Margaret and David Call it Quits

The enduring film reviewing partnership of Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton will finally come to an end with the final episode of At the Movies on 9 December, the ABC has announced.

Pomeranz and Stratton, Australia’s best-known film reviewers, have been together on screen for 28 years, first with The Movie Show on SBS for 18 years, then at the ABC.

“After 28 years reviewing films on television with Margaret, 10 of them at the ABC, I feel it’s time to go,” Stratton said.

Stratton, who turned 75 last week, paid tribute to Pomeranz’s “enthusiasm, commitment and passion”, while noting she was “only occasionally irritating”.

Pomeranz said Stratton gave her credibility “just by being prepared to sit by me and discuss film when I am just a film enthusiast, not the great walking encyclopedia of film that he is. He’s a grand person, a most generous, decent man, even if a little stubborn at times.

“I’m very sad to have to call an end to our show, it started out as a very fragile thing and only survived because there are enough lovers of film in this country to support a specific program about cinema,” she said.

The ABC’s managing director, Mark Scott, said: “The fact that everybody knows them as Margaret and David demonstrates how much they are loved by the Australian public … We are so proud to have worked with them for over a decade at the ABC and we will miss them. I give them five stars.”

The ABC said At the Movies would not return with different presenters in 2015.