16 February 1974: Paul Hogan (The Paul Hogan Show)
16 February 1980: Marcia Hines
16 February 1980: Rebecca Gilling and Margaret Laurence (The Young Doctors)
16 February 1980: Bob Dyer and Bert Newton
16 February 1991: Rebekah Elmaloglou (Home And Away)
16 February 2002: Georgie Parker and Erik Thomson (All Saints)
16 February 2008: Kate Ritchie and Roger Oakley (Home And Away)
16 February 1959: The debut episode of hospital drama Emergency airs on GTV9, Melbourne, starring Brian James, Syd Conabere and Judith Godden. The series, one of the first made by Australian television, debuted in Sydney on ATN7 a week later.
16 February 1987: Musician James Valentine hosts ABC‘s new late afternoon children’s programming block, The Afternoon Show. Former A Country Practice stars Shane Withington and Grant Dodwell lead Nine‘s new drama series Willing And Abel, debuting in Melbourne before airing in Sydney two days later.
16 February 1988: Network Ten debuts sketch comedy series The Comedy Company, starring Mark Mitchell, Ian McFadyen, Maryanne Fahey, Kym Gyngell, Siobhan Tuke, Tim Smith and Glenn Robbins — 25 years since we met Kylie Mole [2013]
16 February 1991: Network Ten launches new talent quest series Star Search, hosted by Jeff Phillips.
16 February 1993: Joh’s Jury, the dramatisation of the 1991 trial of former Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen (played by Gerry Connolly), screens on ABC.
16 February 1996: Bridget Adams and Rob Elliott (pictured) host the debut of new interactive variety-game show Talking Telephone Numbers on Seven.
16 February 1997: The premiere of four-part series Simone de Beauvoir’s Babies on ABC. Starring Sally Cooper, Leverne McDonnell, Sonia Todd and Anne Looby, the series focuses on four women, all childless, reunited at a 20-year school reunion and collectively make a pact to change their lives.
16 February 1999: The Seven Network launches two new weekly comedy shows — The Big News, a sketch comedy series featuring former Fast Forward stars Marg Downey, Michael Veitch and Peter Moon with Matt Tilley; and The Late Report, a current affairs spoof with Richard Stubbs, John Safran, Emma Tom and Sandy George.
16 February 2000: After six years, Blue Heelers star Lisa McCune makes her exit from the series, with her character Senior Constable Maggie Doyle gunned down by an unknown assailant.
16 February 2001: Ten debuts sitcom Sit Down, Shut Up, based around the staff and students at a fictional high school, Carpen Heights Secondary College. The series starred Marg Downey, Stephen Curry, Jacqueline Brennan and Christopher Brown.
