25 August 1970: Seven screens the short film No Roses For Michael, depicting the tragic story of a young drug addict, played by Brendon Lunney. It was a rare glimpse on television into what was becoming a significant social issue. The 30-minute film was a winner at the Sydney Film Festival, and its theme song, written and performed by Greg Anderson, went on to hit the charts.
YouTube: Douglas P (dougiejohn)
25 August 1990: Network Ten screens The Wall – Berlin 1990 Concert, a two-hour music spectacular featuring some of the world’s best known rock stars performing with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in the shadow of the infamous Berlin Wall, now fallen.
25 August 1992: Nine‘s long-running drama The Flying Doctors returns for a new series but, as a sign that perhaps its best days are past, is relegated to the later 9.30pm timeslot.
25 August 2010: Pay-TV channel W premieres Spirited, a comedy-drama starring Claudia Karvan, Rodger Corser and Matt King.
Also On-This-Day in 1989, Voyager 2 zipped past the planet Neptune and the data feed on the Telecom microwave bearer to the Remote-Sensing Laboratory at Ballarat Uni (CAE at the time) was unavailable since BTV-6 had commandeered it for the VFL Football match between Essendon and Sydney.
26 August 1972: ABC and Seven both broadcast the Opening Ceremony of The Games Of The XX Olympiad, live from Munich.
26 August 1989: ABC premieres comedy show The Money Or The Gun, hosted by Andrew Denton.
26 August 1990: The Seven Network begins screening the children’s series Round The Twist, originally shown on ABC, starring Tamsin West, Sam Vanderberg, Richard Moir and Bunney Brooke.
26 August 1991: Four Corners (ABC) presents a special edition to commemorate its 30th anniversary, introduced by reporter Chris Masters.
26 August 2008: The Seven Network debuts comedy-drama series Packed To The Rafters, starring Erik Thomson, Rebecca Gibney, Hugh Sheridan, Jessica Marais, Angus McLaren and Michael Caton.
26 August 2010: Network Ten announces plans to launch a new digital channel, Eleven, presenting a youth-focused entertainment line-up, with prime-time to be headlined by Neighbours and US series The Simpsons
I thought it was the other way around - Seven (as the Australian Television Network) screened it first and then the ABC picked the series up from that point on, including repeats of the first season.
Great show - kids of my generation looked forward to rainy days at school as it meant someone had to run to the library to grab the Round The Twist tape before someone else did.
TV Week was my source that it ran on ABC earlier in the year, then rerun on Seven. And subsequent series on ABC. Maybe TV Week was mistaken about the first series?
I remember seeing the series on both Seven and the ABC but now I’m not sure which was first. I remember reading somewhere at the time it was the agreement made when they co-funded it.
IMDb has the first episode of season 1 as screening on 4 April 1989. So maybe ABC in 1989 and then Seven in 1990.
27 August 1985: The first of the three fleet of Aussat satellites are deployed via NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery, launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
27 August 1997: ABC premieres Close Ups, a six-part series of monologues with each episode featuring on a different character. The first episode features Ben Mendelsohn as Biz, a security guard who reveals his experiences at the hand of the Family Court and the hidden world of domestic violence.
27 August 2001: SBS premieres comedy series Life Support, presenting a satirical, sometimes dark look at Australian life through the guise of a mock lifestyle show.
27 August 2007: Seven debuts its new crime procedural drama City Homicide, starring Shane Bourne, Noni Hazlehurst, Daniel MacPherson, Aaron Pederson, Nadine Garner and Damien Richardson. On the same night, Nine screens the free-to-air debut of telemovie The King, a dramatisation of the life of entertainer Graham Kennedy, starring Stephen Curry as Kennedy. The King was broadcast earlier in the year on Foxtel.
From the uploaded videos of “Round The Twist” from S1 on YouTube the says “The Australaian Children’s Television Foundation for the Australian Television Network presents”
S2 omits the broadcaster name, and S3/4 has something completely different.
