Cover: Sharon Stone
Big screen rescue!
Nothing has been formally announced but there are plans for production of a film version of ABC‘s Police Rescue. Producer Southern Star Xanadu is seeking funding for the project from the Film Finance Corporation and the ABC has already given the green light to go ahead. Police Rescue — The Movie is expected to feature all the show’s regular cast — including Gary Sweet, Sonia Todd, Steve Bastoni, Tammy MacIntosh, Steve Bisley and Jeremy Callaghan — with production due to commence late in the year after Sweet finishes his commitment to upcoming mini-series The Battlers.
Paradise bitch!
Former E Street star Melissa Tkautz has scored a guest role in the Nine Network‘s upcoming series Paradise Beach. Tkautz plays Vanessa Campbell, a scorned woman who arrives in Paradise Beach intent on causing trouble for Sean Hayden, played by Ingo Rademacher, who had ditched her after a three-year relationship. ”She’s a bit of a psycho, a real bitch,” Tkautz told TV Week. ”She is nothing like (her character) Nicki in E Street. This one’s a real troublemaker.” It is unknown if Tkautz will extend her stay in Paradise Beach beyond the initial guest appearance. ”At the moment this is just a guest role and I’ve got my music to get back to,” she said.
Greg’s full frontal assault on Phoenix
Greg Fleet not only plays an undercover drug squad detective in ABC‘s Phoenix, but he also stars in Seven‘s new sketch comedy series Full Frontal — and both programs air in the same timeslot (8.30pm Thursday). Fleet says that if Full Frontal decides to give a serve to Phoenix it is likely he will be cast as the same character! ”It could prove to be very interesting,” he said.
Briefly…
- Sydney model Theresa Page (pictured) walked into the offices of A Country Practice producer JNP Productions to drop off her CV… and she walked out with a guest role. Page will play the part of Maryam Zahedi, a war refugee.
- Former E Street star Bruce Samazan is soon to be a resident in Neighbours. There are also rumours that producer Grundys are keen to develop a spin-off series for his character Mark Gottlieb and Scott Michaelson‘s character Brad Willis. The word is that Ten may consider the spin-off project for the 7.00pm timeslot, ditching current affairs program Hinch.
- The Seven Network has swooped in on a deal to buy the screening rights to Scarlett, the eight-hour mini-series sequel to Gone With The Wind, at the TV buyers’ market in Cannes. The series was first thought to have been sold to Ten. Seven is also in negotiation for the rights to Return To Lonesome Dove, the sequel to the late ’80s mini-series Lonesome Dove.
Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
“With E Street now closed to traffic, Network Ten has been left with two gaping holes in its prime time schedule, and filling them, of course, has been a major headache. And let’s face it, paraplegics who suddenly walk, serial killers, hit men and the occasional werewolf do take some replacing. Melrose Place — the sort of poor cousin of the network’s only genuine hit, Beverly Hills 90210 — looks like being put in one of the hot seats. Reruns of ABC‘s delightful comedy series Mother And Son are likely to fill the other. Ten has bought rerun rights to five series of the Ruth Cracknell-Garry McDonald hit but, great as it is, Mother And Son can’t expect to be a blockbuster third time around.”
Program Highlights (Melbourne, May 23-29):
Sunday: Sunday night movies are Deceived (Seven) and City Slickers (Ten), while Nine crosses to Lords, United Kingdom, for the third One Day International cricket match — Australia versus England.
Monday: Wonder World, the ’90s remake of the former series hosted by Simon Townsend, makes its debut (4.30pm, Nine) — and Eden Gaha returns with a new series of Vidiot (5.30pm, ABC). In A Country Practice (7.30pm, Seven), Harry (Andrew Blackman) is still guilt ridden about the accident, and Jules’ (Loene Carmen) husband is unable to cope with her paralysis.
Tuesday: In GP (8.30pm, ABC), Tessa (Marilynne Paspaley) faces legal action four years after attending the scene of an accident. Harold Hopkins (pictured) guest stars in Law Of The Land (9.30pm, Nine).
Wednesday: In Hey Dad! (7.30pm, Seven), Martin (Robert Hughes), Ben (Ben Oxenbould) and Betty (Julie McGregor) decide to go on a fishing expedition. The 7.30pm timeslot formerly occupied by E Street is filled by the final one-hour episode of US series The Wonder Years.
Thursday: Re-runs of Mother And Son commence in the former E Street Thursday timeslot (7.30pm, Ten).
Friday: In The Great Outdoors (7.30pm, Seven), Rex Hunt goes fishing off Coffs Harbour; Sofie Formica and Neil Crompton head up the highway for a Harley Davidson experience; Ernie Dingo visits the South Australian mining town of Burra; and Sharron Tyrrell visits Cadman’s Cottage in Sydney’s Rocks district.
Saturday: Bert Newton hosts the Series Two final of New Faces (6.30pm, Ten). In Beyond 2000 (7.30pm, Seven), Andrew Waterworth looks at an invention that enables paralysed people to walk without crutches; Amanda Keller finds a safer, friendlier alternative to insecticides; and Tracey Curro reports on the development of a drug delivery system — a remote-controlled electronic pill. The Scottish Cup Final — Rangers versus Aberdeen — is broadcast live (11.30pm, SBS) from Celtic Park, Glasgow.
Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 22 May 1993. Southdown Press.
Groomed for disaster
The Great Outdoors reporter Ernie Dingo (pictured) has scored a deal to write a 13-part comedy-drama series for ABC. The proposed series, titled The Third Angle, is expected to blend humour with reality — “straightening lies, correcting wrongs and redirecting reality,” he told TV Week.
Former Neighbours and E Street star Melissa Bell (pictured) could be the next soapie star to land a recording contract, with negotiations now happening between her UK agents and a record label. Meanwhile, the young star has already had multiple offers to work the Christmas pantomime circuit over in the UK later this year.
Tuesday: Kerry Armstrong makes her debut appearance in All Together Now (8pm, Nine) as the mother of twins Thomas (Steven Jacobs) and Anna (Jane Hall) who was thought to have died. Moya O’Sullivan guest stars in GP (8.30pm, ABC). Former A Country Practice and E Street star Joan Sydney (pictured with Lisa Hensley) guest stars as magistrate Hilda Danforth in Law Of The Land (9.30pm, Nine).
Actress Penne Hackforth-Jones has died at the age of 64, only months after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
English-born writer David Sale (pictured) was the creative force behind two of Australia’s most groundbreaking programs — The Mavis Bramston Show in the 1960s and Number 96 in the 1970s.
National broadcasters ABC and SBS have both scored additional funding in the 2013 Federal Budget, handed down by Treasurer Wayne Swan this evening.
ABC will also receive a $90 million loan to fund the expansion of its Melbourne-based facilities in Southbank to incorporate radio, television and online operations.
Network Ten‘s 
Cover: Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills 90210)
ET in alien territory
Production has commenced on the $6.5 million children’s series Ship To Shore. The series of 26 half-hour episodes is being produced by Barron Films in Perth for the Nine Network. Ship To Shore (starring Clinton Voss and Jodi Herbert, pictured) has already been sold for screening in Germany with sales to other European markets imminent.
Program Highlights (Melbourne, May 9-15):
Barbara Callcott, best known to generations of viewers as Mrs Marsh from the Colgate commercials, has died peacefully at her home on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
A host of fun!
Hats off to Molly
Here comes the judge
Jake Blundell (pictured), son of Alvin Purple star Graeme Blundell, has followed his father into acting. The 18-year-old has already done some commercial work and has scored a role in the upcoming ABC-BBC co-production Dallas Dolls. However, the young Blundell has confessed to have never seen his father in the role that made him famous. ”Alvin Purple was made before I was even born. I was probably sheltered from it, but now I’m at the age when I’ll probably appreciate it,” he said.
First it was for Tractor Monkeys, and now the ABC is again delving into almost 60 years worth of archival material for its new online series Retrospect.
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