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| Evelyn Walters, as played by Marg Downey, in a screenshot from Episode Two. |
Among the varied cast of personalities of the sixteen-time AACTA Award-nominated Australian drama The Newsreader, a character as magnetic as she is divisive holds the reins of power; illustrating the aptitude for potency and social and emotional intelligence women have always had, but; as true of her time and generation, never got the opportunity to exert in a professional setting. Evelyn Walters - the adoring wife of News At Six’s veteran newsreader Geoff Walters (Robert Taylor) - may as well be the unnamed and unseen CEO of the network who is regularly alluded to “upstairs,” as her meddling in the private business of her husband’s workplace is somehow time and time again spot on. Evelyn plays an upper hand in securing her husband’s future in the network with under the table deals, as she has done for many years, and she endeavours to uphold the existing media and workplace power structure which has favoured Geoff for three decades. She precisely identifies who is important and who is unimportant in the commercial television newsroom, and despite his thirty years of service to the network, she notices that her husband is beginning to fall into the category of the latter, with more progressive and camera-friendly contemporaries being primed to readily take his place at the drop of a hat. Despite being a relatively minor character within the ABC’s 1980s period drama, she lets her presence be known, and in some of her scenes she even shifts the focus away from the leading roles; dazzling in her Maggie Tabberer-esque frocks, elaborate jewellery and crisp white blouses with upturned collars, and her performances of equal grandeur.
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| Downey's parody of real Australian journalist Jana Wendt on Fast Forward saw her gain praise from Wendt herself on the accurate portrayal. (Image Source - YouTube) |
But who should bring this eagle-eyed and magnetic media wife to life? Enter Marg Downey; who herself is a media personality and performer of the time. In the real 1986, she was entertaining Australian audiences as a part of The D-Generation, and along with a handful of her fellow performers from the show, went on to write and star in Fast Forward, which would take her presence on our screens into the 1990s. With multiple comedic guest roles since then; such as marriage counsellor Marion in the much-adored cult 2000s classic Kath & Kim and joining the main cast of Foxtel’s original skit program Open Slather in 2015, Evelyn Walters is among her select dips into more ‘serious’ roles. She was seemingly the perfect pick for the role due to her brushes with media spouses and newsreaders of the time; stating in a TV Tonight interview that she had “met at least 20 Evelyns in [her] lifetime;” not only within the television industry, but within her parents’ friendship circles too. Her parody of Australian journalist Jana Wendt on Fast Forward and D-Generation saw her being praised by Wendt herself for her accurate portrayal, and she would share makeup rooms with real newsreaders of the time; like Naomi Robson and Jennifer Keyte. This insider knowledge of the personalities that graced our screens in an era gone by has translated into Evelyn's understanding of her husband’s workplace.
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| "She courts those women's magazines..." |
From when we first meet Evelyn in Episode One, it is evident
that she is Geoff’s first port of call. As he lit a cigarette in his office, he
detailed to Evelyn the trials and dismissal of the network’s star newsreader
Helen Norville (Anna Torv), whose absence on the desk that evening had been
noticed by viewers across Victoria. The captivating and elegant junior to
Geoff’s stately and formal senior, Helen is the decided pick to take the
network news’ reins and steer it into the future. She is young,
camera-friendly, empathetic towards her subjects and with ambitious ideas of
her own to bring previously untold stories to the audience, all with a fanbase
who express concern when she is not on the desk at any given evening; calling
the switchboard to check on the star newsreader’s wellbeing. Evelyn is quick to
put the pieces together; the network will have to announce her departure soon,
otherwise Helen would go to the press. “She courts those women’s magazines,”
Evelyn reminds Geoff. It is simple to her; Geoff must go to his boss immediately
to convince him to drop the idea of a second reader, to not find another “game
show girl” to take Helen’s place, so that the entirety of the audience’s focus
will be solely on Geoff as it once was.
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| "If you or the network mistreat my husband in any way, I can assure you that the public response will be utterly devastating." |
This disdain towards Helen and also the newsroom’s hardened
and ruthless boss Lindsay Cunningham (William McInnes) is further explored as
the season progresses. Helen mentions to Dale (Sam Reid) that “Geoff’s wife
hates [her],” and that if she did not get the dress code to Geoff’s sixtieth
birthday right, that she would never hear the end of it; but, in an equal
measure, the temptation to push the friendship and stir up scandal in her
costar’s spouse is something that seemed all too delicious to the newsreading
star. As Geoff rehearses his speech for his media-charged birthday bash; and
thus, his resignation from the six o'clock bulletin - gently prodded along by
Lindsay - Evelyn overhears it and is bewildered by her husband’s admission that
he no longer wants to be on the desk, but rather in the field. “I’m sorry, when
was this decided?” She questioned him. “The desk doesn’t interest me as much
these days,” Geoff explained. “Every year there’s more and more faff.” This is
news to Evelyn, who was now left confused as to her husband’s sudden change of
heart towards the position he has held for thirty years. It does not take her
too long to figure out who might be responsible for this; confronting Lindsay
at the party, and assuring him that if he or the network mistreated her
husband, the “public response [would] be utterly devastating,” in such a
conviction that Downey’s performance in the moment has been likened to as a
“televisual Lady Macbeth.”
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| "Your second Walkley..." Evelyn proudly tells the family doctor. |
As viewers venture deeper into the series, Geoff’s position
is appearing more and more precarious; especially after a major health scare
which sees the veteran newsreader out of order for at the very least four
months, although realistically, it could be many more than this. Evelyn perhaps
does not realise that her husband might not return back to the state of health
he had before; either that, or she does not want to believe it herself, and the
first thing she does after he has come out of surgery is ring the family’s
choice of paper to release a statement to the media; securing his return to the
desk in July and having this fact on public record indisputably. Her husband
had survived typhoid whilst reporting in Vietnam when he was 43; vomiting on
the side of the road one moment, on air the next. “Your second Walkley,” Evelyn
proudly smiled as the family doctor checked him over. The temporary setback was
rewarded with a shiny trophy to add to his “wall of awards” - Helen motioning
to these in his office nonchalantly in conversation with Dale’s mother Val
(Maude Davey) as she showed her new mother-in-law through the newsroom. If he
could bounce back from typhoid, surely this would not be too different.
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| "Best thing you can do is sit back, and let them fall apart." |
Between cooking dinner and tending to the garden, she
closely watches Helen and Rob Rickards (Stephen Peacocke) with a discerning eye
and is swift to critique their work; noting Rob’s complete lack of
qualifications and Helen’s lack of long held experience - diminishing them to
being nothing but a “game show girl and footy player.” Rob - so it seems - is
to become the second reader should Geoff retire; already having been asked to
do the weekend bulletin, and the fact that “[the network] has been grooming him
for years,” - working on his speech, fixing up his teeth and suiting him up in
a smart new wardrobe to grace the screens. “It wouldn’t be Rob!” Geoff scoffed.
“Of course it’ll be Rob!” Evelyn exasperates. How can Geoff not see this? In
Geoff’s absence and in the midst of a media controversy storm from a divisive
story about a mother and her children contracting HIV from a blood transfusion,
Evelyn invites Geoff to “sit back, and let them fall apart.” The media fall out
without Geoff’s presence on the desk is a credit to him, in Evelyn’s eyes.
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| "Darling, I love you. I'm asking you to stay." |
Evelyn, however, would not be following through on her advice to Geoff. Sitting back would not be an option for her. Discussing with her friend Dee at hairdressing appointments who very conveniently always appears to have comments to suit her arguments, she hints to Geoff of other potential media vacancies that seem to have his name written on them, and as Geoff’s ailing health finally dawns on her, calls Lindsay to a meeting to negotiate a rather unmovable and lavish severance package; all whilst leaving him to foot the bill of their three course meal. The outcome of said underhanded deal has undesired results, and the consequences of Evelyn’s involvement dawns on her at the conclusion of the series; causing her to burst into a desperate plea to her husband to acknowledge that he could be doing better, and to argue that if she had not meddled in his private business, that he would have lost his position years ago. Their best years are ahead of them, but they would only be as such if he had listened to her and advocated far more firmly for himself.
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| Evelyn Walters - a "masterclass of calculation and passive aggression and faux vulnerability." |
Evelyn has been received with mixed reactions by viewers worldwide. Taking on an almost ice-queen like stance, critics and viewers alike have labelled her “manipulative”, “calculated”, “horribly good”, “cold-blooded”, “malevolent”, and - translating from a Portuguese response on Universal TV Brazil’s Twitter page - a “snake woman.” Michael Lucas; the series writer and creator, has credited Downey’s performance as a “masterclass of calculation and passive aggression and faux vulnerability;” a countenance that Evelyn possesses throughout the entire series. Whilst her attitudes towards Helen and Rob have angered fans of these two characters, and her views on LGBT+ people in Episode Five perceived as reprehensible and unacceptable by modern standards, as well as standing by her husband’s equally unfavourable stance and callous treatment of a HIV-affected gay couple on air, Downey commented in the TV Tonight interview that Evelyn is “multi-layered”; “fiercely loyal and loves her husband.” Would it be disloyal of her to not advocate for her husband in any way she can?
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| "Evie let your hair hang down." |
Downey welcomed discussion from News At Six 1986,
wanting to help viewers understand her character better. Was this evident
visceral reaction from audiences what she expected would occur upon them ‘meeting’
Evelyn on their screens? “I can understand why many people disliked Evelyn,”
Downey acknowledged. “Some felt that she was manipulative and only interested
in clinging to the privileged lifestyle she’s become accustomed to.” Downey
certainly recognises what is at stake for Evelyn should Geoff lose his public
profile. Evelyn is known for hosting media-spangled parties at the couple’s
lavish Hawthorn East home; mingling with members of the press gallery and
considering them close friends. She is used to her and Geoff being recognised
everywhere in public; so much so that she tells Lindsay, “[Geoff] avoids open
streets now, the public love for him is simply that fierce,” and the couple
tacks on holidays to Geoff’s travels for work, namely during the last
non-ratings period which was consumed by specials. With the wedding of Prince Andrew
and Duchess Sarah Ferguson on the horizon for that upcoming July, no doubt that
Evelyn would enjoy that as an opportunity to visit the UK too, as her husband
brings the royal affair to Australian screens.
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| "I felt as thought she also had her husband's best interests in mind," Downey explained to News At Six 1986. |
However, as we discover with various other characters in the
program, Evelyn does not fall into a stereotypical nefarious or avaricious
image; a credit to Downey’s portrayal and the careful scripting from the
writers. There was more to this media wife that Downey wanted us viewers to
take away from her character, as she detailed to me. “I felt as though she also
had her husband’s best interests in mind,” Downey explained. “She could see
that after years of service Lindsay was very ready to shaft him.” Indeed
Lindsay was - the push for Geoff to reconsider his position was certainly not
subtle throughout the show, so much so that even the knock-about Rob was able
to pick up on this as he saw his own presence on the desk elevated. This put
Evelyn at the forefront for advocating for her husband, especially considering
it seemed as though no one else was going to; not even Geoff himself. “Her
husband needed to be protected,” Downey elucidated. “Geoff was neglecting his
health and making some rather rash decisions.” From brushing off heart attack
symptoms as that of a reaction to the previous night’s dinner, insisting on
going into work to help report the developing Russell Street bombing after
having vomited the night before; refusing to even allow his wife to drive him
to and from work when he was clearly under the weather, and gloating proudly
about his health struggles in war torn Vietnam as a younger man, Geoff wears
his stoicism and ability to soldier on as a badge of honour, and any
insinuation of fragility on his part is quickly dismissed.
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| "I felt that she was the perfect person to counteract his [Lindsay's] ruthlessness." Downey deduced. |
In the same way as his wife and doctor insist on making long-term lifestyle changes to assist the veteran reporter’s recovery despite his protests, Lindsay also looks to exploit these struggles in equal measure; not even a month after Geoff’s heart bypass, already offering his position to Rob and Dale, and despite having just as much an equal hand in the decision, is quick to turn the blame back on Evelyn; threatening that if Geoff went to the press about his dismissal, there would be no golden handshake, and that he would reveal to the public that the decision “had the full support of his family.” Evelyn is horrified and enraged about Lindsay’s lack of personal accountability for the situation the network and family was about to find themselves in. “I doubt we will be speaking much in the future, Lindsay,” Evelyn seethed through the telephone. “But allow me to say that you are a spineless man and a pathetic leader.” The rage flared up in the portly news director’s face, and he unceremoniously and shakily placed the phone back down, ostensively not used to being called out in such a fashion. It’s this advocacy and ability to tell things the way they are that sees Evelyn subdue her husband’s employer - something that not even Geoff’s coworkers had been able to do; Helen getting her HIV story across the line being one notable exception, and office personal assistant Jean (Caroline Lee) being on top of Lindsay’s decisions before he has vocalised these being the the other. “I felt that she [Evelyn] was the perfect person to counteract his ruthlessness.” Downey deduced.
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| Geoff's "wall of awards," seen in Episode Four. Can you spot his Walkley Awards, and a photo of a potential child or grandchild? |
The Newsreader has been praised for its subtle and ambiguous approach to characterisation; not all is as it seems when it comes to who the characters are, allowing them to be fully-fledged and believable to audiences. Evelyn Walters has been no exception to this, and we can only hope that we will step further into the world of the Walters as Season Two goes into production. The Newsreader is available to stream in its entirety on ABC iView in Australia, and various other platforms internationally.
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| Downey's cartoon character Gene, who can be found on Instagram. |
Thank you to Marg Downey for taking the time to respond to News At Six 1986’s questions, and helping build this profile of her character for Newsreader fans across the globe to learn from. Downey will be re-assuming her role in the upcoming Season Two, but in the meantime, delight yourself in her cartoon character Gene, who can be found at Life With Gene on Instagram. Can you solve Gene’s weekly puzzles?
~ Erin, for News At Six 1986
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Real History Links
Marg Downey Interview by TV Tonight
Maggie Tabberer - Harry M Miller Group
60 Minutes Interview featuring Marg Downey - YouTube
Downey as Helen Clark in Open Slather - YouTube
Neil Davis (Australian War Correspondent in Vietnam) - Australian Media Hall of Fame
