"ABC: The Procol Harum Special" is a documentary published by ABC in 1970, during the recording sessions of "Home". Procol Harum, best known for their world-wide smash hit of 1967, A Whiter Shade of Pale, are the stars of a 55-minute special program. In 1967 a new pop group emerged with the hit song, A Whiter Shade of Pale. They were The Procol Harum. We meet the members of the group and see them perform their hit along with other numbers, including Captain Clack, Whisky Train, and Your Overcoat Is Too Long. The group's leader, Gary Brooker, comments throughout. Shown on the ABC and in the UK on BBC. Tracklist : A Whiter Shade Of Pale Good Captain Clack Whiskey Train Homburg Piggy Pig Pig In Held Twas In I Pilgrims Progress Dead Man's Dream Nothing That I Didn't Know
Filmed in Australia in the early 1980s, this rare live performance shows comic genius Spike Milligan at his best. Bizarre, surreal, inspired.
A Legend In Steam: In the golden age of steam, 3801 was a triumph in design, construction and performance. The Pacific Class 38s were among the finest examples of steam locomotives to come out of Australian workshops. Now, from the personal archives of cameraman and steam fan Jim Powe, this documentary presents the great events that made the 3801 a legend, including: The famous record-breaking speed run from Sydney to Newcastle. The first unbroken steam run from Sydney to Melbourne. The incredible across-Australia-to-Perth run in 1970. The overhaul of the 3801 in 1986. The full musical tribute to the 3801 performed by the railway group Chullora Junction. Locomotive 3801 began service for the New South Wales Government Railways in 1943 and was still steaming in 1988 when this feature was made. With special trips all over the continent it became the focal point for railway celebrations to mark the Bicentenary of white settlement in Australia that year.
A feature highlighting the habits of killer whales, narrated by David Attenborough.
A documentary of the 1948 Australian/England cricket tour for the 'Ashes'. Through stories told by the surviving members of the teams, the tour is relived both for the cricket played and the aftermath of living in a post war England. Extensive use of archival footage.
Terrors Of Tasmania highlights another side to the Devil's personality that will challenge pre-conceived ideas about this extraordinary animal. Experience a year in the life of a female Devil called Manganinnie as she chooses a mate, gives birth to three healthy boys and successfully raises them to independence.
Dr Philippa Uwins is currently battling a hostile international scientific community, desperately seeking funding for vital research and yet continuing to make breakthroughs in what has been called the 'Jurassic Park' of bacteria. Working on a routine consulting project for a petrolium company, Dr Uwins stumbled across mysterious structures measuring mere millionths of a millimetre in her rock samples. When she discovered the structures were not mineral, but biological, her nanobes became instant media celebrities. Is Dr Uwins on the trail of a revolutionary new life form, or are her "nanobes" literally too small to live? In years to come, will she be hearlded as a pioneer who unravelled a key to the secret to life, or just another in a long line of scientific 'crackpots'?
Fortress Australia uncovers one of the most extraordinary chapters in Australia’s history - the brazen attempt by successive Australian governments to fortress their nation with atomic weapons. Recently released top secret documents finally allow this astonishing story to be told. They reveal a web of intrigue, in which Australia’s nuclear industry became inextricably linked to a quest for atomic weapons technology. Set against a backdrop of cold war paranoia and fear of Asian aggression, Fortress Australia explores the motives of the politicians, defence chiefs and scientists who set out to buy, then ultimately build, a nuclear arsenal. From uranium exploration and guided weapons research to A-bomb tests on Australian soil, the film shows how Canberra aided both Britain and the United States in the hope of sharing their nuclear secrets. But it proved to be an extraordinary double-game in which both allies and enemies treated Australia with mistrust. This groundbreaking film penetrates the murky world of atomic espionage and counter-espionage. It exposes KGB infiltration of crucial political offices, which almost thwarted Australia’s nuclear ambitions. It also brings to light the secret role of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission in the quest for nuclear weapons — in particular, the ill-fated Jervis Bay Nuclear Reactor Project, which could have enabled Australia to build as many as 30 nuclear weapons a year.
The most controversial series in test cricket history. https://wayback.archive.org/web/20050320213240/http://abc.net.au/bodyline/
The journey of renowned Australian military photographer Sir Hubert Wilkins in a rusty WW1 submarine to the North Pole in 1931 truly is of the worlds greatest stories of adventure never told. It was an adventure that would be the crowning glory in an extraordinary life of exploration, science and discovery. Long before nuclear powered vessels would even contemplate such a voyage, Hubert Wilkins set out from New York aboard the outdated O-Class submarine Nautilus, of which he leased for a single dollar, towards the last unknown, the Arctic Ocean. The Nautilus expedition was a triumph of imagination and courage, decades ahead of its time. But it ended in mutiny and personal tragedy for Wilkins, destroying his reputation and sending him from the headlines to footnotes of history, his boat eventually scuttled off the coast of Norway. Only now, after two years of extensive research into a journey both amazing and tragic can the mysteries of the Nautilus expedition and Wilkins last great expedition finally be revealed. Complied from more than 20 hours of stunning archival footage, 250 still photographs and new footage filmed in the US, the North Pole, Norway, beneath the Arctic ice and in the Australian Outback, Voyage of the Nautilus is expertly narrated from Wilkins own personal journals by acclaimed actor Sam Neill to deliver a moving, inspirational and remarkable film experience.
Perpetual motion is the holy grail of science. It has sent many an obsessive and eccentric inventor to madness and suicide. A successful perpetual motion machine would alter the entire social and political balance of the world. It has been described as a 'machine to kill for'.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/documentaries/stories/s853348.htm
The meals of King Henry VIII of England were among the most fantastic dishes ever created with some so outrageous, we wouldn’t dream of consuming them today. Dolphin, whale’s tongue, peacock and pies stuffed with songbirds were all on the menu. King Henry was passionate hunter and anything that moved was a potential meal. His cooks mastered the method of spit-roasting, their mouth-watering meats the envy of other European cooks. Tudor food was based on astrology as much as taste, and included elaborate gelatines - some made of deer antler, others stained with children’s urine. Even the alcoholic spirits of the time were amazingly flavoured, some with pure gold. The Tudors also believed that all food was intimately connected with the heavens and if used the correct way, herbs, plants, flowers and even cheese could provide all sorts of health benefits. Henry the VIII lived in a period of profound change in European food. While Portuguese merchants were bringing back exotic spices from the Far East, Spanish conquistadors were sending home strange new vegetables and animals from their New World conquests. Sugar became a popular staple with the Tudors and wafer candies were so highly prized they were kept under lock and key. Sculpturing the sugar into magnificent towers became an art form, one that is still practised today. Eat Like a King challenges the preconceptions of Henry being a barbaric eater with no manners. In fact Henry’s meals were refined occasions lasting hours. Driven by the rules of etiquette, they were undertaken with the formality of a religious ceremony. The new foods introduced, the invention of marvellously innovative approaches to cooking and table manners practised in Tudor times has left a legacy that is part of the international world of cuisine today.
The platypus has both baffled and inspired the scientific community since its discovery by Europeans over 200 years ago. Three years in the making, this blue-chip natural history film takes us down the east coast of Australia to the many serenely beautiful habitats of the platypus. Technology specially created for this film captures images from inside the nesting chamber of a wild platypus and records the extraordinary sounds of the mother suckling her offspring and we watch as they grow from newborns to adulthood.
What happens when those who fight against traditional thinking eventually become the establishment? Charles Darwin started a revolution when he published his evolutionary theory in the late 1800s. he challenged the belief that God created the world in seven days and the theories of people such as Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, who believed that characteristics acquired during a lifetime could be passed on to the next generation. Since then , Darwinian theory has become the accepted way of thinking but now an Australian scientist, Ted Steele, is stirring things up again. Is he pursuing a false dream or is he about to change our understanding of life on earth? Charles Darwin started a revolution when he published his evolutionary theory in the late 1800s. Since then, Darwinian theory has become the accepted scientific doctrine, but now scientist Ted Steele is stirring things up again. For years, Ted and his collaborators around the world have been researching ideas that challenge a fundamental principle of biology - the Weismann Barrier - and have given new life to one of the most discredited theories in the history of science. Their proposition is based on the work of Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, published some 50 years before Darwin's The Origin of Species. Lamarck's concept is that characteristics acquired during a lifetime could be passed on to the next generation. Ted is convinced that we can pass on these genetic improvements, such as stronger immunity, to our children. Encouraged by the great science philosopher Karl Popper, Ted launched his first book in 1979. It shook the foundations of evolutionary thinking. Since then, he and his collaborators have battled with the scientific establishment, their own universities and the media to have their research accepted. Has Ted devoted a lifetime to pursuing a false dream or is he about to change what we know about life on earth? The stakes are high - reputations, careers and our understanding of evolution
From the moment his gang burst out of the Glenrowan Inn, Ned Kelly was set not only to take on the colony's rogue police force, but also to become Australia's very own knight in shining armour. Narrated by Jack Thompson.
Jack Thompson narrates Road to Tokyo, a landmark documentary on the last year of World War II in the Pacific – the forgotten story of Australia’s bloody role in defeating an enemy of unbelievable brutality. “Road To Tokyo attempts to tell the mostly overlooked, dramatic story of the last year of the war,” says Mark Hamlyn, executive producer and Film Australia’s Head of Production. “This is a story about being so near to victory yet so far – a story of terrible human sacrifice in the last nine months of the conflict, which claimed thousands of Australian lives.” This program coincides with the 60th anniversary of the armistice with Japan signed on August 15, 1945. Covering the final stage of the Pacific war, Road To Tokyo chronicles the period from late 1944 and its impact on Australia’s fighting forces, POWs, civilians and government; when Australia and the United States engaged in a fight to the death with Japan to end a war that began on December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbour. With defeat awaiting Germany after D-Day and Japan repulsed from Australia’s doorstep, it seemed to many people that the worst of World War II was over by 1944. But far from winding down, war in the Pacific was about to hot up. The final nine months of conflict would bring new horrors as Japan, though losing its Empire, remained defiantly unbowed.
An intimate portrait of comic legend Spike Milligan, a complex and multifaceted man who trod the thin line between genius and debilitating depression
Journey to Australia's southern coast and uncover one of its best-kept secrets - a natural phenomenon called the "Bonney Upwelling" that sparks a feeding frenzy all the way up the food chain to the planet's largest living creature, the Blue Whale. As long as two buses with a mouth big enough to capture 50 tonnes of seawater, a feeding Blue Whale is a sight to behold. Filmed in Hi Def, this blue-chip natural history documentary captures, for the first time, the extraordinary spectacle of this unique event.
On a warm November afternoon in 1982, a man walked into a Sydney hospital, complaining of simple symptoms – fever, fatigue, sweats. He was from New York. A gardener – young and fit. With a crowded sexual history. And he was gay. The doctors made their diagnosis, the first in Australia: this man had AIDS. He was discharged and vanished into the streets. This is the little known story of how a strange coalition of doctors, nurses, nuns, gays, whores, junkies and politicians pulled off one of the first and boldest defeats of AIDS in the world. Together they broke the law, offended everyone, and saved tens thousands of lives.
From Dr Who to The Dark Side of the Moon to modern day dance music, the pioneering members of the Electronic Music Studios radically changed the sound-scape of the 20th century. Screening Tuesday 18 September at 10pm, What the Future Sounded Like tells the fascinating story of British electronic music. In postwar Britain, musician and composer Tristram Cary was using materials left over from the war to experiment with electronic music. Uninhibited, anything went with regard to the sounds he invented. He also moonlighted as a composer for pop cult films like The Ladykillers and the seminal television series Dr Who. In the 1960s an exiled Russian aristocrat Peter Zinovieff, borrowed money from his rich British wife to purchase two military grade computers. Costing as much as a house at the time, he used them specifically for his personal experiments in electronic music. But it was his collaboration with music engineer David Cockerell that helped revolutionise electronic music. By the end of the 60s, Cary joined forces with Zinovieff and Cockerell to establish EMS (Electronic Music Studios). EMS was the most advanced computer-music facility in the world. They created incredible sounds for films about nuclear power reactors, adverts for early Olivetti computers and for the British Pavilion at the 1967 World Expo. Played back today this early electronic music still arouses wonder at its creation and power. EMS's great legacy is the VCS3, Britain's first synthesizer and rival of the American Moog. The VCS3 was a uniquely British invention used by some of the most popular artists of the time including: The Who, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music and David Bowie. Almost 30 years on, the VCS3 is still used by modern electronic artists like Aphex Twin and Radiohead. What the Future Sounded Like explores a lost chapter in music history, uncovering a group of passionate composers and innovators who harnessed technology and new ideas to re-imagine the boundaries of music and
In mid-1995, a group of Sydney businessmen backed by Kerry Packer made an audacious attempt to steal the amateur game of rugby union and transform it into a lucrative, world-wide professional sports franchise. At the same time, the custodians of the code in the Southern Hemisphere - the Union officials of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa - were negotiating with Rupert Murdoch's vast News Corporation. Their aim was to sell TV rights to the code for enough money to begin paying their players a generous wage. They, too, saw professionalism as inevitable. For two months both sides worked in secret to bring their dreams to fruition. Then, on the day before the World Cup final in Johannesburg, this secret war to control the brave new world of professional rugby burst into public view. What soon emerged was a classic showdown: while the Unions had secured an incredible $555 million from Murdoch for the TV rights, Kerry Packer's rebels had secretly contracted all their best players. It would be a fight to the death, winner take all. For the first time on television, Stealing Rugby tells this extraordinary story in the words of the major participants. We hear from the players, the officials and the businessmen, including Phil Kearns, Sean Fitzpatrick, Francois Pienaar, Sam Chisholm, Ian Frykberg, Simon Poidevin, Ross Turnbull, Dr Louis Luyt and journalist Peter Fitzsimons. The program also contains never-before-seen 1995 footage from a secret three-way international video conference held at the height of the rugby war. It features key players from all three Southern Hemisphere countries and the cream of Kerry Packer's management team of the time. Stealing Rugby documents an extraordinary moment when sport and business collided. It gives a unique insight into the turbulent events that helped make rugby the game it is today.
Deep inside the arctic, scientists are experimenting with extreme palaeontology methods to unlock the secrets of polar dinosaurs, and perhaps the key to our own survival on Earth. On Alaska's north slope there are dinosaur bones, lots of them. But they're trapped in an icy tomb - an impenetrable wall of permafrost. Dinosaurs on Ice follows the journey of two scientists, Dr Tom Rich and Dr Tony Fiorillo, who undertake separate expeditions to the Colville River in Alaska's far north to uncover the dinosaurs' bones and break the ice on a prehistoric world that until now has been unreachable. But the task is not easy. The weather is extreme, the location remote.
We wanted to make a film about the iconic Parrots & Cockatoos of Australia which would not only show how extraordinarily adaptable they were, but somehow capture the magnificent landscapes in which they live, while at the same time revealing the latest cutting-edge information about their behaviour and lives.
The Douglas Mawson Antarctic Expedition of 1912 is considered one of the most amazing feats of endurance of all time. Although his two companions perished, Douglas Mawson survived, but how? In a bold historical experiment, scientist and adventurer Tim Jarvis is retracing the gruelling experience, with the same meagre rations, primitive clothing and equipment to uncover what happened to Mawson physically-and mentally-as a man hanging on the precipice of life and death. A Screen Australia Making History Production in association with Orana Films. Produced in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Channel 4.
The incredible true story of an Australian World War 1 submarine, lost in the Dardanelles for nearly 100 years, is told with dramatic re-enactment accompanied by modern day footage of a daring rescue expedition to save it from the murky depths. The AE2 is the stuff of submarine legend but her story was lost among the horrors of the Western front and the bungled Gallipoli campaign in 1915. Her captain, Lt Commander Henry Stoker and the 32 crew were attempting to break through the heavily defended Dardanelles Strait and disrupt Turkish supply lines. But after a confrontation with a Turkish gunboat, Stoker abandoned her, opened her tanks and scuttled her. She lay undisturbed on the sea bed until her discovery in 1998. Her deterioration is considerable, but as she is buried in fine deep silt to her waterline, her main pressure hull may be preserved. The Submarine Institute of Australia mounted an archaeological expedition last year to see if the AE2 could be saved. Their assessment told in Gallipoli Submarine, uses intimate documentary footage, dramatic re-enactment, archival footage, underwater photography and state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery.
Built on layers of samba rhythms, classical and jazz guitar and poetic lyricism, the sultry Bossa Nova sound was spawned in the beaches and bars of Rio, Brazil in the late 50s, and soon dominated the world's clubs and lounge rooms when anthems like "The Girl from Ipanema" became huge international hits. These seductive songs of love by the ocean are celebrated in this compelling documentary - first aired on ABC TV and filmed on location around Rio - that features interviews with giants of the genre including Marcos Valle, Carlos Lyra and Sergio Mendes, whose Brazil '66 (and the song "Mas Que Nada") took the Bossa beat to new heights in the late 60s and 70s. Rare live clips of Bossa pioneers Joao and Astrud Gilberto revive the beauty, depth and timeless legacy of the sound that seduced the world.
This documentary relates the story of the discovery of a tomb of miniature terracotta warriors in China and the subsequent archaeological sleuthing that went on over years to discover which king was in the tomb.
With Australia at war in Vietnam in 1967, suddenly Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared without a trace—an event unparalleled in the history of western democracy. The nation was in shock and disbelief at the shattering news, hoping for a miracle for the man who famously declared it was “all the way with LBJ”. Police led a ‘softly softly’ investigation and concluded accidental drowning. But at the height of Cold War paranoia, persistent doubts about his disappearance fuelled rumour and wild speculation. Why did Holt go into such violent surf that day? Had he chosen a bizarre way out of a difficult situation? Why were police withholding crucial facts? What had they overlooked? Holt himself left tantalising clues that challenged the official explanation. This is the story of the Prime Minister’s secret world in the months before he disappeared, a world of betrayal, blackmail, political treachery, a poisonous feud, mounting physical and mental strain, and near-death experiences. Reconstructed from eyewitness accounts, this dramatised documentary examines the political implications of the Prime Minister’s disappearance and reveals explosive new aspects of the case. A Screen Australia Making History Production in association with Blackwattle Films. Developed and produced in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Nicosia: the world’s last divided capital. Turkish & Greek Cypriots prepare to bridge no-man's-land with a performance like no other, from the rooftops of the old Venetian town. Through the performers we see what it means to grow up in an island divided by fear, hatred, barbed wire & minefields. "Long Distance Call" by young Dutch composer Merlijn Twaalfhoven brings together musicians from both sides in the U.N. buffer zone - the infamous "Green Line" - until political reality rudely interrupts the project's grand finale...
The true story of the dark days of 1941 when Menzies battled with Winston Churchill over the strategic direction of the Second World War with the fate of Australia hanging in the balance.
The story of how Australia's 'ANZAC myth' was born and the role of General John Monash in this process as soldier and statesman both during and after WW1
The Hobbit Enigma examines one of the greatest controversies in science today. Just what did scientists discover when they uncovered the tiny, human-like skeleton of a strange creature on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003?
The wreckage of HMAS Sydney, sunk off the West Australian coast in 1941, has at last been found. The Sydney’s entire crew of 645 went down with the ship in the Indian Ocean and its location has been a mystery for 66 years. The Hunt for HMAS Sydney tells the incredible story of a ship lost in the middle of nowhere and that of the dedicated search team who always had a strong belief they would find it.
One in three of us will get cancer some time in life. The common cry at diagnosis is “why me?’’. We blame our genes, our environment and our lifestyle, but could we be overlooking another crucial cause? Across the world, a select group of scientists is hunting cancer-causing infections. Startling new evidence is revealing that viruses and bacteria are triggering one of the biggest killers of our time. One in five cancers worldwide is caused by infection. Does this mean we can catch cancer? Featuring world experts, Nobel Laureates and virus hunters on the front line, this is a fast-paced investigation of a provocative idea. Travelling deep into the mysterious cellular world of cancer, it demonstrates how cancer begins and what factors rig the lethal odds of the ‘lottery’ of cancer. Combining intimate personal stories and intriguing science, this documentary reveals how a hidden trigger, such as a virus, is not a reason to panic. It’s a reason to celebrate.
20 years ago novelist Salman Rushdie was a wanted man with a million pound bounty on his head. His novel The Satanic Verses had sparked riots across the Muslim world. Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini invoked a fatwa, effectively sentencing the writer to death. Rushdie was immediately forced into hiding. This film looks back on the extraordinary events which followed the book’s publication and the ten year campaign to have the fatwa lifted. Arguably this was the moment when religious identities, in Britain and abroad, became more important than ethnic and cultural belonging.
To mark the anniversary of JFK's assassination on November 22,1963, hundreds of hours of news footage, radio reports, audio recordings and home movies have been released that captured history as it was chaotically unfolding. This unique eyewitness material was first stored by local news stations in Dallas/Fort Worth and then in the vault of The 6th Floor Museum—which is dedicated to helping others understand the day Kennedy was killed. Now, this rarely seen archival footage that has been digitally captured and assembled into a detailed timeline. Included is footage capturing the real-time horror of parade-goers who witnessed the killing, the out-of- breath local anchors reporting the breaking news bulletin, the priest who describes administering the president's last rites and the ongoing, on-air speculation over who fired the fatal shots.
Join Tony Robinson on an archaeological dig unearthing details of Ned Kelly’s infamous last gun battle in 1880. Ned Kelly Uncovered follows the first ever excavation of the Glenrowan Inn site where the iconic Australian bushranger and his gang holed up for a showdown with police. Nearly 130 years later, can a team of archaeologists and historians reveal new insights into Ned Kelly’s final moments of freedom? With expert commentary from Kelly experts Ian Jones and Alex McDermott, this one-hour documentary follows a seven-week dig led by archaeologist Adam Ford. As the archaeologists unearth a host of artefacts including cartridges and bullets, the team conducts tests with fascinating results. Meanwhile, the historians strip back the myth, piecing together the clues to give a detailed new look at an iconic Australian, literally from the ground up.
The six-month project by the entrepreneur tackles an issue that he claims is largely ignored by politicians and greedy businesses: population growth. But it’s not just the number of people living in Australia that’s of concern, it’s the associated messiness that comes with unplanned growth, such as housing, healthcare, environmental issues, food and water, natural resources, border control, immigration and well, you get the picture. ''Politicians love the idea of more taxpayers and Treasury estimates that half of our economic growth is just based on having more people. There's been a blind acceptance that Australia can keep growing forever,” says Simon Nasht, the maker of the documentary. Still, he claims that the documentary isn’t meant to be alarmist, or encouraging any kind of anti-refugee discourse in the country. ''We don't seem to be able to talk about immigration without getting sidetracked into a discussion about refugees, which is so tiny in the scheme of things as to be irrelevant,” says Nasht. The Sydney Morning Herald writes that 277,700 migrants (or 64%) contributed to Australia’s population increase of 432,600 last December. The rest were due to births. But less than 10 per cent of that increase was due to newly-settled refugees. In fact, in the documentary, Smith argues that the intake of refugees should increase, and that the number of other immigrants should decrease. The film follows Smith as he follows rich folks and places the looming issue of population growth on the plate. And though Smith also contributed less than 10 per cent to the $500,000 documentary (he actually wanted to pay for the whole thing!), the ABC claims it had editorial control over the project.
“Mavi Marmara you are approaching an area of hostility! If you ignore this order and attempt to enter the blockaded area the Israeli Navy will be forced to take all necessary measures to enforce this blockade!” So begins the a tense stand-off 150 kilometres off the coast of Gaza and in the dark hours that followed nine of the ship’s passengers died and many more – including seven Israeli commandos – were injured. The appalling, bloody and ultimately deadly events in late-May this year this year onboard the Mavi Marmara remain clouded in claim and counter-claim. The ship’s mission – according to the organisers – was to lead a flotilla sailing a course to and through Israel’s blockade of Gaza, delivering much needed aid but as the erstwhile Turkish cruise-liner bore down on the coast it predictably encountered a naval patrol unwilling to yield passage to the activists. So what happened next and why did so much seemingly go so wrong? Collision Course is the most detailed and revealing investigation of the ill fated voyage so far assembled. It sheds a great deal more light on this murky incident. From the BBC’s highly regarded Panorama team, the program features never-before-seen video from on-board the Mavi Marmara, goes inside Israel’s hitherto covert navy teams and hears accounts - never before heard - from those on-board the Mavi Marmara as well as from key Israeli commandos who stormed the vessel. We learn a great deal more about IHH - the Turkish humanitarian group that organised the voyage - and a lot more about Israel’s preparedness and intelligence. Were the leaders aboard the Mavi Marmara itching for a showdown as the Israeli’s claim or were they simply defending themselves and their vessel from what Turkey described as an act of piracy? Collision Course is an important investigative contribution to our understanding of a black moment in recent history
The invasion of Iraq began in March 2003. The President of the United States, George W. Bush, claimed he wanted to remove a dictator who is armed with weapons of mass destruction, and liberate a people. Instead the invasion provoked a bloody insurgency resulting in the death of thousands of civilians, massive troop casualties, and at the same time laying the ground-work for the arrival of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Made for Quicksilver productions by producer Sam Collyns, the series tells the story of Iraq not simply from the point of view of the invaders but from the insurgents who fought them. It tells how fundamental strategic mistakes made by the Americans pushed formerly peaceful Iraqis into the arms of the fanatical Al Qaeda. "Time in Abu Ghraib (prison) helped recruit the insurgency ... even people who had not fought the Americans before their arrest vowed to die fighting them after their time in prison." In the opening episode of "Secret Iraq", the insurgents reveal how their treatment at the hands of the allied troops instilled a hatred of Westerners and in turn sparked their rebellion. Many have never spoken before. "I'm like any Iraqi who wanted to defend his honour, his family and his home." A key C.I.A. operative explains how the decision to use private security contractors, instead of soldiers or police, also created massive problems for the Coalition: "Their goal was to protect some guy in an armoured car. And they made a lot of bad enemies because of the way they behaved." Other Iraqis explain how the decision to purge the military and police forces of anyone seen to be connected with Saddam and his Ba'athist Party allowed those same institutions to be taken over by murderous Shia militia, who set up death-squads prepared to kill anyone they did not accept. "If you like they were police officers by day and terrorists or insurgents by night." But the Americans were not the only commanders making major policy errors. The program als
Three years after the invasion of Iraq the country was in turmoil. Insurgents had mounted a brutal resistance against the allied forces, seeing them as invaders not saviours. At the same time religious groups within the country were waging war against each other. This situation created a major opportunity for Al Qaeda to gain a foothold inside Iraq. In part two of this remarkable series we hear how Sunnis first courted, then turned on Al Qaeda and how the U.S. changed its strategic policy. It's a brutal story filled with violence, intrigue and duplicity, all told by the people at the heart of the struggle. In April 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush made this extraordinary claim. "Freedom is taking root in Iraq. The people of Iraq no longer live in fear of being executed and left in mass graves." In fact, nothing could have been further from the truth. In the third year after the invasion Iraqis were not only killing Allied soldiers, they were slaughtering each other in waves of sectarian violence. When General David Petraeus took command of the American forces he was shocked to see the state of the country. "The day after I took command I went out to several areas in Baghdad. It was frankly much worse than I thought it would be. These areas were wastelands." General Petraeus had every reason to be concerned. Shia Moslem members of the police force formed death squads waging war on their Sunni countrymen. In response, Sunni forces had forged an alliance with Al Qaeda in several key locations. Those places effectively became no-go areas that could be used as bases for terror attacks on the Allied forces. At the same time the U.S. Forces were in trouble. In the north, opposition to the British presence in the south was also getting out of hand. The police force there had been corrupted and the militias too were conducting a reign of terror on anyone they did not like. Part two of 'Secret Iraq' tells how the United States was forced to change
A great English icon visited an Aussie one when Stephen Fry came to the Sydney Opera House to discuss travel, language, the three W's, Wilde, Waugh and Wodehouse.
A stunning documentary capturing a once-in-a-generation event - the flooding of Lake Eyre, and the dramatic transformation of the dead heart of Australia. ABC News mounted two filming expeditions by helicopter to follow the floodwaters from north Queensland down the great outback rivers to Lake Eyre and to record the amazing cycle of life, as the deserts bloomed and birds descended from far and wide to capitalise on the short-lived boom. Seldom has there been such an extensive coverage of one of nature’s greatest displays, with water running between the sand dunes of the Simpson Desert; huge bird breeding events; an astonishing show of wildflowers and the surreal images of Lake Eyre as water streams to the lowest point in the continent. It’s a story told through the eyes of one of Australia’s leading environmental scientists, Professor Richard Kingsford and the people who’ve made their lives in the arid Lake Eyre Basin. When the lake floods, spirits lift and the celebrations begin: the cattle are rounded up for a rodeo; Brophy’s legendary boxing troupe comes to town; and it’s all capped off by a huge attendance at the most famous bush race meeting of all, the Birdsville Cup. All too quickly, the water begins to evaporate in Lake Eyre and the harsh desert climate starts to reassert itself. Reporter Paul Lockyer, producer Ben Hawke and camera operator, Erik Havnen, agreed that it was one of the most rewarding assignments they had ever undertaken.
The story of ASIO's first master spy, Charles Spry, and his secret war against a cunning enemy that appeared to be everywhere, from the highest office in the land to within the spy agency itself.
The story of Australia's most prized tree, the Huon Pine, and the many worlds that surround it. Over 3000 years ago, before the birth of Christianity, a seedling took root in the dark leech-ridden forests of Tasmania. Today, that seedling is an almost fully grown member of one of the world's longest living species - the Huon Pine. Its rare wood is favoured by artists and fine furniture makers, and its lightness, strength and close grain make it the "holy rail" of boat-building. Yet the real story of the Huon Pine is of the role it played in the development of this island outpost on the edge of the world and the early "piners" it enticed into the pristine wilderness in search of its valuable timber.
Part detective story, part confession, part black comedy, Whatever Happened To Brenda Hean is a rare work of investigation that will keep you guessing until the very last moment. From the award-winning makers of Wildness comes a story of murder and political intrigue; a mystery so intertwined with the environment that it is a parable for our times. In 1972, environmental activist Brenda Hean’s Tiger Moth plane disappeared while en route to Canberra, where she planned to petition the prime minister to save Tasmania’s wild and beautiful Lake Pedder from inundation by a massive hydroelectricity scheme. The battle for the lake was lost, neither the plane nor its passengers were ever found and, despite evidence suggesting sabotage, a public enquiry was never conducted. It spawned a legion of conspiracy theories that refused to die. Decades later, documentary filmmaker Scott Millwood offered a $100,000 reward for information that would lead to an answer to the mystery. On a journey through his homeland, we join conservationists, journalists, pilots, clairvoyants and eyewitnesses in uncovering the story of a woman whose environmental values still resonate. Yet what begins as a search for truth becomes a poetic reverie into landscape, uncovering the heart of darkness of Tasmania, while offering the possibility of reconciliation with our environment. Accident or foul play, conspiracy or misadventure, whatever happened to Brenda Hean? http://antidotefilms.com.au/details.php?filmid=4299
The Democractic Republic of Congo is the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman. It's a place where rape has become a weapon of war. Now a BBC film crew follows Judith Wanga as she meets the survivors of the conflict. She talks to women, children, and child soldiers who've been forced to kill so that they themselves will not be killed. To her horror, she discovers that the violence is fuelled, in part, by the need to mine the minerals that go into the manufacture of mobile phones and laptops.
It's easy to understand why French agents would want to sink the Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior. They wanted to stop it sailing with a flotilla of boats to disrupt French nuclear testing in the Pacific. But who planned and authorised the attack, and how many agents were really involved? Twenty five years on, TV New Zealand's Sunday program looks at the events of 1985 with fresh eyes. They talk to the man who led the raid, the man who delivered the bomb materials and the French Prime Minister of the time.
In a prison within a prison in central Java, some of Indonesia’s most dedicated and destructive terrorists are doing time for deadly crime.
The Vietnam War was the most intensely televised war ever. However, next door in neighboring Laos the longest and largest air war in human history was underway and made Laos the most bombed country on the planet without notice of the outside world. It was the largest operation ever conducted by the CIA, yet to this day it remains utterly obscure. Critics call it the biggest war crime of the Vietnam War era and point to striking similarities of the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan that were tested and set in motion back in Laos in the 1960s. In The most secret place on earth key players of the secret war – former CIA agents, US pilots, Laotian fighters and war reporters – take us on a journey into the physical heart of the conflict: Top secret Long Cheng, where the CIA built their headquarters in 1962. From here the secret war was largely planned and executed. As the war dragged on, Long Cheng became the busiest airbase in the world and a major center for the global opium and heroin trade.
Anatomy of a Massacre follows an Australian led forensic investigation to find the missing protestors from the 1991 Santa Cruz Massacre in Dili, East Timor. Director Andrew Sully joins expert forensic teams from Australia and Argentina as they exhume the mass graves of an estimated 200 people, who were shot and killed during a peaceful independence march in East Timor. Images of the massacre made global headlines and were instrumental in forcing the world to recognise the plight of the East Timorese and their fight to gain independence from Indonesia. The findings of the forensic team shed light on one of the most infamous mass murders of the 20th century.
Sydney, Australia 1953, a city in the grip of a deadly crime wave. In just over a year more than one hundred people were poisoned. The shocking truth is that most of the killers were women. In 1952 two NSW detectives commenced a murder investigation. What they found was so diabolical that it created a storm of public outrage... women were adding rat poison to cakes and cups of tea and feeding it to their unsuspecting loved ones. Unlike the popular images of 1950s domestic harmony, Sydney was a melting pot of violence, poverty and tensions between the sexes. In this claustrophobic post-war society, both men and women were trapped in roles that no longer fitted. But there was a way out. With no colour, no taste and no smell, Thallium, the active ingredient in rat poison was the perfect murder weapon. Banned in the rest of the Australia and most of the developed world, incredibly Thallium was freely available in Sydney... at every corner store. Recipe For Murder tells the true story of three notorious poisoners; blonde 'good time girl' Yvonne Fletcher, sixty-three-year-old grandmother Caroline Grills, and the attractive 'older woman' Veronica Monty.
The bigger the drought, the bigger the flood. That certainly held true over the past year for the eastern half of Australia, with flooding rains ending the worst drought in history. The signs that the weather was turning began in 2009, when a deluge in the tropical north set the great desert rivers flowing through Central Australia. For the first time in years, the water flowed all the way to Lake Eyre, the huge salt pan in the dead heart of the continent. ABC TV reporter Paul Lockyer covered the drought in 2009, and now returns to Lake Eyre 12 months later to investigate the floods sweeping across much of south-west Queensland. The deluge was delivered by a series of tropical lows which swept through the middle of Australia.
When Australia stopped the refugee boats in 2001, most Australians applauded. Ten years later, the people who were there tell us what we didn't then know. In late winter 2001, the crew of the Norwegian tanker the Tampa pulled more than 400 refugees out of a fishing boat that was sinking off the north-west coast of Australia. The refugees demanded to be taken to Christmas Island. As the captain complied, the Australian authorities radioed. They threatened to seize his ship and throw him in prison if he entered Australian waters. The order had come from the very top.
A one-hour documentary on the flash flooding that decimated the Lockyer Valley on Monday January 10 and its aftermath. Seasoned and young ABC reporters who covered the stories from the flood revisit the ravaged areas to see how communities are faring after the disaster. Detailing the constant rain over the preceding months, the film will touch on the extraordinary events in Toowoomba and the combination of planning, luck, and timing that saw Paul Lockyer and ABC crew Gary Ticehurst and Berger Breland land in the devastated Lockyer Valley town of Grantham the day after an inland tsunami destroyed it - and 24 hours before other media. Reeling with the horror at the stories of death and destruction they gathered the townspeople, and joined by other ABC staff, they spent two days documenting Grantham's fate in words and pictures and also the efforts to find survivors and catalogue the dead. The experience, even for seasoned journalists, was shocking and unforgettable. ABC colleague Kirrin McKechnie covers the early return of people to Grantham and the Lockyer Valley. Two weeks after the town was washed away, McKechnie found people still traumatised. "It was like the whole town had been put through a shredder," she said. Combining the personal stories of the ABC journalists and the amazing tales of survival, with previously unseen footage of water engulfing Grantham, this film is a compelling record of an event unparalleled in Australian history.
Jandamarra's War is the story of an Australian Aboriginal man who should be as famous as Ned Kelly. In 1894, Jandamarra led a rebellion against invading pastoralists in defence of his people's ancient land and culture. Until his death in brutal retribution, this formidable Bunuba warrior waged a 3-year guerrilla war, earning him both the admiration of his people and international notoriety.
In November 2006 Ian Thorpe, Australia's most successful Olympian, announced his retirement from competitive swimming. Aged 24 and the winner of nine Olympic medals, including five gold, he was adamant that a return to the sport was out of the question. He stepped from the limelight much as he first came to it: articulate but strangely remote with the media and public, without the tribal markings of any familiar kind of Australian male. His short life only came into focus in water, where his efficiency and consistency, and his line through the pool elevated swimming to a kind of art. Now that was gone. Then, in October 2010, he began a comeback - his goal, victory at the London Olympics. Immediately friends and filmmakers Gregor Jordan and Simone Kessell started interviewing and filming Ian as he trained, secretly at first, then as he competed in lead-up events to the Olympic Trials in Adelaide in March 2012. We all know how the competitive swimming part of this story ends: defeat. What the film reveals are the inner struggles of Ian Thorpe not just to swim fast but to rewrite his sporting legend, re-engage with the public and discover a different relationship with water itself. It's a rollercoaster ride in which Thorpe and the filmmakers plumb his depths but find, despite failure at the trials, a surprising redemptive ending. Ian Thorpe learns to love swimming again. And he learns to value truly the extraordinary champion he was - just as he comes to terms with being a more ordinary man now.
What is Japanese beauty? The Katsura Rikyu shows us its essence. The Japanese aesthetic imbues every turn in the grounds. The buildings reveal each season. The garden lays out the trees, rocks, and water in subtle designs. Even the main terrace was designed to give a direct view of the full moon during harvest season. This palace was built in Kyoto in the 17th century as a villa for an aristocratic family. Losing their political power to the samurai, the aristocrats built their palaces with great attention to craftsmanship to show in the realm of culture, their glory. High- definition cameras gain entrance for the first time to the furthest recesses of the buildings and grounds.
For the first time we witness the amazing social dynamics within one extended family of koalas, as seen through the eyes of a baby koala and the scientists that are tracking their wellbeing as their bush home is encroached upon by urbanization. Four koala biologists present the latest science and reveal how human encroachment is impacting the intricate workings of a koala colony. The film explores if koalas can live side by side with people in today’s increasingly urbanized Australia. We follow an extended family of Brisbane koalas to capture their day-to-day dramas as their natural bush home becomes encroaching by humans. On top of social pressures from within their colony, these urban koalas have to contend with the external stresses of habitat loss, cars, dogs, and disease. This unique film is a testament to how this iconic Australian animal is coping in today’s world.
Gallipoli from Above: The Untold Story is the true story of how a team of Australian officers used aerial intelligence, emerging technology and innovative tactics to plan the landing at Anzac Cove. It is now nearly 100 years since the landing and hundreds of books, movies and documentaries have failed to grasp the significance of the ANZAC achievement. Instead, the mythology has clouded the real story of how these two influential Australian officers took control of the landing using every innovation they could muster to safely land their men on Z Beach.
On A Wing And A Prayer follows the incredible life cycle of the Carnaby's cockatoo through the engaging story of one small cockatoo family. Capturing a remarkable never filmed before journey of life and love for one of Australia's most loved, but critically endangered birds. Playful, mischievous and highly intelligent, Carnaby's cockatoos are typical Aussies, larger than life, rowdy, fun-loving and loud, their booming calls heard long before you even catch sight of them. A strong part of Australian folklore, these cockatoos used to be called 'rain birds' by the early settlers. As they migrated back to their breeding grounds, their screeches and squawks were a sign of good luck. Sadly, the booming call of the Carnaby's cockatoo is more akin to a cry for help. Only found in the south-west of Western Australia a tiny pocket of birds remains and these are permanently under threat. Some are still being smuggled for private collections. Others are illegally shot. Together with land clearing, loss of native food habitat and injury from man-made structures, the Carnaby's cockatoo is plummeting towards extinction. Species recovery is an uphill struggle. While it is thought they pair for life, the birds are lucky if they raise one chick a season. The odds are against them and hope for their future lies in the hands of the local community, and one man in particular, DEC Senior Wildlife Investigator Rich Dawson. This year Rick is determined to protect one small family of Carnaby's cockatoos at a 'high risk' nesting site. With their species numbers halved over the last forty years, it is vital for the survival of their kind that they breed and Rick will do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Presented by award-winning historian Dr Clare Wright (The Einstein Factor), Utopia Girls tells the fascinating, little known story of how Australian women became the first in the world to gain full political rights.
I'm no stranger to child marriages. My auntie got married at 15. My granny was married at 12 - and went on to have eight kids. But that was back in Afghanistan, where my family come from. I've grown up in England since the age of six and I have different ideas about when you should get married. I'm 23 and I'm not planning the big day just yet! And although child marriage is illegal in many countries, it happens all over the world. One in seven girls gets married before the age of 15 in the developing world. Can it really be so bad for all of them, or is it just our Western perspective that makes it seem so shocking? That's what I wanted to find out. I set off for two countries with some of the highest rates of child marriage in the world - India and Bangladesh. It was a grueling trip through some of the poorest parts of south Asia - from the slums of Dhaka to remote villages in the deserts of Rajasthan. I found stories of despair, hope, and defiance. And the people I met completely changed my views about child marriage in a way I wasn't expecting.
An extraordinary story of the hard-fought rise and dramatic fall of a visionary Australian prime minister during one of the country's most turbulent eras. With its scandals and political deaths, dizzying highs and terrible lows, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's rise and fall reads like Shakespeare. Heroic to some, flawed to others, his changes still echo today.
Dick Smith, self proclaimed single biggest individual fuel user in Australia, goes in search of the energy options that will decide Australia's future. Some of our most serious global worries revolve around energy - controlling it, paying for it, and the consequences of burning it. As both one of the world’s biggest per capita users and exporters of fossil fuels, Australia is sure to be deeply affected by the radical changes coming down the energy pipeline. Self-confessed fuel junkie Dick Smith explores Australia's options as we enter the age of energy disruption.
Stephanie Brantz presents the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Review Spectacular: the most complex, highly choreographed fireworks, projection, lighting and live action show ever seen in Australia. Live from Sydney Harbour.
The controversial 1968 BBC documentary on the Sydney Opera House, thought lost for 45 years, reconstructed from newly uncovered elements. Includes a new prologue The Dream Of Perfection to mark the 40th Anniversary of the Opera House.
Deep within the Southern Ocean the world's biggest and most feared marine predators lead investigators to discover a mysterious and powerful source of life, hidden at the bottom of the sea. In the hidden depths of Australia’s wild Southern Ocean a great white shark, three meters long and packed with nearly a ton of muscle, is savagely attacked one hundred meters below the sea’s surface by a far larger and faster mystery predator. An electronic tracking device attached to the great white records a high-speed underwater chase nearly six hundred meters deep before the shark and its tag are savagely devoured… Two weeks later, after being carried in the belly of the unknown killer, the still functioning tag is excreted and washed ashore, withholding clues that could reveal the identity of the shark’s super predator. For nearly a decade the tag’s extraordinary data has mystified scientists – until now. Dave Riggs, part of the team that tagged the victim shark, and obsessed with identifying its killer, has discovered a natural phenomenon on the seafloor beneath the site of the attack that, for only a few short weeks each year, attracts the ocean’s most fearsome predators. This is the story of how a super predator’s epic underwater attack leads investigators to an aquatic battle zone, never documented before, where killer whales, giant squid and great white sharks each must compete to survive at the top of the world’s most dynamic food chain. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/search-for-the-oceans-super-predator
Adelaide Zoo's Karta is an orangutan who doesn't like a lot of attention, but that's what she is getting. She is pregnant. Previously she has lost four babies - will this one survive? What can the zoo do to help?
Having faithfully served his South Melbourne parish for nearly four decades, the cantankerous, controversial Catholic provocateur affectionately called Father Bob is well known and loved, as much for his incorrigible media savvy and battles with Church hierarchy as for his staunch advocacy on behalf of the disadvantaged and disenfranchised. In Bob We Trust goes behind the scenes with Bob, documenting his everyday trials during one of the most turbulent times in his career: his forced retirement and eviction from the church he called home for 38 years.
Arthur Phillip is arguably the most important person in Australia's history. The commander of the First Fleet and the founding Governor of what would grow into Australia, Phillip is - according to prominent historian Jonathan King - this nation's equivalent to George Washington. And yet for such an influential person, so little is widely known about Arthur Phillip. Who was this man, what did he do before the First Fleet and why did he accept the enormous challenge of sailing half way around the globe to found a new colony largely populated by Britain’s cast-offs and criminals? After all, as Phillip biographer Michael Pembroke argues, this mission was like "taking a group of citizens against their will to establish a colony on the moon." Presented by Scott Bevan, ARTHUR PHILLIP: GOVERNOR, SAILOR, SPY is a revealing account of the man who helped lay the foundations for modern Australia.
Kerry O'Brien in candid conversation with Clive James. As James faces the biggest challenge of his life - battling two terminal illnesses leukaemia and emphysema. Filmed in 2013 at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Fix Bayonets takes two British servicemen on an emotional journey back to the Falkland Islands and to the bloody field of Goose Green - the battlefield where they were locked in mortal combat with their Argentine enemies more than thirty years ago. Veterans Major Phil Neame and Corporal John Geddes return to the islands for the very first time since the Argentine invasion of 1982. How will the two men react as they once again see the places where so many of their comrades fought and died in the brutal battle for liberation? These are gritty, no-holds-barred stories of warfare at the sharp end - extraordinary personal records of the last traditional war of the twentieth century. In the Falklands, the fighting was as it had been throughout military history; up close and personal, where killing a man often meant running him through with a bayonet or dropping a grenade in his lap. This is how it was at Goose Green - a down-and-dirty fight to the death with an enemy that could be seen and touched. Make no mistake - the two remarkable men who guide us through that epic land battle have seen warfare as it really is. These are their stories.
Follow four groups of partygoers on a night out in Sydney's Kings Cross. Filmed across 12 hours on a Saturday night in April 2014, this documentary explores the affects of controversial new lockout laws.
This unique documentary shows how the First World War transformed the world of art and changed the way images of war are portrayed.
This award-winning documentary follows the conflict between being a Christian and a card-counting gambler. It tracks a group of devoutly religious blackjack players who have made it their mission to bleed casinos dry.
A powerful two-part series that goes deep inside police culture to investigate the tragic chain of events set in motion when officers use firearms against the citizens they are sworn to protect.
This final episode documents changes to police operational training which dramatically reduced the number of police shootings and examines one of the most controversial police shootings in recent history.
In March 2012 two paleoanthropologists announced the startling discovery of prehistoric human remains from a remote cave in South West China. They dubbed them the ‘Red Deer Cave people’. They were unlike any human remains known to science. Not only were they a unique mix of primitive and modern features, but they were also young – between 11,5000 and 14,500 years old. That makes these fossils the youngest ever found which possess physical features different to our own – much younger than our famous ancient cousins, the Neanderthals and even the primitive Pygmy Hobbits from Indonesia. ENIGMA MAN – A STONE AGE MYSTERY follows the scientific team on their mission to solve the mysteries of these bones, and unravel the clues that reveal incredible details about how these people lived, and possibly why they died. Tantalising evidence from the cave site in China poses some chilling, even macabre, possibilities concerning their fate and their connection to us. The implications of the discovery for understanding the evolution of our own species, and the broader human story, are profound. Scientific orthodoxy contends that our modern human ancestors only inhabited East Asia after the disappearance of earlier ancient humans. The existence of the Red Deer Cave people is further evidence that the truth may be something else entirely. Our own species may have coexisted with the Red Deer Cave people until very recently, for tens of thousands of years. Drawing together this latest discovery with other recent groundbreaking finds in the region, this documentary explores an amazing new chapter in our evolutionary story - the Asian chapter. Combining scientific adventure, insightful interviews, and stunning reconstructions ENIGMA MAN – A STONE AGE MYSTERY is a comprehensive account of an emerging new view of human evolution.
Stunning underwater photography reveals the mystery of where the loggerhead turtles go in the 'lost years' after they hatch and disappear into the Southern Pacific Ocean.
Cyclone Tracy 40 years on, exploring the myths and revealing new perspectives on one of the worst natural disasters in Australia's history.
This film records the personal journey of the renowned Swedish filmmaker Staffan Hildebrand as he captures the profound changes spanning the past three decades in Australia's response to the AIDS epidemic.
Comedian Paul Hogan opens the door into his private and public life. It’s been 40 years since he first stepped into the comedy limelight, and now at 73, he is ready to share - warts-and-all – his story with fellow comedian Shane Jacobson (Kenny, The Time of our Lives). This relaxed, candid and hilarious program charts his journey from raising a family in a housing commission home, to the highs of Crocodile Dundee, the Golden Globe Awards and performing stand-up at the Oscars. It also delves into the lows of Hogan’s battle with the Australian Tax Office. And right now Paul Hogan is once again set to do what he does best - entertain.
This intimate documentary follows world-renowned bird artist William T. Cooper as he prepares for his final exhibition.
Narrated by Bryan Dawe, this entertaining mockumentary series uncovers the many astonishing achievements of a little-known inventor who lived in the small outback town of Hoke's Bluff. From his isolated workshop Henry produced a stream of dazzling leaps of mechanical imagination. Unaccountably, until recently discovered, these brilliant tools had all but disappeared. From the Leg Pull, Waterproof Tap, Tartan Paint, and Mechanical Runaround, to his final extraordinary master work, the Random Excuse Generator, we discover the story of an unsung inventive genius whose ideas could still revolutionise the modern world.
This documentary looks at how the fly, a national nuisance, has shaped Australia and its people, confounding our scientists, influencing our lifestyle and defining the way we speak. But is its value misunderstood?
Sam Neill examines the enduring myths of the Anzac legend, sharing his family's war stories and uncovering forgotten truths that haunt us still today.
When we reflect on WWI what are we remembering? The facts, or just one small part of the Anzac story, a story steeped in legend? Ask yourself this question when Anzac Day comes about – Lest we forget what?
Narrated by Terence Stamp, this is the story behind one of the world's most loved films, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
The world's most powerful man, US President Barack Obama, interviews the world's most acclaimed naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, about the world's most critical environmental issues.
A cautionary and inspiring tale about the effects of anonymous sperm donation on donor-conceived children, their families and on the sperm donors themselves.
Arthur Phillip is arguably the most important person in Australia's history. The commander of the First Fleet and the founding Governor of what would grow into Australia, Phillip is - according to prominent historian Jonathan King - this nation's equivalent to George Washington. And yet for such an influential person, so little is widely known about Arthur Phillip. Who was this man, what did he do before the First Fleet and why did he accept the enormous challenge of sailing half way around the globe to found a new colony largely populated by Britain’s cast-offs and criminals? After all, as Phillip biographer Michael Pembroke argues, this mission was like "taking a group of citizens against their will to establish a colony on the moon." Presented by Scott Bevan, ARTHUR PHILLIP: GOVERNOR, SAILR, SPY is a revealing account of the man who helped lay the foundations for modern Australia.
This film explores the unique set of circumstances in 1970s Brisbane that fostered The Saints; the sweaty rebellion of Brisbane's oppressed youth as punk counterculture challenged QLD's notorious police force.
Through rarely seen archive, interviews with leading experts and arresting visual graphics, this documentary reveals the untold story of how artists were recruited by the military to fool the enemy in modern warfare.
Multi-award winning Aussie comedian Felicity Ward takes up the challenge of breaking down the stigmas around mental health.
The pokies. They’re rigged, they’re addictive, and they’re everywhere. And most of the machines are in the poorest postcodes across the nation. They’ve got almost half a million Australians hooked. And that’s exactly what they’re designed to do. Produced by Neil Lawrence and Mitzi Goldman and directed by Jane Manning, Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation exposes how the seemingly innocuous pokie machines at your local pub are programmed for addiction. For the first time, industry insiders go on the record to explain how these sophisticated machines combine graphics and musical elements with complex mathematical algorithms to keep punters hooked. Hear from game designers, mathematicians and composers who’ve designed hundreds of machines, as they break the silence around this highly secretive industry. Their testimonies are supported by world-leading neuroscientists, who take us into the lab to show how these machines work on our brains, leading some researchers to call them “the crack cocaine of gambling” and “electronic morphine”.
This cutting edge documentary filmed over six months at HMP Gartree in Leicestershire provides an unprecedented insight into the lives of convicted killers facing a lifetime behind bars.
Billionaire Frank Lowy had a dream: to bring the world to Australia for the greatest sporting event on the planet. Football’s World Cup would be Lowy’s crowning achievement in an extraordinarily successful career and his greatest coup. History told him he was the man to do it. Instead, he was conned. He was completely played by the masters of dark politics and backstabbing. Along the way, Australia lost $43 million. Was it hubris or naivety from Frank Lowy. Or was one of the world’s smartest businessmen simply an unsuspecting player in the high-stakes power game beyond his control? It was certainly embarrassing for Australia. Now, for the first time, the inside story of what really happened is exclusively revealed by those close to the action – including Frank Lowy; former Prime Minister John Howard; disgraced FIFA President Sepp Blatter; former FFA CEO John O’Neill; Steven Lowy; Lowy’s close adviser Mark Ryan; biographer Jill Margo; film director Phillip Noyce; and Australia’s bid consultants.
This year The Rocky Horror Picture Show turns 40. To celebrate we are taking a look at the history of audience participation in cinema, for better or worse... and what does that look like now in the digital age?
A revealing look at the growing trend of young people initiating sexual relationships on the internet and mobile devices. What are they risking? What are the boundaries? Hosted by Nathalie Emmanuel.
This documentary investigates the dark side of sexting, revealing what can happen when your most intimate photos get into the wrong hands.
Join Jeff Leach as he takes a fearless look at the world of male escorts. Joining the industry for real, Jeff uncovers some of the dangers that lie in store for sex workers.
'Sexting' has become a new dating tool, embracing men and women in all kinds of relationships. Meet couples who use sexting to spice up their lives.
Sexworker, Lina, searches for Mr Right in this revealing and thought-provoking documentary filmed in Amsterdam's world-famous red-light district.
Moving and startling film about why Australia really went to war in Vietnam and how the troops discovered that their biggest battle there was dealing with Australia's best friend, America.
5 years ago 12 people died in a flash flood in the Qld town of Grantham. Presented by former Qld Premier Anna Bligh, we revisit the original ABC documentary on the disaster & catch up with the survivors.
Girt By Sea takes us on a stunning journey around the Australian coastline – from the sweeping cliffs of WA to the city beaches of Sydney, from hardworking fishing and ship building towns in SA to small islands off QLD.
A personal quest for justice after Australian, Charlotte Campbell Stephen is gang raped in Nairobi, becomes a campaign for women's rights in Kenya.
What's This Then...? Sexy Steven Oliver (Black Comedy) dons his glitter for the 2016 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, reporting from Oxford Street as our ABC Indigenous correspondent. #MardiGras16
Screening as part of 'Naked As' Week, this film highlights the soaring rates of eating disorders & self harm among young people, and explores the internet... where young people go to share their secrets. #MySelfHarmNightmare www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/my-selfharm-nightmare/
The average size of women is on the increase. To cope with a boom in demand, the plus size fashion industry is going through the roof. Screening as part of 'Naked As' Week. #PlusSizedWars www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/plus-sized-wars/
Presenter Nat Harris cracks the vagina taboo wide open to explore a procedure called labiaplasty. Find out what drives women to put the most intimate part of their bodies under the knife.
Matilda and Me tells the story of the Australian debut of global smash hit stage show Matilda the Musical and its composer Tim Minchin.
After 13 days a sea, the search team on board SV Geosounder found what they and the nation have waited 67 years for - HMAS Sydney II has been discovered. Less than a day after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the expedition had successfully located the German raider Kormoran, Sydney was located 12.2 nautical miles away, at a depth of 2,468 metres. The Search team is conducting side-scan sonar imaging of the site before returning to Geraldton to gear up for the next phase of the search. An ROV (remotely operated vehicle) will then be sent down to the wrecks of the Sydney and also Kormoran to film and photograph the wrecks. On March 3rd 2008 the vessel SV Geosounder set sail from Geraldton, Western Australia to find the resting place of the HMAS Sydney II, which was tragically lost in November 1941 in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia with its entire crew of 645, following a fierce engagement with the German raider HSK Kormoran. The 1,800 sq nautical mile search area is positioned in deep waters offshore from Carnarvon, Western Australia and based on accounts of the battle given by survivors of the Kormoran and research completed by The Finding Sydney Foundation, David Mearns and UWA's Kim Kirsner. Compared to the search area of less than 500km² for the Titanic and the Bismarck, the challenges posed by this search were significantly greater, despite recent technological advances. The entire search is being covered by an independent documentary film team from Electric Pictures, who are working with Film Australia to produce the upcoming ABC TV documentary, The Hunt for HMAS Sydney, premiering Tuesday April 15 at 8.30pm on ABC1.
How do you get into music when you can't hear it? We look at the amazing world of the people who sign for deaf audiences at rock and hip hop gigs.
Kate Ritchie presents a special look at 50 Years of Play School, taking a nostalgic journey through Aussie childhood, reliving the laughter & delights of half a century of this TV icon.
On Vietnam Veterans' Day, a Commemorative Service from the War Memorial in Canberra to mark 50 Years since the Battle of Long Tan, the most costly battle in terms of casualties in the Vietnam War.
Conviction is an intense and riveting study of what it takes to solve a high-profile and emotionally-charged murder, told through the eyes of the homicide detectives who brought Jill Meagher's killer to justice.
Robyn Davidson, famous for her solo expedition across the west Australian deserts by camel in the 1970s, presents this documentary telling the story of Australia's camels and the people who brought them here.
An exclusive glimpse into the creative process of the world's greatest living architect, Frank Gehry, as he creates his very first building in Australia - the new business school at Sydney's University of Technology.
An unforgettable event from the steps of Sydney Opera House. Twenty years after their landmark last concert, Crowded House return playing a cavalcade of their hits and favourites.
This program takes you into the world of cyber hacking, where the weapon of choice is computer code. How are hackers are threatening everything from your bank account to the nation's secrets?
Australian and Chinese scientists uncover strange, ancient human remains from a remote cave in South West China and are confronted with a shocking possibility. Could these bones represent a new human species?
Destination Arnold tells the story of two Indigenous women who share a big dream - to make it to the Arnolds - an invitation only bodybuilding competition being held in Australia for the first time.
We explore how Artificial Intelligence will change your job as new research shows how much of what you do could be done by robots. From truckies to lawyers & doctors, we bring affected workers face to face with AI experts.
The Go-Betweens: Right Here uncovers the intensely passionate, creative and fraught relationships behind one of the most loved and influential bands in Australian rock history.
ABC journalist Paul Kennedy investigates Australia's biggest cover-up: the decades of abuse in religious and state institutions, from elite inner city schools, to remote aboriginal missions.
Tim Jenison attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all of art: How did 17th century Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography?
Harry Seidler: Modernist is a retrospective celebration of the life and work of Australia's most controversial architect. Sixty years of work is showcased through sumptuous photography and interviews with leading architects from around the world.
Comedians Joel Creasey and Rhys Nicholson travel to a regional Victorian town where Joel was previously subjected to homophobic abuse, to find out what it's really like for LGBTI kids growing up in regional Australia.
James and Stuart have invited close friends, family - and 200,000 extra witnesses - to celebrate their wedding at the 40th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in the year of marriage equality.
When did Australian cricket adopt a win-at-all-costs culture? When did it turn toxic? Paul Kennedy investigates what led to the ball-tampering incident and the lasting effects of Steve Smith's role in the cheating scandal.
Charismatic astronomer Greg Quicke (aka Space Gandalf) takes us on the ultimate guided tour of the southern sky, revealing unseen connections between the everyday world around us and the stars above.
Attenborough narrates the story of a vast island wilderness - ancient forests, pristine rivers & spectacular coastline. Seasons vary from dry heat, strong winds & cold bringing wombats, wallabies & platypus out in daylight.
When politicians and property developers threaten to transform Sydney's Waterloo, the locals fight back: their war cry an ambitious artwork, the making of which will both unite and divide.
Shot over four years, this documentary chronicles the final years of the Gatwick Private Hotel, a boarding house that over the years became a local, and then national icon and reveals the intimate stories and the fascinating characters you never knew about – and the women who dedicated their lives to looking after them.
The Moon Landing was the iconic moment of our time. Prominent Australians reflect on the impact of Apollo 11 as John Barron explores how Australia was involved in this triumph of human achievement, using rare archival vision.
Jane Caro meets five Australian men navigating their first year as new dads to see how they are managing the life changing transition into fatherhood.
This fascinating exploration of the creative process follows one of Australia's leading contemporary artists Ben Quilty, as he completes one of his most challenging art works.
Friends and colleagues remember Clive James. Featuring Michael Parkinson, Martin Amis, Eric Idle, Simon Schama, Barry Humphries, Tom Keneally, Howard Jacobson, Phillip Adams and Tim Minchin. Presented by Kerry O'Brien.
Celebrating legendary ABC music show Recovery, host Dylan Lewis takes us through the best performances, those awkward interviews and the most random, hilarious moments of the show.
20 years ago, the world was caught up in the millennium bug. John Barron looks back on the global panic over whether the Year 2000 would cause a computer meltdown and how we avoided the crisis. Or was it all a hoax?
In 1939 PM Menzies launched Australia's first international broadcast service Australia Calling. For 80 Years ABC has delivered an Australian perspective on the culture and events of the Asia Pacific on radio, TV and digital.
This intimate portrait follows beloved Australian bird photographer Leila Jeffreys' childhood in the Australian bush, through the grief of losing her father to her first exhibition in New York.
Holden is an iconic brand closely tied to our national identity but how did it all go wrong for Australia's car? From the FJ, EH, Kingswood, Monaro, Torana and Commodore, Jeremy Fernandez charts the history as the end nears.
The Maralinga people survive aggressive colonisation, including dispossession to enable atomic testing, and through their tenacious spirit and cultural strength fight to retain their country.
The critically acclaimed documentary told through the eyes of charismatic 10-year-old Arrernte/Garrwa boy, Dujuan and his family, revealing the challenges Dujuan faces both in his school and on the streets of Alice Springs.
The collapse of a major spy case involving a female double agent haunted ASIO throughout the Cold War. A new investigation of surveillance film reveals what went wrong and uncovers a possible KGB murder on Australian soil.
In 1868, an Aboriginal cricket team journeyed to the UK, it was Australia's first sports team to tour overseas. Walkabout Wickets follows the 2018 National Indigenous cricket teams to the UK to retrace those steps.
Steve Waugh, the mastermind behind Australia's golden age of cricket dominance, takes us on a trip through India, exploring the rich diversity of cultures and searching for the true spirit of cricket.
Experience the days, minutes, and seconds leading up to the 2019 White Island Eruption that killed 21 people through the eyes of survivors, rescue workers and the scientists who have been studying the volcano for years.
Comedian, architecture enthusiast and design nerd Tim Ross takes us across Australia to meet the families whose lives have been shaped by the exceptional designs of their homes. In this one-hour documentary, Tim explores how the architecture of our homes has the ability to affect more than those who grow up in those four walls – when we build with consideration and conviction.
An ABC News Original, OnlyFans: Selling Sexy will examine how the online platform went from a relatively niche site to a massive movement that allowed millions of users to earn an income during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
Our champion and our inspiration, swimming legend Dawn Fraser opens up to Tracey Holmes about her life, swimming career, winning Gold, the 1964 Tokyo Games and the theft of that Flag that cost Dawn her Olympic future.
A fresh look at the JFK assassination, featuring never-before-seen analysis through modern technology and new and exclusive interviews.
WA's outback has come to life with a kaleidoscope of colours! ABC filmmaker Chris Lewis brings the seasonal wildflowers, stories and characters of the Midwest to the world in a unique visual style.
Join hosts Hamish Macdonald and Dr Ann Jones plus guests for a live TV event from the wintry Southern Ocean. Experience big creatures, big science and big thrills as we take you on a live adventure that's as wild as it gets.
We will be welcomed by First Nations people through ceremony, ritual, dance and song as we pay respect to the traditional custodians of the Sydney area. A line-up of our finest LGBTIQ+ performers and friends will see new music acts alongside icons of our stages join together to give audiences an unforgettable evening of party and community. On the lawns of the Domain, expect to be enchanted as you revel under the stars with loved ones, new friends and a global community in this joyous celebration to herald the arrival of Sydney WorldPride 2023.
Two of cricket's greatest players, sporting icons from different corners of the world. This documentary compares their early lives, stellar careers and dreams, uncovering striking similarities and never-before-shared details.
The story of one our most gifted and controversial athletes and how a social media post landed him in the heart of our culture wars. Part 1 traces Folau's family background and his rise to the top of the Rugby world.
How a social media post landed one of our most gifted and controversial athletes at the centre of the culture wars. Part 2 explores the fallout and its impact on the LGBTQI, Rugby, and Pasifika communities.
Australian spies are on the offensive against cyber criminal networks and foreign actors seeking to disrupt democracies. But our intelligence agencies have a long history playing a key role in secret battles.
In a time of hardship, Hobart resident Peter Walsh turns to the secretive platypus for solace, only to discover it is the platypus that need his help to survive in a habitat under threat.
A look back at the life and work of Barry Humphries, told in his own words from archival interviews with the man himself, reflecting on a career that has contributed so much to the cultural life of the nation.
Lurking under the sea is a global web of fibre optic telecommunication cables, the plumbing of the internet. It's how we talk, text and stream, connecting billions of people. These cables are also the frontline of a tech war.
Across the housing sector, from renters to real estate agents and landlords, there's broad agreement that Australia's rental system needs an overhaul — and fast. The problem is, few agree on what that change should look like.
This remarkable documentary tells the story of Professor Jenny Hocking, the historian who took on the Australian Government and HM Queen Elizabeth II in a landmark legal battle - and won.
Australia's largest celebration of diverse LGBTQIA+ communities brings a burst of colour and creativity to Sydney. Presented by Courtney Act and Mon Schafter, with G Flip, Remy Hii, Mel Buttle and Jeremy Fernandez.
