Richard Wilkins: My friendship with Molly Meldrum

Friends with Molly for many years, the TV star talks Woman’s Day through their special relationship.

Only a few short weeks ago I was sitting across from Ian “Molly” Meldrum at the ARIA awards in Sydney, one of the many times over the years the two of us have shared a table, a laugh and a man-hug at everything from the Logies to weddings – including one of mine – since we met on Countdown in 1982.

When I first came to Australia with my band (Wilde and Reckless), everybody told me I had to get on top TV music show Countdown. To get on the top TV music show was the Holy Grail for musicians and performers, a huge step towards being successful in Australia. But we made a fatal mistake when someone gave our first video to the rival TV show, Sounds, and found ourselves blacklisted by Countdown, and Molly.

When eventually we managed to get ourselves on Countdown I had learned a thing or two about the pecking order, and Molly was very gracious about the mix-up. And that was him all over. When it came to business, Molly always played the game but he never played his fellow man. Looking back on that footage now, things have changed so much. Molly had hair then, and was a seasoned TV professional, while I was a tall gangly Kiwi guy who was nervous as hell about making my first appearance on Australian television, hoping this would be my big break. But what never changed over the years was Molly’s charm, his enthusiasm for life and his passion for the music industry.

Back then, of course, I didn’t realise Molly and I were destined to cross paths a million times in the line of duty as I would go on to work for MTV and Today, while Molly moved on to doing Hey Hey It’s Saturday and Sunrise. He and I have always been friends, rivals, colleagues and competitors. We’ve often been up against each other pitching for the same big celebrity interviews and we have done several memorable overseas trips together where drama seems to follow Molly every step of the way.