It is easy to forget, when you switch on the box at night, how much it has influenced Australia.

It was television that allowed us to share Cathy Freeman’s jubilant victory at the Sydney Olympics.

It left us weeping over the death of Grace in The Sullivans, but clutching our sides with laughter thanks to Norman Gunston, Paul Hogan and Kath & Kim.

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Next year Australian television celebrates its 60th birthday. Over those decades we have seen many magnificent changes to the medium, most notably the introduction of color and digital transmission.

Through all the axings and the ratings wars there has been a talented troupe of people who have made Australian television such a compelling force.

This week we honor some of the folk who have left a lasting mark on the small screen.

You have to begin with Bert Newton, a true pioneer of the industry, clearly a legend of the small screen.

Legends, too, are the gifted and often courageous TV journalists such as Ray Martin, Mike Willesee, Kerry O’Brien and Jana Wendt, who not only brought us memorable stories from around the globe but helped to shape our political and social landscapes.

Comics such as Steve Vizard, Andrew Denton and Magda Szubanski made us laugh, often at ourselves.

If you loved sport, chances are Bruce McAvaney was the one telling you whether you were a winner or a loser, along with more than a few statistics you may not have needed!

And then, of course, there are our many actors and actresses who brought life to iconic series such as Number 96, Prisoner, The Sullivans, Neighbours, Home and Away, Sea Change and Blue Heelers.

Steve Vizard believes the power of television lies in its ability to bring together people from all walks of life.

“The magic of live TV is its ability to connect people in different cities around the country through a shared moment, whether it be a shared laugh, a shared gasp or a shared tear,” he says.

Daryl Somers, who led Ossie and the gang on Hey Hey It’s Saturday for 27 years, is an outspoken advocate for the need to honor and preserve our television history. He says watching old episodes of shows is like peering inside a time capsule.

“They offer insights into what people were talking about at the time, the sorts of attitudes and opinions people had,” he says.

“In 100 years time students might want to study these shows to learn more about the time and many of them will be gone.”

One of the recurring comments from our television legends has been about the importance of live television and original drama, not just for the jobs they provide but for the moments they create.

It is no coincidence that the TV moments that seem to resonate most strongly with people are those which are unscripted and unexpected.

Australian TV can claim credit for giving superstars such as Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue and Chris Hemsworth their first breaks in performing.

Before the world knew Hemsworth as Thor, Australians got to know him in the Summer Bay Diner.

Oscar-winner Crowe, much as it irks him to admit it, got his start in Ramsay St as Kenny Larkin, a lad with a mullet.

Once considered the poor cousin to cinema, television is now more powerful in many ways than the big screen.

IT was no mean feat to bring our acting heavyweights together in the one place.

They came from all across the country, from film sets, farm properties and from theatres. Some did not make it. Daniel MacPherson was delayed at a New Zealand airport by bad weather. Craig McLachlan was treading the boards with The Rocky Horror Show in Sydney. And John Waters had to jet back to New York expectantly.

But when 10 of the small screen’s leading men came together to be photographed it was certainly a sight to behold.

For decades, Michael Caton, Vince Colosimo, John Howard, Lachy Hulme, Aaron Jeffery, Andrew McFarlane, Peter Phelps, Ian Smith, Erik Thomson and John Wood have shared the small screen.

They have played some of television’s iconic roles and occasionally been up against each other for the same awards. They have played mates and they have played enemies. They have competed for the same women on screen and been our screen law-makers and law-breakers.

Most of all they have made an impact on viewers, their names now synonymous with their small screen creations, instantly recognisable when they walk down the street.

But not all the time. John Wood, Gold Logie winner and star of Rafferty’s Rules and Blue Heelers, laughs that not everyone instantly associates him with his TV work. Sometimes they mistake him for one of his equally famous peers.

He recalls a recent visit to the city when a fan spotted him and enthusiastically let fly with cries of: “Look, it’s Harold (Ian Smith) from Neighbours!”

Smith jokes that he has been mistaken for “the guy from Blue Heelers” on occasion too.

“Usually they know I’m John but they struggle with the surname,” Wood jokes.

“They’ll say, ‘You’re John Howard or John Waters.’’

Waters and Wood, Caton and Colosimo, Hulme and Howard, MacPherson, McLachlan and McFarlane, Phelps, Jeffery, Smith and Thomson - ALL have earned the right to be recognised as Legends of the Small Screen.

THE actresses’ photoshoot had all the hallmarks of a school reunion.

Old rivalries were set aside, long-distance friendships were revisited and laughter filled the room when the creme de la creme of Australia’s female small-screen talent came together for a special photo shoot celebrating their achievements in television.

Between them, Kerry Armstrong, Lorraine Bayly, Noni Hazelhurst, Rebecca Gibney, Claudia Karvan, Deborah Mailman, Lisa McCune, Georgie Parker, Kate Ritchie, Kat Stewart and Sigrid Thornton have won 42 Logies (nine of them gold), six AACTAs, 19 AFIs and two Order of Australia medals.

Yet on the rare occasion they found themselves all in the same room at the same time, talk wasn’t about who had won what, or who had secured a role ahead of someone else - it was instead the sort of light-hearted banter you would find between old school chums.

In one corner of the room, Gibney and Parker snapped selfies together while Armstrong and McCune compared photos of their children.

Behind the scenes at our group photoshoot

Sigrid Thornton and Lorraine Bayly traded stories about their recent night at the Logies together.

Mailman and Karvan giggled together while getting their make-up done.

Being the best in the business, most of the women had worked together at some point. On screen they had shared love interests and played each other’s family while off screen they forged friendships and a mutual respect for each other’s work.

Armstrong and Gibney even shared a house after meeting on the mini-series Come in Spinner.

The two actresses always watch each other’s work and then ring each other to offer their support for what the other has done.

Over the years many stories have been written about the so-called cattiness of their profession. Vanity Fair famously captured the behind-the-scenes shenanigans of a photo shoot with the then-stars of Desperate Housewives, of the jostling over who would stand where, in what order they would select their wardrobe and who would get to wear the prized red swimsuit for the picture.

There were so such diva antics for Australia’s leading ladies of TV.

Just mates enjoying each other’s company.

These are our Living Legends - 44 people (and one ostrich) who have made TV the one to watch.

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Photography: David Caird

Interactive: Shane Luskie

Video: Craig Hughes

Content producer:Michelle Rose

WITH THANKS TO:

WOMEN’S PHOTOSHOOT

Actresses wear Country Road, Basque from Myer Chadstone, Farage, LXE and Trenery Hair and makeup by Lilly Miljkovic, Liz Jones, Brad Mullins, Joel Babicci, Sandra Wograndl, Samantha Powell and Allison Boyle

Production and styling: Anna Byrne

MEN’S PHOTOSHOOT

Hair and makeup: Dean Nixon

Production and styling: Anna Byrne

SINGLE PHOTOSHOOTS

Bert Newton: antique 1950s televisions supplied by Mark Lawson.

David Koch and Karl Stefanovic: Farmhouse style kitchen by ianthomson.com.au

Dannii Minogue: Lee’s Asian Grocery Prahran Markets

Daryl Somers: Cougars Tattooing Hawthorn.

Ian Smith: Pentridge Prison D division.

Lisa McCune: Melbourne East Police Constables Rebecca Gauci and Adrian Farano. Hair and make-up by Dean Nixon

Sigrid Thornton: Melbourne Aquarium

Steve Vizard: 747 Jumbo Jet courtesy Avalon Airport; hair and make-up Dean Nixon

Kerry O’Brien: Georges Heights gun placements Sydney Harbour

Magda Szubanski: The Wig Room ABC Studios Elsternwick; hair and make-up Kate Radford