The Gillies Report marked a notable revival of the weekly topical satire sketch format, a genre that had rarely been attempted on Australian TV since the demise of Australia's first and best-known series in this field,
The Mavis Bramston Show, in the 1960s. TGR spawned a number of successful sequels including
The Gillies Republic (1986),
The Dingo Principle (1987),
Gillies and Company (1992). Its success also paved the way for other subsequent topical satire series, including
BackBerner (1999-2002), the various incarnations of
The Chaser (2001–present), and
Shaun Micallef's
Newstopia (2007-2008) and
Mad As Hell (2012–present), and on radio
How Green was my Cactus (1986–present).
The Gillies Report also established or greatly furthered the screen careers of many of the cast, including Gillies, Harmer, Kelso, Clarke, and Harvey. John Clarke - whose regular reports on the fictional Australian sport of "Farnarkling" were another popular segment - carried on the Gillies Report tradition with the successful mockumentary series
The Games (1998-2000), and continued with
Clarke & Dawe, the long-running weekly satirical political commentary he wrote and performed with
Bryan Dawe on ABC-TV until his untimely death at age 68 on 9 April 2017. Phillip Scott went on to co-write, musically direct and perform in the Sydney Theatre Company's annual Wharf Revue from 2000 through until 2017 (a live show of political satire, co-created by and co-starring Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe). Scott, Patrick Cook and Wendy Harmer also worked on the ABC series
The Big Gig, of which Ted Robinson was the producer (as he was on
The Gillies Report), and Scott and Cook were later employed as writers on the ABC and Channel 10 series
Good News Week. The central feature of the series was Gillies' uncanny ability to perform scathingly accurate satirical impersonations of a wide range of public, media and political figures. These included
Ronald Reagan,
Mikhail Gorbachev,
B. A. Santamaria,
Don Chipp,
Andrew Peacock, Queensland Premier
Joh Bjelke-Petersen, morbidly obese Queensland politician
Russ Hinze (whom Gillies portrayed in a costume fashioned from a
beanbag chair), brewing magnate and conservative political figure
John Elliott - whose regular exclamation "Pig's arse!" became a popular catchphrase - and especially for his famous impression of Bob Hawke, Australia's Prime Minister at the time - although Hawke was reported to have been irked by Gillies' portrayal, and made disparaging remarks about it to him when they met, even though Hawke claimed he had never seen the show.
The Gillies Report was followed by sequels
The Gillies Republic (1986) and
Gillies and Company (1992). Cook, Scott and Kelso would go on to make a similar program for the ABC called
The Dingo Principle (1987). Harmer went on to host the landmark ABC-TV live sketch comedy series
The Big Gig, and Peter Moon became a leading cast member of the popular and long-running TV sketch comedy series
Fast Forward.
The "Goanna" Sketch One of the series' most celebrated sketches was its famous send-up of media magnate
Kerry Packer, who was reported to have been "furious" about it. At the time, Packer was in the news because he had been investigated by the
Costigan Commission for his suspected involvement in organised crime, drug dealing and tax evasion rackets, and the claims caused a sensation in the Australian media. Packer, who was codenamed "Squirrel" in the Commission's evidence, could only be referred to in the media by the nickname "Goanna" (coined by
The National Times), due to Australia's draconian libel and defamation laws. This led to a number of satires on the matter, including the Gillies Report sketch and a satirical T-shirt marketed by a Queensland independent satirical magazine
The Cane Toad Times, which conflated the Costigan allegations with the
Lacoste shirt brand, renaming the brand as "Lacostigan" and replacing Lacoste's alligator emblem with a
goanna, in reference to Packer.
The Gillies Report sketch also parodied Packer's self-serving appearance to defend himself on his own network's current-affairs programme. It opens with
Patrick Cook, in barrister's wig and gown, putting questions to 'Packer' (Gillies), about the allegations. He at first responds amiably, but gradually becomes enraged by the interrogation and the hostile reaction of the audience, and finally smashes up his desk, revealing that he has a long lizard-like tail. As the cast perform a satirical quasi-operatic song about the case, Packer - now transformed into "The Goanna" - is pursued through the TV station by the mob but, parodying
King Kong, he escapes by scaling the transmitter tower of Packer's Sydney TV station TCN-9 where, now grown to gigantic size, he catches and crushes a news helicopter from a rival network. The desk-smashing also lampooned Packer's famously volcanic temper, and referenced a well-known rumour of the time, which claimed that Packer once smashed up his own office in a fit of rage during one of his many attempts to quit smoking. ==Awards==