ABC’s biggest golf coverage
Players from five continents – Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America – will compete in this year’s Dunhill Australian Open, to be telecast on ABC this week in its largest golf coverage ever undertaken. More than $8 million of outside broadcast equipment will be used at Melbourne’s Metropolitan Course. ABC’s coverage will add up to 26 hours over four days, including live telecasts and evening highlights packages. More than 50 technical personnel from interstate will join the 100-strong Melbourne ABC crew for the event. ABC’s two Melbourne-based outside broadcast vans will be joined by outside broadcast vans brought in from Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart.  There will also be a team based at ABC’s Ripponlea studios in Melbourne responsible for editing the daily coverage into highlights packages for evening screenings. ABC’s commentary team will be headed by Graham Dawson joined by Peter Thomson (pictured, a five-time winner of the British Open who will be competing in the Australian Open and joining the commentary team when he’s finished his round), Clive Clark and Peter Alliss.

Caroline scores Sullivans role
Stage actress Caroline Gillmer (pictured) has scored a TV break with a role in The Sullivans. Gillmer, recently a star in John Dietrich and John O’May’s productions of Gershwin and The ‘20s And All That Jazz, will play a Dutch woman in a storyline based in Holland. However, her scenes will all be taped in the studio in Australia despite series regulars Steven Tandy, Norman Yemm and Olivia Hamnett currently taping scenes on location in Holland. Gillmer’s character will be first seen on screen in the new year.

Looking for a winner
Judges on ABC’s The Inventors have had a tough time deciding on six finalists from the 64 entries featured on the show this year. Executive producer Beverley Gledhill said that the standard for this year’s series has been the highest in the show’s ten-year run: “Normally we are scratching around to get the sixth finalist.  But this year I’m afraid some people will miss out, whereas three years ago they would have definitely made the final.” Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen will present the Inventor of the Year award, including a cheque for $3500, in the show’s series final this week. The winner will then go on to compete at the International Exhibition of Inventors in Geneva.

Being bad has been good for Vic Gordon
Many actors might be concerned at being cast as a “drunk” on successive occasions, but Vic Gordon (pictured) is very grateful for the work that it is bringing in. The veteran actor has been cast twice in recent times as an amusing drunk in the Seven Network drama Cop Shop, but for Gordon it marks a turning point in his career as he tries to shake off the image of Sgt. Kennedy, the role he played for several years in Matlock Police. “People don’t realise that before I became a TV copper I worked in every series under the sun, playing all sorts of different people. Now at last some of them are starting to remember, and I’m getting some beautiful little cameo roles.” On the home front, Gordon, 69, is about to celebrate five years’ marriage to artists’ agent Jean Lochhead. The marriage, Gordon’s second after his first wife, Josie, died eight years ago, has also made Gordon the stepfather to rising star, Jean’s daughter Jacqui, who has won awards for her role in the ABC play Sally Go Round The Moon.

Briefly…
ABC’s rural affairs program, Countrywide, will present a special report on Japan’s booming farming industry and its influence on the Australian economy. Host Neil Inall recent spent a month in Japan to research and put together the special report.

Anne Pendlebury, recently the lead actress in the ABC series Twenty Good Years, has been cast for the upcoming mini-series, Water Under The Bridge, being produced for the 0-10 Network.

Actor Ray Barrett has said he would be delighted to play a leading role in the upcoming ABC series Sporting Chance, being written by friend Peter Yeldham. “I haven’t seen a script – or been made a firm offer – but from what Peter told me it sounds a wonderful idea. He told me he had written something for me. I would say yes right away on the strength of Peter’s writing it,” he told TV Times. Barrett also has a role coming up in another ABC series, The Timeless Land, and presents a weekly documentary series in Brisbane on TVQ0.

ABC Show Band leader Brian May has just returned from Hollywood where he has been writing the music score for the movie The Blue Lagoon. May is also to soon start work on a new series of The Saturday Show for ABC.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
”Congratulations to TVQ0, Brisbane, for showing some of the Kung Fu series, starring David Carradine. At last a chance to see that kung fu is more mental mastery than an excuse for multiple mayhem.” R. Brown, QLD.

“I would be very interested to know why it is the exception – rather than the rule – in Queensland for a TV program to start on time. As most networks have national affiliations, and it is rare for this fault to occur interstate, the reason for it is hard to understand.” L. Mackay, QLD.

“Congratulations to ABC for their coverage of the West End (Gawler) horse trials and also the coverage of the Australian evening championships earlier in the year.” V. Reynolds, VIC.]

“I’m fully aware of the furore about not knocking Australia, but let’s be realistic. The Australian TV industry has gone backwards in the sense of fine quality. Not many people know, unfortunately, how to distinguish rubbishy Australian shows from the good ones – which only ABC screens. In the rubbish category are ostentatious programs such as Skyways, The Restless Years and Prisoner, which are pretty pathetic. The plots are rhetorical, the stories lack realism, the acting, scripts and dialogue are poor. What puzzles me is that these programs seem to be picking up good ratings – which is probably the only reason they were created.” P. Masci, QLD.

What’s On (November 10-16):
HSV7 crosses live to Adelaide on Saturday morning for the annual John Martin’s Christmas Pageant, with commentary by Adelaide personalities Pam Tamblyn and Sandy Roberts.

ATV0’s coverage of the Melbourne Cup Carnival concludes on Saturday with George Adams Day, live from Flemington, hosted by Phil Gibbs and Michael Schildberger.

Cricket has started on GTV9 for the summer with South Australia versus Western Australia in the McDonald’s Cup, with all-day coverage on Saturday and Sunday.  Richie Benaud, Fred Trueman and David Colley lead the coverage.

Sunday is Remembrance Day, and ABC and HSV7 both have 2 minutes’ silence scheduled for 11.00am. ABC also features a one-hour documentary, Armistice And After, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Great War.

On Monday night, ATV0 presents a two-hour special, Thanks For The Memory, looking back at the news, people and events that have featured throughout the 1970s. Hosted by Bruce Mansfield and Peter Hanrahan.

Comedy specials on GTV9 during the week include a repeat of The Paul Hogan Show, featuring the sketch This Is Your Strife with Roger Simpleton, and the second of a series of specials featuring Ronnie Corbett in Australia.

GTV9’s Family Feud (with Tony Barber, pictured), The Young Doctors and The Sullivans all come to a close for the year, with The Sullvans ending the year with a special one-hour episode on Friday night.  GTV9’s daytime US soaps All My Children, Days Of Our Lives, The Young And The Restless, Search For Tomorrow and General Hospital also come to a close for the year on Friday.

Queenslander Jodie Day is representing Australia in Miss World 1979, being telecast on GTV9 in a delayed telecast from Royal Albert Hall, London.

ABC’s telecast of the Dunhill Australian Open Golf Championship starts on Thursday afternoon, with five hours live from the Metropolitan Course, Melbourne, with an hour of highlights at 10.45pm. Coverage continues on Friday with another five hours in the afternoon, and highlights from 10.50pm.

Sunday night movies: Shout At The Devil (HSV7), Shampoo (GTV9) and Mr Majestyk (ATV0). ABC presents The Rock Pool, the next in the series of Australian plays, starring Ed Deveraux, Lyn James and Bunney Brooke.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 10 November 1979.  ABC/ACP