Explore TV Series

The Adventures of Long John Silver is a family adventure series about the Long John Silver character from Treasure Island. Produced in 1954 in colour in Australia for the American and British markets before the development of Australian television. Long John Silver is the proud captain of his own ship and his own crew. He and his buccaneer cruise around the Caribbean and often stay on the side of the English and fight the French and Spanish. After long and dangerous adventures, he and his crew rest in the tavern of Miss Purity. The series first aired in the United States on syndicated basis in 1956, but irregularly as part of another show. Several episodes were edited together and shown theatrically under the titles: 'Under the Black Flag' and 'South Sea Pirates'. Afterwards, it was sold to the ITV in the UK, and aired in 1957. In 1958, the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) screened the series as part of Children's TV Club.

Romper Room was a long running children's television series that ran in the United States from 1953 to 1994 as well as internationally at various times in Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Puerto Rico and Japan. The program is targeted at preschoolers, children five years of age or younger.

Emergency is an Australian television series produced by GTV-9 in 1959. The series was set in the busy casualty department of a major Melbourne hospital, and is notable for being one of the first-ever dramas shown on Australian television. Made by Melbourne's GTV-9 in co-operation with the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and based on Britain's "Emergency Ward 10", "Emergency" starred Brian James as Dr. Geoffrey Thompson, Syd Conabere as orderly George Rogers, and Judith Godden as Nurse Jill Adamson. Moira Carleton also featured as Matron Evans. The series was produced primarily in the GTV-9 studio, with brief exterior sequences shot on 35mm film by newsreel cameramen. The episodes were not broadcast live, but were "kinescoped" to meet programming requirements, and facilitate later screening in Sydney. The series' premise was simple: a basic dramatic exploration of cases passing through the Casualty ward. Scripts were written by GTV staffers Roland Strong and Denzil Howson under pseudonyms. Sponsorship came from British Petroleum, and a contract was signed for 52 half-hour episodes. The series debuted on GTV-9 on 16 February 1959, and on Sydney's ATN-7 a week later. Critics initially appeared fairly neutral, however a highly negative article on the series in a Sydney newspaper caused BP to withdraw sponsorship 16 weeks into the series run. Faced with having to carry the production expenses alone, GTV-9 discontinued production, with the final episode airing in Melbourne on 1 June 1959.

Bandstand was an Australian musical/variety television show which screened from November 1958 to 1972. It was produced at the studios of TCN-9 in Sydney and eventually became a national program as Nine Network expanded into other Australian cities in the early 1960s. Bandstand was created by Nine executive Bruce Gyngell in consultation with Mayfield B. Anthony, who based it on the American show of a similar name, American Bandstand. The host for virtually the entire run of the series was Brian Henderson, who was also the chief newsreader for TCN-9 in Sydney. The series is closely associated with the group of performers who regularly appeared on the show, and became known as The Bandstand Family. This included Col Joye, Little Pattie, Warren Williams, Lucky Starr, Sandy Scott, Bryan Davies, Johnny Devlin, Laurel Lea, Judy Stone, Digby Richards, The Bee Gees, The Allen Brothers, Cathy Wayne and Olivia Newton-John.

An Australian television game show.

Adelaide Tonight was a nightly variety show, running four days a week at 9.30 pm on Nine Network, NWS-9 Adelaide. The show was broadcast live from Studio 1 between 1959 and 1973.

On Camera is an Australian television series which aired 1959–1960 on Sydney station ATN-7. A variety series with music and comedy, regulars included Colin Croft and John Ewart. It was shown twice-monthly. Confusingly, the Canadian series On Camera had previously been shown on Australian television.