CHANNEL Seven's upcoming Not the Boy Next Door series about Peter Allen is being touted as one of the big hits of the year.
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For the people of Tenterfield, Armidale and Allen’s surviving family members, it will mean much more.
Recognition for one of Australia's greatest cultural exports, a man famed just as much for his high kicks and showbiz hits as he was for the dark personal tragedies he shared with the world through songs like Tenterfield Saddler.
A first look at the glittering biopic, Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door teased audiences on Wednesday night.
The show will re-introduce the late, great Australian showman to a new generation of fans.
The TV story tracks “how a boy from the bush became a superstar and conquered the world” and will air on Sunday, September 13 and September 20 at 8.30pm.
Dying from AIDS-related throat cancer in 1992, the openly-gay entertainer’s life is the classic rags-to-riches tale, with a soundtrack of his greatest hits including Rio, Tenterfield Saddler and the iconic I Still Call Australia Home.
Seven’s programming boss Angus Ross described the telemovie as “an acting tour de force’’.
Peter moved to Armidale from Tenterfield when he was just six weeks old.
Armidale was where his mother Marion's family, the Davidsons, lived, and was the town where he grew up, not Tenterfield where his father's family, the Woolnoughs, were.
“He really was an amazing little boy, so full of energy - we always knew he was going to be a huge star," Eileen Kelly said.
Eileen’s late mother, Claire Napier, taught Peter how to tap dance and helped him land his first gig in the ladies lounge of the New England Hotel.
“He begged my mother to get a spot there - she had been playing there on weekends.
“But pretty soon it was Peter who was the headline act - she didn't mind, we loved him,” Eileen said.
Shine Australia have followed up with the Allen biopic after having huge success with their INXS: Never Tear Us Apart series in 2012.
“It really is a beautiful and moving production, I think it will resonate with a lot of Australians who remember Peter, but also introduce the man behind so much music to a whole new generation of younger viewers … I think it will be just as successful, if not more so, than INXS," producer Kerrie Mainwaring said.
