Pushing The Boundaries: The Mavis Bramston Show

Television down under was less than a decade old, and a show which dealt with biting political and topical satire was a bold move for a commercial network which had more to lose than, say, the politically fence-sitting ABC. The risk was taken in 1964 when Jim Oswin, one of television's braver and greater General Managers, backed an idea presented to him by Carol Raye, which was to produce a show comparable to the legendary UK program That Was The Week That Was. The result was The Mavis Bramston Show, a ground-breaking show on ATN Channel 7 which held record-breaking ratings for two straight years... no seasons in those days - they did forty shows, an hour weekly, every year. Carol Raye created the show and was at the helm as the Executive Producer. With a team of splendid writers, and a legion of legal advisors to ward off the libel suits, the cast of three - Gordon Chater, Carol Raye and Barry Creyton performed that weekly hour almost exclusively. June Salter became a regular guest, and Noeline Brown was the original face - and voice - of the show's fictitious "Mavis Bramston". In 1965, Maggie Dence became Mavis Bramston #2 and others joined the cast, but they seldom numbered more than five or six. The original music for the show was written by Maestro Tommy Tycho who was the Musical Director of the ATN Network.

Mavis was a sensation from the very first episode which aired on November 11th, 1964. Controversies abounded especially in the first two years of the show when it was at its satirical best. The bastions of virtue such as the Catholic Church, the RSL, Royalty and politicians were targets of Mavis' satirical sketches as every week, the show held up a mirror to Australians who, for the first time, saw who they were and what Australia stood for.

Mavis was the mother of all Australian television comedy, and the standard by which it is judged, even today.