Shot of the interior of the studio of Sale of the Century. A blue car is being revealed through a lit up window.
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Sale of the Century

BY
 Rose Mulready

It’s the 45th anniversary of Sale of the Century, a quiz show institution that gathered Australian families around the TV at 7pm each weeknight to try their luck at the trivia questions while imagining themselves in Mercedes and furs. Based on the US version, the show put down deep roots in Australia and stayed on the air for 21 years. 

Genial host Tony Barber was the anchor of Sale, running out to his place at the podium from the moment when the show started in 1980 until 1991, when he was succeeded by Glenn Ridge. Barber’s first co-host was the actor Victoria Nicolls; she was followed by Delvene Delaney and Alyce Platt. Ridge bantered with Jo Bailey, Nicky Buckley and Karina Brown.  

While the warmth of the hosts’ personalities and their cross-talk kept the show bubbling along, Sale’s central appeal was to a quintessentially ’80s dream of sudden, life-changing wealth – an aspiration to the cars and yachts and holidays of the Packers and Bonds. Although the show limped over the line to the new millennium, its ratings had been declining, and its cultural heyday remains the era of big hair and big ambitions.  

 

The first ever 'Sale of the Century'

This is the opening of the inaugural episode, broadcast on the Nine Network on 14 July 1980, which leads us through a beige-on-beige carpeted set that bears a striking resemblance to a spaceship flight deck in a retro sci-fi. It then introduces us to two emblematic Sale luxury items: a brand-new powder-blue Mercedes and a yacht with swimsuit models posing on its deck. The promise of vicarious pleasure in owning these upmarket status symbols is placed front and centre in the first few frames.  

The episode shows us Barber and Nicolls establishing their rapport. Nicolls looks nervy as she tells her co-host she feels ‘restless’ – an awkward joke referencing her previous career as a soap actor on The Restless Years. They would go on to build a solid on-screen partnership. 

Nicolls finds her feet as she introduces the three contestants: a student teacher, a stamp collector and a property manager. Forming a contrast to the smoothly styled hosts and models, they’re framed as everyday people, relatable for the audience.  

 

Buy or build?

This is the first introduction of the shopping segments of Sale. At repeated points in the show, competitors are asked to trade the points they’ve won in the trivia section for various tempting items. Although the host (and the audience, geed up by him) always urge the competitor to ‘Buy! Buy!’ it imperils their lead, and is sometimes a bad choice.  

The offering in this shopping segment is an odd collection of oversized soft toys, some in the shape of Warner Bros characters like Sylvester and Yosemite Sam – easy for leading competitor Grant to resist. At least one audience member goes against Barber’s prompts and urges him to ‘build’ rather than buy.  

Grant stands out against the cuddly-toy pressure and keeps his points, but in another shopping segment he folds, purchases an Italian leather chair, and almost forfeits his lead. The segment is like a metaphor for choices in a consumer society: plod doggedly on to an established goal and eventual reward, or splurge on immediate pleasures?  

Excerpt from Sale of the Century. Episode 001, 1980. Produced by the Grundy Organisation. NFSA title: 4118.

 

Women on 'Sale'

The role of the female co-host was aligned closely with the models. She was kissed and touched repeatedly by the host, dressed glamorously, and asked to show off the products by embedding herself in the various display tableaux. Nicolls had her own way of dealing with the scrutiny. When she was asked to audition in a swimsuit, she wore an Edwardian-style neck-to-knee number and a frilly swimming cap. 'Sale wasn't easy at the beginning,’ she told the Women’s Weekly. ‘It was difficult to be myself on the screen, so I took the fun side of my personality and extended it and created this zany character.’ Tony Barber loved it: ‘They paraded all sorts of beauty queens and models in front of me, but Victoria just had that terrific personality.’ She left after two years to return to acting.  

Even in the 1990s, the female hosts were subject to intense scrutiny and judgement. In 1997, there was an uproar when Nicky Buckley appeared on the show visibly pregnant. She found the fuss absurd: ‘Honestly, I was a working woman who had a mortgage. I didn't see why I couldn't work when I was pregnant when everyone else could if they had a desk job.’ 

 

Famous faces

This is the first spin of another regular segment, the Famous Faces board, featuring various celebrities from Cheryl Ladd to Lorraine Bailey. As she presents the board, listing the celebrities, Nicolls is already developing the ‘zany’ presentation style that would shape her on-screen persona.  

Grant, the first episode’s eventual winner, gets a chance to win 25 bonus points after correctly answering a ‘Who Am I?’ question. He chooses Gough Whitlam – but the points were behind Johnny Farnham, and Grant makes no attempt to disguise his disappointment at winning a couple of beer steins. The suspense of watching contestants go on a rollercoaster of skill and fortune was key to the show’s long-lived appeal.  

Sale of the Century stands as a peak moment of aspirational consumption, a glitzy hive of shiny cars, shiny jewellery and shiny-eyed dreams. Happy birthday, Sale – let’s go shopping!   

Excerpt from Sale Of The Century. Episode 001, 1980. Produced by the Grundy Organisation. NFSA title: 4118.

 

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Main image: Sale of the Century, Series 1 Episode 1, 1980. Produced by the Grundy Organisation and broadcast on the Nine Network. NFSA title ID: 4118

1980s
game shows
Sale of the Century

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