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Herald Sun, 2 April 2001
When the news spread of former Doug Anthony All Stars Tim Ferguson's new comedy/drama set in the world of cash for comment radio, he found himself deluged with calls from informants eager to share inside stories.
As a result he was able to make the 13 part series Shock Jock, which he wrote, co-produced and plays in, dangerously close to reality.
"People would get on the phone to tell us what was happening. They'd say, 'I'll tell you a story.' Some were just so good."
As well as stirring up the world of commercial radio, the series is a landmark in the history of Australian TV industry, being the first fully funded long run series to air on pay television.
There have been plenty of home grown entertainment shows and even short series but nothing long run has been done without a free to air network sharking the costs.
"It shows how willing we are to invest in Australian drama," said Selena Crowley, director of programming at TV1. "We don't have the budgets of free to air but with this we loved the concept and then loved the script. We are certainly talking about another series."
Ferguson is thrilled to be working with pay TV - traditionally a medium far more prepared to take risks than free to air networks.
"It's getting harder and harder to take risks in TV," said Ferguson who cut his teeth with the Doug Anthony All Stars before being lured to commercial television. "It's always hard to take risks on someone else's money. But I certainly think cable is prepared to take more risks than free to air where ratings is such an important factor - and I do love a challenge."
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