''Peters Club'' was an Australian children's television series which reportedly debuted in 1958, and aired on

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular t ...

, running into 1959. At the time, many Australian TV series were only broadcast on a single station instead of being networked, which may have also been the case with the series. Cast included Rod McLennan, Judy Banks and the comedian

Joff Ellen Joff Ellen (born Raymond Charles Ellen; 20 May 191524 December 1999), was an Australian entertainer, actor and comedian. Career During World War II he performed vaudeville acts to the troops and after the war did comedy shows on Melbourne rad ...

, who was concurrently playing a schoolboy on the early sitcom ''

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

.'' There is very little information available on this show but it is known that the now-defunct ''

Truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as belief ...

'' newspaper gave it an award for "Best Children's Show - Melbourne Television". Notably, it was produced by

Crawford Productions Crawford Productions is an Australian media production company, focused on radio and television production. Founded in Melbourne by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, also known as Crawfor ...

. The title, without a possessive apostrophe, referenced the sponsor -

Peters Ice Cream Peters Ice Cream is an Australian ice cream brand, now a subsidiary of European food firm Froneri. It was originally developed by an expatriate American, Frederick (Fred) Augustus Bolles Peters in 1907, using his mother's recipe. History The ...

(which also used the TV clowns Zig and Zag, who wore ice cream cone hats on

HSV-7 HSV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the Seven Network, one of the three main commercial television networks in Australia, its first and oldest station. It launched in time for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melb ...

). As was the case with 1950s American television series, early Australian television series sometimes featured the name of the sponsor in the title. Other examples included ''

The Dulux Show ''The Dulux Show'' was an Australian television game show which aired in 1957. It was hosted by Jack Davey, and produced by Sydney station ATN-7, also airing in Melbourne on station GTV-9. Contestants competed for the chance to win a plane trip ...

'', ''

Tarax Show ''The Tarax Show'' was an early Australian children's TV program on GTV-9 in Melbourne running from 1957 to 1969. Synopsis Denzil Howson who was then Assistant Program Manager at GTV9, was asked by Norman Spencer to develop a daily children's p ...

'', ''

Shell Presents ''Shell Presents'' was an early attempt at Australian television drama, being an umbrella title for several different productions. It debuted on 4 April 1959, and aired on ATN-7 and GTV-9, who split production of plays for the series between t ...

'', ''

Swallows Parade ''Swallows Parade'' was an Australian radio and television series. The radio version was broadcast by Melbourne station 3DB in the 1950s, and was also heard on other Major Broadcasting Network The Major Broadcasting Network was an important p ...

'', ''

The Astor Show ''The Astor Show'' was an Australian television series which aired in 1958 on Melbourne station GTV-9. In the series, the cast danced to and mimed hit recordings (a mix of contemporary and older hits). The series ended with the 31 August 1958 broa ...

'', among others. There is no information available as to whether any episodes exist as kinescope recordings, the method used to record live television in Australia prior to the introduction of videotape, as many live broadcasts of the era were not recorded.

References

External links

*{{imdb title Nine Network original programming 1958 Australian television series debuts 1959 Australian television series endings Black-and-white Australian television shows English-language television shows Australian live television series Australian children's television series Television series by Crawford Productions