Produced in Melbourne by ATV-0, this talent quest series – originally named National Showcase – was hosted by British entertainer Gordon Boyd, who arrived in Australia in 1963 to play the lead in a stage version of Carousel and settled with his wife and children.
The series featured singers, instrumentalists, jugglers, acrobats, comics, dancers, magicians and more. Unlike many TV talent competitions, contestants were given three days of rehearsal, performed on expensive sets and were accompanied – where needed – by the 36-piece Hector Crawford Orchestra.
The show – which was broadcast for at least 40 weeks of the year – aired at various times as Showcase ’65, Showcase ’66, Showcase ’67, Showcase 68, and Showcase 69. For a while, the show was sponsored by General Motors (during which time it was broadcast as Holden Showcase).
Boyd and Showcase parted company in November 1969. He toured the Australian club circuit for 18 months before returning to TV, taking over from Gary Meadows as the host of The Marriage Game on Channel 10 in August 1971.
Rod McLennan became the new compere of Showcase 70, but the network cancelled the show at the end of the year.
The show (and Boyd) returned in 1973 as BP Showcase ’73 – now on the Nine Network – with contestants from all over Australia competing for $19,000 in cash prizes.
A change of sponsor the following years saw the show renamed as Cadbury Showcase ’74.
At the end of 1974, the Nine Network dropped the show, saying its high production costs (around $20,000 per episode) could no longer be justified.
The announcement took sponsor Cadbury-Schweppes by surprise and came as “a bolt from the blue” to compere Gordon Boyd.
Boyd subsequently transitioned to working in radio (for 2GB) with occasional guest spots in Australian TV shows like A Country Practiceand All Saints.
Gordon Boyd died in Sydney on 8 October 2009, aged 86.
Compere
Gordon Boyd (1)
Rod McLennan (2)
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Rod McLennan became the new compere of Showcase 70, but the network cancelled the show at the end of the year.
