ABC Family - Programs and Schedules (formerly ABC TV Plus)

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The Witchfinder

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From Tuesday 31 May 8.30pm

From the writers of Alan Partridge, this six-part fiendish comedy is about an odd couple in a very odd time.

It is 1647 and fear of witchcraft is rife in England. Puritanical Christianity, deep-seated superstition and a willingness to scapegoat outsiders have created a tinderbox of suspicion in which few are safe. In this environment, witchfinding has flourished, as self-appointed witch experts achieve hero status by investigating accusations of witchery and extracting confessions.

A failing, small-time witchfinder, Gideon Bannister (Tim Key), transports an unruly suspected witch, Thomasine Gooch (Daisy May Cooper), across 1640s East Anglia to a trial that could change his fortunes forever. But his captive is the worst possible travel companion: an inquisitive, uncouth woman whose ability to prick his pomposity and ask uncomfortable questions turns a straightforward journey into a life-changing ordeal.

Starring: Tim Key (This Time with Alan Partridge), Daisy May Cooper (This Country), Reece Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen), Jessica Hynes (Shaun of the Dead), Daniel Rigby (Ideal), Ricky Tomlinson (Nice Guy Eddie), Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh)

Production credits: Written by Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons (Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge). Producer, Dave Lambert (Alan Partridge’s Scissored Isle). Executive Producers, Christine Langan (The Queen) and Steve Coogan (Philomena).

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https://tbivision.com/2022/05/30/abc-in-oz-snags-rte-kids-animation-flix-by-tomi-ungerer-following-serious-kids-deal/

The show, which is Pictor’s first comedy animation, will air on RTÉ in (Northern) Spring 2023 and targets kids aged 4-7 years.

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The Story of Film: A New Generation

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From Wednesday 22 June 8.30pm

Filmmaker Mark Cousins examines the most powerful movie images from 2010 to 2021. An epic and hopeful tale of cinematic innovation, uncovering new ways of seeing and being in our eclectic and voluminous digital age.

Examining the most powerful movie images of the last decade, filmmaker Mark Cousins updates his classic The Story of Film with A New Generation. Spanning from 2010 to 2021, including the recent pandemic, Cousins spins an epic and hopeful tale of cinematic innovation from around the globe as he helps to uncover new ways of seeing and being in our eclectic and voluminous digital age.

PART ONE: EXTENDING THE LANGUAGE OF FILM

What are the most powerful movie images of our times? Director and writer Mark Cousins examines the cinema of the last decade, showing us the best movies from around the world that pushed the conventions, and innovated. He begins with an arresting comparison between Frozen and The Joker, then works through films by genre: comedies, music and dance films, bodies in cinema, horror, slow films and the surreal. A rich, surprising introduction to the best cinema of modern times, from Booksmart to Hard to be a God.

Compass - We Come to Take You Home

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Sunday 3 July 7.30pm

Kamilaroi elder Bob Weatherall has spent a lifetime working tirelessly to bring home sacred Indigenous ancestral remains that are stored in museums and universities all over the world.

Kamilaroi elder Bob Weatherall has spent a lifetime working tirelessly to bring home sacred Indigenous ancestral remains that are stored in museums and universities all over the world.We Come to Take You Home weaves musical performance and spoken word to tell the story of the long hard battle he and other Aboriginal warriors have fought to bring home their ancestors.

We join Bob and his family on a road trip back to visit the burial ground where the sacred remains of his people were repatriated a decade ago. But for Bob, returning to the resting place is bittersweet, knowing there is still so much more to do.

Production credit: Producer: Tracey Spring. Series Producer: Kim Akhurst. Executive Producer: Amanda Collinge.

River

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Wednesday 13 July 8.30pm

Throughout history, rivers have shaped our landscapes and our journeys; flowed through our cultures and dreams. RIVER, narrated by Willem Dafoe, takes its audience on a journey through space and time and spanning six continents.

Written and directed by Jennifer Peedom, the filmmaker of the acclaimed feature documentary ‘Mountain’ and narrated by Willem Dafoe, River is a profound cinematic and musical reflection on how rivers have shaped both the planet’s elaborate landscapes and all human existence.

Throughout history, rivers have shaped our landscapes and our journeys; flowed through our cultures and dreams. River takes its audience on a journey through space and time; spanning six continents, and drawing on extraordinary contemporary cinematography, including satellite filming, the film shows rivers on scales and from perspectives never seen before. Its union of image, music and sparse, poetic script create a film that is both dream-like and powerful, honouring the wildness of rivers but also recognising their vulnerability.

Production credit: Screen Australia and the Australian Chamber Orchestra in association with the ABC and the BBC present a Stranger Than Fiction production in assocation with Arrow Pictures. Written and directed by Jennifer Peedom, Co-written by Robert Macfarlane and Joshep Nizeti. Co-directed by Joseph Nizeti. Produced by Jo-anne McGowan, Jennifer Peedom and John Smithson. Artistic Director, Australian Chamber Orchestra, and composer Richard Tognetti.

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Dinosaur Apocalypse

Monday 27 June 7:30pm

Originally shown in Britain as Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough in April 2022

Sir David did an exclusive interview with ET Canada website earlier this month, ahead of the documentary’s Canadian broadcast.

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Art Works

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Art Works airs at a special time Tuesday 9 August at 9.25pm on ABC TV Plus and ABC iview

Hosted by Namila Benson, Art Works is the ABC’s weekly half-hour arts show sharing the most inspiring, surprising, and formative ways that Australian creatives are telling our stories today. Celebrating the diversity of Australian creatives and bringing new voices and ideas into the conversation, the show redefines how we tell the stories of Australia today and tomorrow. Art Works invites audiences to look, debate, consider and reflect on what the arts bring to all our lives.

Jeffrey Smart

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Wednesday 10 August at 8.30pm

The comprehensive story of one of Australia’s greatest 20th century painters. The documentary incorporates rich archive material including rare interviews with Smart and his long term partner Ermes De Zan at their wonderful Tuscan farmhouse and vision of places around Arezzo that so inspired the artist.

Further insights come from portrait subjects and friends Clive James and David Malouf, and leading Australian scholars Deborah Hart and Barry Pearce who curated major exhibitions in public museums.

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Ginger & the Vegesaurs has been renewed for a second season, and is among nine online projects which share in $2 million in production funding from Screen Australia.

GINGER & THE VEGESAURS SEASON 2
20 x 5 mins
Cheeky Little Media
Genre Family
Creators Gary Eck, Nick O’Sullivan
Series Directors David Webster, Cindy Scharka
Writers Gary Eck, Sam Carroll, Sylvie van Dijk, Caitlin Farrell, Bruce Griffiths
Producers Celine Goetz, Amanda Spagnolo
Executive Producers Patrick Egerton, David Webster
Platform ABC iview
Synopsis Go back through the mists of time to an era dominated by the juiciest and crunchiest creatures ever to rule the planet - the mighty Vegesaurs.

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Celia Pacquola: All Talk

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Saturday, 17 September, 8.30pm

Celia Pacquola is a chameleon – a writer and actor who springs between stage and screen and has become one of our best-loved and most in-demand performers in any genre. The stand-up stage is where the journey all started for Celia and it’s where she happily returns in Celia Pacquola: All Talk.

Co-creator, co-writer and star of ABC TV’s Rosehaven, Celia Pacquola is a true luminary of Australian comedy. A multiple award-winning writer-performer, she is sharp, frank, deft and smart as hell. It is Celia’s ability as a writer that makes her stand up so good. “This show may not be for everyone,” says Celia – addressing the darkness at the centre of the glittering Celia Pacquola: All Talk, her own experiences of anxiety and depression. But as winner of the Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer and a nominee for the Most Outstanding Show of the Melbourne Comedy Festival, it seems like she may be wrong. This is the homecoming of one of Australia’s most treasured comedians live on stage.

Production credits: Written and performed by Celia Pacquola. Executive Producers: Kevin Whyte and Kathleen McCarthy. Producer: Todd Abbott. Director: Simon Francis. A Guesswork Television production.

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Looks like there will not be a new episode of Adam Hills: The Last Leg on ABC TV Plus this week.

Deadline reports the BBC has licensed Ginger and the Vegesaurs from Germany’s Studio 100 Media. The Australian short-form series — from Cheeky Little Media in association with the ABC, France TV and Studio 100 — will launch on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer later this year.

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Meet your new best friends Beep and Mort!

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The world of Mollyvale will come alive in all its wonder, charm and fun when Beep and Mort premieres Monday 10 October at 8.10am on ABC Kids and ABC iview.

Based on Windmill Theatre Company’s award-winning theatre show, this puppet-based television series follows the action-packed adventures of Beep, a robot from the stars and Mort, a cuddly creature from Mollyvale. Although they come from worlds apart, they’re the best of friends.

Directed by Rosemary Myers (Girl Asleep, Bluey’s Big Play), produced by Kaye Weeks and featuring production design by the AACTA award-winning Jonathon Oxlade (Girl Asleep, Bluey’s Big Play) and original music by Harry Covill (Girl Asleep), the series is a heart-warming portrait of empathy, embracing difference, and the enduring nature of friendship.

Set in the leafy town of Mollyvale, with Beep’s spaceship perched nearby, the show balances a joyful reverence for the natural world with an excitement for new technology.

“Beep and Mort has seen us work with incredible artists from the film and television industries,” says director Rosemary Myers, “in a screen landscape dominated by animation, we wanted to create a gentle, character-driven work filled with quirky, lovable characters.

Beep and Mort is Windmill Pictures’ first production for television, and sees the company combine live-action puppetry, with post-animation to create a rich aesthetic work for young audiences.

“Everything you see on screen has been built or handcrafted in three-dimensions and most of the action is in-camera with our puppeteers hidden in amongst the sets,” says Producer, Kaye Weeks. “We feel like this achieves a uniquely textured authentic world, and we hope our young audiences will feel like they can almost walk around in.”

Beep and Mort is written by an award-winning team featuring Charlotte Rose Hamlyn (The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill), Simon Butters (H20: Just Add Water), Amy Stewart (The Heights) Hunter Page-Lochard (Cleverman, Play School), Wendy Hanna (Love Child, Giggle and Hoot) and Lorin Clarke (Larry the Wonderpup).

Beep and Mort is sure to become a firm favourite in the hearts of ABC’s youngest audiences.

New episodes will air weekdays at 8.10am on ABC Kids, ABC iview and ABC KIDS iview with an additional five episodes available on ABC iview from launch, allowing audiences to tap into more of the magic of Mollyvale.

Production credit: A Windmill Pictures Production. Major production funding from Screen Australia. Developed and produced in association with the ABC. Financed and developed in association with the South Australian Film Corporation. Distributed by ABC Commercial.

Ride

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Sunday 20 November 9.30pm

The inspiring journey of ability, disability, love and redemption.

RIDE is about way more than BMX racing. It is also the most inspirational love story you will see this year. It tracks the lives and careers of Sam and Alise Willoughby, two champions who fall in love and conquer the world of BMX, an extreme sport where every race is a dance with danger.

Sam rises from the suburbs of Adelaide to become a world champion and Olympic medallist. But in this sport crashes are common, and injuries are brutal. When a training accident takes away everything they have known, Sam and Alise must find the strength and resilience to win their greatest victory.

RIDE paints a bold picture of re-invention in the world of disability, and what makes true champions and astonishing human beings, both on and off the track.

Production credit: RIDE is a WildBear production. Executive Producer: Serge Ou, Producers: James Ward. Dr. Holly Trueman, William Ward.

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Courtney Barnett: Anonymous Club

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Wednesday 30 November 8.45pm

With unprecedented access to the private life of Courtney Barnett, this innovative and stylised documentary follows a paradoxically introverted performer and anti-influencer, who, at the height of success, is ready to walk away.

Anonymous Club is the antithesis of a rock biography. With unprecedented, intimate access to the private life of Courtney Barnett, this innovative and stylised feature documentary follows a paradoxically introverted performer and anti-influencer, who, at the height of success, is ready to walk away.

Three years in the making, Danny Cohen’s feature documentary reveals a woman who finds power in sharing her vulnerability. Recording her innermost thoughts on a dictaphone, Courtney begins her slow acceptance of Danny Cohen’s camera. This unique filming process mirrors Courtney’s gradual search for purpose and emergence as an artist embracing her place in the world.

Production credit: Anonymous Club is written and directed by Danny Cohen, produced by Philippa Campey and Samantha Dinning, edited by Ben Hall, with a score by Courtney Barnett and Stella Mozgawa. Executive producers are Sue Maslin and Nick O’Byrne.

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Reef School

Monday 14 November 5:55pm (continues daily)
with an additional five episodes available on ABC iview from launch

Under the sea, nestled in a quiet coral reef, there’s a preschool like no other.

Led by their turtle teacher Mr. Flip (Tony Armstrong), the little Reefies – Ray, Surg, Ginger, Stripes, Oli, Chips and the Snappers – learn all about life beneath the waves. With stories, songs, excursions and games, every day’s as colourful as the coral around them.

Narrated by Emma Watkins, and combining astounding real-life underwater footage with charming character voices, Reef School is an enchanting exploration of an Australian coral reef and its marine life.

The series features the voices of Courtney Act as the vivacious Ms Flouncy and Uncle Jack Charles as Murray the Eel.

Each episode guides audiences through stages of emotional and social development with curiosity, care, and a whole lot of laughs through the comedic touch of script producer and former triple j host, Veronica Milsom.

From navigating the first day of school to the power of the imagination, Reef School will swim into the hearts and minds of pre-schoolers across Australia.

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Kangaroo Beach Hoppy Christmas

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Monday 5 December 5.10pm

The cadets prepare for another exciting Christmas at Kangaroo Beach, but a homesick Ghërkinn misses the winter Christmas’ he is used to, which just will not do!

The cadets assign themselves a new mission: ‘stuff Ghërkinn full of Christmas cheer’ by teaching him everything they know about a sunny Australian Christmas. However, the cadets get caught up in their attempts and learn some valuable lessons about how not to use rescue equipment, while still making sure it really is the best Christmas.

Featuring three brand new songs, water safety tips and Christmas cheer, this special episode is set to delight family audiences this festive season. The stellar cast of kids return to voice the cadets, alongside Kitty Flanagan, Matt Hardie and Rupert Degas as the lifeguards.

Production credit: Kangaroo Beach is a Cheeky Little Media production developed and produced in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, with principal production funding from Screen Australia. Series director: Steve Moltzen. Producer: Celine Goetz. Creator: Tim Bain. Writers: Tim Bain, Charlotte Rose

Staged - Series 3

Tuesday 4 December 9.10pm

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The gang prepares to announce their new endeavour. The only thing that can stand in their way is ineptitude, indecision, and the smell of chickens.

Staged, the sitcom starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen returns for a third series of six new half-hour episodes.

Season 3 sees life back to normal for David and Michael, they have moved on from lockdown and returned to their everyday working life, while Simon’s career remains stagnant. His phone does ring, but only to ask if he can get David and Michael back together; and they’ve made it clear that they want nothing more to do with him.
But Christmas is approaching, and Simon hopes the warmth of the season might soften them to the idea of a radio version of a Christmas classic… but that’s as far as Simon’s plan has gotten.

Production credit: Staged co-creator, writer & director: Simon Evans, co-creator and writer: Phin Glynn. Starring: David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Simon Evans, Georgia Tennant, and Anna Lundberg.

The Smeds and the Smoos

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From Sunday 1 January 5.05pm

The red Smeds never mix with the Smoos, who are blue, so when a chance encounter allows young Smed Janet to become friends with Bill, a young Smoo, their families immediately try to stop it.

On a far-off planet, two families always avoid each other. The red Smeds never mix with the Smoos, who are blue, so when a chance encounter allows young Smed Janet to become friends with Bill, a young Smoo, their families immediately try to stop it. But Janet and Bill sneak out to meet up secretly and as they grow up, they fall in love.

When their families find out they could not be more horrified. So, the desperate Janet and Bill sneak away to escape in the Smed’s red rocket to explore the universe together. Realising they’ve lost their children, Grandmother Smoo and Grandpa Smed are compelled to work together to try to find the young couple. Can the two clans discover how to get along?

Production credit: Produced by Magic Lights Pictures UK for the BBC

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Wreck

Stream all episodes from Monday 26th December on ABC iview

Australian TV Premiere on Wednesday 28th December at 8.45pm on ABC TV Plus

A mystery thriller on the high seas that mixes classic cult horror, jet-black comedy and biting social commentary.

Welcome aboard the Sacramentum, a luxury cruise liner on which a diverse group of disillusioned, nihilistic Gen Z cruise line workers embark on an odyssey of hedonistic partying as they try to escape their slave-like routine. As they fall in and out of love, and find – or lose – themselves, they are always at the beck and call of the ship’s officers and the super-rich passengers upstairs.

Twenty-year-old Jamie (Oscar Kennedy) has joined the crew under an assumed identity to uncover the truth about his sister’s reported suicide on the ship’s last voyage. Initiated into the subversive allegiances within the team, Jamie uncovers a gruesome game is being played on board, run by a shadowy, elite organisation driven by greed and bloodlust. Just how did this dark force come to take control of the ship? And why is sinister mascot Quacky prowling the decks under cover of night?

Propelled into uncharted waters of escalating paranoia and self-discovery, Jamie and his new-found friends turn detective to uncover the sinister truth that runs as wide and deep as the ocean on which they’re trapped. Evoking the feel of the slasher genre, the series distils generational trauma and social commentary into savvy, sharp entertainment that captures the zeitgeist – tackling sexual identity and social inequality and the exploitation of unbridled capitalism.

Production credits: A Euston Films Productions.

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Episode One – Monday 26th December on ABC iview / Wednesday 28th December on ABC TV Plus

Nineteen-year-old Jamie Walsh (Oscar Kennedy) boards The Sacramentum. He’s paid Cormac (Peter Claffey), a Velorum crew member, to take his position onboard so he can investigate what really happened to his missing sister, who vanished from the same ship three months earlier. During his induction he meets the ship’s autocratic Officers and fellow new recruits - all eager to taste the freedom of being away from home for the first time. As Jamie quickly establishes a bond with fellow newbie Vivian (Thaddea Graham), he bumps into young, charming, Filipino waiter Olly (Anthony Rickman), and there’s an instant attraction. Whilst the new recruits attend a wild induction party, a crew member is brutally attacked.

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Kangaroo Beach Series 2

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From Monday 23 January 8.10am

Coming back for Season 2 four young animal friends share an action-packed summer training as cadets with their lifeguard heroes, keeping the water safe at the spectacular Kangaroo Beach.
Welcome back to Kangaroo Beach, a spectacular sunny paradise and summer home to four super-keen young lifeguard cadets.

Joey Pounce is a wannabe-hero lifeguard, platypus Gemma is a mini-marine biologist, wombat Neville is an expert sandcastle digger and worrier, and koala Frizzy is an all-singing, all-dancing, all-fabulous performer extraordinaire.

Every dazzling day is an action-packed adventure for the four furry friends, whether training to be lifeguards, mastering new water sports, discovering the marvels of the ocean, or keeping others safe. With waves to surf, a coral reef to enjoy, fascinating sea creatures to meet and a tropical island to explore, they’re never far from fun – or danger!

But under the guidance of returning grown-up lifeguards Bondi, Sandy and Big Trev, they’re gaining imperative water safety skills that will help keep themselves and other beachgoers safe for another exciting summer. Through fun-filled games, sporting contests and on-the-job training, there’s so much to learn about surf awareness, rescue equipment and protecting the beach, with a special medallion to earn for every new skill they master.

When an emergency breaks out, the cadets step up to help their heroes, putting their new skills and unique talents into practice, quickly becoming an essential part of every mission when the siren sounds on Kangaroo Beach.

Production credit: A Cheeky Little Media production developed and produced in association with the ABC and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, with principal production funding from Screen Australia. Financed in association with Surf Life Saving Australia Executive Producers: Bernadette O’Mahony, Patrick Egerton, David Webster, Tim Bain… ABC Executive Producers: Jo Boag, Amanda Isdale and Libbie Doherty.

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Not sure if it has been mentioned, but from January 1, 2023, ABC Kids programming will finish an hour earlier at 6.30pm, when ABC TV Plus takes over.

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Not sure if it has been mentioned on this site or not.

I wonder what the reasoning is finishing ABC Kids at 6.30pm. I do remember a few years back when it finished at 7pm. Then it got pushed to 7.30pm.

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IMO I would extend it to 8:30pm. Kids don’t go to bed at 6:30pm or 7:30pm anymore.

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