FLASHBACK ARCHIVE

Flashback #1: Jana Wendt In 1979, a young reporter by the name of Jana Wendt made her debut at Melbourne ATV0's Eyewitness News.  The following year, when ATV0 became ATV10, Jana was promoted to the newsdesk alongside David Johnston.  This kick-started her career which went on to include Sixty Minutes, A Current Affair, Witness, Dateline and Sunday.

Picture: TV Guide, 1979

Flashback #2: Thursday Night Live In 1972, Ballarat television station BTV6 launched Australia's most successful regional variety program Six Tonight.  By 1984 it had become Thursday Night Live and its audience spanned across Victoria through both Six and TV8 regional networks.  Pictured here in front of the cameras are David Belcher and Jane Scali.

Picture: TV Scene, HWT, 1984

Flashback #3: Class Of '74/'75 Carla Hoogeveen, from the Seven Network's Class Of '74 (later Class Of '75) - the first soap drama to come from the Grundy Organisation.

Picture: Sunday Observer, Melbourne, 1975

Flashback #4: Eyewitness News Network Ten Sydney and Melbourne newsreaders David Johnston, Katrina Lee, John Bailey and Jana Wendt in a send up of their own Eyewitness News promos.

Picture: TV WEEK, 1980

Flashback #5: Mike Walsh Show guest, singer Rod Kirkham,  with Number 96 stars Elaine Lee and Jeff Kevin

Picture: TV WEEK, March 1975

Flashback #6: Jo Pearson, former newsreader for Ten's Eyewitness News in Melbourne, in 1988 is co-presenter (with Terry Willesee) of Nine's afternoon magazine program Live At Five.

Picture: Nine Network Publicity,1988

Flashback #7: Phillip Brady and contestant Margaret Lawrence on the national game show The Moneymakers.

Picture: TV WEEK, 30 October 1971

Flashback #8: Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton on GTV9's In Melbourne Tonight

Picture: TV WEEK, 31 October 1964

Flashback #9: Bandstand host and Sydney TCN9 newsreader Brian Henderson wins the 1968 TV Week Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television

Picture: TV WEEK, 30 March 1968

Flashback #10: Sylvia Raye, a contestant on the 0-10 Network's Showcase '66 and a regular performer on the Nine Network's Bandstand.

Picture: TV WEEK, 19 August 1967

Flashback #11: Marilyn Mayo, host of Sydney TCN9's early morning Super Flying Fun Show

Picture: TV WEEK, 8 May 1976

Flashback #12: TV0's Early Bird Show host Rosa Pecoraro with 'Boz' on location in preparation for World Expo 88 in Brisbane. TV0 was host broadcaster of the six month event that ran from April to October 1988.

Picture: The Sunday Mail (Brisbane), 'Scene on TV', 13 December 1987

Flashback #13: Cartoon Connection's Agro celebrating his 10th birthday with Fast Forward's Pixie Anne Wheatley (Magda Szubanski)

Picture: The Sunday Times (Perth), 'TV Extra', 11 November 1990

Flashback #14: The female cast of the Seven Network's comedy-drama Birds In The Bush featuring (standing left to right) Jenny Hayes, Ann Sidney, Kate Shiel, Kate Fitzpatrick and (seated left to right) Briony Behets, Elli Maclure, Sue Lloyd and Nicola Flamer-Caldera.

Picture: TV Week, 3 July 1971

Flashback #15: Among the cast of the Ten Network's infamous 1980 soap Arcade are Greg Bepper, Peggy Toppano and Lorrae Desmond.

Picture: TV Week, 19 January 1980

Flashback #16: Getting into mischief with a spot of tiling are popular Melbourne TV duo Fredd Bear and Judy Banks from ATV0's Breakfast-A-Go-Go - one of the first popular breakfast shows on Melbourne television.

Picture: TV Week, 1 January 1972

Flashback #17: These days he is known as Rex from Ten's The Secret Life Of Us, and for roles in movies such as Take Away, Lantana and The Hard Word - but by 1985, Vince Colosimo was already a hit with audiences after appearing in the movies Street Hero and Moving Out. In the Nine Network children's drama Zoo Family, Colosimo made a guest appearance as himself and captures the attention of Susie Mitchell (Kate Gorman).

Picture: TV Week, 30 March 1985

Flashback #18: Looking far from recognisable from her familiar role as Grace Sullivan in The Sullivans is Lorraine Bayly, pictured with veteran actor Bill Hunter in their roles as Helen and Alan Gilchrist in the World War I mini-series 1915, produced by ABC in 1982 to commemorate the national broadcaster's 50th Anniversary.

Picture: TV Week, 23 January 1982

Flashback #19: Long before they were judges on Australian Idol, Marcia Hines and Mark Holden were pop idols themselves - pictured here at the 1977 TV Week King Of Pop Awards. Hines was crowned the Queen Of Pop for the second year in a row, and Mark Holden performed live on the national telecast.

Picture: TV Week, 22 October 1977

Flashback #20: Although not so fondly remembered by Australian viewers, Hey Dad! was Australia's most successful television sitcom, and one of the longest running sitcoms in the world.  The series ran for over 250 episodes from 1987 to 1994 and sold to over 20 countries.  Pictured here is the 1993 cast, Julie McGregor, Robert Hughes, Ben Oxenbould, Angela Keep, Matthew Krok and Rachael Beck.

Picture: TV Week, 17 July 1993

Flashback #21: It was thirty five years ago that GTV9 was preparing to launch Melbourne's new breakfast TV program Today. Celebrating the launch of the program is host Mike Walsh and co-presenter Bobo Faulkner. GTV9's Today began at 7am on Monday 3 June 1968. The Today format later moved to the Seven Network before being rested and later revived as a national program on the Nine Network in 1982.

Picture: TV Week, 1 June 1968

Flashback #22: Appearing on Nine's The Don Lane Show to promote the new quiz show Sale Of The Century is host Tony Barber and some of the shows models Judy James, Judy Green, Jan Fogarty and Simonette Gardner.

Picture: TV Week, 23 August 1980

Flashback #23: Geoff Corke was the first person to appear on Melbourne television when he introduced GTV9's first test transmission on 27 September 1956. He later assumed the role of 'King Of The Kids' on GTV9's afternoon childrens program The Tarax Show

Picture: TV Times, 2 February 1961

Flashback #24: From an early episode of the hit series Prisoner, a fight between prison inmates Lynn Warner (Kerry Armstrong) and Frankie Doyle (Carol Burns).  Attempting to break up the fight are Officers Vera Bennett (Fiona Spence) and Meg Morris (Elspeth Ballantyne) and witnesses include Doreen Burns (Colette Mann, second from right) and Karen Travers (Peta Toppano, far right)

Picture: TV Week, 24 February 1979

Flashback #25: Looking appropriately shocked is Kathryn Dagher as Nurse Kelly Jones in The Young Doctors, having a 'heated' discussion with former Number 96 star Abigail.  The Young Doctors got off to a shaky start in 1976 but later found a strong audience following and in 1982 broke the record set by Number 96 as the most episodes produced for an Australian TV drama, clocking up 1396 episodes by the time it ended in 1983.

Picture: TV Week, 4 June 1977

Flashback #26: Sending up Australia's most popular TV family of the 1970s, The Sullivans, is Paul Hogan, Marion Edward, Delvene Delaney and Roger Stephen on the Nine Network's The Paul Hogan Show.

Picture: TV Week, 15 July 1978

Flashback #27: Over a decade before his new-found fame as host of Seven's Sunrise, David Koch was already a big name as a radio and television presenter, publisher and financial correspondent - pictured here at Sydney radio station 2GB where he presented both the breakfast show and the evening Money Talk program.

Picture: B&T Weekly, 20 September 1991

Flashback #28: On the set of game show $25,000 Letterbox are host Paul Makin and model Diana Christensen.  The program was produced at TVW7 Perth and initially shown only in Perth but later had a brief run on Seven Network stations in other capital cities.

Picture: TV Week, 6 September 1980

Flashback #29: Television personality and TV Week Gold Logie winner Bobby Limb as he appeared in the live via satellite telecast from Expo 67 in Montreal, Canada.  The historic telecast, screened to Australia in the early hours of 7 June 1967, highlighted Australia's contribution at Expo 67 and included a concert Pop Goes Australia featuring The Seekers and Normie Rowe.

Picture: TV Week, 17 June 1967

Flashback #30: Debbie Phin (left) and Ilona Komescaroff share the duties of weather presenter on Melbourne's Seven National News in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Ilona on Monday to Thursday nights and Debbie on Fridays and weekends.

Picture: TV Week, 21 February 1976

Flashback #31: A rare television event to celebrate the 1000th edition of Adelaide SAS10's local Today Show in 1969.  Personalities from all Adelaide television stations gathered at the SAS10 studios for the special edition, including Roger Cardwell from ADS7, and NWS9 Adelaide Tonight hosts Ernie Sigley and Ian Fairweather.

Pictures: TV Guide (Adelaide) 1 June & 8 June 1969

Flashback #32: Neighbours' wedding of Scott Robinson and Charlene Ramsay achieved record ratings for the hit soap in July 1987: Guy Pearce, Annie Jones, Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, Craig McLachlan and Sacha Close.  After being axed by the Seven Network in 1985, Neighbours became a worldwide hit after being picked up by rival Network Ten and now celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Pictures: TV Scene (Melbourne), 27 June 1987

Flashback #33: The Happy Show was a familiar favourite for young viewers in the early 1960s - produced at Melbourne's HSV7 and later relayed to ATN7 Sydney.  The cast included Vic Gordon, Princess Panda and Happy Hammond, whose 'test pattern' hat became his trademark.

Picture: TV Week, 27 April 1963

Flashback #34: Making his debut on Melbourne's new ATV Channel 0 in 1964 is Colin McEwan, a former radio announcer, as Captain Ace Beam on The Children's Show (later The Magic Circle Club).  Assisting the captain in his first appearance is Michael Boddy, Alec Finlay and Nancy Cato.  (Footnote: Colin McEwan recently passed away, on 22 August 2005, on the Gold Coast at the age of 64)

Picture: TV WEEK, 8 August 1964

Flashback #35: This young TV reporter is Carmel Travers, who in 1976 had joined the NWS9 Adelaide news team after three years at the local ABC newsroom.  Ms Travers would later return to ABC on current affairs programs This Day Tonight and Nationwide and the science and technology series Towards 2000, which later became Beyond 2000 for the Seven Network.  She later served a controversial term as General Manager of News and Current Affairs for Network Ten in the mid 1990s.

Picture: TV Guide, 18 December 1976

Flashback #36: Jacki MacDonald was a popular personality in her home state of Queensland in the 1970s, and later nationally when she joined the team on Nine's Hey Hey It's Saturday in 1979.  In 1980, as well as appearing on her own breakfast show on TVQ0 Brisbane and on Hey Hey It's Saturday, Jacki took on the role of Princess Of Circusworld in the pantomime Jacki And The Space Invaders at Brisbane's Her Majesty's Theatre. 

Picture: TV Week, 16 August 1980

Flashback #37: This picture comes from a recent visitor to the site, Stephen J Fleay, in Indonesia: "as a young Queenslander at the time I closely followed TV there from the very start. In 1964 I joined the staff of CBN8 Orange as organist/presenter/booth announcer etc. In country TV 'we did it all'. CBN8 and later CWN6 (Dubbo) had a staff of around 70 people, and was perhaps closer to the style of a city station than most commercial regionals. The “stand-alone” country TV stations disappeared with the so called aggregation of 1989. I have been away from Australia since the early 80’s moving first to Europe and then to SE Asia as a freelance BBC correspondent.  During my time at Orange TV I took many colour (slides) photos of the station, staff and studio programme events.  Attaching one which might be of interest for your web site, Michael Macrae and Lorna Goodman, co-hosts of Children's Corner, CBN8 Orange main studio, 1964."

Picture: Stephen J Fleay

Flashback #38: Weather Girls There were times when presenting the weather on television was more for entertainment value rather than providing an in-depth weather analysis. Clockwise from top left: In the 1970s, SAS10 Adelaide's Helen Cutting was seen but never heard as she would write the temperatures on a large scale map of Australia - while subject to some less than subtle camerawork - as the newsreader read out the forecast. Adelaide favourite Anne Wills donned a bikini as part of a dare when presenting the weather at NWS9 in 1966, and thirty years later found an alternative to the bikini when presenting the weather at SAS7. And Melbourne's Robina Beard had her drawing skills put to the test in the 1960s as she illustrated the weather in front of the cameras at GTV9.

Flashback #39: Young Talent Time Lots of cheesy smiles all round when Network Ten's Young Talent Time hit 600 episodes in September 1984. Beginning with the smallest of budgets in 1971, Young Talent Time was an almost desperate attempt by Melbourne's ATV0 to combat the popular Australian Rules football broadcasts on a Saturday evening - and lucky for them it became an instant hit. Sixties pop star Johnny Young mentored the ever-changing cast of hopeful youngsters, and some did go on to successful careers in Australia and overseas. Pictured here at the 600th celebration is (from left) Vince Del Tito, Lorena Novoa, Vanessa Windsor, Karen Dunkerton, Johnny Young, Danielle Minogue and Greg Poynton. The program continued until 1988.

Picture: TV WEEK, 15 September 1984

Flashback #40: In 2006, Today Tonight host Naomi Robson created headlines for her wearing a lizard when paying tribute to Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin after his tragic death.

Back in 1960, ABC host Michael Charlton managed the same feat, though under far less controversial circumstances, when a batch of lizards from the Australian Reptile Park were brought into the studio for an appearance on Animal Life.

Picture: TV Times, 19 May 1960
 

Flashback #41: Here's two more weather girl presenters that did not get included in our Flashback #38 tribute. Briony Behets (pictured left with newsreader Bruce Mansfield) was a model before turning actress with roles in steamy soap operas Number 96 and The Box, and then later becoming a weather presenter at Melbourne ATV0's Eyewitness News in 1976. At the same time, Melbourne's GTV9 announced their new weather presenter, Kerry Armstrong - fresh out of school and later to go onto an acting career in movies and television.
 

Pictures: TV Week, 7 February 1976

Flashback #42: A reunion of familiar Melbourne television identities from the 1960s on the set of Tonight With Bert Newton in 1984. Pictured with Bert Newton (centre) are Ken Delo and Jonathan Daly - a popular American night club act that came to Australia in the early 1960s and were subsequently offered their own late night TV program, The Delo And Daly Show, for the Seven Network in competition with GTV9's In Melbourne Tonight, featuring Newton.

(Picture: TV Week, 2 June 1984)

Flashback #43: Some of the people that introduced our favourite movies on television became just as famous as the movies they spoke about. Melbourne's Ivan Hutchinson (main photo) was a music maestro at HSV7 in the 1960s before his love of movies led to him becoming Seven's resident movie presenter - a role which also extended to reviewing movies for newspapers and TV Week magazine. He also had a sense of humour, being more than willing to send himself up on comedy shows like Fast Forward. Meanwhile, in Sydney, Bill Collins (inset) was a movie reviewer for TV Times magazine and later presented movies for Sydney's TCN9, ATN7 and then Network Ten where his Golden Years Of Hollywood program turned 1940s and 1950s classics into 1980s prime time fare, and his passionate critiques became almost as lengthy as the films themselves. Collins is now presenting films for the movie channel Fox Classics.

(Pictures: TV Week, 31 October 1992, 18 April 1981)

Flashback #44: English-born comedian Ugly Dave Gray was a regular on GTV9's In Melbourne Tonight in the 1960s, and was a host of the program in 1970. He later turned to acting, appearing as nightclub owner Bunny Howard in The Young Doctors in 1976, before taking a position on the celebrity panel of top-rating game show Blankety Blanks in 1977. Gray then hosted his own game show Celebrity Tattletales in 1980, and returned to TV again in 1984 to host the Seven Network's Play Your Cards Right, pictured left with co-host Kerrie Friend.

(Picture: TV Week, 29 September 1984)

Flashback #45: Monday 18 July 1966 marked the debut of an Australian children's TV icon when ABC launched the Australian version of Play School. Based on an English program of the same name, which ABC had been screening prior to launching its own version, Play School became a firm favourite with pre-schoolers - and a lot of their parents! Gathered in 1991 to celebrate the show's 25th anniversary were former presenters including (back row) Janet Kingsbury, Donald McDonald, Benita Collings, John Waters, (front row) Trisha Goddard and Noni Hazelhurst. In its 40+ years, Play School has boasted a range of some of Australia's best known actors including Patsy King, Anne Haddy, John Hamblin, Lorraine Bayly, Deborah Mailman and Jay Laga'aia.

Picture: TV Week, 13 July 1991

Flashback #46: Lots of smiles at the studios of Adelaide's SAS10 on the occasion of the station's first anniversary in 1966. Pictured, left to right, are local presenters Roger Cardwell, Gail Spiro, Penny Ramsey, Bobo The Clown, Michelle Kenny and Paul Griffiths. SAS10 launched on 26 July 1965, and within its first year had launched a number of local productions including Bobo The Clown, Romper Room, Today and the evening news. Later productions included Fat Cat And Friends, Earlybirds, Crackerjack, Trax, Touch Of Elegance, Junior Jury and annual Christmas telethon. In 1987, SAS made TV history when it changed frequency and affiliation to Seven. In 2005, SAS7 produced a special, Made In Adelaide, to commemorate 40 years of television from SAS.

Picture: TV-Radio Guide, 31 July 1966

Flashback #47: TV's most famous family, the Newtons, could never be accused of being camera-shy - but it was not often that they all appeared in the same series. In 1988, 11-year-old Matthew Newton (inset) had the role of Freddo in the children's comedy Sugar And Spice - and making a guest appearance in one episode is the rest of the clan - Bert, Patti and Lauren. The role of Freddo was the young Newton's second dramatic role after an earlier appearance in the Nine Network's The Flying Doctors.  Sugar And Spice was a $3 million adventure-comedy set in the 1920s, produced for the Seven Network, and also featured Radha Mitchell, Susan Ellis and Frank Wilson.

Picture: TV Week, 10 September 1988
 

Flashback #48: These days Shane Bourne is known for his role in the police drama City Homicide and as host of Thank God You're Here, but over a decade ago the comedian and former Hey Hey It's Saturday regular was host of the Nine Network's 1996 remake of the 1970s game show Blankety Blanks. It was the second time the Nine Network had attempted to remake the show that Graham Kennedy made famous in Australia in 1977-78. The first was in 1985 hosted by Daryl Somers. Pictured, left to right, is Shane Bourne and two of the show's panelists, Rhonda Burchmore and Marty Fields.

Picture: TV Week, 30 Nov 1996

Flashback #49: ABC's long-running medical drama GP was never one to shy away from controversial medical and social topics. In 1994 the series tackled the topic of homosexuality when new doctor Martin Dempsey (Damian Rice) is depicted in a relationship with Patrick Walsh, played by Lochie Daddo. Not since the days of Number 96, The Box and Prisoner had the topic of homosexuality been so openly portrayed in TV drama: "I was worried how the public might react," Rice told TV Week. "But I think it's time stories like that were told. I was told when I joined GP that the series would deal with confronting issues, so this is one of them, I guess."

Picture: TV Week, 12 March 1994

Flashback #50: The Nine Network's long-running quiz show Sale Of The Century was dropped a bombshell early in 1991 when hosts Tony Barber and Alyce Platt both decided to leave the program. Barber had hosted the program since its inception in 1980, and Platt had been with the show since 1986. Producers took a gamble when it chose to replace Barber with Glenn Ridge, a TV host whose only prior on-air experience was in regional television. Joining Ridge on the new-look Sale Of The Century was Jo Bailey who had recently joined the show as a model but had no idea she was being considered for the co-host role. And the new-look Sale was given a warm welcome by Seven Network rival Derryn Hinch: "We'll kick its teeth in."

Picture: TV Week, 13 April 1991

Flashback #51: No sooner had the Nine Network issued its glossy new PR photo of the 60 Minutes reporting team for 1993 that it was quickly out of date with the announcement that Jennifer Byrne was leaving the program to take on a new job as morning presenter at ABC radio station 2BL (now 702 ABC). Jeff McMullen, Richard Carleton and new arrival Charles Woolley make up the rest of the team.

Picture: TV Week, 23 January 1993

Flashback #52: Looking a lot different to his former persona of the dapper tonight show host is Stuart Wagstaff, pictured here with June Salter as guest stars in The Godfathers - a popular family comedy-drama for the Nine Network in the early 1970s. Wagstaff had come from hosting the recently-cancelled In Melbourne Tonight and Salter was known to viewers as one of the ensemble cast in the comedy The Mavis Bramston Show.

Picture: TV Week, 30 October 1971

Flashback #53: Production of the mini-series A Town Like Alice, based on Nevil Shute's novel of the same name, was first planned in 1979 for the Seven Network on the back of the success of their earlier historical epic Against The Wind. A Town Like Alice was a hit when it aired in mid-1981 and the following year the mini-series took a total of five TV Week Logie awards, including best mini-series and best actor and actress awards for the leading stars, Bryan Brown and Helen Morse (pictured).

Picture: TV Week, 25 July 1981

Flashback #54:The behind-the-scenes workings of a fashion magazine formed the basis of the Seven Network's 1972 drama Catwalk, a 13-part spin-off of the former ABC series Dynasty. Heading the cast was British actor John Forgeham (pictured, second from left) as the magazine's fiery-tempered editor. The cast line-up also included, from left, John Wood, Cecily Polson, Cornelia Frances and June Salter - the latter best known for her comic performances but in Catwalk takes on the role of a bitchy journalist and editor's assistant.

Picture: TV Week, 19 February 1972

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