The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 105

I 1 mm II 3 ki uuirju Mum mm id I F'i i r-f juuy ID c'a What's it like fo be the only woman entertaining one-hour news team? ember on ATN Channel 7's big and out into three field news, Beauty and the Beast, and acting. And if I had to make a choice, I think it would be news. "The only thing that's holding me back at the moment is that I'm in the process of selling the house and moving to a new one. It's tied me up a bit. But as soon as I get settled, I am hoping to do more in the way of hard news stories.

"At the moment, I'm in a going state. "Fortunately, the children are no problem. I am in the happy position of having a mother who lives opposite, and she's always in the house if I'm out on a job." TV Quote of the Week Ronnie Corbett on The Two Ronnies, ABN 2 Monday night: Where I lived you could have a reign of terror with a balloon on a stick. They've had dogs and cats. liven puppies.

Now it's a horse. The gee gee, Prince, complete with riding saddle, turns up as a Gift Shop prize in tomorrow's edition of the $25,000 Great Temptation (ATN 7, 7 pin). Apart from being a bit camera-shy and having to be coaxed on set by hostess Barbara Rogers, he behaved like a gentleman. Whoosh boom! It's the Concorde! "Demanding, stimulating, and a challenge," says Freda Lesslie (pictured, right). Freda, also a panellist on the daytime show Beauty and the Beast, is one of ATN 7's interviewers on the new enlarged news show.

A mother of two young daughters, she lives in Mosman. Said Freda: "The only other time I've done anything like this was on This Day Tonight. It was the first week of the show, and my first television appearance. I only lasted two interviews. "But it whetted my appetite.

I've now branched Simmons Point will be screened by the ABC later this year. Pamela Stephenson, one of the birds in the Mac-leay Theatre's Birds On the Wing, tapes some shows as a panellist on ATN 7's Beauty and the Beast this Wednesday. The shows will be seen on June 26, 27 and 28. A new series of Softly SoftlyTask Force takes over from The Two Ronnies tomorrow (ABN 2 8 pm). The series again stars Stratford Johns as Detective Chief Superintendent Barlow.

In the first of the 14 50-minute episodes, Good Touches, the Task Force team set a trap to catch thieves who rob wealthy homes. Probe, a half-hour comedy send-up of news events, was made as a pilot program at ATN 7 on Tuesday. Reaction from studio executives who have seen it has been good, but no decision has been made yet on whether it TV baddy Brian Adams turns goody in this week's episode of Matlock Police (Brothers and Sisters, TEN 10, Thursday, 7.30 pm). He plays an American Army officer. How DOES Cheq-ucrboard get all those people to bare their soults on television? And where does it find them? On Tuesday, Cheque rboard wound up a two-week double header program in which four couples (one engaged, two married, and one divorced) talked about just that.

love, marriage, and divorce. And they talked with no punches pulled. Wife: "I looked at myself one day, and I said 'You're middle-aged, you're dull, and you have no conversation." Husband: "I would not marry again. But if I had a de facto relationship, I would work harder at it than I did with my marriage." Geoffrey Daniels, executive producer of the ABC's award-winning show: "We are now in our fifth series, and we have done 63 Chequerboards so far. "And our experience completely knocks the myth of the inarticulate Australian.

"There is no problem finding people to talk. The problem is finding exactly the ones we want. We don't want to put on people who will bore viewers silly. "We were very lucky with our couple of Tues-. day.

They were superb. mi woman iW'vMA Weak iff 1. If- If i And to mark the arrival of the big bird on Saturday, ATN 7's National Today Show is lining up a Concorde special. It will be a first for the Today show team the first time Seven's national breakfast program has been screened on a Satur- day. The special will start at 8 am, 90 minutes before the Concorde is due to land, and will run to about 10 am.

with an open end format. The two-hour program, hosted by Bruce Webster, will feature Today regulars Andrew Harwood, John Chance, and Alan Wilkie. It will be relayed by direct hook-up to South Australia, Victoria, Canberra and Queensland. When the show opens, a map will pinpoint the position of the Concorde on its way to Sydney via Broome and Alice Springs. Sitting alongside Bruce Webster in ATN 7's Ep-ping studios will be Captain Alan Terrell of Qantas, the only pilot in the company who has actually flown the Concorde.

One camera will be positioned on the roof of ATN 7's Epping building, and another three out at Mascot. With a bit of luck, the Today people hope to be able to pick up the Concorde as it zips over the studios on its way to a landing. A Seven newsman will be stationed at the airport for the landing, and the press conference to follow. The show is also planning a telephone, hook-up to spotters along the sonic path of the Concorde between Sydney and Alice Springs. Along with the live segments of the show, there will be a filmed interview with.

Qantas technical, development manager Bob Walker, a look at the history of Australian commercial aviation, and shots at the controls of a Concorde in Britain. Changes in the news staff of TEN 10. Tom Bar-nett has taken over from Peter Meakin as director of news. News editor and second-in-charge is now Warren McStoker. And while we're on the Today show tomorrow's Queen's Birthday edition will feature a 40- New survey figures show a record audience is watching Sydney's first hour-long news service, the Seven National News Hour, an ATN spokesman revealed yesterday.

The ratings put Seven's news hour ahead of every other news service on television. On the opening night both independent sur-son and McNair, gave the News Hour a record rating for television news. Only two weeks old, the Seven National News Hour is bringing exclusive satellite feeds from London and New York daily. These have included the funeral of the Duke of Windsor, the Rhodesian mine disaster and the first Test at Old Trafford. minute film showing highlights from the first Royal tour of Australia by the Queen in 1952.

The program, a half-hour colour drama with the working title of Simmons Point, is being pro- E2 tiium six mr But it takes a lot of time and a lot of research to find people like this. "One of the criteria we have for this program is that it must be compelling viewing. You can't just put on anyone. And to find the right person, you've got to spend an untold amount of time on research and simply slog it out. "We started to research the one on divorce, for instance, as far back as November, 1970.

And we went through something like 30 people to get that one couple. We were up to No 27 around last October. "It was the most difficult Chequerboard we have done. "It's easy in divorce to get one person to talk, particularly if it's the person who feels wronged. But we weren't prepared to do the program unless we could get the point of view of both partners.

"We went through all sorts of channels, such as approaching solicitors who specialise in divorce. "At one stage, we even placed an advertisement asking for any couples who would be interested in talking about divorce on television. We had a few replies, but not the right ones. This Tuesday (ABN 2, 8.55 pm): It's Not Very Hard To Take At All, a look at an island' cruise with a shipload of young people. will go into full production as a series.

Rod Kirk, who produced the pilot, described it as "not a revue, not a Mavis Bramston, more a satirical show based on the things that happen from day to day." Said he: "It will be an adult show in every meaning of the word. We expect it to really stir things up." Ten actors and actresses were used in Tuesday's pilot show. The voyage of the Brig-antine Yankee, a documentary special on a group of young Americans who sailed around the world, will be telecast by TEN 10 this Tuesday at 7.30 pm. The special, narrated by Orson Welles, follows their adventures from the time they leave their home port of Gloucester, Massachusetts, until their return 18 months later. During that time, they visited the.

South China Sea, Bangkok, Singapore, Djakarta, Bali, Zanzibar, and the Cape of Good Hope, returning across the Three child actors get a big break with a new ABC show currently in production. duced by the ABC's Young People's Department. It stars (above, from left) Carlos Merlo, Matthew Crosby, and Michelle Brooker. Adult leads are Kate Fitzpatrick and Don Barkham. The story, about three children who became involved with smugglers, is being shot around the wharves and slipways of Balmain harbour.

Most of the dialogue for the film is improvised. Says director Barry Sloane: "It gives enormous advantages when working with child actors, and leads to a more natural film." Federal Supervisor of Young People's Programs, Kay Kinnane, will take the film with her in September, when she goes as a delegate to the annual assemblies of the European Broadcasting Union in Brussels, and the Asian Broadcasting Union in Tehranr till xi of the Duke of Edinburgh Easy 106 THE SUN-IjIERALD, JUNE 192 106.