Last night, Channel Seven’s move to air the 2018 unauthorised biopic about Olivia Newton-John was met with criticism.
The mini-series was made starring Delta Goodrem, and Seven assumedly aired the show to pay tribute to Olivia Newton-John after the Aussie actress tragically passed away yesterday from breast cancer.
Interestingly, when the mini-series aired in 2018, Newton-John was reportedly not pleased with a show about her life.
Ultimately her daughter spoke about the series on her behalf. According to Women’s Day in 2018, Newtown-John’s only daughter Chloe Lattanzi said: “Finding out a TV miniseries is being made about you without your consent, participation or knowledge is bad enough.
“But poor Mum had to deal with it right in the middle of battling cancer. It made me so angry that additional stress was being put on her at a time when all she really needed to be doing was concentrating all her energy on getting better.”
So, Seven deciding to air the mini-series in tribute to the Newton-John meant some people felt it was the wrong move by the network.
#RIPOliviaNewtonJohn @Channel7 #Australia doesn't want to see @DeltaGoodrem as #OliviaNewtonJohn, you insensitive idiots; we want to see the original music featuring #Olivia #ONJ
— URBAN GEOGRAPHY 🇦🇺🌏🐨 (@BIOGEOPOLITICS) August 9, 2022
https://twitter.com/ObservationsG/status/1556944916877803520
In the haste to put something on tonight Olivia Newton John related, Channel 7 miss the mark with the Olivia biopic starring Delta Goodrem.
I'd rather watch something ACTUALLY starring Olivia, not someone pretending to be her!
— Andy Craig (@Ancray) August 9, 2022
Naturally, some people still felt the mini-series was a fitting tribute to Newton-John.
rewatching the olivia biopic on seven featuring the wonderful delta goodrem is giving the feels.
— Alisha. (@Lisheon) August 9, 2022
Interestingly, Nine’s rerun of Grease starring Newton-John cracked the top 20 programmes last night, according to OzTam. However, Seven’s Olivia mini series failed to make the top 20.
B&T has reached out to Seven for comment.
