The Showbiz Report to be replaced

Cape Town - Nicky Greenwall is working on a replacement entertainment interview show entitled The Close Up which will replace The Showbiz Report from August when the blonde producer and presenter goes on maternity leave.

Nicky Greenwall is expecting her first child with longtime boyfriend, 20 Management Model Agency owner Robin Fryer, and she's currently doing double-duty to prepare The Close Up as a replacement show on Saturday evenings from August 20 when she takes leave.

The Showbiz Report has been on e.tv since 2005 and will return in January 2012 for a new season when she returns.

Greenwall Productions is behind The Close Up, a half-hour show that conducts in-depth interviews with local South African entertainment stars Lee-Ann Liebenberg, Locnville, Kenneth Nkosi, Simphiwe Dana, DJ Black Coffee, Jack Parow and Tamara Dey.

Double-duty

"She's working really very hard doing double-duty on this so she can have her baby and there will 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 Greenwall told Channel24.

The Close Up will be similar in scope to Greenwall's 2007 celebrity series Behind the Name. Although Greenwall is doing the interviews and producing the show, she won't be seen but only heard as the narrator.

In The Close Up, the local celebrities will be talking about their lives and careers. Interestingly, Fryer took photos of the stars while the interviews were filmed. These photos will feature as part of The Close Up's opening sequence.

The Ten

From October when The Close Up ends, The Showbiz Report will return with pre-packaged digest episodes called The Ten, the countdown format centered around a specific theme like comedians or rappers first seen in December 2010 as a Showbiz Report special.

"I'm really proud of what our team has put together and I'm looking forward to sharing it with viewers," says Greenwall. "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," she says.

An exclusive VIP launch event for The Close Up will take place on August 4 at a luxury hotel in Cape Town where Fryer's portraits will also be exhibited.