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A front row seat to the world

Producer Stephen Taylor has worked on 60 Minutes for 23 of its 30 years. He talks to TV Tonight about the people, the stories and the brand that has become a household name.

60m1Stephen Taylor reckons he loves his day at the office. Just as well. He’s been there for 23 years.

But then, Taylor’s office isn’t always the four walls of the 60 Minutes bunker. Sometimes it’s a war zone, volcano or Hollywood sound stage. As a Producer on the long-running show, Taylor has just about seen it all.

“It is so varied. You can be doing the biggest range of stories imaginable,” he said. “We get to go to extraordinary places, we meet interesting people, we jump the queue in terms of getting to the front. We have a front row seat at momentous events. It’s a privilege to be a part of it.

“On top of that people trust us to tell their stories and that’s a great thing. It’s watched by a lot of people. And if I have a little bit of ego, it’s nice to know that your work is being seen by people. Of course if they don’t like it they’re happy to ring you up or send you emails to tell you where you went wrong. And in some ways I appreciate that too.”

When the show first started in 1979 it made household names of Ray Martin, George Negus and Ian Leslie. 30 years later it has seen 3,500 individual stories and 1200 episodes.

In television journalism a gig on 60 is about as big as it gets. Looking back over a cavalcade of filed stories, it is nigh on impossible to pinpoint its defining moments.

“George having a go at Margaret Thatcher,” nominates Taylor. “Ian Leslie having a gun pointed at his head in the Philippines jungle or Ray Martin talking to Lindy Chamberlain. Over 30 years there have been 16 reporters who have been fulltime reporters. You can pick moments for all of them.”

Taylor also nods to Liz Hayes going to Honduras and bringing ‘Dolly’ Dunn, the notorious paedophile to the attention of the authorities.

“It was a great investigation,” he says. “And Charles Woolley is always terrific when he is interviewing Hollywood stars. He has a great manner which they like, kind of quirky, a little eccentric. Or Charles indulging his passion for fishing.

“Richard Carleton had a pretty impressive career at the ABC. No-one will ever forget Richard and Bob Hawke having a go at each other. But then Richard came here and it continued. There are a gazillion moments of Richard doing impressive things at 60 Minutes. He was here for 18 years. He was tough and difficult to work with, but he was great for the programme. He was an exceptional journalist but he also knew when to inject himself into the story and when to pull back a bit.”

And who will ever forget the words “Please explain”, when Pauline Hanson was asked for a comment on xenophobia?

The show has also been memorable for its studio forums on divisive topics.

“Ian Leslie went to America to report on a Work for the Dole scheme around 1986, and there was such a huge mail response from both sides that we had a ‘town debate.’ It was a battle -the ‘for’ and ‘anti’ locked horns and it was great. I think doing forums like that is an indication that we take our audience seriously.”

This year the regular crew includes Liz Hayes, Tara Brown (returning from maternity leave around April), Liam Bartlett, and Charles Woolley returning after a radio gig. There will also be occasional reports by Ellen Fanning, Michael Usher and Peter Overton.

In the realm of breaking news and current affairs, Taylor never quite knows where a week may lead him. That means he has developed quite a formidable list of contacts, including key journalistic leads in obscure countries who can help them cut through language barriers and red tape.

“In most countries where there’s different languages we get ‘Fixers’ or interpreters. We’re not going to be able to make a story if we can’t communicate with the people. After 30 years you have a fairly big list of people in countries who we can call on. People in trouble spots in Afghanistan, Pakistan –people who give you a head start. Those people might have the government contacts that we wouldn’t ordinarily have. Or the transport contacts, or someone who knows someone…”

Last year 60 Minutes copped flak for stories on Nine celebrities including Gordon Ramsay and Lisa McCune. Taylor acknowledges some may have viewed these as cross-promotions.

“I think that might have been a by-product of it,” he defends, “but the argument here was that Lisa McCune was a story in her own right and worth doing. The fact that she was also doing Sea Patrol at the same time  made access to her a bit easier. Similarly Gordon Ramsay is everywhere. He is a legitimate story. But 2 examples of 120 stories last year is not a great deal. When we do other celebrity stories quite often they are promoting a film so it can’t be one rule for every Hollywood actor or music star and a different rule for everyone who’s ever had a programme on Channel Nine.”

60 Minutes is also under attack from Seven’s Sunday Night and even SBS has moved Dateline to Sundays. But Taylor welcomes the resurgence in current affairs.

Across its 30 year existence, very few shows have dented the Nine juggernaut: The Comedy Company, early years of Big Brother and, surprisingly, the sitcom Alf.

“The downside of having a show with the longevity of ours is that people are prepared to go away and experiment, knowing 60 Minutes will always be there. So in some ways, I suppose, we’re a victim of our own success. But we can only keep on finding what we think are good stories and continue to try and tell them well.”

Strategically, Taylor points out that many of the key figures on Seven’s new show all had their stints at Nine: Peter Meakin, Mark Llewellyn, Mike Munro and Ross Coulthart.

In its 30 years, he estimates some 2 million letters and emails have been received from viewers. The dialogue, he insists, is a crucial key to the show’s success.

“It’s really important as a viewer that you have a reaction to the story,” he said. “It doesn’t always have to be a good story, but it can be a range of emotions. It’s important that having seen a story you don’t just flop back in the couch and think ‘I’ve just used up fifteen minutes of my life.’ That you might take something away from it is something that we kind of strive for.”

“Not that we’re educators, because we’re entertainers as well, but it’s good that people respond to it.”

60 Minutes 30th Anniversary special airs 7:30pm Sunday on Nine.

4 Responses

  1. BOQ you beat me to it… that was the one single 60 Minutes quote that I’ve always remembered… Tough titties. No idea what the question was to get that response but the answer has always stuck in my mind.

  2. Generally 60 Minutes was pretty good last year – they had some great good quality stories, however they had the odd steamer – the freak and incest stories where deplorable. I hope that they’ll be able to lift the bar this year, especially with competition from Sunday Night.

    Glad Charles Woolley is coming back!

  3. My favourite ever 60 Minutes moment was Sheila Bagwahn (of the Orange People) and her infamous “tough titties” response.

    Also, we must not forget Jana Wendt became a household name and role model for many. Correct me if I am wrong, but was she not nicknmaed “the perfumed steamroller” 🙂

  4. Great article David. Can’t wait to see which stories they have chosen for anniversary special. With Sunday Night and Dateline to contend with, I really hope they can live up to their reputation and not be complacent this year.

    One criticism though, I wish they would cut the program back down to one hour rather than the 70 minutes it has been running for over the last couple years. After the final story concludes, there is an ad break, then Peter Harvey’s mailbag, another ad break, then back to Peter Overton to close the program and the credits roll. Lose one of the ad breaks and finsh on time please Nine.

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