Hey Hey presenter Daryl Somers should step aside for someone younger when the show returns, fellow Nine veteran Ray Martin has suggested to Mumbrella.
Nine has this week been carrying out a series of industry briefings on its plans for the coming TV season.
And on Tuesday in Melbourne, Nine boss Jeffrey Browne dropped the heaviest hint yet that Hey Hey is to return as a regular series. The move was also signaled at an industry briefing in Brisbane.
The decision by Nine comes after the two-part Hey Hey Reunion, fronted by Somers, delivered ratings to the network of well over 2m. However, it also drew controversy over a Jackson Five spoof that saw five doctors black up.
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In an interview for The Mumbo Report to promote his new book, Martin said:
“Hey Hey would work every Saturday night. You’d have to revamp it and maybe Daryl ought to pass on the baton to someone younger.”
Martin also told of the Nine gossip that Somers insisted on having the largest dressing room at the network – with Graham Kennedy’s and Bert Newton’s knocked together. He said: “Legend has it that finally when Daryl was the king of television, which he was for a long time, that he encompassed both Graham’s old dressing room and Bert’s – and this was only for three hours a week.”