Popular TV and radio personalities Jono and Dano (Jonathan Coleman and Ian Rogerson) interview Kylie and her Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan on their Saturday Morning Live Christmas special in December 1988.
Kylie and Jason had just released a new single, ‘Especially for You’. It was written and produced by UK team Stock Aitken Waterman, who produced Kylie’s first studio album and helped guide her and Jason's early music career.
The young performers were hugely popular with audiences in Australia and the United Kingdom at the time and this interview presents two confident young stars on the rise, who seem at ease with their fame.
Neighbours was a well-loved soap opera in the UK with a devoted fan base and the single was released there not long after the episode featuring the wedding of Jason and Kylie’s characters on the show, Scott and Charlene.
‘Especially for You’ was an instant hit for the on- and off-screen couple, topping the UK charts for three weeks during the holiday season. The duo were hoping to repeat that success in Australia with a little help from music video shows like Saturday Morning Live.
The Saturday Morning Live segment comes across as chaotic, but fun, with plenty of guest artists joining Jono and Dano in their Sydney studio celebrating the Christmas special as they cross live to Kylie and Jason in Melbourne.
The show regularly played the latest music videos, so after interviewing Kylie and Jason, they screen the video for ‘Especially for You’. The video has a somewhat cheesy story of the separated lovers just missing each other in sunny Sydney locations before they finally connect.
The director is clearly taking advantage of two attractive performers in a beautiful location and the Sydney backdrop is lovingly showcased, almost like a tourism advertisement. While the video plays, Kylie and Jason join in the fun and ham it up for the cameras, in the spirit of the show.
Notes by Mel Bondfield
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.