Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 18 August 1976, page 13


Alvin Purple exposed

The meek young man who triggers off the mating

instinct in every

woman - yes, it's Alvin Purple - is coming to TV in one of ABC-TV's

most daring moves

Jp by Nan I ^Musgrove/

Alvin (Graeme Blundell) with another's wife (Kate Ferguson) in the TV series.

Three of Alvin's seducers. From left, Judy Morris as Sophie, Judy Lynne as Meryl, Briony Behets as a learner driver.

ALVIN PURPLE (actor Graeme

Blundell) first became known to Australians as a naive lover in two popular movies in which all types of women seduced him in the most unlikely circumstances.

A transplant of Alvin - who shed his pants, dropped his cloak and romped uninhibitedly nude - from the movie screen to TV seemed an almost impossible thought.

But the ABC thought it and TV circles almost flipped when they announced they were making a series about Alvin.

The series began last year, but its release has been held up until now by legal

problems.

The TV series has Alvin carrying on as

in the movies, either nude or in great disarray.

Nudity on TV seems to me like swearing, a matter of good manners. There are places where nudity is right and places where it definitely is ill-mannered.

In the preview episode I saw. Alvin and the other characters appeared nude with the greatest aplomb. Their manners, although definitely in disarray, help them through.

In the episode, the first of a two-parter called "A Million Little Reasons," Alvin and the bride and bridegroom with whom he tangled careered nude in broad daylight through King's Cross. The trio had the grace to grab sheets to save the blushes of the populace.

The sequence was made last year on a

chilly May day, but the people nearby

didn't turn a hair.

Executive producer Maurice Murphy was disappointed by the public reaction -only one person who is seen on camera even looked up.

I found part one entertainingly ridiculous. It made me laugh out loud a couple of times in an empty viewing room.

Graeme Blundell is good as Alvin. His continuing support, his mate Spike, is played by Chris Haywood who won an award for his role in "Essington," one of last year's ABC prestige dramatised

documentaries.

Alvin Purple may be seen on ABC-TV at 8.30 pm on August 13, in Perth, Sydney. Hobart; in Melbourne on August 19. in Adelaide on August 20. HZ7