Memories of BackChat
What a pleasant surprise it was to catch Tim Bowden on The Hamster Wheel, rekindling memories of his old BackChat segment.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
What a pleasant surprise it was last night to catch Tim Bowden on The Hamster Wheel, bringing back old memories of his banter on BackChat all those years ago.
For those who don’t remember, BackChat was an ABC segment that saw viewers letters read out, and usually answered by the broadcaster, on air.
Yep, that was before social media and pesky bloggers usurped the role!
It ran twice a week from 1986 – 1995 as readers protested about programming, diction, bloopers, editorial -and even threw in praise too.
Only a small number of letters were chosen from the thousands the ABC would receive each year, although ABC policy was to reply to every letter sent.
Last night Bowden was back reading fake tweets from the likes of David Stratton and more….
You can still see old BackChat episodes archived at Australian Screen’s website. Just don’t send in any complaints.
Share
- Tagged with BackChat, The Hamster Wheel
9 Responses
The sketch featured a few seconds of this youtube video youtube.com/watch?v=eu6v1vdOc38.
Yeah I don’t think the members of the D-Generation will ever make anything of themselves, and who’ll be watching The Young Ones 30 years later?!
Loved BackChat with Tim Bowden. A show that would still be relevant today but with more options to write in or tweet.
In some scenes he looks like Ron Wilsons dad.
I spent a year working with Tim, in 1992, and a nicer chap you couldn’t find. Professional, convivial and collaborative. It was a fun little show to work on.
@Ed: Hotline lasted until mid-2007. David did an article at the time:
http://tvtonight.com.au/2007/06/sbs-closes-long-running-hotline.html
The last 6 months or so were basically continuous complaints about in-programme advertising – then, when they stopped airing those complaints, it was complaints about complaints being censored. The beginning of the end of a once-good network…
Nice work from The Chaser!
SBS’s equivalent Hotline program must’ve made it to 2005 or 2006 from memory? It seemed every week there was some complaint about Inspector Rex or something!
Got to be honest,I also thought Tim was dead.
Loved Backchat years ago.
Tim wrote a great bio “One Crowded Hour” the life of Tasmanian Neil Davis,combat cameraman.
I remember watching this as a kid in the early 90’s (I’m 30 now). It would be good to see it back.