Roberts was born to Lesley Roberts and Louise Kearney in Strathfield, New South Wales. After completing his education at Marist Brothers College in Randwick, Roberts worked in advertising and sales promotion before commencing his career as a freelance writer for television and film.
Television screenwriter
Ted Roberts began his career in television in the 1960s, writing early episodes of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. The series was screened in over eighty countries and its theme tune, composed by Eric Jupp, is one of the best known and most recognisable Australian tunes. The long version (the B side on the 45rpm record) has lyrics written by Roberts.
Roberts' film credits include Bush Christmas, which starred Nicole Kidman in her first film, playing "one of three children searching for a stolen racehorse... The 1983 film, directed by Henri Safran, gives us a skinny, pink-cheeked, abundantly plainted Nicole, many moments of good humour, some fine location shots filmed in Queensland's Lamington Plateau, and music from band the Bushwackers."[1]
Awards
He won four Australian Awgies and a Henry Lawson Festival Award for his writing, and received AFI and Logie nominations.
In come the dollars and in come the cents
To replace the pounds and the shillings and the pence
Be prepared for change when the coins begin to mix
On the fourteenth of February 1966.
Chorus:
Clink go the coins, clink, clink, clink
Change over day is closer than you think
Learn the value of the coins and the way that they appear
And things will be much smoother when the decimal point is here.
In 1968, he composed My Pal Skippy to music by Eric Jupp.
Ann Atkinson; Linsay Knight; Margaret McPhee (1996). The Dictionary of Performing Arts in Australia. St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. ISBN1-86448-005-X.
Albert Moran (1993). Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series. additional research by Peter Pinne. North Ryde, N.S.W.: Australian Film Television & Radio School; distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Allen & Unwin. ISBN0-642-18462-3.
Lindsay's boy by Ted Roberts in Alrene Sykes, ed. (1977). Five Plays for Stage, Radio and Television. St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press. ISBN0-7022-1444-2.