It’s no secret; Australians love their musical icons’ lives immortalised on-screen in a television series.
Evidence is as close as the very recent airing of Never Tear Us Apart: The INXS Story, the two-part mini series that detailed the story of one of Australia’s greatest rock success stories.
The two-part series smashed television ratings, with the Brisbane Times detailing the total tune-in figure reaching 2.8 million viewers. Naturally, the television networks of Australia begun rubbing hands and heads together in attempted anticipation for “the next best thing” to broadcast to the nation.
As The Australian reports, it appears The Seven Network have another cracker drama series in the pipeline: the life of Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum and the linchpin of Australian music television, ABC’s Countdown.
Mushroom Pictures, the crew behind the notorious Aussie classic Chopper, are set to create the series – touted to hit screens in 2015. The production company state the bio-series will tell the story of “the music, the bands, the parties, the celebrities, the politics, the girlfriends and boyfriends, the hat and, most of all, the story of Molly himself.”
It arrives with no surprise that Mushroom are the driving force of Molly, with founder Michael Gudinksi having shared the same vision as Meldrum in glorifying Australian Music. In as recent of November 2013, Meldrum was joined with Gudinksi, stating emphatically that Australian music needs to be recognised, pronouncing “there should be a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Australia and it has to be in Melbourne”. …The story of “the music, the bands, the parties, the celebrities, the politics, the girlfriends and boyfriends, the hat and, most of all, the story of Molly himself.”
Molly Meldrum is no doubt one of Australia’s greatest music and television icons. His work on Countdown since 1974 was instrumental for the breakthrough of many international artists into Australia’s mainstream, including: Michael Jackson, Madonna, Blondie and ABBA.
However, it is Meldrum’s fondness for homegrown talent that earned him his true-blue badge of Australian adoration and honour. Meldrum via Countdown proudly championed Aussie outfits from the outset, the Skyhooks and Sherbet as nodding examples.
The proposed ‘Molly’ series will source its material predominately from the co-written yet still unreleased autobiography, Some Of My Best Friends Aren’t: The Molly Meldrum Story with writer Jeff Jenkins. It’s stated that Meldrum has never allowed the release of his life chronicle despite it’s completion in the year 2000.
The Seven Network have an unmatched early lead on the potential ratings gold-mine, with Meldrum still contracted to the network.
With The Seven Network throwing their paws on the project rather prematurely, the question of irony and “is this really right?” is certainly raised. Meldrum and Countdown were both popularised by the ABC network, which proudly still stands boldest in Australian television in its representation of music through Spicks and Specks and rage.
It is disappointing the station will undoubtedly miss out on what is certainly a unique opportunity to revisit one of Australia’s founding marriages of music and television, to which the television network may rightfully claim praise.
There may not be an official confirmation of the television programme, however you can bet that we, alongside the rest of Australia, cannot wait to relive the life and times of the man best known for the tip of an akubra hat and the closing statement “do yourself a favour”.
