Tag: Motel

The Wicked City: ill-fated 1880s drama

In 1971, the Seven Network had bold plans for a new “provocative and bawdy” series set in Melbourne in the 1880s. The network had a proposal titled Man Of Property, starring Robin Ramsay, formerly of Bellbird, in the lead role of a strait-laced English doctor living in Melbourne at the end of the gold rush …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2023/09/the-wicked-city-ill-fated-1880s-drama.html

On This Day — 10 June

10 June 1978: Norman Gunston (Garry McDonald) 10 June 1995: Isla Fisher (Home And Away) Sunday 10 June 1962: ABC premieres its new historical drama, The Patriots. The ten-episode series featured a cast of 26 actors, including Allan Trevor (as New South Wales Governor Darling), James Condon, Beverley Philiips, Nigel Lovell, Ruth Cracknell, Alastair Duncan, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2023/06/on-this-day-10-june.html

ABC’s Certain Women

Fifty years ago, ABC‘s Certain Women marked a shift in putting the primary focus in Australian television drama on women. Up until then, Australian television drama was largely male-dominated. Indeed, it was not until 1972 that the TV Week Logie Awards sought to add a category for Best Actress. Although serials like Motel, Bellbird and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2023/02/abcs-certain-women.html

TV Week Logie Awards: 25 years ago

The 62nd annual TV Week Logie Awards were meant to happen this Sunday 28 June. While the awards will not be taking place this year, we continue the annual rundown of past Logies presentations to coincide with what would have been Logies weekend. Today, it’s back to 1995 — 25 years ago… A Current Affair host Ray Martin was awarded …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/06/tv-week-logie-awards-25-years-ago-10.html

Seven’s battle for high noon

In the 1980s one of the Nine Network‘s many strengths was its early afternoons. The Mike Walsh Show, which became Midday with Ray Martin, followed by US soaps Days Of Our Lives and The Young And The Restless constantly beat anything thrown at them by rival commercial networks Seven and Ten. When Christopher Skase took …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/03/sevens-battle-for-high-noon.html

Seven’s Motel promised daytime sizzle

The Seven Network‘s bold — and third — attempt to produce a daytime soap opera was met with comparisons to popular overseas dramas Peyton Place and Coronation Street. With a generous budget and a cast list of 16, Motel was a serious attempt to crack the daytime market as an alternative to cheaper game and chat …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/05/sevens-motel-promised-daytime-sizzle.html

Obituary: Ross Higgins

Ross Higgins, the actor best known as Ted Bullpitt in Kingswood Country, has died at the age of 85. Higgins’ career began in radio, at Sydney station 2GB, in 1946. His radio career alternated between both commercial radio and ABC. The advent of television in 1956 saw Higgins move into the new medium, including hosting …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2016/10/obituary-ross-higgins.html

1995: May 6-12

Ray’s super hat-trick A Current Affair host Ray Martin (pictured with Lois & Clark‘s Dean Cain) has become the first person to win three consecutive Gold Logies. The 37th annual TV Week Logie Awards also saw co-host Andrew Daddo become the youngest to host the Logies, while his on-stage partner Noni Hazlehurst was the first mum to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2015/05/1995-may-6-12.html

The Mavis Bramston Show’s 50th anniversary

It was 50 years ago today that the legendary comedy show The Mavis Bramston Show first appeared on our screens. Before its debut, Executive Producer Michael Plant described the show as “unlike anything ever done in television before”, promising topical comedy, sketches and send-ups. The show’s chief writer David Sale, in his recent book Number …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2014/11/mavis-bramston-turns-50.html

Obituary: Harold Hopkins

Australian acting veteran Harold Hopkins has died in a Sydney hospital from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma. The 67-year-old actor was diagnosed several months ago and is believed to have contracted the cancer from his first job after finishing high school, where he worked with asbestos sheeting as an apprentice carpenter in Queensland in the early …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2011/12/obituary-harold-hopkins.html