1996: May 11-17

Neighbours’ whirlwind wedding!
Neighbours star Emma Harrison is set to walk down the aisle as her character, Joanna Hartman, weds Rob Evans (Graham Harvey) after a speedy romance. The wedding comes as a shock to Ramsay Street residents as Joanna is almost half Rob’s age. “It all happens very quickly, but Joanna is really drawn to Rob’s energy and she thinks he’s gorgeous,” Harrison told TV Week. “She really does fall head over heels.” Like any soapie wedding, not everything will go to plan “Joanna thought she’s get her bridesmaid, Danni (Eliza Szonert, pictured with Harrison), to design her wedding dress because she knew Danni was a young, up-and-coming designer,” Harrison said. “When Joanna saw the dress, she freaked out because it was quite risque and a bit revealing. Not at all what she wanted.” The wedding episode is due to go to air in June.

Rebekah’s harrowing comeback
Former Home And Away star Rebekah Elmaloglou has just filmed a guest stint in Nine‘s Pacific Drive — an experience that left her emotionally drained. In episodes to screen later this year, Elmaloglou plays Liza Garland, the daughter of a prominent politician, Bill Garland (played by Chris Haywood). It is revealed that Bill has been sexually assaulting his 18-year-old daughter for the past 10 years. “It was pretty heavy stuff, but I’m glad I had he chance to do it,” Elmaloglou told TV Week. “I thought, ‘God, when I was 18 I would have punched him out’. But I spoke to a few people about incest and I realised that she has no fight left in her. Bill’s a powerful man and Liza has just gotten to the stage where she just gives in and then blanks it out.” Elmaloglou was full of praise for co-star Haywood, but admits filming the intimate scenes was “freaky”. “Chris and I only met on the day that the scenes were being shot and it worked well that way. Because I hadn’t really met him before I was really uncomfortable with him, and I think that worked well in the scenes.”

The Great Pretender
Mercury star Victoria Longley (pictured) went to extreme lengths to research her role as state political reporter Georgi Singer, by posing as a reporter at a press conference held by Victorian premier Jeff Kennett. “I stood with the rest of the journalists and took notes,” she told TV Week. “Once, I was only about five feet away from Mr Kennett. I was terrified he was going to ask who I was! I was taking notes, but looking at the other reporters and writing at different times to them. A few times Mr Kennett caught my eye when the others were writing and I wasn’t. Then I’d quickly pretend to write something!”

Tammy’s shock paedophile drama
Former Police Rescue star Tammy MacIntosh (pictured) joins Sigrid Thornton and Temuera Morrison in the upcoming Network Ten telemovie Whipping Boy, which takes a look inside a fictional, yet still frightening, paedophile ring. “I think it might frighten a few people,” MacIntosh told TV Week. “For the general public it will give them a very good awareness of what can, and does, go on.” MacIntosh also appears this week in the Nine Network telemovie, McLeod’s Daughters, which if successful may go into a series. “They’re really keen on making more McLeod’s. Especially if the scripts are as good as this one.”

Briefly…

• The champagne was flowing at a special lunch thrown by Nine chief David Leckie for TV legend Graham Kennedy. The lavish lunch has become an annual event at Nine, flying Kennedy in via helicopter from his rural NSW property. Nine is also very keen to keep Kennedy happy as he has agreed to host Nine’s 40 years of television special later in the year.
• Travel series Getaway returns to Nine later this month, taking over the 7.30pm Thursday timeslot currently held by Wild Life With Olivia Newton-John. The changeover still leaves 13 episodes of Newton-John’s show unaired, and production of a third series has been canned.
• A Current Affair reporter Mike Munro has been in Chicago filming a report from the exterior set of hit series ER, interviewing series stars George Clooney and Anthony Edwards. It is the first time an international crew has been allowed on the Chicago set.
• Joining the reporting line-up of Seven‘s Talk To The Animals is Tess Holderness (pictured), a former model who has worked in Europe. She was working as a camera assistant for a video production company in Australia when she was asked to fill in when a model failed to turn up one day. She was soon spotted by a Parisian modelling agency and spent the next two years travelling between Europe and Australia. She later decided modelling wasn’t her ideal job and began studying journalism, leading to writing an article on Talk To The Animals. When she realised that the show was looking for two new reporters, she offered herself for a role and after an audition was successful.

TV’s Top 20 (Week Commencing 21 April 1996): 

Program Highlights (Melbourne, May 11-17):
Saturday: In Sweat (6.30pm, Ten), Tom (Martin Henderson) and Jenny (Frederique Fouche) team up for an orienteering exercise, but disaster strikes when the two compete rather than co-operate. Saturday Night Football (8.30pm, Seven) features Brisbane Bears versus Hawthorn, live from Brisbane.

Sunday: AFL Sunday features West Coast Eagles versus North Melbourne (2pm, Seven), live from Perth, followed by Adelaide Crows versus Fremantle (5.30pm, Seven), live from Adelaide. Sunday night movies are Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (Seven) and Beethoven (Ten) up against the telemovie McLeod’s Daughters (Nine), starring Jack Thompson, Kym Wilson and Tammy MacIntosh.

Monday: In Water Rats (7.30pm, Nine), Frank Holloway (Colin Friels) and Rachel Goldstein (Catherine McClements) are whisked into a warehouse being used in the ongoing investigation into Kevin Holloway’s (Jeremy Callaghan) disappearance. In Healthy Wealthy And Wise (7.30pm, Ten), Iain Hewitson goes to the United States for a college regatta, and Lyn Talbot finds the internet a wonderful source for music, shopping and meeting people.

Tuesday: In Home And Away (7pm, Seven), Shannon (Isla Fisher) and Alex (Nick Freedman) make amends. In GP (8.30pm, ABC), Henry (Steve Bisley, pictured) bumps into an old acquaintance, Dennis Harper (Nicholas Eadie), but realises that Dennis is trapped in an unhealthy co-dependent relationship in which he is the victim of physical abuse.

Wednesday: In Neighbours (6.30pm, Ten), Phil’s (Ian Rawlings) new career is generating unwanted interest. In Home And Away (7pm, Seven), Mandy’s (Rachael Blake) counselling gets Alex (Nick Freedman) and Shannon (Isla Fisher) back together. In Pacific Drive (11.45pm, Nine), when Adam (Mark Constable) reveals himself as Sonia’s killer, Georgina (Kate Raison) must decide whether to betray the man she loves.

Thursday: The documentary Curtains For My Cabin (9.30pm, ABC) looks at the world of female truck drivers.

Friday: In Home And Away (7pm, Seven), Curtis (Shane Ammann) suspects Travis (Nic Testoni) of growing marijuana. Friday Night Football (7.30pm, Seven) features Brisbane versus Collingwood, live from Brisbane, followed by a delayed telecast of Carlton versus Geelong (10.15pm, Seven).

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 11 May 1996. Pacific Publications Pty Ltd.