Along with Raye, those names represent a golden era during the early years of television in this country, a time when Australians only had a couple of channels to choose between and TV studios were like vaudeville theatres; mini Hollywood dream factories churning out a daily fare of all-singing, all-dancing entertainers on shoe-string budgets.

Having already achieved considerable success as an actor in England, Raye arrived in Australia in 1964 and brought with her a letter of introduction which got her to Seven’s general manager, James Oswin.

Initially, she was appointed as Oswin’s assistant in “matters of live programming” and was given an office and a brief to watch local television and come up with ideas for new programs.

Inspired by the BBC’s That Was The Week That Was, Raye suggested a show based on TW3’s format of topical satire and enlisted Gordon Chater, Barry Creyton and Noeline Brown to create The Mavis Bramston Show.

To develop the script, Raye hired a team of writers including James Fishburn, John Mackellar, David Sale (who went on to write 1970s soap opera Number 96), actor-writer Jon Finlayson, Melvyn Morrow and Ken Shadie, who also later wrote for Number 96 and co-wrote the script of Paul Hogan’s Crocodile Dundee.

“Television really was a tough environment for a woman. It was much more of a man’s world back then,” Raye’s daughter Sally Ayre-Smith, who followed in her mother’s footsteps and also became a producer, explained last week.

“But mum was incredibly headstrong, and held very strong views professionally, that’s just the sort of person she was. She was very strong-willed, it was impossible to win an argument with her.”

“I remember James Oswin joking to mum that he could never call her a ‘B-I-T-C-H’, but would often tell her how ‘extremely difficult’ she was to work with. But, clearly, she was right, the show was a hit.”

Ironically, Raye never considered herself a “feminist”.

“Even though that is precisely what she was. She had a bit of a plummy, English accent, was very poised and beautiful, and I think her charm certainly disarmed people who often underestimated her ... at their peril,” Ayre-Smith said.

“She had a few hundred pounds to make the pilot of Mavis Bramston, and here we are still talking about the show today.”

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Next month, the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival has selected a new film about the show’s beginnings, Pushing The Boundaries: The Mavis Bramston Show, featuring interviews with Raye and others.

The film will be available to view online throughout July via the festival’s website, and it’s well worth a watch.

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