Cover: Melissa George (Home And Away)
Heartbreak High signs Kym Wilson
Former A Country Practice star Kym Wilson will be arriving soon into Heartbreak High. Playing the part of rebel schoolteacher Sam Robinson, Wilson replaces Sarah Lambert whose character Christina Milano will be making only guest appearances. Since leaving ACP, Wilson has been busy with theatre studies plus a role in the upcoming TV series The Man From Snowy River. “In ACP I wasn’t sure if I was a teenager or a young woman,” Wilson told TV Week. “It changed every episode, depending on the writers.” She will be taping her first scenes for Heartbreak High this week and is expected to debut on screen in August.
Simon’s flying high into war pilot
Former E Street and Home And Away star Simon Baker-Denny is in London to film a pilot for a new sitcom from the producers of Allo Allo and Dad’s Army. He will be in London for two weeks, his first trip to the UK, for the sitcom project titled Which Way To The War. “As this is my first trip to England I would have loved to see the English countryside. It’s disappointing, but I want to be a working actor,” he told TV Week. “I haven’t a clue who I’ll be working with, but I know there are two Aussie characters.”
Sarah cuts in!
Sarah Chadwick, formerly of GP, The Flying Doctors and short-lived sitcom Late For School, has been busy dealing with shysters and drag queens. In an episode of The Damnation Of Harvey McHugh, she plays a government film censor who is blackmailed by the scheming Minister (Philip Quast). And in the new movie The Adventures Of Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert, she plays the wife of a drag queen (played by Hugo Weaving). “I travelled to Alice Springs and Kings Canyon for shooting… the whole experience was bizarre, but gorgeous,” she told TV Week. “It’s a film that has a nice little message and it’s also a bit sad. From the bits of the film I’ve seen so far, it looks extraordinary.”
Briefly…
- The Damnation Of Harvey McHugh star Aaron Blabey (pictured) says his TV character Harvey McHugh has a special attachment to animals. “He’s like Francis of Assisi,” Blabey told TV Week. But in real life he is the opposite of his character. “I don’t like a lot of animals particularly. I’m not as talented with them as Harvey is.” The 13-episode series included a horse, a cat, greyhounds, fish, pigeons and cows among the cast. “It was like Noah’s Ark,” producer Sue Masters said. “Using animals is a bit of a wildcard, but we were lucky with Harvey McHugh.”
- Angie Milliken is to replace Sigrid Thornton in the upcoming spin-off from The Feds. Milliken joins original cast member Robert Taylor in the series of six telemovies. Also signed up for the cast is actor John Bach.
- Network Ten, dubbed in some circles as “The Roseanne Network” after screening four-and-a-half hours of the star over five days recently, is annoying viewers by holding back new episodes of US titles The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Roseanne and Northern Exposure. It is rumoured that Ten is saving these new episodes to “relaunch” the network after its coverage of the Commonwealth Games in August.
- Former Home And Away star Nicolle Dickson is soon to make a guest appearance in GP, though she may be difficult to recognise as she plays a street kid with a nose ring. Her character, Vicki Dugan, has an intellectual disability and befriends Donna (Tracie Sammut), much to the worry of William (Michael Craig) who sees the new friend as trouble. “She is like an older streetkid,” Dickson told TV Week. “It was just a guest role but it was good fun.” The episode screens later in June.
Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here:
“While I doubt that Elle McFeast (Libbi Gorr, pictured) has earned a place among great Australian comedy characters at this stage, until now I have counted myself as quite a fan. Certainly she has lifted her profile from “football siren” on Melbourne radio to host of a much broader based, if still sports-orientated, national television program, Live And Sweaty. If Sex, Guys And Videotape was intended as the next step in broadening this profile, then I suspect Elle will finish up with mud — or worse — all over those trademark boots. If the show is meant to be a humorous look at the way men regard their sexuality, then it is not very funny. If it is meant to be serious, then it hardly ranks as a social document.”
Program Highlights (Melbourne, June 11-17):
Saturday: In A Country Practice (7.30pm, Ten), Jess’s (Jane Hall, pictured) meets Lance Cotton (Matt Parkinson) — a lonely, single farmer — who suddenly appears everywhere Jess turns.
Sunday: Sunday AFL includes Sydney Swans versus Hawthorn (1pm, Seven), live from Sydney, followed by West Coast Eagles versus Brisbane Bears, live from Perth. Sunday night movies are Evidence Of Love (Seven), Thunderheart (Nine) and Jane’s House (Ten).
Monday: In Home And Away (7pm, Seven), Angel (Melissa George) tries to rekindle her romance with Shane (Dieter Brummer). Mary Kostakidis interviews Clive James in The Talk Show (7.30pm, SBS). In Frontline (8pm, ABC), Brooke (Jane Kennedy) hosts the show for a week after Mike (Rob Sitch) gets to do an overseas story.
Tuesday: In Neighbours (6.30pm, Ten), Cheryl (Caroline Gillmer) begins to enjoy her time in hospital — especially when Karl (Alan Fletcher) gives her special attention. In Blue Heelers (7.30pm, Seven), Tom (John Wood) is bewildered by his mate Charles McVie (Robin Cuming) embezzling $10,000 from the football club’s funds. Sale Of The Century co-host Nicky Buckley guest stars in The Bob Morrison Show (8pm, Nine).
Wednesday: In Heartbreak High (7.30pm, Ten), the sudden appearance of Stella’s (Peta Toppano) daughter Katerina (Ada Nicodemou) surprises the Poulos family, while Jack (Tai Nguyen) and Rose’s (Katherine Halliday) new found relationship is strained when Jack is beaten up by Lebanese youths. Graham Phillips (Quantum) hosts the new information technology series Hot Chips (8pm, ABC), featuring reporters Rebecca Le Tourneau, John Millard, Chris Nash and Gareth Powell. Live And Sweaty host Elle McFeast (Libbi Gorr) hosts the special Sex, Guys And Videotape (8.30pm, ABC), taking a candid look at male sexuality.
Thursday: Technology program The Big Byte (7.30pm, SBS) presents its series final. In The Damnation Of Harvey McHugh (8.30pm, ABC), Harvey (Aaron Blabey) is sent to work in the Family Court and is ordered to look after a frozen embryo that is the centre of a custody dispute. After four years, the late night/early morning reruns of Prisoner (4am, Ten) come to an end as the series reaches its 692nd and final episode with a dramatic finish.
Friday: In Home And Away (7pm, Ten), Angel (Melissa George) makes Shane (Dieter Brummer) an offer he can’t refuse. In The Great Outdoors (7.30pm, Seven), Ted Egan joins entertainer Geraldine Doyle for all the festivities of the Australian National Folk Festival in Canberra, and Penny Cook meets wildlife photographer Steve Parrish. The FIFA World Cup kicks off in the US with the Opening Ceremony (4am, SBS) in Chicago, followed by the opening match between Germany and Bolivia (5am, SBS).
Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 11 June 1994. Pacific Publications Pty Ltd.
