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I can exclusively break the news that Nicky Greenwall and e.tv is readying and working on a replacement entertainment interview program entitled The Close Up that will be replacing the The Showbiz Report when Nicky Greenwall goes on maternity leave.
ALSO READ: Nikcy Greenwall pregnant; expecting first baby with longtime boyfriend Robin Fryer.
Sources told TV with Thinus that The Close Up will be replacing The Showbiz Report from August, the weekly round-up of entertainment and celebrity news seen on e.tv since 2005. The Showbiz Report will return in January 2012 once Nicky Greenwall returns from maternity leave.
Since Nicky Greenwall would be unable to work on the demanding weekly show that requires daily attention once she gives birth and takes a few months of maternity leave, e.tv confirmed what sources said: that The Close Up that will replace The Showbiz Report from Saturday 20 August at 19:30. From October when The Close Up ends, The Showbiz Report will return with pre-packaged digest episodes called The Ten, the countdown format centred around a specific theme like comedians or rappers first seen in December 2010 as a Showbiz Report holiday special.
Nicky Greenwall's production company Greenwall Productions that's responsible for The Showbiz Report, is also doing The Close Up in which Nicky Greenwall interviews South African stars like Locnville, Lee-Ann Liebenberg, Kenneth Nkosi, Simphiwe Dana, DJ Black Coffee, rapper Jack Parow and Flash Republic's Tamara Dey similar to the Behind the Name production of 2007 that Nicky Greenwall also produced. ''She's working really very hard doing double duty on this so she can have her baby and there still be an entertainment presence on e.tv on a weekly basis once she and Robin have and look after their new joy,'' a friend of the presenter told TV with Thinus.
The Close Up will be different from Behind the Name in that the featured personalities will be telling their own stories. Nicky Greenwall narrates The Close Up but won't be seen in it herself. Her boyfriend, 20Management Model Agency owner Robin Fryer took photos of the stars during shoots and these will feature as part of The Close Up's opening sequence.
''I'm really proud of what our team has put together and I'm looking forward to sharing it with viewers,'' says Nicky Greenwall about The Close Up in a statement released through e.tv. ''The experience of being pregnant has naturally given me a different perspective on the world – and that may have influenced the tone of the shows too.''
