TV TIMES December 30, 1978

Peter's the new TV heart-throb

Peter Lochran's first acting job has turned him into one of TV's newest heart-throbs.

The 23-year old with the John Travolta eyes and the sculptured face is receiving bags of fan mail from all over Australia. Reg Grundy Productions, which produces The Young Doctors, in which Lochran appears as Dr Peter Holland, has been caught on the hop by sudden requests for photos of Lochran. But the actor himself is level-headed about the situation. He said "It's a reaction to the fact that I am on TV. If I left the show within three months nobody would know me."

Lochran admits that he is no threat to Sir Laurence Olivier. In fact, he was hesitant about accepting The Young Doctors role when it was offered. A highly successful model, Lochran has enjoyed the comfortable lifestyle his earnings have permitted. But his work on The Young Doctors means that he is no longer available for as many modelling assignments. He said: "But I don't even think about the loss of money. Sure, I feel the odd twinge of regret when I can't take the big jobs - like the one last week which was in the US, with a week's work for $600 and an open return ticket. But in the long run, I feel I'm doing better by moving in a different direction, learning new skills in a new industry."

"I've been lucky in that everything I've done so far has come easily. My first job on a Melbourne radio station and part-time modelling, for instance. When I decided to do full-time modelling, my agent suggested I go to Sydney, where there was a greater volume of work. And in Sydney I was asked to audition for TV - I auditioned for The Restless Years, did a longer audition, and was cast in The Young Doctors. And I'm enjoying it all very much at the moment."

So far, Lochran has attended a workshop on voice production. He has found the results immediately rewarding. "I'm able to project my voice without shouting." He plans to attend further workshop sessions as his work on The Young Doctors allows. "I've learned so much in just a few months. But I'm still self-conscious enough to cringe at some aspects of my performance, because now in my head I can see what it should be, and isn't yet. A few months ago I didn't even have that ability."

Lochran has found that as he has become accustomed to working in the serial, his ability to learn his part has expanded. "When I started, I agonised for two days, learning two 30-second sequences, and even then I forgot my lines. Now I find that it is not difficult to learn my part for up to 12 scenes a day. Of course, it's all rather like cramming for exams, I forget my lines as soon as they're recorded. If we have to go back and re-record a scene we've already done, I have to learn my lines all over again."

Reg Grundy Productions is confident that Lochran will continue to acquire the necessary skills for TV work. The part of Dr Peter Holland is being built up and viewers will see a lot more of him in 1979. Sue Jolley

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