Dear ABC, can we have this Ita sequel next please?

So it’s clear that the ABC now has to dig deep to come up with a sequel for Paper Giants after Nine stitched up a deal for a Kerry Packer miniseries with Southern Star.

There are reports the ABC hadn’t wanted to commit to “The Pajama Game” (the title of the proposed sequel) until it sighted the ratings on Monday. But Nine was in pursuit, with the all-important archival cricket footage. Without it, the ABC sequel would be pointless.

The ABC knows well that protecting copyrighted material is par for the course -it shut out SBS when it wanted footage of John Howard for a documentary. But Nine’s deal on a Paper Giants sequel was a brazen move, given this is more than archival footage at the heart of the debate.

However, all may not be lost if the ABC takes stock of what appealed most to its audience: Asher Keddie as Ita Buttrose.

It was her performance, together with Ita’s spirit, that fuelled the mini-series and appealed to ABC’s female-skewing audience.

Southern Star is said to be talking about a posible ABC sequel involving the magazine world. Not sure about that idea….

But there is a much better story yet to be re-told, which is what Buttrose did for HIV-AIDS education in the 1980s.

Australia was in the midst of hysterical newspaper headlines, with alarmist outbursts from radio shock jocks, people no longer giving blood to the Red Cross, children hounded out of kindergartens and gay men shunned at every turn. It was a time of widespread fear.

At the request of Federal Health Minister Neal Blewett, Buttrose trail-blazed AIDS education in this country. She has since said it was like being told your country needs you.

“In the ’80s I got a call from the Government asking if I would consider chairing the National Advisory Committee on AIDS. It was the biggest thing I’ve ever taken on in my life. I was horrified at the ramifications of the disease. The whole thing took over my life. I think it’s the most worthwhile thing I’ve ever done,” she said.

“I think I was chosen because I was a good communicator, credible, someone people would believe.

“There was a lot of homophobia and fear, and people were playing the blame game. Children with HIV/AIDS were shunted out of schools – I knew boys with haemophilia whose parents were petrified that their school would find out – it was such a terrible burden.”

Just as America had Elizabeth Taylor in the 1980s, Australia had Buttrose. She was even advised by many people not to get involved with AIDS education.

“A great many people. Especially John Singleton. He was particularly vocal. He rang and told me it would be bad for my image. And he insisted I be researched to make sure that I hadn’t compromised my standing in the community. Fortunately, the research came back saying that if anything, my work with HIV/AIDS had enhanced my standing in the community. Particularly among men.”

Together with Prof. Ron Penny, Buttrose helped devise the Grim Reaper campaign. Its impact was a controversy within itself. Had they gone too far?

“Speaking in churches, I’d say, would you love your child any less if your child was gay? And, how would a person with AIDS feel?” In an aside, she adds, “I spoke at the pulpit, you know – you don’t expect these things to happen in your life.”

In a throwaway remark in an interview, Buttrose mentioned ‘radical celibacy’ but it backfired terribly.

“That translated into a poster next Sunday: ‘Ita tells: my life without sex’” You see the poster and you think, what’s that? You rush out and buy the paper and discovered that, because you’re a radical celibate, you have a life without sex.”

All of these moments would be great material for Asher Keddie and director Daina Reid, and it would retain the Buttrose spirit at the centre of another landmark moment in our nation’s social history.

Buttrose has spoken about these chapters to ABC’s Talking Heads and in the documentary Rampant -all of which are archived by ABC.

Who knows? This story might actually be more compelling than seeing Kerry Packer work his magic with cricket.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U219eUIZ7Qo[/youtube]

Source: AFAO, ABC