The crew behind Simon Townsend's Wonder World, the names that almost never made it to air.
Simon Townsend liked to say the show was the reporters, not him. He was half right. Behind every reporter was a crew that rarely got a credit on screen: the camera operators, the sound recordists, the editors who cut the stories overnight, the writers, the office that held the whole thing together, and the person who worked the bloodhound. This is a credit roll for them.
Most of these names surfaced when the show's alumni found each other in a private group, I Worked at Simon Townsend's Wonder World!, and began swapping names, photos and stories. The list is deliberately unfinished. If a name is missing, a role is wrong, or a surname is left hanging, the archive would like to hear about it. Getting a name right matters more than getting it up fast, and every correction is credited.
The Wonder World team around the "Happy 7th Birthday" cake in 1986, Simon Townsend seated front-right with the show's cockatoo. If you can name everyone here, the alumni group would love to hear from you. From the reunion archive, supplied by Angie Vaughan.
The reporters who fronted the camera already have their own roster. If you came looking for Angela Catterns, Jonathan Coleman, Sheridan Jobbins or the rest, they are over on the reporters page. This page is for the other half of the show, the people who worked behind it.
A lot of these names surfaced in the crew's own reunion group, where people who have not seen each other in forty years still argue happily about who shot what. Some entries are still missing a surname or a year. Anyone who can fill a gap can get in touch, and corrections are credited.
He started here
An Oscar winner learned the trade on Wonder World
Before Middle-earth, before the Academy Award, Andrew Lesnie was a brand new cameraman fresh out of film school. His first job after graduating in 1979 was Wonder World. Townsend gave him, as his Wikipedia entry puts it, "almost daily opportunities to develop his craft with little restriction over a wide variety of stories and situations". He spent his first year or two on the show, then moved on to the Bodyline mini-series and a career most people in the business only dream about.
He shot all three Lord of the Rings films and won the Oscar for Best Cinematography for The Fellowship of the Ring. He shot the Hobbit trilogy too, along with Babe and I Am Legend. He died on 27 April 2015, and the crew who were there still miss him. Two of them place him on the show, and his Wikipedia entry has the rest of the record. That a talent like that got his start on an afternoon children's show, with room to learn, says a great deal about what Wonder World really was.
If Simon Townsend was the face of Wonder World, Harvey Shore was the engine room. He produced the show from 1980 to 1986, the years it won all five of its Logie Awards, and turned a small budget and a team of very young reporters into a daily national program. He came to it from Willesee At Seven, then went on to produce for the ABC. Five decades into a life in television, he is still one of the people working hardest to keep the show's history alive.
Filmed Alita Fahey's first Wonder World music clip.
NQ
Sound
Noel Quinn
Sound recordist
On the road crew, recording the sound the pictures needed.
SN
Camera
Steve Newman
Camera crew
Ran one crew while Andrew Lesnie ran the other.
BG
Crew
Bronwyn Grantham
On the crew
Kept a thick folder of show material, enough for a book.
NK
Sound
Nadia Kaspar
Sound recordist
Recorded sound on the road crews. Named alongside cameraman Steve Arnold in a 1981 newspaper report.
In the edit suite
Where the day's filming became a story that made sense to a ten year old. Often late at night.
In the tape room. The stories were cut here, often overnight, on reel-to-reel and tape decks.
KM
Assistant editor
Kathy Maloney
The first assistant editor, from October 1979
The show's first assistant editor, who came in as a nineteen-year-old film student right at the start. In those early days the editors synced their own rushes, and she joined just as the first fan mail began pouring in.
PJ
Editor
Peter Janes
Editor
E
Editor
Edith
Editor · surname being confirmed
MT
Sound mix
Mark Tanner
Mix and sound
SP
Tapes
Stephen Priest
Reported as a tape operator and editor at TCN · role being confirmed
GN
Tape room
George and Natalie
Tapes · names and roles being confirmed
Names still being placed
"So many nice, surprising and interesting people worked on Wonder World! Kris Wyld was one of them." Simon Townsend
KW
Drama consultant
Kris Wyld
Children's drama consultant, Townsend Entertainments, 1984
Hired by Simon's company to develop a children's series, The Adventures of Henry Lawson. She had already worked in theatre as an actress, writer, teacher and director.
Researchers and writers
The engine room of any current affairs show. They generated the stories, around twenty a week in the early years.
A 1985 memo from Simon Townsend to his reporters, setting out the filming rules. Townsend ran the show on memos, and this one names several of the show's reporters and crew: Edith Bliss, Malinda Rutter, Brett Clements, Phillip Tanner and others.
EM
Researcher
Ellen McArthur
Researcher, the early years
Researched alongside Helen Townsend in the first years, when the team generated around twenty stories a week.
JC
Researcher and writer
Judith Anne Curran
Researcher, then scriptwriter and publicist
A researcher who became the scriptwriter and publicist for the show's final seasons.
HT
Researcher
Helen Townsend
Researcher
Researched the show in its early years.
Production and the office
The people who turned a small budget and a team of very young reporters into a daily national program.
Helped get the show on air and produced its earliest years. Harvey Shore later took over as producer.
AV
Production
Angie Vaughan
Production
One of the keepers of the show's history today. She organised the fifteen-year reunion, tracking down just about everyone who ever worked on the original series.
PR
Production
Penny Ronald
Production
Kept the edit suite going after hours so the best stories got the time they needed.
PM
Office
Peter Morton
Office
Wardrobe, merch and the hound
Two jobs you would not find on most current affairs programs.
PO
Camera and merch
Pat O'Neill
Camera operator and wardrobe, early 1980s
Remembered as a camera operator who travelled as far as India for the show. Very likely the same Pat O'Neill the crew credit with the famous t-shirts. There is a story about those.
ST
Inside the costume
Simon Thomson
Operated the Woodrow costume
Worked the costume version of Woodrow, and says it was harder than it looked.
Wonder World crew at a reunion. The alumni have stayed close for decades. Angie Vaughan tracked down just about everyone who ever worked on the show for its fifteen-year reunion, and that reunion archive is part of how these names are being recovered. From the reunion archive, supplied by Angie Vaughan.
Help finish the list
Were you on the crew?
This roll is nowhere near complete. There are camera assistants, researchers, make-up artists and tape operators not yet named, and entries above still missing a surname or a year. Anyone who worked on Wonder World, or who can place a name, is welcome to get in touch. Photos are gold, and a lot of the alumni have them. Every correction is credited.
