AustLit

'Patricia Edgar has been named one of the ten most influential people in the development of Australian television production. Her candid memoir is a provocative insider's look at the television industry and its politics over 30 years. Dr Edgar was the first Australian woman appointed to a national role in television regulation. As a policy maker and regulator, she fought for more locally produced, first-release children's drama on Australian television. Her take-no-prisoners style won her great fans but also made her bitter enemies, particularly inside the commercial networks and the ABC.

In the early 1980s she helped establish the Australian Children's Television Foundation. For 20 years as its founding director, Dr Edgar spearheaded the creation of a celebrated canon of children's television programs, including Round the Twist, which sold into more than 100 countries. Her work brought her into close contact—and in some cases, conflict—with the likes of Bruce Gyngell, Janet and Robert Holmes à Court, Phillip Adams, Paddy Conroy, Simon Townsend, Jennifer Byrne, Galarrwuy and Mandawuy Yunupingu, Bob Ellis, Paul Jennings, and overseas with senior executives from the BBC and Disney. Bloodbath also tells Patricia Edgar's own story—of how a young girl from Mildura became a leading innovator in children's television, and a voice to be reckoned with in a tough business. In the fiftieth year of Australian television, this is the media memoir of the year.'

Source: Author's Website (Sighted 16/3/11)