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Geoff Paine

Today I'm going to learn about Geoff Paine. He portrayed Clive Gibbons on Neighbours...I think in the late 1980's.

I also hope to learn a bit about Clive Gibbons.  I'm not able to watch the show anymore, and I'm wondering what happened to him.

Before I left Ramsey Street, Clive was struggling with pressure from family (or a friend?) to go back to his medical career. Clive was a doctor, but for some reason he quit that profession. Then he worked as a landscaper. Or he pretended to work. He was kind of lazy about the whole thing. Then he went into this business where he relayed messages to people—kind of like a version of a singing telegram. Maybe? I'm not sure how else to describe it.

I liked Clive, though. He had a fun sort of energy about him. He was one of my favorite characters on the show.

So...now I shall start my learning.  I'm going to begin with IMDb.

The only thing biographical on IMDB's bio page about Geoff Paine is that he's 5 ft 11 inches (1.8 metres).

I'm not good at judging people's height. I thought David Tennant was a short guy. I don't know why. Then I found out he was 6 feet.  Well...actually. I just looked. He's an inch above that.

Smart people look at someone on TV and compare them to the other actors to get a sense of height. My brain fails to do that usually.

You know what. I'm watching House Husbands in between working on this post. I'm going to pay attention to how tall and short everybody is.

Now I'm going to look at the Geoff Paine's filmography.  It's much longer than I expected. And here I thought I was going to have an easy blogging day!

Paine has been in a lot of things besides Neighbours. Like usual, though, I will be skipping one time appearances on TV shows, unless it's a show I've watched. And I will be skipping movies in which I can't find much information.

So...let's begin.

It looks like Paine's first screen thing was actually Neighbours.  He played Clive Gibbons in 172 episodes between 1986 and 1989. I actually didn't see the beginnings of Clive Gibbons. The person who uploaded the old episodes to YouTube was a bit sporadic. So I would be watching the show, and suddenly find that many episodes were missing.  It felt like I was jumping through time. One day there was no Clive, and then the next day he was there...along with several other characters that were new to me.

I'm going to see what The Perfect Blend site has to say about Clive.

They call him eccentric. That's a pretty good way to describe him.

When Clive first came to Ramsey Street, Max Ramsey didn't like him. Yeah, but Max Ramsey rarely liked anyone. Well, that's probably an exaggeration. But I do remember him giving Daphne a really hard time.

Ah! Now I get the answer to why Clive quit medicine. He made a medical error that resulted in the death of his girlfriend. Yeah. I wouldn't blame him for quitting after that.

Lately I've been thinking about doctors and their errors. I feel some people are too forgiving when doctors make horrible errors.  There's that whole attitude, well, everyone makes mistakes.  Oops.

I'm okay with doctors making human errors.—like accidentally giving a patient the wrong medicine. I mean I'm not okay with it. But I understand it. Humans make errors like that. I think the doctor should feel guilty, and they should really work hard not to make these mistakes. But I get it.

What I think is unforgivable is when doctors make mistakes from being cocky. An example would be someone having horrible stomach pains. They believe they have appendicitis. The nurse believes the patient has appendicitis. The doctor refuses to consider the possibility. Then....

You know what. I thought of a better example.  It was in the book and movie Alex: the Life of a Child.  Alex is in the hospital because she has Cystic Fibrosis. Her lung collapses. She knows it's collapsed, because this has happened to her before. The nurses believe her. The doctor doesn't. He dismisses her concerns, which results in Alex enduring even more pain than necessary. Later, when the doctor learns he's wrong, he's very casual about the whole thing. He's not too bothered. Yes, he made a mistake. But no one died. No big deal.  That doctor was an asshole, and I think people like that should lose their job.

If Clive killed his girlfriend because he was an asshole doctor; then it's good he didn't go back to medicine. I don't even think he should consider it. If he accidentally caused her death because his hand slipped and he cut the wrong artery...something like that. Or he misread her medical chart and gave the wrong medicine.  Freak stuff like that is very unfortunate. But it happens to everyone.  As long as it doesn't happen repeatedly and the doctor is usually wonderful at their job, I think it would be tragic to lose them in the medical field.

I should get back to Clive's story.

It was Clive's brother who came to Ramsey Street to convince Clive to return to medicine. He didn't know about the girlfriend dying, and finally Clive told him. I guess opening up helped, because then he did return to medicine.

After that, Clive met a woman named Susan. She and her baby needed a place to stay, so Clive let them move in with him. He fell in love with Susan, but Susan had feelings for someone else. Oh! It was Paul Robinson. Yikes.

Oh...this gets sad.

Paul rejected Susan, so she decided to settle for Clive. He was happy, but then Susan decided she couldn't go through with it. She left him. Clive got really depressed. Poor Clive.

He picked up the pieces, though, and he left Ramsey Street. That was in 1987. In 1989, Paine returned to the show for a few weeks.  So Clive was back on Ramsey Street.

Then....

In the end, Clive Gibbons went to do medical stuff in the outback.

I'm looking more closely at IMDb now. Paine's last episode in 1987 was on February 27. Then he returned on September 6, 1989.  So he was gone for about 2.5 years.

Now I'll look at the rest of the filmography.

In 1987, Paine appeared in six episodes of The D Generation. I think that was a variety show.

Yeah. Lord Wiki confirms that.

Paine was in all the episodes of season 2.

From 1987-1989, Paine appeared on A Country Practice as Jeff Ryan. He was in six episodes.

According to this Australian Television website, Jeff Ryan was a football star who got himself injured. So on one show, Paine played someone who is a doctor, and on another show, he played someone who NEEDS a doctor. That's actually a stupid thing to say, though.  In real life, doctors end up being people who need doctors.  Clive Gibbons might have been able to perform an emergency tracheotomy on young Lucy, but he wouldn't have been able to do one on himself. Or at least...it's unlikely.

Here we go. A man in Omaha saved his own life by performing his own tracheotomy. Wow. That is damn impressive.

Anyway...back to Jeff and Geoff.  Jeff got married to a girl named Jill. I guess she was one of the main characters?

No. Wait. She was part of the guest cast too.

Anyway...I'm going to move on to the next thing.

In 1989, Paine appeared in two episodes of The Gerry Connolly show.  This was another sketch comedy thing. I'm guessing Paine was good at that.

Now I'm seeing that most of the stuff on Paine's filmography is one time appearances on various TV shows. So this won't take me long after all...at least not the filmography part.

It looks like maybe Paine tried to get work in the US. In 1989, he appeared on Mission Impossible. Although it could have been filmed in Australia. I'll look.

Well...yes. It was filmed in Queensland. At least this particular episode.  So Paine didn't do what I imagined.

What I saw was that he was in an American show and then there was a gap in his filmography. I thought maybe he struggled in America for awhile, and ended up getting only one job.

In 1996, Paine was in four episodes of Blue Heelers. He played a guy named Roman Kellerman.

The episodes are on YouTube. I'll see if I can find Paine in one.

There's a guy here, 5:10, who MIGHT be Paine. He looks very different, but there might be a resemblance. It's just that he has dark hair instead of Clive Gibbon's red.  I'll keep watching to see if there's anyone who looks more like Paine.

There's another guy at the end of the episode who might be Paine. He appears at 41:23.

I'm really not sure. I'm going to look at another episode.

Maybe that's him at 3:53?

I really have no idea.

I'm so lost.

It's just that so far, there's no one with an obvious resemblance to Geoff Paine. But maybe the guy at 3:53 is close enough?

I'm giving up.

But you know what. The woman from Blue Heelers looks so familar to me.  I'll have to see if I've see her in anything lately.

She's....

Tasma Walton. She's married to Rove McManus.  And I saw her in The Secret Life of Us. She played the ex-girlfriend of Joel Edgerton.

In 1997, Paine appeared in a TV movie called Kangaroo Palace.  Lord Wiki lists several actors in the movie and Paine isn't one of them; so I'm guessing his role in the film was quite small.

In 1999, Paine appeared in The Craic.  Lord Wiki doesn't mention Paine here either, so again I'm guessing the role was small.

But I'm going to watch the trailer—see if, by chance, I can spot him.

Even if he's there, I doubt I'll see him. I couldn't manage to find him in Blue Heelers. Why should this trailer be any different?

I feel like a failure today.

Wait! I think I saw him!  MAYBE that's him at 2:02.  I think it is. And he has red hair...like Clive.

The red hair is helpful.

I didn't see anyone with red hair on Blue Heelers.

Also in 1999, Paine appeared in three episodes of The Mick Molloy. I think this is another sketch comedy.

Paine was in the first episode, and that episode is on YouTube. I might be able to find him, because IMDb specifies that he's a photographer in the sketch "How Delightful". Having that information might be helpful.

It's a long episode,though—almost 2 hours. It's going to be slow to load. I'll look at other stuff while that's happening.

In 2000, Paine was in the movie The Wog Boy. I think this was another case where he had a small role. But I'll see if I can see him the trailer.

No, I didn't see him. And I didn't recognize Abi Tucker until the announcer person mentioned her name.

I found the Mick Molloy sketch with Paine. It starts at 1:03. It's a pretty short scene.

In 2006, Paine did yet another sketch comedy show. This was called The Wedge.

From reading this post, one might think that Paine's career consisted of Neighbours and sketch comedy, but remember I'm skipping a lot of other TV shows in which he appeared just one time. And some of those were dramas.

In 2008, Paine was in eight episodes of Very Small Businesses. I think that's on Hulu, actually, and on my to-watch list.

Here's a trailer for that. Maybe I'll see Paine.

I didn't see him. Or at least I didn't see anyone with red hair. If he was there with a different color of hair, I missed it. Sorry.

In 2010, Paine was in the movie The Wedding Party.  Here's the trailer for that.

I see Paine! And he doesn't even have red hair. It's light brown. But I managed to recognize his face this time. He's at :08, and again at :44. Plus, his name is shown in the trailer.

Paine was in a short film called Pisces, Arise. I found it on YouTube, but it took me awhile to figure out if it was the right film or not. I kind of skipped through, and I saw Paine. Maybe I'll watch the whole movie later. If I decide not to...while I'm here, let me just say he first appears at 1:26. Or at least I think that's him. I'm not 100% sure.

In 2011, Paine starred in the show Mal.Com. He had the title role. So that's a pretty big deal.

Lord Wiki says it's a children's show on the ABC. Malcolm is the host of a television show, and he happens to be a robot.  The ABC website has a picture of the show, and some information.

It looks cute; kind of reminds me of Small Wonderthat 1980's show where the daughter was a robot.

The most recent thing on Paine's filmography is a show called Be a Man. Paine is the star. But I can't find anything about the show. Maybe it hasn't been released yet.

So I'm done with the filmography. I think the first next thing I'll do is read this interview on The Perfect Blend (Neighbours) website I saw it when I was reading the biography page of Clive Gibbons.

The interview is from 2003.

Paine says before Neighbours he was in acting school.

He says the show started becoming popular in the UK just when he was leaving.  That kind of sucks for him. I didn't realize it took a few years for it to gain popularity.

Paine is asked about his favorite work on the show. He says it's when he played piano for Myra De Groot. I remember that!  On the show, she sang really bad. It was funny. Paine says in reality, she's a good singer.

Paine says the reason he returned in 1989, was there was going to be a Neighbours spin off called City Hospital. I guess Clive Gibbons was going to be one of the characters. But it didn't work out.

Paine says he doesn't really keep in touch with any of his Neighbours co-stars; and when asked if he'd return, he gives a simple No.  That's too bad. It's a happier story when actors do keep in touch with their castmates, and they do want to return to the show.

Here's a 2011 article about Paine.

From what it says, I get the idea Paine didn't like Neighbours because Clive was too good...too nice. Paine says, He was a real nice guy.' At one point he even played the church organ. That's when I realised I had to get out.

Well, I LIKED that Clive was nice.

I like nice people.

But maybe it's boring playing them on TV. Or at least boring for some actors.

I personally don't feel Clive was boring-nice, though...or too nice. He was wacky. Or as The Perfect Blend says: he was eccentric.

The article is mostly about the fact that Paine hit his neighbour.

The neighbours were being loud at 2:00 in the morning. Paine went over there. They argued, and Paine head-butted him. Then he had to take an anger-management class.

The anger-management class was a one day thing, and there were things there that annoyed Paine—Such as people revealing too much to strangers and the idea that problems can be solved in a one day class.

Paine turned his experiences into a play called Unpack This.

Yesterday one of the characters on House Husbands hit another character. I couldn't really blame the guy for feeling violent. The injured character really antagonized the hitter.  And today I started thinking maybe we shouldn't be so down on hitting. Maybe if people hit each other more, they'd be less likely to shoot each other. But then I started remembering that some people actually manage to kill each other with hitting.

What if there was a non-dangerous way to be violent and angry?

How about instead of blaming video games for school shootings...what if they used the games to maybe prevent school shootings?  Let's say you have students who are having some interpersonal conflicts. You take them to a room and make them play a violent video game against each other. They can fight and kill each other; but not for real. They can get their aggression out. I'd say have a few sessions, though, and give the kids a chance to practice between the sessions.

I imagine some people might argue against that. Some people don't want any violence in the world...period. Not even fictional and/or virtual. I disagree with them. But....The only problem I see with my idea is that maybe it could actually increase the violent feelings. I kind of doubt that, but I don't know. I think it would depend on the personality of the fighters. In some cases, I imagine the students having a great sense of humor. They work out their conflict through fake violence, and in my fantasy world...they actually end up as friends.  But I can also picture two people playing the game, and they get even more angry at each other. What if someone is really bad at the game, feels insecure about that, and lashes out?

Still, I think it's worth a try. Or at least a thought.

Has anyone thought of it before?

Well, here's an article about video games being a good way to let off steam...angry steam.

I think we're totally on to something here.

I just found this website about Geoff Paine. He has a company called Ready to Roll.  It involves him working as an MC at corporate events.

Here's the actual website. It's a production company.  And I guess they do corporate stuff...at least sometimes.

The company is based in Melbourne. Paine is the creative director.

The website has some sample videos that feature Paine.

Here....you can find a training video.  In this Paine plays a guy named Travis.

Here's a safety video with Paine.  He asks the woman on the video why accidents happen, and the answers she provides would also probably work for why doctors make mistakes.  I'm not going to quote the whole thing, but it's along the lines of wanting to get the job done and kind of not being fully there. She says, the blinkers come on.  I think maybe it's like you daydream. Or you take your abilities for granted. You might be in a kind of daze. Stuff like that.

It's like when I accidentally put the ice-cream in the refrigerator instead of the freezer. Since I do stuff like that, I might have sympathy for the doctor who removes the wrong kidney.

Ready to Roll looks like a fun company. I think it's very cool that Paine took his acting, writing, and other skills and started the business.

Now I'm going to watch that short film, Pisces Arise.

The beginning has a narrator telling us about a UK witch from long ago.  She had a spell book that is now available because of internet shopping.

Paine plays a guy who works at a fish and chip shop. He's the boss of the younger guy there.

The food doesn't look very appetizing. The younger guy tells Paine he's going to go out to eat. Paine suggests he eats the food that's there at their shop. And then we see that there are a lot of flies on the food.

The young guy (Grant) is the main character in this. I think Paine is sort of a antagonist. He's the annoying boss.

Grant has the spell book! He has a crush on the girl who works next door at the bagel shop. I'm guessing he's going to try for a love spell.

Grant has brought the fried fish back to life. It coincides well with the episode of Torchwood we watched tonight. It was about a resurrection glove (AKA the Risen Mitten).

Well...I'm done watching the movie. It was...interesting. I liked it a little. I didn't love it.



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