Fame takes its toll
Some of TV’s most popular young stars are finding there is a downside to fame.  E Street’s Melissa Tkautz (pictured, top right), currently heading up the charts with her new single Read My Lips, says that while her showbiz career is a dream come true she admits to bursting into tears “almost every night” just from the sheer exhaustion of her TV and music commitments.  Tkautz also says she has received death threats and her family home is a target for fans.  “I’ve lived there all my life and just too many people know where I live,” she told TV WeekHome And Away’s Rebekah Elmaloglou, 17, has also been feeling the strain of the 17-hour days and a recent health scare has seen her forced to take a two-week break.  “Some people think we film for half an hour a day.  They have no idea,” she told TV Week.  Meanwhile, former E Street star Richard Huggett has moved from Sydney to Melbourne for his role as Glen Donnelly in Neighbours – a move that has taken a personal toll as it has left his girlfriend Miriam in Sydney.  There is lots of weekend commuting as the pair seek some time together but Huggett says having his private life made public has been difficult.  “It was pretty scary to start off with,” he said.  “I just got really nervous about going out.  I even got agoraphobic there for a while.  You have to come to accept it’s part of the job.”

Daryl’s casino gamble
Daryl Somers
is taking Hey Hey It’s Saturday to Perth’s Burswood Hotel-Casino later this month for what he calls a “very brave” assignment – a concert version based around the musical Grease.  “I’ve wanted to do a concert version for years.  This is an experiment in that it’s a theatrical event,” Somers told TV Week.  “It’s breaking new ground to take a studio show to a venue as large as the Burswood complex.”  And although plans to take Hey Hey It’s Saturday to London have stalled due to cost, Somers is still looking to take the show to Hollywood later this year for its 20th anniversary.

Yvonne chances a wedding
New Zealand actress Yvonne Lawley is looking forward to returning home after six months in Nine’s Chances.  “They (the producers) wanted to sign on for two years, but it’s too long at my age,” says the 75-year-old.  Her final episode, which screens this week, will see her character Hattie McGlashan wed her long-lost love Aubrey Nash (Alwyn Kurts) as well as helping to deliver Charlie’s (Kimberley Davenport) baby!

Briefly…
judymcintosh ABC
’s long-running series GP is about to lose cast member Judy McIntosh (pictured), who is leaving after her contract expires later this year.  “It is the best television drama I’ve worked in and everybody has been wonderful,” she told TV Week.  “But I’m a great believer in the idea that when one door closes another one opens.”  Meanwhile, ABC has commissioned another 40 episodes of the popular series, guaranteeing it until the end of next year.

alexpapps One of Home And Away’s most popular stars, Alex Papps (pictured), is returning to the series for a four-week guest appearance.  His return to Summer Bay will be part of the end-of-season cliffhanger.

Matthew Newton, who made his TV debut singing On The Road To Gundagai on his father Bert’s TV show at the age of three, is making a guest appearance in The Flying Doctors as a runaway named Wombat.  It is his second appearance on the Nine Network series, having appeared in a different role four years ago.  His next TV role will be in the upcoming ABC series The Worst Day Of My Life which will screen later this year.

annefulwood John Laws says…
Ten has had trouble for a long time finding the right newsreader for its late-night news program.  It surely has found the answer with Anne Fulwood (pictured) who is probably the best female newsreader in Sydney.  Anne’s slickness as a reader is matched by her striking good looks and the fact that she managed to let her personality and humour shine through.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, July 20-26):
janescaliSaturday:
  Rock ‘n roll greats Shirley Strachan, Brian Cadd, Max Merritt and Normie Rowe battle entertainers Jackie Love, Chelsea Brown, Colleen Hewett and Jane Scali (pictured) in Celebrity Family Feud (Seven). Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) this week features guests Ratcat, James Reyne, Girl Overboard and The Bodeans.

Sunday: Sunday night movies are Leap Of Faith (Seven), Batman (Nine) and Cannonball Fever (Ten).

Monday:  Sale Of The Century (Nine) begins a week-long Celebrity Challenge – featuring stars of sport, entertainment, music and Hey Hey It’s Saturday.

Tuesday:  In GP (ABC), Nicola (Judy McIntosh) fights to save a Chelmsford victim from suicide.  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Amanda Keller looks at the facelift Barcelona is undergoing in preparation for the 1992 Olympic Games.

Wednesday:  Seven crosses to Sydney for the second rugby league Test between Australia and New Zealand.

annehaddy Thursday:  In Neighbours (Ten), Helen Daniels’ (Anne Haddy) hens’ night-out has a surprising finish. In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Jackie Crane (Nikki Coghill) buys a motorbike and rents a run-down farmhouse, and discovers she is not alone as a teenage runaway, played by Matthew Newton, and his girlfriend have been secretly living there.

Friday:  Former Brisbane Lord Mayor Sally-Anne Atkinson is a guest on Nine’s Burke’s Backyard.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  20 July 1991.  Southdown Press

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