Godfrey Philipp

Who was Godfrey Philipp?

Godfrey Pettersson Philipp was a pioneering producer/director of Australian children's television during the 1960s and 1970s.

Born in England in 1937, Philipp had been a child actor before emigrating to Australia. In 1959 he worked at GTV9 Melbourne as assistant floor manager, before becoming assistant producer of In Melbourne Tonight and later producer-director of The Breakfast Show.

After a stint working at NBN3 in Newcastle, Philipp joined the fledging ATV0 in Melbourne producing The Children’s Show. In 1965, he teamed with writer John Michael Howson to create The Magic Circle Club, which took The Children’s Show’s timeslot. Philipp served as the program’s executive producer/director.

When The Magic Circle Club was cancelled in 1967, Philipp worked as producer/director on sitcom Hey You for ATV0 before joining again with Howson to create Adventure Island for ABC National Television, which shared a similar premise and format with The Magic Circle Club, along with much of the same cast and crew. Again Philipp was the executive producer/director of each episode. The program was notable for being the ABC’s first co-production with an outside production company.