Molly Meldrum Proves Ratings Hit for Third Week in a Row

Ian “Molly” Meldrum has proved to be ratings gold for a third week in a row, with last night’s documentary Molly – The Real Thing drawing in 1.302 million metro viewers, according to OzTAM.

It was the second highest rating show of the night, after My Kitchen Rules drew 1.938 million as loud-mouthed duo Jessica and Marco proved woefully unable to live up to their boasts.

Australia’s Got Talent on Nine managed 613,000, its lowest numbers yet, while Ten’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here dropped to 645,000.

Molly – The Real Thing was the third collaboration between Seven Network and Mushroom Pictures.

It was written and directed by Paige McGinley, who spent 26 months putting the documentary together.

It tapped on anecdotes from countless sources, including Kiss, John Paul Young, Jimmy Barnes, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Tina Arena, Johnny Young, Red Symons, Colleen Hewett, Paul Kelly and Ronnie Burns; music executives including Mushroom founder Michael Gudinski, Sony Music’s Denis Handlin and promoter Michael Chugg; sportsmen such as Shane Warne; showbiz buddies Hugh Jackman and Paul Hogan; and personal friends including trucking magnate Lindsay Fox who gave him his first hat and one time girlfriend Sandy Breen whom Meldrumwas onceengaged to.

Some seemed to be there more for their celebrity status than any meaningful insight into the man with the hat.

Thankfully, the stories about Madcap Molly were kept to a minimum, and included Meldrum fainting when he met his idol John Lennon, and falling down a mountain during a trip with the Minogues up to the Dandenongs when he stopped for a quick piss by the roadside.

It focused on an important but underrated element of his career, as a successful record producer (Russell Morris, Ronnie Burns, Supernaut, The Ferrets, Cheetah and Colleen Hewitt), his being the first outward gay person on Australian TV (James Reyne: “It’s brave now, but in the ‘70s? That was seriously brave”), and his successful lobbying to introduce National Rugby League to Victoria.

There was rare footage and photos of his days at Go-Set magazine, and the Kommotion TV show on which he was a dancer.

Meldrum was, and is, probably hated by punk and alt-rock fans. But Countdown, after all, was a pop show – and as a result of his passion for music and understanding of pop music consumers, Australia was one of the first to break Madonna, Elton John, Blondie, Abba, John Mellencamp and Billy Joel outside their home markets.

Incidentally, the total viewer figures for Molly are much higher than first thought. OzTAM’s inaugural Video Player Measurement (VPM) Reports last week provided Australia’s first official figures for viewing of internet-delivered TV content. It showed that most shows had a much larger audience than initially thought of from just their TV broadcast figures.

Part 1 of Molly initially stated it had 2.630 million metro and regional viewers. But in actual fact, the episode received a total audience of 3.290 million. It added 390,000 viewers on time-shifted viewing on television and 34,000 viewers on online video, on demand on PLUS7. It also drew 236,000 viewers on encore screenings on television.