The View

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday February 18, 2008

Michael Idato

OUTDOOR DURIE DUTY

Jamie Durie's new show for Seven is titled The Outdoor Room, after Durie's 2004 book. The garden-makeover-travel series has begun shooting but no broadcast date has been set.

MAKE A KILLING

Blue Murder writer Ian David is writing a telemovie called Conversation Killer, which follows the true story of Arthur Upfield, who devised a method for committing the perfect murder as part of a plot in his novel The Sands Of Windee. The so-called "Windee method" was used in three murders by an itinerant stockman, Snowy Rowles, in Western Australia during the early 1930s. Upfield, best known as the creator of the Bony novels, was subsequently called to give evidence in court. David is collaborating with Sue Taylor. The pair previously worked on the miniseries The Shark Net, based on the true case of Perth serial killer Eric Cooke.

DRAMA CHIEF

Channel Ten has appointed Rick Maier as executive producer of drama and production, replacing former head Sue Masters, who stepped down last month after seven years in the job. Maier has been at Ten since last year as executive producer of development, a role he will retain, working with Ten's light entertainment and factual program producers. Maier has worked extensively in television, with stints at Beyond and Screentime.

PRIVATE OPERATOR

Kate Walsh (pictured), best known as Dr Addison Shephard from Grey's Anatomy, arrives in Sydney next week to promote the Grey's spin-off Private Practice. Created by Shonda Rhimes, the series shifts Addison from Seattle Grace Hospital to Los Angeles, where she joins a private medical practice. US network ABC has ordered 13 episodes, with a decision on further episodes delayed by the US writers' strike. Last week, however, ABC confirmed Private Practice would return for a second season this year. The show will air here on Seven, although no launch date has been announced.

WAKEY WAKEY

The ABC has bought the critically acclaimed "nocturnal children's series" In The Night Garden from the BBC. The series, aimed at babies and preschool children, is narrated by Derek Jacobi and features puppetry, actors in costumes and computer animation. It is produced by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport, who created Teletubbies. The series is set in a surreal woodland that represents the space between being awake and asleep.

HIDDEN TALENT

Seven will start airing a half-hour spin-off of its successful talent franchise It Takes Two from tomorrow. Titled It Takes Two: Getting Ready, the spin-off is described as "a backstage pass" featuring the singing celebrities getting ready to perform in that night's live broadcast. The episodes will be filmed on Tuesdays before a 5pm broadcast.

FAIR COP Comedian Russell Gilbert is filming a guest role in City Homicide. The second series of Seven's police drama began shooting last week.

SNAPPED UP

The cable channel Crime and Investigation has signed the US true-crime series Snapped for the "life of series", a deal that guarantees it first pick of new episodes. The series examines in documentary style the murder of women. The US channel Oxygen has aired seven seasons of the program since 2004.

WRITTEN GUARANTEE

With the US writers' strike over, Australia's commercial networks can look forward to between four and six episodes of their key American series, pushing the total to about 18 for most shows, but still falling short of the 24 episodes expected in a US TV season. The strike ended last week after a deal was hammered out giving writers a cut from internet distribution of their work, sending scripted TV shows lurching unexpectedly back into production. "You go back to your desk, open your computer, look at the last thing you planned, the last thing you wrote, and figure out how to go from there," said Shane Brennan, the Australian writer and executive producer of NCIS. The strike, which began on November 5, has cost the Los Angeles economy an estimated $US3.2 billion ($3.55 billion).

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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