Five Times Dizzy is a children's novel by Australian author Nadia Wheatley It was first published in 1982. In 1986 it became an Australian children's television series.

Plot summary

Five Times Dizzy is about the comedy and drama of a Greek Australian family in a multi-cultural neighbourhood of inner-city Sydney. To help her Greek grandmother feel more at home, Mareka comes up with a brilliant plan to give her a pet goat.

Television adaptation

The mini-series Five Times Dizzy first screened on the Nine Network in 1986. The series was filmed on location in the inner-city suburb of Newtown and is notable for an acting role by Mary Kostakidis, who went on to become a longtime newsreader on SBS. It was also where John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver first met, the pair going on to establish their longstanding Roy & HG partnership.^[1]

Cast

• Rebekah Elmaloglou as Mareka Nikakis
• Mary Kostakidis as Roula Nikakis
• Stavros Economidis as Georgio Nikakis
• Dominic Elmaloglou as Costa
• Helen Kambos as Yaya (Grandma)
• Jane Clifton as Mrs Wilson
• Jim Holt as Brian Brooking
• Joanne Samuel as Chris Booking
• Ray Meagher
• Joseph and Matthew Homshaw as the Gallaghers
• John Doyle^[1]
• Greig Pickhaver^[1]

Awards and nominations

• New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Special Children's Book Award (1983)
• Highly Commended - CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers (1983)
• Honorary Diploma - International Board on Books for Young People (1983)
• AWGIE Awards for Best Adaptation, Children's Television Drama (for the television mini-series) (1987)