Aarne neeme biography of christopher

Neeme in small-screen return

When acclaimed theatre director Aarne Neeme left Perth in 1992 he had no idea that he would one day take Australian TV back 40-odd years.

But that is what he has just done, directing the first live-to-air hour of TV drama since Australian networks began using videotape.

The special episode of Blue Heelers, broadcast to an audience of 1.6 million viewers on April 21, was a merging of two worlds for 59-year-old Neeme, who made the move to directing for TV just three years ago.

"In one way this episode was closer to theatre in that we had actors rehearsing for five days and then performing with the camera as the audience on the sixth," says Neeme.

Neeme made his name as a theatre director in Perth from the 1970s when he came from Sydney to work with the old National Theatre at the Playhouse and as resident director for the Octagon Theatre at the University of WA.

He was also head of drama at the WA Academy of Performing Arts f