John McCallum on Skippy's Secret

Shani Wood interviews Skippy co-creator, John McCallum, on Meeting in the Middle.

Meeting in the Middle was an early Sunday evening chat show hosted by Canberra teenagers that ran for 26 weeks. The idea was to have teenagers interview celebrities, asking questions they had devised themselves. The show aimed to bridge the 'generation gap'.

Shani wastes no time candidly asking what her viewers want to hear about – Skippy. Aware of his younger audience, McCallum gives a clear and entertaining explanation of why the series employed more than one kangaroo to play Skippy.

There is general agreement that actor and producer John McCallum, director Lee Robinson and lawyer Bob Austin, who together formed Fauna Productions, were all crucial to the success of Skippy. McCallum was also executive producer on two episodes, Long Way Home and Be Our Guest.

The production values in this clip from Meeting in the Middle are kept simple but the two-camera studio shoot focuses the attention on the interviewer and interviewee and effectively helps us stay engaged with what is being said.

Notes by Stephen Groenewegen and Adam Blackshaw