ITV kills The Bill

March 28, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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For many it’ll be like losing a good friend or a member of the family. ITV has decided to close down Sun Hill Police Station and call the end to long running police drama, The Bill.

Around 90 people are expected to lose their jobs and cast members past and present are in shock at the sudden news of the show’s axing after 26 years.

While blaming falling ratings as the reason for closing the programme, the most recent episode to show on British TV won its timeslot with a huge 4.5 million viewers. Last year The Bill won its first Bafta for Best Continuing Drama.

A number of Facebook groups have already been set up trying to save The Bill and there is expected to be a continuing push by fans to keep the programme running, but it’s not likely to convince ITV who have messed with the show for years, making radical changes which have not been popular with diehard viewers.

During its 26 year run The Bill has featured appearances by such names as Keira Knightley, David Tennant, Spice Girl Emma Bunton, The Who’s Roger Daltrey, Robert Carlyle, Hugh Laurie and many others.

We are devastated that after 26 successful years on ITV, The Bill will be coming to an end. One of the show’s strengths has been its ability to evolve over the years as can be seen with the latest challenge of transforming itself into a 9pm primetime show.

We are incredibly proud of what the show has achieved. It is a credit to everyone who has worked on The Bill that the series will be signing out on a creative and editorial high with both critical and industry-wide acclaim and a loyal fan base who have supported the show throughout. – Lorraine Heggessey, CEO talkbackTHAMES

The Bill has always been very popular in Australia and many of the cast members have visited Australia for promotional visits, theatre shows and even book readings.

A few years ago I had the privilege of talking by phone to Graham Cole who played the role of PC Tony Stamp for 22 years before being sacked by the show’s producers when they wanted to change the style of the long-running drama. You can hear our conversation from February 2007 by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.



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New Simpsons Opener

February 18, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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To celebrate The Simpsons switching to HDTV on the US Fox network the opening sequence has been given a makeover.

There are a lot of scenes you’ll remember from the previous opener, which has remained the same for around twenty years, but there are some new surprises too.



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It Takes Who?

January 16, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
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Channel 7’s It Takes Two is set to hit our screens again soon with Grant Denyer returning as the host and the 2008 line up has just been announced.

The programme pairs professional singers with celebrities in yet another vote ’em off television show. The singers mentor the celebrities, helping them to realise their dreams of becoming rock stars. Each week the couples sing duets and then lets the audience vote via SMS to decide who’ll return the following week.

I will admit to have spent a bit of time in front of the telly when the show’s been on in past years but I’m wondering whether the concept should now be put out to pasture.

Maybe I’m just not part of the target audience but when I read through the list of contestants this year I was left scratching my head wondering who these people are.

Paul O’Brien – Home and Away actor
Chloe Maxwell – Presenter/ mum
Scott Draper – Professional golfer/ tennis player
Virginia Gay – All Saints actor
Julia Morris – Actor/presenter/writer
John Mangos – Sky News anchor
Sara Groen – Channel Seven weather presenter
Mark Wilson – Dancing with the Stars judge
Candice Falzon – Ironwoman
Russell Robertson – AFL football player

OK … I’ll admit I do know a few of those names but there’s not really anyone there who would have me glued to the screen over several weeks.

As for the mentors, most are returning from last year with a few new names.

Rachael Beck – Star of stage and screen
David Hobson – Opera singer
Jade MacRae – Pop princess
Wendy Matthews – Australian singing legend
Kate Ceberano – Multi award winning singer
Anthony Callea – Australia’s record breaking pop star
David Campbell – Swing sensation
Ian Moss – Australian rock icon
Ricki-Lee Coulter – Pop superstar
Adam Harvey – Country singer

Of course it’s just possible that I’ll take a quick look at the first episode and get hooked anyway.



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Bad weather for coughs and colds

July 27, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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I’m so glad that I work in radio.

If I lose my voice or have to cough I can simply push a big green button and along comes some music to fill the void.

It’s not so easy to cover up when you’re doing live television, as this video of Perth weatherman, Jeff Newman, reveals. Jeff has been letting us know whether we should pack an umbrella for the coming day on local station Channel 7 for many years.

I’m caught between finding the incident hilariously funny and feeling sorry for poor Jeff.

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The secret to late night selling

July 15, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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I’m so glad I didn’t have a phone within reach in the early hours of this morning.

I’ve talked before about my duodenitis. It’s a stomach pain that wakes me up sometimes during the night. It’s pretty much under control with medication but every now and then it decides to break through and remind me why I need to keep taking that tiny yellow tablet at dinner time every day. Last night, or should I say early this morning, it savagely attacked for the first time in months. When it happens I have to get out of bed and sit up somewhere until the excruciating belly pain subsides. That normally takes a few hours.

Anyway, back to what I wanted to talk about.

After sitting at my computer, making little sense of anything for a while, I decided to see what was on television. Do you know what’s on TV at 3:30 in the morning? Advertisements. Very long advertisements. They almost look like programmes, and last just as long, but basically they’re trying to sell you stuff. Face creams, exercise equipment, ladders, whatever they think you might need at that time of day.

This morning they were selling DVDs. But these weren’t just any DVDs, it was the Midnight Special Collection, available for the first time in Australia. This collection contains live performances on The Midnight Special television show back from the seventies. For the introductory price of just $19.95 I could have the first of the DVDs and a little booklet. They told me again and again about all the wonderful performances I’d see by people like Ray Charles, Blondie, David Bowie, Elton John, Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye, Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin and so many more.

At that time of the day I NEEDED to get that DVD set. My life would not be complete without it. Sure, the first one at the introductory price of $19.95 would only be the first of many DVDs and the rest would cost much more, though they weren’t telling me how much more, but my life would be complete with those DVDs.

A few hours later, once the pain had eventually subsided, I was able to head back to bed and get a couple more hours sleep.

Strangely enough, when I woke this morning my life was no longer incomplete without the Midnight Special Collection. I’m sure I’d enjoy watching some of those performances if I had the opportunity but I’m not fussed in the slightest by the fact that it’s unlikely to happen. There are so many things that I’d prefer than spending money that I don’t have on that collection.

So there it is. That’s how those people operate. They make sure that you’re beyond tired and then they make their product seem like it’s something that you can’t do without. Sitting in front of the television at 3:30 in the morning in desperate need of sleep and wracked with pain, I almost believed them.

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