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NETWORKING

Shock Jock, subscription TV's first wholly funded drama, is returning for a second season. Series two was launched in Melbourne last week with an '80sstyle lunch at the Hotel Sofitel, attended by all the cast, including Matthew Dyktynski, Tiriel Mora, Fiona Todd, Michael Veitch, Sancia Robinson, Cassandra Magrath and Tom Budge. When Shock Jock returns to TV1, it will boast a brighter and bolder look. The sleepy radio station CHATAM has relocated to swish new headquarters and the story opens with roguish yet loveable shock jock Barry Gold (Dyktynski) out from behind bars and back behind the microphone. The second series promises to expose the underbelly of talkback radio in the era when Skase and Bond reigned supreme. The series premieres with a double episode on Monday, June 10.

Perfect host

Irreverent comedian Amanda Keller has been confirmed as the host of Ten's upcoming Perfect Match reunion special. Producers Grundy Television have been scouring the countryside looking for their own ``survivors", some of the hundreds of couples who were matched on the longrunning dating show, which aired on Ten from 1983 to 1989. No air date has been set for the special, which is still in production.

Green Greengrass of home

Claude Greengrass, the resident rogue of Aidensfield, is returning to TV in a spinoff of the feelgood British series Heartbeat. Called The Royal, it is also set in the 1960s in St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital in the fictional seaside town of Elsinby, only 25 minutes' drive from Aidensfield. Bill Maynard, who left Heartbeat after a stroke, returns as Claude Greengrass, one of the hospital's regular patients in the sixpart series now being filmed in Yorkshire.

Thinking outside the square

When Camryn Manheim (The Practice) heard of the plight of women in Afghanistan, she and pal Kathy Najimy (Veronica's Closet) rang around their celebrity gal pals and persuaded them to appear on Hollywood Squares to raise money and awareness. ``Trust me," Manheim says. ``It's hard to get them to do a game show. I had to call in some favours." Kirstie Alley, Kathy Bates, Gillian Anderson, Amy Brenneman, Debra Messing and Melissa Etheridge goofed it up for a good cause, raising $250,000 for programs that will help the women of Afghanistan rebuild their lives.

Angel down under

May is shaping up to be a big month for the cast of Angel. The show's star David Boreanaz and his wife, actress Jaime Bergman, are celebrating the arrival of their own little angel, firstborn Jaden Rayne, on May 1 at a strapping 3.8 kilograms. Boreanaz's title character on Angel, a centuriesold vampire with soul, also became a father this season. On screen he has been busy trying to keep vampires, demons and humans from hurting his baby, Connor. Off screen, a full nappy is as bad as it gets for most dads. Three of the actors from Angel are descending on Sydney soon for the Friends of Science Fiction convention on May 18 and 19. They are J. August Richards (Gunn), Andy Hallet (The Host) and Mark Lutz (Groosalugg). Richards' girlfriend Tangi Miller, who plays Elena on Felicity, will be joining them for a holiday after filming the final series of Felicity.

Surviving Survivor

After 39 days of starvation, intense physical challenges, Machiavellian politics and extremes of temperature, who will be the winner of Australian Survivor - and $500,000 richer? All will be revealed live on Wednesday by Eddie McGuire in a twohour finale followed by a onehour reunion special bringing together the original 16 contestants for the first time since they embarked on their lifechanging adventure. Australian Survivor: The Finale and the reunion special will be broadcast from Melbourne's Crown Showroom with an invited audience of 800 people, including family and friends of the survivors. The next instalment of Survivor will be filmed in Thailand on an island of the Tarutao chain. Now a marine park, the largest of the islands, Koh Tarutao, was once used as a jail for longterm prisoners. Sixteen players will compete in Survivor: Thailand when the series screens in the US late this year.

Doco diversity

Two documentaries in development will explore family life in Australia and the threat to indigenous foods around the globe. Film Australia has approved funding for the SBS Independent production Under One Roof, which will look at a Greek Australian family, and Slow Food, which will examine how fastpaced Western society, driven by powerful multinationals and giant agribusinesses, determines what the world eats. Made by Perthbased company CM Films, it will be filmed in Australia, Mexico and Italy. According to Film Australia chief executive Sharon Connolly, the two projects add to the diversity of Film Australia's production slate. ``Working with film makers from different backgrounds and parts of the country is a strategy which ensures the company supports productions exploring a wide variety of subjects and points of view on matters of national interest," she says.

Crossing Quincy

Jack Klugman, the 80yearold star of Quincy ME and TV's pioneering medical examiner, returns to his old stamping ground in an upcoming episode of Crossing Jordan. Klugman again plays a coroner, but one who, in a very unQuincylike development, makes a mistake on the job and is forced to resign.

Culinary stars of the future

Several young Melbourne chefs star in coming episodes of Five Star Cooking: Next Generation, a 13part Lifestyle Channel series showcasing the inspired work of Australia's upandcoming culinary stars. Each episode introduces a young chef, who prepares a fivestar menu with a taste of things to come. Viewers also get to know the chefs and their families and gain an insight into their philosophy and plans. Chosen by today's best chefs, such as Jeremy Strode and Andrew Blake, the young stars include Daniel Wilson of Blakes, and Jarrod Pegler and James McDonald of Est Est Est. Tomorrow night Jane Booth of Langton's prepares cauliflower panacotta, poached pigeon and pear sorbet.

TV doctors brought to book

As if patients don't have enough to worry about, with doctors' professional indemnity insurance hanging in the balance, a new book argues that unlike their predecessors, today's medical dramas often seek to disturb rather than reassure viewers. Jason Jacobs from Griffith University has drawn on 10 years of viewing and teaching for his book Body Trauma TV: The New Hospital Dramas. ``In the earlier medical dramas doctors may have minor conflicts between themselves, but they were generally solid figures who were untroubled by professional problems," Jacobs explains. In the new dramas, he says, doctors and nurses are more fragile, filled with doubt and nervous about accepting responsibility. Jacobs blames ``insipid new management cultures, ethical labyrinths and noxious patients" for the change. His book will be published in November by the British Film Institute.

Home and Away homecoming

Nearly a dozen former cast members of Home and Away will have a lot to talk about when they return over five episodes next week to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the fictional town of Summer Bay. Sally, played by original cast member Kate Ritchie, is reunited with family and old friends, many of whom are also returning for the festivities. Watch out for Alex Pappas, Peter Vroom, Les Hill, Rebekah Elmaloglou, Adam Willits and Sharyn Hodgson.

greenguide@theage.com.au

AND ANOTHER THING . . .

Marshalling lawyers

Anne Phelan (pictured), Jane Hall, Frank Gallacher and Greg Stone have joined the highprofile cast of Marshall Law, Seven's new legal drama, which began shooting in Melbourne on Monday. Produced by Alan Hardy, the series is described as a dramatic but cheeky portrayal of the private and professional lives of sisters Ros (Lisa McCune) and Verity (Alison Whyte) Marshall, played out against the backdrop of the Magistrates Court where they both work. Ros is a junior crown prosecutor while her elder sister is beginning to cut a figure as a barrister. William McInnes plays Dylan Boyd QC, Verity's ex.