Sunday 12 November at 8.30 pm
FOR THE LOVE OF LEAH
When Ben Debono’s wife of three months, Leah, died of melanoma earlier this year he was heartbroken – until his grief was overtaken by anger. Ben says 29-year-old Leah should still be alive. Like most Australians, she was sun-smart and knew the dangers of melanoma. When she noticed an unusual mole on her arm she immediately had it examined by two doctors. They reassured Leah she had nothing to worry about, but they were wrong. Now Ben is on a crusade, travelling the country on the honeymoon he never had, warning other Australians about the risks of this deadly disease.
Reporter: Allison Langdon
Producer: Bryce Corbett
THE RUSSIAN CONNECTION
For anyone who thinks Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership is in turmoil, it’s nothing compared to what is happening in the United States with President Donald Trump. A year on from the election, he continues to be dogged by accusations that he only won the top job because of Russian meddling. The most serious claims – currently being investigated by the FBI – are that Russian spies offered the Trump campaign dirt on Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton in return for a promise to overturn tough anti-corruption laws. Ross Coulthart reports from the United States that if the allegations are proven, key members of Donald Trump’s inner circle could go to prison – and eventually, even the President himself.
Reporter: Ross Coulthart
Producer: Phil Goyen
ISLAND OF HORROR
As far as gripping, real-life crime thrillers go, this one has everything. A mutiny, a psychopath and a brutal mass murder. It’s a 388-year-old cold case mystery that dates back to 1629 when the Dutch sailing ship, Batavia, struck a tiny atoll off the West Australian coast near Geraldton. Almost 300 passengers and crew survived the shipwreck but over the next few months, as they waited to be rescued, more than 100 were slaughtered. For centuries their bodies lay buried, the story forgotten. But now the search for the truth about Australia’s greatest mass murder is underway as archaeologists from Australia and the Netherlands dig up new clues – and victims.
Reporter: Liam Bartlett
Producer: Nick Greenaway
Sunday 19 November at 8.30 pm
NO WINNERS
If anyone thought the insults hurled between North Korea and the United States couldn’t get any more ridiculous, then this week set a new standard in farce. The rogue nation imposed the death sentence on President Donald Trump because he apparently called their leader, Kim Jong-un, short and fat. Ordinarily this kind of behaviour would be quickly dismissed, but 2017 has seen tensions on the Korean peninsula rise to the most dangerous level ever. The threat of nuclear war is real and experts calculate Kim Jong-un’s regime has now amassed as many as 60 nuclear warheads. As well, advances in the North’s ballistic missile program mean it can target not only mainland USA but also northern Australia. After months of negotiations, Nine News correspondent Tom Steinfort was given rare permission to travel to North Korea. There he worryingly discovered a country whose people are ready for conflict, and bizarrely, almost gleeful that a consequence of it could be the end of the world.
Reporter: Tom Steinfort
Producer: Garry McNab
CHUCK OFF!
Charles Wooley reckons he got into journalism for no loftier reason than it looked like a lot of fun. And back when he started, it certainly was. Over the years though, he says the world has grown much more earnest, while new technology has eroded the traditional business of newspapers and TV. These days the craft and art of journalism doesn’t seem quite as enjoyable – unless you’re working on the NT News, Darwin’s daring, anything-goes daily newspaper. The NT News is a fish and chip wrapper which is trying to buck the trend of declining circulation with outrageous front page headlines and cheeky stories, like the old days. So when the editor offered the 60 MINUTES reporter a job, Charlie happily went looking for a scoop.
Reporter: Charles Wooley
Producer: Ali Smith
Sunday 26 November at 8.30 pm
NO WINNERS
FAMILY TIES
There’s no doubt about the marvel of in vitro fertilisation, or the brilliance of the scientists who pioneered it. In the last 40 years IVF has miraculously transformed childless couples into parents by literally creating millions of bundles of joy. But there’s an element of the technique which is causing a little-known and serious ethical dilemma. What do couples do when they complete IVF treatment without using all their embryos? Destroy the leftover ones? Or donate them to other want-to-be parents? Allison Langdon reports that while embryo donation can be the most generous gift of all, it also comes with risks, and one very tough question: just what are the implications of giving your unborn child to a complete stranger?
Reporter: Allison Langdon
Producer: Laura Sparkes
THEM 4
For 41 years, rock band U2 have had the world singing and thinking. The Irish supergroup are almost as well known for their politics as their countless hits. Bono, the Edge, Larry Mullen Jr and Adam Clayton were teenagers in Dublin when they got together in 1976 to avoid the bleak prospect of unemployment. As they say, the rest is history, but when Tara Brown sat down with them in Brazil she found a group not prepared to live off the success of their past. Next week U2 will release their 14th album, Songs of Experience, and they seem just as hungry and joyfully defiant as ever. U2 also let Tara in on a little secret: after a seven-year absence they could be on their way to Australia next year.
Reporter: Tara Brown
Producer: Grace Tobin
WANDERLUST!
Somewhere out in the backblocks of Australia’s red centre there’s a cloud of dust created by a battered old 1979 Toyota Land Cruiser called Alice. Behind the wheel is a wonderful young woman, Edwina Robertson, and next to her, her bitsa dog, Jordie. Alice, Edwina and Jordie are on a mission to discover Australia and bridge the great divide between city and bush. Edwina, or Eddy as she is known, doesn’t have any money, so she is funding her journey by trading her skills as a professional photographer with bush families, in return for hospitality and a bit of fuel for Alice. It’s such a simple yet glorious adventure that Charles Wooley decided he just had to hitch a ride.
Reporter: Charles Wooley
Producer: Ali Smith
Allison Langdon leaves 60 Minutes:
A NSW couple has lost a defamation case against 60 Minutes, related to material broadcast in the 2014 interview with their daughter who claimed she was kidnapped and forced to marry her cousin in Syria.
Tom Steinfort joining the program full time from tomorrow
Looks like he’ll be swapping with Pete Stefanovic. Good to see as Tom is a good reporter and 60 Minutes will help to build his career.
Are the Stefanovic’s spewing that he got that job and they are stuck doing breakfasts?
It’ll be rather interesting to see if 60 Minutes does their inevitable “40 Years” special program at the end of 2018 or early 2019, remembering that the “20 Years” program aired in Late 1998 while the “30 Years” program aired in Early 2009.
Great promo!
Sunday 8:40 pm
MALCOLM TURNBULL EXCLUSIVE
60 MINUTES returns for its historic 40th year this Sunday at 8.40pm on Channel Nine and 9Now.
The award-winning program has its lineup of Charles Wooley, Liz Hayes, Liam Bartlett, Tara Brown, Ross Coulthart and Allison Langdon back on the road this year, along with former Weekend TODAY host, Tom Steinfort, who joins the team. Here are this week’s stories, headlined by Liz Hayes’ exclusive access to Prime Minister Turnbull.
TAKEN?
For the first program of the 40th season, Liam Bartlett investigates one of the strangest stories in 60 MINUTES history. Chloe Ayling is a stunning and in-demand glamour model, but last July she was abducted off a street in Milan in Italy by two masked men. She was drugged, gagged, and held hostage in a remote farmhouse. The kidnappers’ evil intention was to auction Chloe on the internet as a sex slave to the highest bidder. The plan failed, because the 20-year-old model says she was able outwit her captors. But Chloe’s story of escape from this nightmare is almost too heroic to believe, and many people think she’s lying. An Italian court is currently trying to determine the truth in this gripping case, but in an exclusive interview with 60 MINUTES, Chloe maintains she is the victim, not the mastermind of an elaborate publicity scam.
Reporter: Liam Bartlett
Producers: Stefanie Sgroi, Eliza Berkery
I LOVE LUCY
There are two words Prime Ministers never want to hear in the same sentence – sex and scandal. Just ask Malcolm Turnbull, who has been lumbered with cleaning up the political mess caused by the personal life of his deputy, Barnaby Joyce. By Thursday, the Prime Minister had had enough of Joyce, describing his actions as a “shocking error of judgement”. On Friday, Barnaby Joyce hit back, accusing Turnbull of being “inept and unnecessary” in his comments. This embarrassing crisis for the coalition government has played out while Liz Hayes films a profile story on Malcolm Turnbull for 60 MINUTES. For the past month she has been given exclusive access to the Prime Minister, travelled the country with him, and filmed him at home with wife Lucy. Hayes reveals the latest developments in the Barnaby Joyce saga. Her candid interview with the Turnbulls also gives a remarkable insight into why the Prime Minister is so disappointed with his deputy.
Reporter: Liz Hayes
Producer: Gareth Harvey
BITCOIN OR BITCON?
There has been an incredible amount of noise recently about the Bitcoin boom. For canny – or lucky – investors who got in early, watching the value of this crypto-currency soar to unimaginable highs was like winning the lottery. The price of Bitcoin is now rapidly retreating, but true believers say there are going to be many more digital goldrushes just like it. As Tom Steinfort discovers though, buyers need to beware, because this crypto-craziness is attracting the crypto-sharks, who are circling with some outrageously brazen scams.
Reporter: Tom Steinfort
Producers: Gareth Harvey, Sean Power
After recently watching the US 60 Minutes, I much prefer the Australian graphics/ format. It looks much cleaner.
Sunday 25 February at 8:30 pm
WARNING!
There’s no nice way to put it: Goran Markovic is a con artist. He’s very good at being very bad, and no one should ever believe or trust him. For 40 years he has been perfecting his nasty craft, lying his way around Australia and the world, fleecing almost everyone he encounters. From millionaire businessmen to unsuspecting women – anyone it seems is a potential target. Even police, tasked with trying to bring Markovic to justice, have been mocked and taunted by this elusive “catch-me-if-you-can” crook. But in a special 60 MINUTES investigation, the tables are turned as the con man gets stung by two of his victims. Goran Markovic is finally caught and it’s all on camera.
Reporter: Tara Brown
Producer: Laura Sparkes
THE KIWI THAT SOARED
Politicians in Australia need to take note. It is possible to be liked. For proof they only need to look at New Zealand’s new prime minister, 37-year-old Jacinda Ardern. Four months after taking the top job, her approval ratings are soaring, with 70 per cent of the country believing she’s doing well. And now she’s taking nation building to the next level by combining politics with pregnancy. When she gives birth in June, she’ll be the first elected female leader in the western world to have a child in office. But becoming a mum isn’t expected to slow Ms Ardern down – she says she’ll be back running the country within weeks. As Charles Wooley finds out, Prime Minister Adern’s no-fuss, can-do attitude is an enormous hit with Kiwi voters.
Reporter: Charles Wooley
Producer: Nick Greenaway
THE EXTROVERTED INTROVERT
Liam Bartlett’s not sure if it’s good news or bad news, but he has discovered there are actually two Robbie Williams. One is one of the best-selling solo artists of all time, the charismatic and cheeky showman from the north of England. The other is a complete contradiction, an introspective, almost unsettled soul who often questions his self-worth. But no matter which Robbie Williams is in the room, Bartlett says both make for a must-watch interview.
Reporter: Liam Bartlett
Producer: Garry McNab