Tag: Arcade

Obituary: Lorrae Desmond

Australian showbusiness legend Lorrae Desmond, known by many as Shirley Gilroy in A Country Practice, has died at age 91. News of her passing was circulated on social media by former colleagues, including former A Country Practice co-stars Shane Withington and Wendy Strehlow. She was my mentor, my friend and an unending source of wisdom, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2021/05/obituary-lorrae-desmond.html

Lorrae Desmond in Australia Day Honours

Actress and performer Lorrae Desmond has been awarded a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the 2021 Australia Day Honours List. Her honour is in recognition of “significant service to the performing arts as an actor, entertainer and singer”. Desmond, who was awarded a Member of the Order of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2021/01/lorrae-desmond-in-australia-day-honours.html

ABC’s Sixty-One, Here We Come!

Sixty years ago, as we were coming to an end to 1960, ABC was planning an ambitious variety special to welcome 1961. Sixty-One, Here We Come! was a 65-minute program produced at the studios of ABV2, Melbourne, and in a rare technical feat was relayed via microwave links for direct broadcast in Sydney. American-born actress …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/12/abcs-sixty-one-here-we-come.html

Nineties soap gets online re-run

YouTube: southaustraliatv Of all the vintage soaps to get a new lease on life online, Network Ten‘s Echo Point would have been way down the list of likely candidates. It ranks on the list of some of Australian TV’s most infamous soapie disasters among such titles like Arcade, Holiday Island, Paradise Beach and Family And …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/03/nineties-soap-gets-online-re-run.html

Arcade: Going from hero to zero

By the turn of the ’80s it was the unofficial benchmark for each commercial network to have two successful soapie dramas in the schedule. Seven had Cop Shop and Skyways, and Nine had The Sullivans and The Young Doctors. The then 0-10 Network had the popular Prisoner and teen drama The Restless Years. For some reason, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/01/arcade-going-from-hero-to-zero.html

Obituary: Patrick Ward

Actor Patrick Ward, star of various Australian films and television series, has died at the age of 69. He left school in Sydney at the age of 14 and at the age of 16 began as a dancer before joining the Independent Theatre in Sydney and trained as an actor. He starred as lawyer Mike …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/10/obituary-patrick-ward.html

Paradise Beach, where sand gets in the soap

The Eighties and Nineties sure brought some soapie clunkers to the otherwise top-rating Nine Network. After the demise of former hit series The Young Doctors and The Sullivans, each year brought the promise of a new arrival that would, inevitably, die a ratings death and play out its remaining episodes in the summer non-ratings period. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/06/paradise-beach-where-sand-gets-in-the-soap.html

Classic TV Guides: The 1959 Royal Tour

The 1959 Australian visit by Princess Alexandra (pictured) was cause for Sydney’s three TV channels to jointly cover some of the official events during her brief stay in Canberra. Covering events from the national capital was a considerable technical exercise for ABC in setting up local outside broadcast facilities and getting pictures sent direct from Canberra to Sydney …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2015/08/classic-tv-guides-the-1959-royal-tour.html

1995: June 24-30

Cover: Nicky Buckley (Sale Of The Century) How Sale sank the soaps! It was meant to be the battle of the soaps — Seven‘s Home And Away versus Ten‘s new Echo Point — but the winner of the 7.00pm timeslot has been Sale Of The Century! Ten’s new effort has debuted to ratings that have …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2015/06/1995-june-24-30.html

TEN10… from Arcade to E Street

Continuing the early history of TEN10, Sydney. Refer also to Part I and Part II. Leading into the ’80s, TEN10 and the newly-relaunched Network Ten had its hopes stacked on its new soapie — Arcade. With a $3 million budget, the main studio decked out to portray a shopping mall, an impressive cast of fresh and mature talent …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2015/04/ten10-from-arcade-to-e-street.html