends’, Grace Sullivan. Since winning the role of the wartime wife and mother of four in 1976, Bayly has charmed her way into the hearts of audiences and been awarded the Logie for the Most Popular Actress in the past two years.

  An experienced theatrical performer, Bayly is leaving The Sullivans to travel overseas and study the latest acting methods, keen to ensure she stays at the top of her game.

  ‘Techniques in acting and overall production are changing all the time, and if you don’t travel and study these changes, you can become too insular and get left behind,’ she told TV Week.

  Despite having already received offers of TV and theatre work in England, Bayly insists she will return to work in Australia, and The Sullivans’ scriptwriters have kept the door just enough ajar to give Grace the possibility of squeezing back in. When a soldier suffering from amnesia turns up in London, Grace discovers it may be her eldest son, John, who’s been missing, presumed dead for the past two years. Desperate to find out if it’s really him, Grace catches a risky army flight to London on a Hudson bomber. And you’re going to need plenty of tissues on hand for her final scenes, farewelling her beloved family and hopping aboard the plane, which are said to be real tear jerkers.

  The reintroduction of John (Andrew MacFarlane) into the storyline has spawned a spin-off telemovie called Jovan, which covers John’s missing years. But Crawfords says they are still in the midst of negotiations with MacFarlane, who was written out of The Sullivans to accept other roles, as to whether he will rejoin the regular cast.

  Meanwhile Bayly is reflecting fondly on her time with The Sullivans. ‘I’ve been lucky with the role of Grace because the directors at Crawfords have let me add an extra dimension to her character,’ she enthused.

  Bert’s Logie blunder

  March: The usually unflappable Moonface was left rather red in the face at the 21st anniversary of television’s night of nights, the Logie awards. Heavyweight boxing legend Muhammad Ali was a popular international guest for the night, and happily engaged in several rounds of verbal sparring with Bert Newton, Logies host par excellence. But Newton was caught out by a left hook he didn’t see coming, and had to work some shuffle magic of his own.

  In a moment of genuine admiration, Newton said to Ali, ‘I like the boy!’

  Ali responded suspiciously, ‘Did you say “boy’ or ‘Roy”?’

  Don Lane, who understood the negative connotations in the US of referring to an African-American man as ‘boy’, gestured furiously from the audience as Newton ducked and weaved like a true champ and talked himself out of a tight corner.

  Ethnic TV set to go

  December: A special network to cater for multi-cultural Australians, and featuring programs from the non English-speaking world, is close to going ahead after two successful Sunday morning test transmissions this year.

  The station will be given the Channel 0 frequency, even though it could run into trouble with amateur radio operators across Australia who already use frequencies adjacent to that signal.

  The ethnic network was promised by both parties at the 1977 Federal Election but, since then, the project has threatened to become lost in a soup of politics and conflicts of interest.

  Strange encounter leads to literary deal

  May: ATV-0 journalist Quentin Fogarty and a freelance camera crew in New Zealand became the first people in the world to record UFOs on film last December. The film has since been verified by a panel of 19 scientists and ufologists in America, who could
not explain away the sighting in scientific terms.

  ‘I’ve been waiting for a really big story,’ said Fogarty. ‘But if I was going to make my name as a journalist, I wish it was over something other than this.’ He’s not looking forward to the criticism that will undoubtedly flow from sceptics, but that hasn’t stopped the newsman quitting his TV job to write a book about his experiences. And he’s expecting that the book, currently titled Let’s Hope They’re Friendly, will sell well in the US, where the topic of UFOs is much more widely embraced. ‘They did a poll recently and discovered that 51 million Americans believe in UFOs and over 90 per cent of the people polled were more aware of UFOs than they were of Richard Nixon and Watergate.’

  ON DEBUT

  > Doctor Down Under – sitcom continuing the UK Doctor series, with the doctors coming out to St Barnabus Hospital in Australia

  > Prisoner – drama series following the female inmates of Wentworth Detention Centre

  > The Oracle – drama series starring John Gregg as a top-rating Sydney talkback radio host

  > Golden Soak – adventure drama miniseries set in drought-stricken Western Australia, starring Ray Barrett and Elizabeth Alexander

  > Bailey’s Bird – children’s adventure series, set mostly in South-East Asia

  > Twenty Good Years – period drama series covering a Jewish family for 25 years

  > Patrol Boat – drama series following the crew of an Australian naval boat

  > Carrots – children’s show-within-a-show about the staff and stars of a TV program

  > Ride on Stranger – episodes in the life of country girl in the 1930s

  > Top Mates – drama serial about a pair of 11-year-olds who run away from home

  > One Day Miller – sitcom about a young couple moving into a new house

  > A Place in the World – friends meet up at a school reunion