From Aunty Jack to Kath & Kim and Bluey: 50 years of colour TV in Australia

March 1, 1975, marks the day colour television was first broadcast in Australia. The television sets might have been small and boxy, but the impact was huge, as it finally brought us up to speed with the US and the UK, which had been broadcasting in colour since 1954 and 1969 respectively. To celebrate the occasion, we thought we’d look back at 50 years of colour TV.

1975-84 by Michael Idato

1975: Though colour TV officially began on March 1, 1975, there were test transmissions. The day before, the ABC screened a special edition of the comedy series The Aunty Jack Show in which the screen slowly bleeds from black-and-white into colour.

1976: The Young Doctors. The Sullivans. Alvin Purple. Bluey. How did they all premiere in the same year? The first three became genuine classics. And the fourth? A second-rate cop drama that might have been consigned to history’s dustbin had Working Dog not exhumed this misunderstood masterpiece as Bargearse.

Graham Kennedy hosts Blankety Blanks in 1977.Credit:

1977: Cue disco music, and a panel of double-entendre wielding celebrities trying to guess what was on the not-so-smutty minds of bewildered contestants. Blankety Blanks is the uncrowned king of Australian game shows, and the Graham Kennedy edition (yes, there were others) is first among equals.

1978: Robin Williams guest stars in Happy Days – set in the ’50s – before spinning off to his own comedy, Mork and Mindy, set in the ’70s. WKRP in Cincinnati, Diff’rent Strokes and Taxi also debuted. Honourable mention: the premiere of the super soap Dallas.

Prisoner launched in 1979 with Val Lehman and Sheila Florance.Credit:

1979: All that colour … so TV dialled up the drab with a ground-breaking drama set behind the bars of a women’s penitentiary. Prisoner launched top-dog Bea, nasty screw Vera “Vinegar Tits” Bennett and beehive-weave prison governor Erica into the conversational stratosphere.

1980: Sceptic James Randi came on The Don Lane Show to challenge the claims of psychic Doris Stokes but ended up in an argument. Lane took exception and told Randi: “We’re going for a commercial break, and you can piss off.”

The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer captivated TV audiences in 1981.Credit: Getty

1981: As Lady Diana Spencer stepped out of her wedding carriage and into St Paul’s Cathedral in London, the world was watching every detail in vivid technicolour. Every channel was airing it so there was nowhere to hide from what we now know was the prequel to The Crown.

1982: Few movies on TV were as keenly awaited as the “network television premiere” of Star Wars on October 4, 1982.When you consider the audience had waited five years for it to come to TV, you can appreciate the excitement.

Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in the 1977 film Star Wars.Credit: Lucasfilm

1983: From Munich, West Germany, Europe called Australia and for the first time asked them for their points, please. Well, not quite, but this was the first time Eurovision was televised on SBS in all its glory. Twenty countries competed, Luxembourg won, and the stage was set for Australia to make its debut as a competitor some three (and a bit) decades later.

1984: The Los Angeles Olympics were not the first time Australia had televised the Games. But it was the first time Australian coverage of the Olympics turned into something greater than the sum of its parts. Australia pulled in a record haul of 240 medals, our biggest tally since Melbourne in 1956.

1985-94 by Debi Enker

1985: A live 90-minute variety show weekdays at noon would be unthinkable today. But in the heady ’80s, journalist Ray Martin debuted as host of Midday.

Daphne (Elaine Smith), Scott (Jason Donovan), Charlene (Kylie Minogue) and Des (Paul Keane) in Neighbours.Credit:

1986: In one of TV’s most notorious own-goals, Seven axed Neighbours in 1985, after only six months. Ten grabbed it and created a mega-hit, the 1987 wedding of Scott Robinson (Jason Donovan) and Charlene Mitchell (Kylie Minogue) attracting 2 million viewers in Australia.

1987: The logo lights up for the last time as Countdown, the ABC’s beloved 13-year-old music show, airs its final episode. John Farnham sings You’re the Voice and Molly Meldrum removes his cowboy hat to reveal a bald head.

1988: Ten launches The Comedy Company, making national icons of Con the Fruiterer (Mark Mitchell), Kylie Mole (Mary-Anne Fahey), Col’n Carpenter (Kim Gyngell) and Uncle Arthur (Glenn Robbins).

1989: In a boom time for ABC production, when chairman and managing director David Hill aimed for 100 hours a year of local drama, Aunty launched G.P. and Police Rescue.

1990: Steve Vizard launches Tonight Live with Steve Vizard, which is shown nationally five nights a week on Seven. Later in the year, its newsreader, Jennifer Keyte, becomes Australia’s first solo female anchor on a commercial network, presenting Melbourne’s Seven News.

1991: An early version of Seven’s Sunrise premieres,signalling the start of a breakfast-show tussle for supremacy with Nine’s Today that would endure for decades.

1992: A sensational portrait of the aspirational middle-class, Sylvania Waters captivated the country as it exposed the antics of the Baker-Donaher clan on an ABC-BBC documentary series.

1993: Debuting with disappointing ratings, Seinfeld was dropped by Nine, picked up by Ten and became a precursor to a golden period for US sitcoms that soon included Friends, Frasier, Home Improvement and Everybody Loves Raymond. The Brits also tapped comedy gold with Absolutely Fabulous.

Jane Kennedy, Steve Bisley, Tiriel Mora and Rob Sitch in the ABC show Frontline.Credit:

1994: Members of the ABC’s memorable sketch comedy The Late Show returned with Frontline, a stinging satire of a TV current-affairs show. It skewered the dubious practices of a type of TV that dominated prime-time, producing a comedy series rightfully regarded as one of the best shows ever produced in Australia.

1995-2004 by Michael Idato

1995: The miniseries Blue Murder, from writer Michael Jenkins, covered the relationship between former detective Roger Rogerson (Richard Roxburgh) and criminal identity Neddy Smith (Tony Martin). With Smith facing a slew of murder charges in NSW, the miniseries aired everywhere except NSW and the ACT because of legal concerns.

Gary Sweet, Peter Phelps, Richard Roxburgh and Tony Martin in Blue Murder. Credit:

1996: Only in Australia could one network end up with one season of Friends – the first, on Seven – and then another network (Nine) end up with the rest. Nine couldn’t launch the show until Seven aired the first season and Sevensat on the show. In 1996, both seasons finally aired.

1997: The world was transfixed as Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest. The funeral telecast broke audience records around the world, with more than 200 countries airing it live, to a global audience of about 2.5 billion.

Diver Dan (David Wenham) and Laura (Sigrid Thornton) in SeaChange.Credit:

1998:Melbourne lawyer Laura Gibson (Sigrid Thornton) yearned to simplify her life and, in the ABC drama SeaChange, added “seachange” to the national conversation. She headed for Pearl Bay, where Diver Dan (David Wenham) and Max Connors (William McInnes) awaited her.

1999: Live TV juggernaut Hey Hey It’s Saturday, which had turned host (and producer) Daryl Somers into a household name, Jacki MacDonald into a beloved TV icon and Ossie Ostrich into the equal of Kermit, finally retires.

Daryl Somers in 1987 with Hey Hey co-host Jacki MacDonald and Ossie Ostrich (Ernie Carroll).Credit: Nine Network

2000: Before Australian Idol, before The X-Factor, before Australia’s Got Talent ... there was Popstars. This was Australian TV’s first real foray into the modern reality talent show, which begat Bardot, and Bardot begat a No.1 debut single and hit album.

2001: Two words: Big Brother. After decades of us staring into TV’s abyss, reality TV stared back and gave us the most successful – and cringeworthy – reality TV show of all time.

Gina Riley (Kim), Magda Szubanski (Sharon), Peter Rowsthorn (Brett), Glenn Robbins (Kel) and Jane Turner (Kath).Credit:

2002: First came The D-Generation, then Fast Forward and then the comedic rhyming couplet of Big Girl’s Blouse and Something Stupid. At the end of all that? Kath & Kim, Australia’s finest comedic achievement, about a foxymoron mum, Kath (Jane Turner), her hornbag daughter Kim (Gina Riley) and Kim’s second-best-friend, Sharon (Magda Szubanski).

2003: Not every talent show churned out stars, but Australian Idol set a high benchmark, delivering Rob Mills, Paulini, Shannon Noll and Guy Sebastian in season one alone. (Not to mention Casey Donovan and Anthony Callea in season two, and Jessica Mauboy in season four.)

Guy Sebastian during the finals of the first Australian Idol show at the Sydney Opera House in 2003.Credit: Edwina Pickles

2004: In one of the great chicken-and-egg conundrums, you might ask yourself what came first, the Australian version of Border Security (which premiered this year) or the anxiety that fuels it?

2005-15 by Louise Rugendyke

2005: Audiences were given their first taste of Chris Lilley when the comedian’s mockumentary We Can Be Heroes debuted on Foxtel. The show won the Logie for outstanding comedy, but Lilley’s humour fell out of favour after he was accused of racism over his 2014 show Jonah from Tonga.

Chris Lilley’s We Can Be Heroes, in which the comedian played all six main characters. Credit:

2006: The rescue of Brant Webb and Todd Russell after 14 days trapped in the Beaconsfield gold mine was broadcast live on TV, with media crammed into the small town in northern Tasmania.

2007: In September, The Chaser’s Julian Morrow and Chas Licciardello were arrested in Sydney during the APEC summit after a stunt for their ABC show The Chaser’s War on Everything backfired. The pair had entered a restricted area in a fake motorcade, with Licciardello dressed as Osama bin Laden.

Kat Stewart and Gyton Grantley as Roberta and Carl Williams in the original Underbelly in 2008.Credit:

2008: Melbourne’s gangland wars burst onto the small screen with Underbelly. The true-crime series made household names of Carl Williams (Gyton Grantley), Roberta Williams (Kat Stewart) and Alphonse Gangitano (Vince Colosimo).

2009: “Croquembouche” entered the national vocabulary after cooking competition MasterChef Australia took the nation by storm and made winner Julie Goodwin and runner-up Poh Ling Yeow national treasures.

The original MasterChef Australia winner and runner-up Julie Goodwin and Poh Ling Yeow.Credit: Ten

2010: Nina Proudman (Asher Keddie) and her wonderfully chaotic family were introduced in the dramedy Offspring on Ten. The show ran for seven seasons and fans still keenly remember the moment when Nina’s beau Patrick (Matt Le Nevez) died.

2011: UK comedian Ben Elton was beloved – The Young Ones! Blackadder! – then he moved here and had a crack at the local TV market with the variety show Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth. Hostile reviews followed, ratings dived and Nine cancelled it after three episodes.

Reality show Being Lara Bingle followed the model around her life in Sydney. Credit:

2012: Being Lara Bingle, anyone?

2013: Of all the bizarre imported reality TV concepts, few were as dumb as Celebrity Splash. The diving competition lasted one season, the winner was cricketer Andrew Symonds, while US Olympian Greg Louganis, who was imported as a judge, spent most of the five episodes looking confused.

2014: The deadly terror attack on the Lindt Cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place became a tragic live TV event, as broadcasters covered the 16-hour siege.

Hostages are assisted from the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in Martin Place in December 2014.Credit: Andrew Meares

2015-24 by Craig Mathieson

2015: Sarah Ferguson’s three-part documentary The Killing Season, about the internal warfare that came to define Labor’s federal government between 2007 and 2013, was a meticulous, detailed examination of political realities and personal need.

Tom Gleeson hosts the popular show Hard Quiz on the ABC.Credit:

2016: Debuting in 2016, Hard Quiz’s hard quips made comic Tom Gleeson into the most unlikely Gold Logie winner.

2017: Making a political point during question time, then federal treasurer Scott Morrison brought a lump of coal into parliament. “This is coal,” he declared, “don’t be afraid.”

2018: In the sixth season of The Bachelor Australia, former rugby union international Nick Cummins, a.k.a. the Honey Badger, had 28 female contestants pursuing him. It came down to two women, and Cummins choose neither.

Miranda Tapsell and Nakkiah Lui in the final episode of Get Krack!n.Credit:

2019: Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan’s morning show satire Get Krack!n was never less than scathing, but they topped it off perfectly by stepping back for the finale. Aboriginal actors Miranda Tapsell and co-writer Nakkiah Lui stepped in as the fictional show’s hosts, fighting the crew, each other’s convictions, and Australia’s white history in a breathtaking critique.

2020: The COVID-19 pandemic turned Australia into a nation of obsessive television watchers. Press conferences went live, immunologists became public figures, and Victorians divined case numbers from the North Face jacket usage of Premier Dan Andrews.

Scott Ryan as hitman Ray Shoesmith in Mr Inbetween.Credit:

2021: Over three seasons writer and star Scott Ryan’s deeply Australian black comedy Mr Inbetween, about a Sydney hitman trying to be a responsible father, engages with violence, repressed trauma and dim sims.

2022: Joe Brumm’s Bluey is a national treasure. Everyone has their favourite episode, and mine is Onesies. When Bluey and Bingo’s aunt Brandy (Rose Byrne) visits for the first time in years, delight ensures, but Brandy’s mixed emotions cross childhood pleasure with adult regret.

Dad Bandit, Mum Chilli, Bluey and Bingo in Bluey. Credit: Ludo Studio

2023: The progress of Australia’s women’s national soccer team, the Matildas, through the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup becomes a national obsession, culminating in the most watched broadcast in Australian history: more than 7 million viewers for the semi-final defeat to England.

2024: Netflix’s adaptation of Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale – a very 1980s Brisbane take on magic realism and familial longing – proves to be everything fans hoped for.

What is your favourite moment of 50 years of colour TV in Australia? The good, the great, the ugly – tell us all in the comments below.

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