The Queen of Blanks

Dolly Diamond talks to Coral Drouyn about her revival of everyone’s favourite Panel Show – “Bl*nkety Bl*nks.”

I can’t think why it has taken so long for Blankety Blanks to become a stage show, and neither can the incomparable, unofficial Queen of Melbourne, Dolly Diamond.

“I watched the show on the telly as a very, very young child,” she tells me. “First with Les Dawson and then with Lily Savage who was, dare I say it, perhaps not as ladylike as myself.  And of course, in Australia, the great Graham Kennedy made the show a smash hit. While it was risqué (and sometimes downright filthy) I did believe that I could add some class and gentility to the format and, with a live interactive audience (non-active, non-alive audience members will be discouraged) we could present something fresh and exciting for summer entertainment.”

Queen Dolly knows whereof she speaks. She has a knack of reworking, and re-creating concepts to make them fresh and reach a whole new audience. “You know the old adage,” she tells me. “Everything old is new again….and I said it BEFORE Peter Allen…..of course I was only a baby at the time,” she adds.

For those who have never seen Blankety Blanks, a panel of celebrities is asked to fill in a blank in a sentence with a hidden word. Then two competitors have to choose their own word and see how many match.

“It is a fun and funny format,” Dolly explains. “But although we will be playing it for laughs, it is a competition, and we have some great prizes. And since competitors will be chosen from the audience, you will be entertained, laugh a lot, and may go home with a special extra something.”

Of course, theatre isn’t censored in the way that television was back in the eighties; is Dolly worried that it might all get out of hand?  She ponders the question.

“Well, as we all know, I am first and foremost a lady, so I shall naturally refrain from profanity and obscenity….but I can’t vouch for the panels. Theatre folk are not allowed out very often and it all may just go to their heads.”

Dolly’s “theatre folk” will be some of the finest celebrities in Melbourne town, with a different panel for every show. The multiple casts include Rhonda Burchmore, the stars of Kinky Boots (Callum Francis and Toby Francis), Anthony Callea, Cal Wilson, The amazing Supergirly, Ash Flanders and Luke Gallagher (not once but twice…after all, he is Queen Dolly’s Aide de camp) among others. It promises to be a stellar evening. And I can’t help wondering if it isn’t time for Blankety Blanks to make a return to our small screens, with the amazing Ms Dolly at the helm of course.

But it’s Midsumma Festival time, and there is a LOT of entertainment on offer in Melbourne this month. Why should people go to see this particular show?

“Why the Bl*nk not?” Dolly quips.

And I can’t think of a single answer.

Dolly Di*mond's Bl*nkety Bl*nks  plays from January 20 to 28, 2017, at Chapel of Chapel.