★★★★★ 0/5

Friday Flashback: John Blackman in Holiday Island

In 1981 Blackers tried his hand at acting in 10's short-lived soap, Holiday Island.

4
Leave a comment

The late John Blackman may have been best known for his brilliance on Hey Hey it’s Saturday but in 1981 he briefly tried his hand at acting on 10’s short-lived soap Holiday Island.

The series, unkindly referred to as “Horror Day on Iceland” or “Arcade with Palm Trees,” was filmed on the backlot of 10’s Nunawading base, with actors sucking ice cubes to hide the cold breath from their mouths. Earlier sequences had filmed at Tangalooma Resort on Moreton Bay Island with exec producer Hector Crawford constantly on the phone demanding to know what it was costing him.

The backlot, which would later become Neighbours Lassiters set, was designed with canopies and overhangs so that the camera never had to shoot Melbourne’s grey skies in winter. But extras were left to shiver and dip into the pool, nonetheless.

Blackman’s character was Russell Parker, a fumbling ad man.

Holiday Island lasted for 64 episodes. In this clip you’ll also spy Nick Tate, Tom Oliver, Ray Meagher, Steven Grimes, Marilyn Mayo, Frank Wilson, Wynn Roberts and more.

Source: Super Aussie Soaps

4 Responses

  1. When I worked on this show, the regular actors were given tablets to make their skin look tanned so they didn’t have to ‘cake on’ the makeup
    It also made their palms look orange!
    About 3 months into the filming the actors found out that the tablets may be carcinogenic. They were happy to do the heavy makeup after that news!!
    We were also told that the exterior set out the back of Ch10 (next to the Prisoner exterior by the way), costs $250,000.
    The best thing about the exterior set was the pool and it was kept clean ready for the staff during summertime!!

  2. The show was doomed to fail, Cranburne sand quarries for some beach scenes. I remember the day we had the camera tied to the bonnet of the Land Cruiser and the actor did a turn and the camera fell off the bonnet. Joe the cameraman ( yes his real name) wasn’t happy.

  3. Writers Terry Stapleton and Luis Bayonos credited on this episode did very good writing on other Crawford shows.
    Maybe they would have preferred an alternative project been greenlit.

    With Cop Shop and The Box winding down, and Skyways the only major hit I believe untouched,
    Crawfords DVD may release the entire series for (re)evaluation in the not to distant future.

Leave a Reply