He then was invited to Melbourne by Nine to compere an edition of the legendary 'In Melbourne Tonight' after which he hosted and established "The Today Show" for them which he compered for 12 months. After this he went to Seven Melbourne where he compered a once a week Tonight Show called "The Mike Walsh Show" over 3 years.When this finished he worked in England as a freelance broadcaster for the BBC, BBC overseas , and ABC radio, as well as acting, and some lucrative TV commercials! He was then headhunted to return to Australia by Columbia Pictures Screen Gems to host what became the long running MWS.
Mike's theatrical ventures in the 1980s included the play "And A Nightingale Sang" at the Sydney Opera House in October 1986, and in 1987 and 1988 the musical "Nunsense", which broke box office records across Australia and, at one stage, had three companies running. Mike also produced "Nunsense" in Dublin, Ireland in 1988. In conjunction with Bill Armstrong and the Victoria State Opera, Mike produced the 1988 Broadway hit Cole Porter's "Anything Goes", which toured the major capital cities from March 1989 to May 1990, and also Auckland, New Zealand in October 1990.
In August, 1987, Mike returned to television to host a twelve week season of one hour talk shows, produced by Hayden Productions in association with A.B.C. Television. In 1989 he did a limited season with Network 10 Australia hosting "Superquiz".
In January, 1990, Mike was appointed by the N.S.W. Government a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sydney Opera House and served as a Trustee for six years, the maximum term.
In the early 1990s Mike established a base in England and, in partnership with West End producer, Helen Montagu, in 1995 produced "Prisoner: Cell Block H The Musical" on London's West End. The musical toured Britain in 1996 and 1997.
1996 saw the establishment of The Mike Walsh Fellowship, which is awarded each year to N.I.D.A. graduates, enabling them to travel abroad to obtain a wider knowledge of theatre, film and/or television, returning to Australia after a period of approximately twelve months to take up their careers with new knowledge.
Mike's most recent theatrical venture was "The Plumber's Opera", which he produced in conjunction with Glynn Nicholas's G.B.S. Productions, and participation in "Zipp" in the West End.
In July, 1998, Mike made a one-off return to television for the 7 Network, to produce and host "The Mike Walsh Show Years", a hugely successful retrospective of that show's unprecedented domination of its market.
In April, 1999, Mike's contribution to Australian television was recognised with his induction into the T.V. Week Logies Hall of Fame.
In November, 1999, Mike bought Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, which, after taking over mid 2000, he closed down for major renovations to bring the theatre back to being Australia's number one Lyric theatre. Her Majesty's re-opened in May, 2002.
With interests in Australia and the U.K., Mike now divides his time between Sydney, Melbourne and London.
-June 2008.
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