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THEY have been friends for almost 40 years, and this afternoon Sue McIntosh and Olivia Newton-John sit down to chat about some of those times on Sue McIntosh Presents.
The interview screens on Channel 31’s Renaissance TV and is something of a coup for McIntosh. “We covered so much ground Olivia’s career, our time working together in London, her moving to the US, her battle with cancer, the influence her mother’s had on her life — a lot of personal stuff, really,” McIntosh says.
“There is also the amount of work she does for charity and for the environment. The problem is trying to cover it all. You can’t. There are just so many areas with someone like Olivia, who’s had such a successful international career.”
The interview was recorded when Newton-John was in Melbourne during a break while filming a movie in Queensland. Sue McIntosh Presents is one of the fledgling Renaissance TV’s most popular programs. Among the list of names who have chatted with McIntosh over recent weeks are Patti Newton, Max Walker, Paul Cronin, Tony Barber, Athol Guy and Bud Tingwell.
Future guests include former TV celebrity Peter Couchman, Lillian Frank, Adele Palmer and Peter Hillary.
The hardest thing for McIntosh in her chat with Newton-John was interviewing someone with whom she has shared such a close friendship. “We had personally shared a lot, but when there’s so much, you can’t get to it all,” says McIntosh, the popular former ABC weekend news presenter. “While I just let the conversation flow, it couldn’t be too self-indulgent, so we looked to make it as informative and entertaining as possible. I was just grateful Olivia found the time to do the show.”
McIntosh had long nurtured a desire to host a TV chat show and admits she is enjoying her new television role. “It’s something of a learning curve for me, but it’s extremely rewarding,” she says. “Also being able to do the interviews in a suite at Crown has given the program a great setting.
“One of the most pleasing things is that it is being very much appreciated by that 45-plus audience it’s aimed at.”
Sue McIntosh Presents, Renaissance TV (Channel 31), today, 1 pm.