What a sweet cop!
Since leaving A Country Practice, Josephine Mitchell has worked in theatre in Perth, holidayed in the UK and formed a production company with fellow actors Sarah Lambert, Wendy Strehlow and Maureen O”Shaughnessy. Now she is back at the Seven Network – as a policewoman in Home And Away. Mitchell’s character, Constable Jane Holland, wins the heart of Grant Mitchell (Craig McLachlan). But when comparing working for TV with working in the theatre, Mitchell says TV is definitely harder. “I get much more nervous on television than I do on stage,” Mitchell told TV Week. “You have more rehearsal time with a play, whereas on TV you do it on the spot a lot of the time. TV’s harder, for sure.” Meanwhile, the new production company is planning to launch its first stage production, Dusa, Stash, Fish And Vi, later this year.
‘Good ol’ sex… well, it beats violence!’
It is an old saying that sex sells – it worked for Number 96, and now another Network Ten series is following a similar path. E Street has never been coy about discussing human relationships – a recent episode featured Sonny Bennet (Richard Huggett) in a late-night encounter with a topless waitress. Now two of the show’s popular characters – Harley (Malcolm Kennard) and Toni (Toni Pearen) are also going to find out there is more to the old birds and bees as they take their relationship to the next level. “What we are trying to do is make the show as identifiable as possible,” producer Forrest Redlich told TV Week. “We’ve had no trouble with the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal at all, because what we’ve done is within the context of the story. I think, seriously, that a bit of good ol’ sex is much more favourable a thing to be putting on screen at 7.30pm rather than violence.”
‘When John walked in I felt sparks!’
When US actress Cybill Shepherd first laid eyes on her new Australian co-star John Waters (pictured) she said sparks flew. “It made me feel good,” said the 40-year-old former Moonlighting star. “John has an interesting face and he is very attractive.” The pair are working together on a new mini-series, Which Way Home, for the Ten Network and the American network TNT. The $6 million production is being filmed on location in New Zealand, Darwin and Thailand.
Briefly…
Australian performer Kate Ceberano is in Monte Carlo to appear in the World Music Awards. The event is a charity created by the royal family of Monaco to recognise creative music from around the world.
Nine’s 60 Minutes has assembled a group of nine elite athletes to battle it out in a gruelling 24 hours of physical endurance over eight events. One of the competitors, Sports Sunday’s Lisa Curry-Kenny, did concede to having a slight disadvantage – she was the only one who was pregnant, though at the time did not know it. “I was still doing my normal exercise routine and, other than a few ‘off’ weeks, I haven’t even been sick,” she says.
The Nine Network has reunited two former teenage stars as hosts of its Saturday morning children’s show, C Company. Kristine Davis, 20, has been in television for ten years – starting as a junior reporter for Wombat at the age of 10. Her colleague Tony Johnston was the host of the former music video program Jukebox, and the pair studied drama together as teenagers and appeared in various amateur theatre and musical productions.
John Laws says…
”Steve Vizard was probably pretty sure he could beat off the challenge of Clive Robertson on Nine, but that may not be the case, in Sydney anyway. Robbo knocked him off 9 to 8 in a recent ratings period. This could be ominous, given the enormously high cost of producing the Vizard show (Tonight Live). Even a slight downward trend in the ratings could see the Seven management’s bean-counters begin to work feverishly. And, in the end, it will be dollars and cents that decide everything.”
Program Highlights (May 12-18):
Saturday: ABC crosses live to Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup Final – Manchester United versus Crystal Palace. The telecast starts at 11.40pm and continues for three hours.
Sunday: Sunday night movies are Agatha Christie’s The Man In The Brown Suit (GTV9) and Bat 21 (ATV10). HSV7 presents the first instalment of mini-series Roses Are For The Rich, and ABC’s Sunday Stereo Special features the 1989 Kirov Ballet production of The Sleeping Beauty, performed in Montreal.
Tuesday: SBS presents a new program, Common Cents, aiming to provide financial advice in lay terms for the average Australian. This is followed by an Italian short film, Rabbit On The Moon, which focuses on an Italian girl growing up in Australia. 
Wednesday: Jason Gilkison and Molly Meldrum (pictured) are guest judges for the First Series final of New Faces (GTV9), hosted by Daryl Somers.
Friday: HSV7 crosses to the Sydney Cricket Ground for live AFL – Sydney Swans versus Geelong.
Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.
12 May 1990. Southdown Press.
