Kris Noble

Career Australian Broadcasting Corporation Noble's time at the ABC included working as a director on Countdown.

In September 1984, Noble was appointed as producer and director of second series of Australia You're Standing In It succeeding John Eastway.

When a sequel to the satirical ABC program The Gillies Report called The Gillies Republic was aired in 1986, Noble was appointed as an associate producer on the show. After Noble developed a pilot episode of The D-Generation for the ABC, two series of the program were produced which were met with critical acclaim.

In September 1987, the ABC debuted a new live Saturday morning youth program called The Factory hosted by Alex Papps and Andrew Daddo. Just days before its first airing, the program's executive producer Grant Rule resigned with Noble urgently brought in as a replacement.

In late 1987, Noble developed a pilot for comedian Gerry Connolly under the working title Are We To Be Spared Nothing?. Just like how he had first seen the members of The D-Generation, Noble had also seen Connolly perform at The Last Laugh in Melbourne and saw potential in Connolly's comic talent, impressed with his ability to ad-lib.

While at Seven, Noble also produced and directed a series of comedy specials in 1988 featuring Irishman Dave Allen as well as the John Farnham concert special Classic Jack in 1989 which saw Farnham perform with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Nine Network Arrival at Nine In 1989, Noble began his lengthy tenure with the Nine Network.

He was appointed as the executive producer of the new home video clip series Graham Kennedy's Funniest Home Video Show in 1990, hosted by Australian television veteran Graham Kennedy. Notorious for his temper and for sending faxes, Kennedy's first fax relating to the program sent to Channel 9 was addressed to Noble. Noble was reported as saying: "If we see that a child, adult, or animal has been put in danger we will not hesitate to report them. We've had one bad video where a child was throwing a cat. We were horrified by it and sent a letter and the video back." Although the taping of the show was relocated to Brisbane, Noble continued on as executive producer flying to Brisbane for the tapings.

Head of Drama appointment After his workload at Nine had expanded to overseeing All Together Now, game show Cluedo, drama The Flying Doctors, controversial soap opera Chances as well as another sitcom called My Two Wives, Noble was appointed as Nine's head of drama in 1992.

His appointment came at a time when the network hadn't produced many successful drama series for some time with the exception of The Flying Doctors. All programs had some degree of success, with the exception of Paradise Beach which struggled in the ratings and was almost universally panned by television critics.

As head of drama, Noble saw the network's fortunes regarding commissioning successful drama series gradually turn throughout the 1990s with Halifax f.p, Water Rats, Twisted Tales, Good Guys, Bad Guys, Murder Call and Stingers as well as children's fantasy drama Spellbinder all among the show's considered successful for the network under Noble's supervision.

Noble was protective of the network's drama offerings, going as far as writing a letter to the editor in 1996 in response to a reader's accusations of racism in Water Rats.

After the failure of Paradise Beach, Noble seemed to be reluctant to consider any further soap operas for Nine and openly criticised the genre in 1995, declaring "The soapie is dead. People don't have time for ongoing storylines - they get home later, the pace of living is faster, there's more competitions from videos and movies. People miss a few episodes in a series and they can't be bothered catching up." Despite this, Nine commissioned soap opera Pacific Drive which began airing on Nine the following year.

International success In 1997, it was reported that the Nine Network and Britain's Whale Productions were filming the miniseries Moby Dick in Port Phillip Bay, with a cast including Patrick Stewart, Gregory Peck, Henry Thomas and Bruce Spence. Noble was impressed with the production quality stating "All the effects look great - everything is so real... People won't know where the location is and who is behind it. They will think because it is so good that it has been made in Hollywood." It received three nominations at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1998. Moby Dick was nominated for Outstanding Miniseries (losing to From the Earth to the Moon, Patrick Stewart was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie (losing to Gary Sinise) and Gregory Peck was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (losing to George C. Scott).

Noble was named as one of the senior production staff in the Outstanding Miniseries nomination along with Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Fuchs, Robert Halmi Sr., Steve McGlothen and Franc Roddam.

In 1998, a new films and television unit was launched at the Nine Network. The unit's first project was the ambitious 22-episode space adventure Farscape, created by Rockne S. O'Bannon, which was produced in association with The Jim Henson Company. It also led to a Farscape convention in California. The 2004 miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars was produced to conclude the show following the sudden cancellation of the series by the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002.

Criticism of the ABA The scheduling of Nine's soap Pacific Drive was a sore point for Noble, who saw its potential to be a suitable afternoon drama to complement the network's American soaps, Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless. This prompted Noble to attack the Australian Broadcasting Authority for their refusal to consider a local daytime drama eligible for local drama quota points which is usually reserved for programs between 5pm and midnight.

Pacific Drive was later moved to an afternoon timeslot, despite being the show not being able earn Nine any local drama quota points. Nine temporarily stopped production of the soap in 1997 to clear a backlog episodes which were not able to air due to the network's live cricket coverage. Hodson's daughter Carole Barns criticised the way her father was portrayed in the movie and for the way it had portrayed Ryan, played by Richard Roxburgh, as a "likeable larrikan". He said Barnes' father was indeed an unsung and forgotten hero. Despite it being surplus to the network's quota of children's programming, the network accepted the submission with Noble surprised at how quickly his idea got through. Rural drama McLeod's Daughters was one of the final successful series that he oversaw at the network. His departure came after the failure of Young Lions, created by Michael Jenkins and starring Alex Dimitriades. Despite the show being short lived, it caused conflict between the networks after Nine personality Sam Newman appeared on the show reportedly as part of deal which would have seen Effie appear on Nine's equally short-lived Micallef Tonight.

In 2014, Noble was credited as an executive producer of a medical infotainment series called Save Your Life Tonight hosted by Andrew Daddo with whom Noble had worked with on The Factory in the 1980s. Produced by Queensland production company Wild Fury for ABC TV, Save Your Life Tonight was filmed in late 2013 in the Edwin Tooth Auditorium at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital and commenced airing on 14 December 2014.

Noble has since retired from the television industry.

Views Noble defended commercial free-to-air television in 1994 and said that viewers had been so conditioned to commercial breaks that they tended to miss them if there weren't any. He also said that there was no need for subscription television in Australia because "we have the best free-to-air television in the world. The range is enormous. It caters for everybody."

Speaking in 1995, Noble attributed the criticism Nine faced for producing Chances is that Australian society had higher expectations regarding the portrayal of women in the media compared the earlier era of Australian television which saw soap operas The Box and Number 96 become notorious for sex and nudity. He stated: "I think society has changed to a point where you can't put a sex scene at the beginning of a program and then expect high ratings - look at the backlash we had with Chances. I think generally in society that kind of thing is very uncool now. We are more concerned about how women are portrayed - you don't see the token blonde with big tits anymore. Issues of sex and violence, and the effect TV has on people generally, let alone children, is at the forefront of people's minds, and programmers are more sensitive to those issues." Despite receiving some complaints from viewers about having a gay character in Water Rats, Noble said the complaints wouldn't stop the network from adding gay characters to other series, stating: "The complaints won't stop us as long as it's done correctly and we are not trying to sensationalise gay people or vilify them... We'll do it more as people get used to it, but it will take a bit of time."

Filmography Film Title Year Credited as Notes ExecutiveProducer Dirty Deeds 2002 Gettin' Square 2003 Southern Cross 2004 Under the Radar 2004

Television Title Year Credited as Network Notes Producer ExecutiveProducer Australia You're Standing In It 1984 ABC TV Producer and director The D-Generation 1986–87 Producer and director All Together Now 1991–93 Nine Network Paradise Beach 1993–94 Snowy 1993 The Bob Morrison Show 1994 Singapore Sling 1994 Television film Halifax f.p. 1994–2002 The Feds: Obsession 1994 Television film The Feds: Suspect 1995 Television film The Feds: Deception 1995 Television film Singapore Sling: Road to Mandalay 1995 Television film The Feds: Abduction 1995 Television film Singapore Sling: Midnight Orchid 1995 Television film Glad Rags 1995 The Feds: Seduction 1995 Television film Singapore Sling: Old Flames 1995 Television film The Feds: Terror 1995 Television film Spellbinder 1995 Us and Them 1995 The Feds: Vengeance 1995 Television film Water Rats 1996–2001 Co-executive producer The Feds: Betrayal 1996 Television film The Feds: Deadfall 1996 Television film Twisted Tales 1996–98 One Way Ticket 1997 Television film Reprisal 1997 Television film Good Guys Bad Guys: Only the Young Die Good 1997 Nine Network Television film The Last of the Ryans 1997 Television film Good Guys, Bad Guys 1997–98 Murder Call 1997–2000 Co-executive producer Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord 1997 Moby Dick 1998 USA Network Miniseries Skippy: Adventures in Bushtown 1998–99 Nine Network Network executive producer Stingers 1998–2002 Executive producer The Violent Earth 1998 Miniseries Without Warning 1999 Television film Farscape 1999–2000 Nine Network Executive producer Hi-5 1999–2002 Executive producer Journey to the Center of the Earth 1999 USA Network Miniseries Dogwoman: Dead Dog Walking 2000 Nine Network Television film Dogwoman: The Legend of Dogwoman 2000 Television film Waiting at the Royal 2000 Television film Dogwoman: A Grrrl's Best Friend 2000 Television film Cushion Kids 2001 Flat Chat 2001 Outriders 2001 McLeod's Daughters 2001–03 Executive producer Escape of the Artful Dodger 2001 Tanya and Floyd 2002 Television film Kangaroo Creek Gang 2002 Nine Network Co-executive producer Seconds to Spare 2002 Television film Young Lions 2002 Don't Blame Me 2002 Greeks on the Roof 2003 Seven Network The Postcard Bandit 2003 Nine Network Television film Snobs 2003 Big Brother 2005–07 Network 10 Executive producer , co-executive producer Save Your Life Tonight 2014 ABC TV