With over 900 years of collective experience, the Nightly World team - Tudd Bewkley, Fillet Decoupage and Lawson Grapsack- are your first choice for news.
Having spent most of his working life in war zones and other perilous locations, Tudd Bewkley knows the sharp end of the news game better than anyone.
As a fresh-faced cadet, Tudd Bewkley came to the attention of Head of News Peter Torrens, having come to the attention of Torrens' 18 year old daughter Lily at a party the night before. Within a matter of hours he was on the ground in war-torn Colombia, filing a report from directly between government and rebel front lines. A string of challenging assignments followed: Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Belfast, Sudan, Chernobyl, the floor of the Pacific Ocean, and the Earth's orbit. In such extreme situations, lesser journalists might have folded, but Tudd displayed a remarkable capacity for boldness, tenacity and knowing exactly the right moment to run screaming like a little girl and hide in the undergrowth.
With each story his reputation grew until, at only 25 years of age, he was eleveated to the elite Nightly World team. Announcing his promotion, Torrens said "Mr Bewkley has proven one of this network's most dogged, persistent reporters. He always comes back with the goods. He always comes back with the scoops. He always comes back. I mean, Jesus Christ, he always comes back. Fuck."
Tudd has received numerous rewards for his work, including the Golden Flack Jacket (2001), the Bullet Proof Vest D'Or (1989), and the BAGJCAM's* coveted Box of Live Grenades With The Pins Half-Out for Best War Reporting (1997). He also holds numerous state and national waterskiing titles. His prime-time series "Distance Waterskiing With The Stars" will premiere later this year, with the first episode featuring Tudd waterskiing from Moama to Albury with Angela Landsbury. His ninth studio album, Bewkley Moods, will be in stores in time for Christmas.
Tudd's interests include rock climbing, abseiling, windsurfing and competitive taipan-grappling. He is also heavily involved in various charities, including the Worldwide Fund For Popular Wildlife, the Toorak Soup Kitchen Trust, and Kiddies with Kancer.
Drop him a line at Tudd's MySpace page.
*BAGJAM was the British Ancient Guild of Journalists, Criers and Allied Muck-rakers. In 2002 it merged with Her Majesty's Loyal Order of Teleprompter Writers and became a division of BAE Defence Industries.
Sharp, determined and savvy, Fillet Decoupage has an unrivalled reputation for getting the scoops other networks can only dream about.
The daughter of diplomats, Fillet was educated in Hong Kong, Dubai, Frankfurt and Guam, before taking her Bachelor of News at the University of Newfoundland. She spent four years with Canadian network CNB-Ottawa, where she quickly earned a name for breaking the big stories. In 1999 she spent three months disguised as a heating duct to enable her to expose corruption at the highest levels of government. The resuling scandal brought down three ministers. It also brought Fillet to the attention of headhunters for The Nightly World.
Since joining the team, her stories for the Nightly World have been described as "shocking" (Journalism Today), "powerful" (Newscaster Weekly) , and "wait a minute, you're not my husband!" (Philippino President Gloria Aroyo).
Among her many journalistic achievements was conducting the final, deathbed interview with Pope John Paul II. Over nine million viewers watched her touching, emotional chat with the His Holiness about such topics as choking, rasping and mumbling incoherently in Polish. The interview earned her a Walkley Award, an Emmy, and eight months in a Vatican jail cell for tresspassing in the Papal apartments.
Fillet is also widely credited with obtaining the first pictures of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' baby Suri, an achievement which attracted wide acclaim and a lawsuit for impersonating an ultrasound operator.
Fans saw a lighter side of Fillet in this year's series of "Celebrity CPR Challenge," where she was the viewers' favourite despite failing to resuscitate Budd Tingwell in the semi-final. Away from the cameras, Fillet enjoys sport (playing squash), gardening (growing squash) and making a home-made lemon drink (squash). Her Masters Thesis, "The Telejournalist as Shamanic Messiah-Figure," is currently under examination at the University of Sydney.
Say hello at Fillet's MySpace page.
With an award-studded career spanning the history of news itself, Lawson Grapsack is undoubtedly one of the most experienced and respected news presenters in the industry.
Starting his career as a humble copy-boy and telegraph-monkey, Lawson quickly moved through the ranks and pioneered the new media of Marconi Grammophonographogram, Talking Cinematophone, and finally television.
As reporter, anchor and interviewer, Lawson has defined an entire epoch of news. It was Lawson who told us of the Kennedy Assassination, the fall of Berlin, the Moon landing, September 11, and the passing of Tiny Tim (for which Lawson was on air continuously for 76 hours). His emotional description of the Berlin Wall being torn down ("this is the most shameful act of vandalism this reporter has ever witnessed") has become part of our collective history.
In 1998, a tired and overworked Lawson called Gerry Adams a "potato- buggering papist rent-boy" on national television, leading to a brief hiatus from the Nightly World. He moved to Tuscany and produced an 18-part series, "A Year in Poggibonsi." Audiences were captivated by Lawson's attempts to open a restaurant in provincial Italy, but after an unfortunate incident involving Lawson's BMW, several bottles of chianti and the local kindergarten, he made a triumphant, hasty return to the Nightly World.
Among his many awards, Lawson won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for his hard-hitting personal account of a cocaine-fuelled, playmate-filled weekend at the Mandela mansion. In June 2002, Lawson's lifetime of service was recognised with his induction into the News Anchor Hall of Fame, elected by voting members of the Academy for News Presentation Sciences.
In his spare time, Lawson enjoys tending the vineyard at his country retreat and maintaining vintage cars. He has four daughters, including popular host of "Backyard Gunpoint Makeover", Theodora Grapsack.
Find out more at Lawson's MySpace Page.