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The Time Guardian – starring Carrie Fisher and Dean Stockwell and directed by the co-writer of Mad Max 2 – has emerged on Prime Video UK.

Star Wars royalty Carrie Fisher. Blue Velvet and future Quantum Leap co-star Dean Stockwell. Filmmaker and Mad Max 2 co-writer Brian Hannant making one of the most expensive Australian films up to that point.

With a pedigree like that, you might think that The Time Guardian would be better known than it is. Instead, it largely sank without trace on its brief cinema release in 1987, and became one of those films that was doomed to lurk on the lower shelves of VHS rental libraries.

Unexpectedly, though, The Time Guardian has emerged on Prime Video in the UK, which means subscribers have the rare opportunity to watch one of the weirdest – and less often-discussed – sci-fi movies of the 1980s.

On paper, it’s a typical B-movie of its era.

Paul Fenech has built up quite a cult following with his movies and TV series in the past 14 years but Fenech fans must have had other distractions last weekend.

How else to explain the relatively tame opening of the director-actor-writer.s latest opus, Fat Pizza vs Housos?

The comedic battle of thongs, chainsaws, bikies and pizzas, which stars Fenech, Johnny Boxer, Maria Venuti and Elle Dawe, with cameos from Nick Giannopoulos, Kyle Sandilands and Angry Anderson, rang up $280,000 on 121 screens and $296,000 with previews.

Minus previews, that.s 46% below the 2012 debut of Housos vs Authority, which grabbed $526,000 on 151 screens and wound up earning $1.35 million.

It.s dubious whether anyone chose to go to the second weekend of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1, rather than the caper set in the infamous housing commission suburb of Sunnyvale.

But Transmission Films. Andrew Mackie tells If, .We were on fewer screens this time and...

In this roundup from the Encore and Mumbrella Annual, we revisit the year’s biggest TV hits.

1. The Voice

With at least three singing shows having come before it on Aussie TV, The Voice was going to have to do something spectacular to deliver a ratings hit. The show debuted with 2.177m viewers with the finale attracting an average metro audience of 3.098m according to OzTam. No other show on the box this year came close to matching the overall performance across the series with most episodes hovering around the 2m viewer mark.

2. Puberty Blues

Ten may have had a year to forget but one shining light in the network’s line-up was Southern Star-produced drama Puberty Blues. Whether it was the story, based on the 1970s novel of the same name, the performance of the cast or attention to detail that made this show a hit, it consistently delivered around one million views.

Confessionals from TV personalities and senior business people about mistakes they made in their youth is the idea behind a charity campaign for troubled young people, created by Bmf.

Whitelion, a charity that provides mentoring to troubled youth, aims to look under the veneer of Australia’s most successful people to show the mistakes made in someone’s youth does not define them for life.

The campaign includes TV personalities Angry Anderson and David Koch, and encourages businesses to become ‘fresh start employers’ by helping young Australians who have been involved in the youth justice system into employment.

The video is backed by a website, www.freshstartemployer.org.au where supporters can add their own anonymous confessionals to be added to a gallery.

A Sydney-based mobile confessional booth will also encourage young people to share their problems.

Mark Watt, Whitelion CEO, said: “Young people need our support to show them...

Fenech: Brain behind Housos

Sbs has commissioned another series of nine episodes of Paul Fenech’s politically incorrect comedy Housos.

Production of the new series – set in a fictional housing commission block in Sunnyvale – starts in Sydney’s western suburbs on Monday.

The cast includes Encore columnist Jason ‘Jabba’ Davis, Habib Tahir, Melissa Tkautz, Amanda Keller and Angry Anderson. Narrator Ian Turpie passed away in March this year.

Since it first aired on Sbs, Fenech has also shot a Housos feature film.

Tony Iffland, Sbs’s director of television and online content, said: “Housos became hugely successful with its tongue-in-cheek humour. The new season will continue our commitment to commissioning and supporting Australian content and talent. We are delighted to be working with Paul again on a second series.

Fenech – best known for Fat Pizza – said: “The new season of Housos gives fans the chance to unite and get in touch with their inner-bogan.

The return of Sbs’s hit series of Go Back To Where You Came From has pulled in the biggest audience for the broadcaster this year.

The documentary, which this year takes six prominent Australians on the path of a refugee’s journey to Australia from their war torn country, rated 752,000 across the five metro markets according to preliminary ratings from OzTam.

The first of three episodes, this year’s debut is up 44% on last year’s, which rated 524,000.

Last year’s series gained momentum, with the final episode receiving 600,000 viewers and ranking 19th for the night.

Last night’s episode placed 10th for the evening.

The six prominent Australians include a mix of personalities and stances on the subject of refugees and asylum seekers. The cast is Catherine Deveny, Imogen Bailey, Angry Anderson, Peter Reith, Michael Smith and Allan Asher.

Produced by CordellJigsaw, the format has been sold into...

The new series of Sbs’s hit show Go Back To Where You Came From will see six prominent faces.

Six personalities from politics, TV and radio who have contributed to the refugee and asylum seekers debate will be sent on the 25 day refugee journey in reverse.

The six people are: Angry Anderson, rock musician, conservative political activist and aspiring National Party candidate; Imogen Bailey, former Neighbours actress and animal rights activist; Catherine Deveny, writer and social commentator; Michael Smith, former radio presenter on 2Ue and 4Bc; Allan Asher, former Commonwealth Ombudsman and Peter Reith, former Howard Government senior cabinet minister including former minister for defence from 2000-2001.

Michael Ebeid, Sbs managing director said: This year we are looking forward to seeing how these prominent Australians will tackle the challenging journey in a new and different way, as they travel to some of the world’s most perilous and despairing...

Finally! Australia’s greatest hero, Mad Max, will return to the big screen. The stars have been long attached, the script long-finished, the location shifted from Max’s native Australia to Namibia (floods ruined the original location. Again, I say: Australia is a desert with surrounding coastal cities. Not sure why the move had to go intercontinental instead of down the road, but don’t mind the Aussie, he’s just bitter).

With respected thespian, soon to be megastar and possible Bat-breaker, Tom Hardy filling the leather pants this time around and Charlize Theron to play his main squeeze (don’t forget your dead wife, Max!), as well as the creator George Miller returning to helm the film, along with some cracking shots of the finest in new post-apocalyptic automotive engineering already out there, it’s fairly safe to not-so-boldly predict that we’re looking at a winner here.

With...

An Australian program, Go Back To Where You Came From, has won the Best of Rose d.Or at the prestigious television festival held each year in Lucerne, Switzerland, for the first time ever.

The three-part documentary series apparently had the unanimous support of the 10-member judging panel; it was eligible because it won the award for factual entertainment, one of the 12 categories included in the awards.

Produced by Cordell Jigsaw, Go Back to Where you Came From offered six Australians the chance to walk in the shoes of refugees as they undertook a 25-day journey typical of the arduous path some refugees take to get to Australia to claim refugee status.

It was a smash hit for Sbs, taking the mantle of top-ranked show for 2011.

In a statement, Sbs managing director Michael Ebeid said he believed Go Back to Where you Came From has set a new standard for Sbs Television.

Sirens co. Channel 4

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N Conrad

Just two hours after ITV’s Kenny Everett tribute show, the new Channel 4 sitcom Sirens began tonight and it got off to quite an interesting start. It probably equaled the beginning of Four Weddings and a Funeral for most uses of the f-word in 30 seconds but even if you didn’t care for the dialogue, you must admit that it was great to hear Angry Anderson’s classic love song “Suddenly” playing in the background. The gory shot of a car crash victim was a bit unnecessary but in fairness the nice announcer did warn us that it would be graphic from the start.

Now to the comedy. It wasn’t exactly slapstick but neither was it in the mold of quasi-realistic shows like the Royal Family.

Series two of Swift & Shift Couriers, created and directed by Paul Fenech (Fat Pizza) will premiere on Sbs August 1, 8.30pm.

Expect Fenech’s unique brand of politically incorrect humour for round two.

Fenech, Ian Turpie, Melissa Tkautz, Amanda Keller and Angry Anderson return with their ragtag work mates to the Hashfield Depot in the wake of tight times.

In a statement Paul Fenech said: “Swift & Shift Couriers is back; bigger, better and louder in series two – this is the pumped up on steroids version of the first series.”...