In
one episode of Skyways, Tina, as Louise Carter, Pacific International's
cool, controlled assistant manager, had to reveal a secret Louise had carefully
guarded - that flying terrified her.
For when the Grundy Organization went to book Tina Bursill's flight to Melbourne from Sydney, where she has been living in recent months, they found she had opted to take the train.
In
one episode of Skyways, Tina, as Louise Carter, Pacific International's
cool, controlled assistant manager, had to reveal a secret Louise had carefully
guarded - that flying terrified her.
But Tina explained her reason for opting for the train on this occasion was based more on the fact that she had so much to bring down with her, including "a car full of clothes and a dog".
Tina has headed back to Melbourne because she's taken on a new role far from the high-powered glamour world of big business we usually find her involved in on-screen.
Her latest role has Tina behind bars - doing time in Wentworth Women's Prison.
"It's a nice change," Tina admitted, as she prepared to start work on her new Prisoner character, Sonia Stevens.
Sonia's described as an extremely attractive young woman with a cool, steely kind of beauty that both attracts and repels.
While people are usually drawn to her aura of authority and self-possession, at the same time they're invariably disturbed by an intangible sense of evil.
Sonia's husband, Eddie, is a policeman and positively dotes on his wife. Unknown to him, she has formed a partnership with a friend and the two of them are running an intimidation racket.
When Sonia gets caught - not for her part in the racket but another offence - her husband refuses to believe Sonia would have any part in anything illegal.
At first, Sonia's fellow Wentworth inmates are unaware of the extent of her criminal involvement; they think she's simply in on a drugs charge - which is bad enough considering Bea's attitude to drugs and pushers.
But when the truth is discovered, Sonia takes on a new status at Wentworth, and she certainly manages to spread fear through the prison.
"Sonia has a very tough streak in her," Tina explained. "She knows how to manipulate the other inmates."
It's quite a change of pace from the ultra sophisticated and highly efficient Louise Carter in Skyways and the high-powered elegant blonde we saw in ABC TV's Winner Take All, and Tina is welcoming the switch.
"At least this lady has a bit of a twist to her," Tina said.
In her new role, Tina has also opted for a new look - a fringe and shoulder-length hair.
She admits the work scene in Sydney has not been as busy as she would have liked.
Some films have fallen through and Tina's last role was on stage in a black comedy called Beyond Mozambique.
"It was written by a Canadian and it was one of those plays you either liked enormously or didn't like at all."
Tina played a character who kept thinking she was Rita Hayworth.
"It was good to get back on stage and have that contact with a live audience again," she said.
Tina is currently signed for 13 weeks with Prisoner, but her contract is open-ended, so we could see her return or stay on a little longer.
At the moment, she isn't sure what she'll be going onto after this.
"I've had a few nibbles for the end of the year and one role I'm hoping will come off.
"I can't say what it is yet but it's something I've wanted to do for a long time."
[Article written by Patrick Fidgeon
and taken from TV Week magazine - 11th June 1983]