ABC TV - Programs and Schedules

Wentworth and Grand Designs Australia come to ABC and iview

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Multi-award-winning Australian drama Wentworth is to make its Australian free-to- air television debut when series one begins screening on the ABC on April 12 at 9pm.

Wentworth is a contemporary drama set in a prison which initially follows Bea Smith’s (Danielle Cormack) incarceration and her subsequent rise to the top of the prison’s hierarchy.

This ground-breaking and much acclaimed Foxtel drama has gained popularity worldwide, and has garnered multiple nominations and numerous awards including three Logies; three AACTA awards and three ASTRA awards for both the show itself and members of its cast. Additionally, Daniele Cormack and Robbie Magasiva were nominated (respectively) for Outstanding Actress and Actor in a Drama Series at the Monte Carlo TV Festival.

Many of Australia’s finest and most loved actors have had ongoing roles or made guest appearances on Wentworth, including: Aaron Jeffrey, Sigrid Thornton, Kris McQuade, Kate Jenkinson, Catherine McClements, Leeanna Walsman, Libby Tanner, Lynette Curran, Hunter Page-Lochard, Martin Sacks and Kate Atkinson.

The ABC is also very excited that Grand Designs Australia is about to find a home on free to air. Grand Designs Australia – also from Foxtel - is a local adaptation of the British series of the same name, and sees host and architect Peter Maddison chronicle the construction of grand and unusual houses.

Grand Designs, the British version starring Kevin McLeod, has been one of ABC’s most popular programs since it first appeared on our screens more than a decade ago, so we can’t wait to present our viewers with this additional offering.

It could have been Ten if Foxtel and Bruce Gordon had got their way last year!

The Good Karma Hospital - Season 2

From Saturday 31 March at 8:15pm

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A year after Ruby Walker arrived in India, her journey at the Good Karma Hospital continues. The formidable Dr Lydia Fonseca is, as ever, a force to be reckoned with and she has big plans for Ruby. Lydia is determined to kick Ruby out of her comfort zone and develop her skills as a doctor.

Ruby’s confidence has grown but she’s about to face a huge test. Ruby handles a complex medical case, as a storm hits Barco and the hospital’s generator fails. Will Ruby decide to operate on her patient by candle light and with no monitors? It’s a test that would shake the most experienced of doctors. And it will leave Lydia wondering if she pushed Ruby too far too soon.

Ruby’s love affair with her new home continues. She has moved in to her own flat in the hustle and bustle of Barco central and she feels more at home, with the heat and the noise. But Ruby will also connect with her Indian heritage in a surprising way when a long-lost relative gets in touch. Ruby’s discovery will bring her closer to Dr Gabriel Varma as their sparky working relationship promises to develop into something deeper.

In series two, Lydia, Ruby and the rest of the Good Karma team will forge deeper bonds and come to understand that, through good times and bad, they can always rely on each other.

Wentworth - Season 1

From Thursday 12 April at 8:50pm

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Fans of the iconic Prisoner series which pushed boundaries more than three decades ago, and still today boasts a loyal following worldwide, will remember Bea Smith as gutsy and fearless, ruling Wentworth Correctional Centre with an iron first. But who was Bea Smith before prison? How did a wife and mother from the suburbs become top dog without rival?

Wentworth is a dynamic, often confronting, drama series that begins with Bea’s (Danielle Cormack) early days in prison. Set in the present day, it is a modern adaptation of Prisoner that contemporises legendary characters and their stories for today’s audience.

This ten-part series takes the viewer ‘inside’ to an uncompromising environment that explores the politics of women in a world without men, and how such a threatening experience both challenges and often changes those confined and working behind the razor wire.

The audience is introduced to Bea all over again and meets her allies and enemies in the form of iconic inmates: Doreen Anderson (Shareena Clanton), Liz Birdsworth (Celia Ireland), and Franky Doyle (Nicole da Silva). And there are new faces such as Jacs Holt (Kris McQuade), the ruthless matriarch of a crime family that now reigns over Wentworth.

Other favourite characters also return: Meg Jackson (Catherine McClements) carries a shameful secret; Vera Bennett (Kate Atkinson), the well-meaning officer who discovers everyone has a price; Erica Davidson (Leeanna Walsman), the crusading lawyer; and Matthew Fletcher (Aaron Jeffrey) who believes in retribution rather than rehabilitation. And a new face - Meg’s husband Will Jackson (Robbie Magasiva), whose past still haunts him.

Each episode explores an individual character’s back story providing an insight into what makes them tick and the circumstances that led them to Wentworth. In doing so we discover that the difference between an inmate and a prison officer is sometimes simply geography, because they’re all prisoners in surprisingly different ways.

Like the original Prisoner, Wentworth is at its heart, a series about survival, a character drama featuring women living in a pressure cooker environment. Despite the rivalries and power struggles, this family of misfits and rebels is forced to forge unlikely friendships and alliances if they want to survive their time inside.

Week commencing 8 April


Sunday 8 April
7:40pm Grand Designs: Peak District
8:30pm Midsomer Murders: Habeas Corpus
10:30pm Harrow: Non Sum Qualis Eram
11:25pm Silent Witness: Remembrance (Part 1)

Monday 9 April
8:00pm Australian Story
8:30pm Four Corners
9:15pm Media Watch
9:35pm Q&A
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business

Tuesday 10 April
8:00pm The Checkout
8:30pm Employable Me
9:30pm Louis Theroux: Savile
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Q&A

Wednesday 11 April
8:00pm Hard Quiz
8:30pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
9:00pm Sando
9:30pm Insert Name Here Final
10:00pm Tonightly With Tom Ballard Rpt
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:20pm Four Corners

Thursday 12 April
8:00pm Kiri Series Premiere
8:50pm Wentworth ABC Premiere
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9:40pm QI: Maths
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Employable Me

Friday 13 April
7:30pm Gardening Australia
8:30pm Harrow
9:25pm Silent Witness
10:25pm ABC Late News
10:55pm The Business
11:10pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
11:40pm Planet America

Saturday 14 April
7:30pm Father Brown
8:15pm The Good Karma Hospital
9:05pm Prime Suspect 1973
9:55pm The Level
10:40pm Wentworth
11:30pm rage

Schedule Update:

Monday 2 April
7:30 pm News Special: Caught Out
When did Australian cricket adopt a win-at-all- costs culture? When did it turn toxic?
We investigate what led to the cheating scandal and why Steve Smith, the man with the country’s highest sporting honour, played a key role.

8:15pm Maigret: Maigret’s Dead Man
9:15pm Would I Lie To You?: Richard Hammond, Sean Lock, Judy Murray, Trevor Noah
10:15pm ABC Late News
10:45pm The Business
11:05pm News Special Caught Out Rpt

Couldn’t find an appropriate thread for this

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So the cricket saga replaced the scheduled ‘Absolutely Champers’ with the Ab Fab duo Mon night at 7:30pm.

When has it been rescheduled to?

Is this the right thread for it?

The ABC declares an unrivalled commitment to comedy

With even more world-class content to come in 2018!

The ABC tonight celebrated the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, declaring an unrivalled commitment to comedy content across television, online, radio and podcasting. This multiplatform approach gives fans the ABC’s comedy offering wherever they are, whenever they want a laugh. Whether on TV, iview, ABC listen, or ABC’s social media, the ABC continues to widen the ways audiences can find and engage with ABC content.

David Anderson, ABC Director Entertainment & Specialist, said: “The ABC has a long history of investing in world class Australian comedy for our audiences. Our audiences’ behaviours continue to change, and as content makers our job is to deliver them experiences when and where they want them.

“The ABC COMEDY launch was a great opportunity for the ABC to reinvent the way we traditionally think about our ABC audiences. This rebrand saw our iview numbers jump 70%, in no small part due to our ABC iview summer comedy binge, with over two million plays for that content alone. So we know that there is an appetite for on-demand comedy viewing.

“The ABC is a place where content makers and comedians can take more risks. We continue to look for exciting ways to work with our existing, highly talented comedians, continuing the ABC’s long tradition of fostering new talent. Programs like Tonightly with Tom Ballard are a great example of this. We sometimes take significant risks, but we reach more people by creating shareable social media content and influencing conversations.

“The ABC will continue our push into these areas of growth, by experimenting with short form video content like Fresh Blood, rolling out further offerings across our audio platforms and continuing to invest in ABC fans’ favourites, such as Rosehaven.”

ABC’s Head of Comedy, Rick Kalowski, discussed highlights from the upcoming year.

"It’s an exciting time for the ABC as we continue to lead the way with world class comedy programming. From new series of ABC favourites, to kick starting the careers of up-and-coming talent, our commitment to comedy in all its forms is stronger than ever.”

Don’t touch that remote! Wednesday night entertainment delivers the laughs from May 2 with the return of three ABC favourites - one after the other. Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery, Gruen and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering get together from 8pm to create an unmissable line up on Wednesday nights.

Following on from this stellar line up, Corey White’s Roadmap to Paradise is a brand-new series like no other, which will see comedian Corey White try to solve the biggest problems facing everyday Australians. Premiering at 9.40pm, the series will set Corey on a collision course with conventional wisdom as he takes on not one, but two, urgent issues in each of the series’ ten episodes.

At the end of this series, Corey will have had a shot at fixing democracy, Australia Day, environmentalism, capitalism, gambling, domestic violence, the war on drugs, foster care, terrorism and housing.

Further announcements tonight included a sidesplitting audio feast from ABC listen. In the smash hit Santo, Sam and Ed’s Total Football podcast, listeners can join Santo Cilauro, Sam Pang and Ed Kavalee as they tackle the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia – and on iview, filmed episodes of the podcast will also be available.

The laughs continue as Alice Fraser, Cal Wilson and Sami Shah attempt to turn the manure of the internet into flowers of joy as they debate online trolling, during the Troll Play podcast. Plus, Nazeem Hussain returns with season three of the hit ‘anti-travel’ podcast, Burn Your Passport.

Luke McGregor and Celia Pacquola are back in production on series three of one of the ABC’s comedy jewels, Rosehaven. Aaron Fa’Aoso, Nakkiah Lui and Wayne Blair are on track to deliver another ground-breaking series of Black Comedy; plus, the long-awaited reboot sees Wayne Hope reprise his role as trumped-up businessman Don Angell in Back In Very Small Business (from Hope and Robyn Butler, makers of Upper Middle Bogan).

Emerging talent also remains a focus, with four half-hour pilots for Fresh Blood currently in development. In this series, the ABC and Screen Australia kick-start the careers of young comedy writers, directors and performers, with Be Your Own Boss, Koala Man, The Angus Project and Why Are You Like This?

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Stick Together with the Best Entertainers…

…and do not touch your remote as Wednesday night entertainment continues from May 2 at 8pm when three ABC favourites return - one after the other.

Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery starts the ball rolling at 8.00pm when the warm, playful and always entertaining Julia Zemiro walks ten notable people down memory lane. This season they include: actress Rebecca Gibney (NZ), journalist and ABC icon, Barrie Cassidy, cook and author, Maggie Beer, ex-soldier, cricket commentator and transgender advocate, Cate McGregor and former super-athletes Raelene Boyle and Nicky Winmar. And from the UK, Julia’s guests are Louis Theroux, Professor Brian Cox and Germaine Greer.

Gruen hits our screens at 8.30pm with Wil Anderson, Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft ready to explore what the world of advertising and media spin has come up with now. Joining them this year will be guest panelists including Dee Madigan, Claire Salvetti and others.

The Weekly with Charlie Pickering is next up at 9.10pm, as Charlie, Tom Gleeson and Kitty Flanagan present the award-winning, satirical, news-analysis, panel-based, desk-based, report-based, comedy interview talk-show (yep, all those things) that isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. Always funny, always informative, always weekly.

Is this a threat ABC?

What a waste of writing PR to lecture the audience.

General Monash and Me With Peter Greste

Two-part series screens Tuesday 24 April & 1 May at 8.30pm

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Walkley award-winning investigative journalist and war correspondent Peter Greste goes in search of the real man behind the Australian General, who changed the way the world fights wars; Sir John Monash. What he finds about Monash, his own family, and the way we Australians remember war is challenging and confronting.

Peter opens the episode reminding us that he has spent his life travelling the world watching wars, and trying to make sense of conflict. In 2013 he found himself caught up in one of those struggles when he was imprisoned in Egypt on trumped up terrorism charges. It made me think about wars in a much more personal way than I’d ever done before. About how the experience changes us and about how we remember it.

As we enter the second century of our great national tradition of war memory, Sir John Monash’s story calls us back and offers us a new way forward.

Monash is a towering figure in Australia’s story of the Great War. The revolutionary approach to combat that he commanded was key to the allied victory. Armies still fight on his model today.

While examining the battles that made Monash famous, Peter also discovers his own family’s previously unknown role in Monash’s First Australian Imperial Force. Four Great Uncles, the Fankhausers, fought in WW1. For Peter, Monash’s war becomes personal.

The ANZAC canon celebrates Monash as a larger-than-life hero whose new and highly innovative battle plans and strategies broke the stalemate of a war bogged down in the mud and massacres of the Western Front.

Monash himself was a great writer of his own history. But how accurate are these glowing accounts of him as commander of the Australian Imperial Force? Was he as his critic’s claim, vain, impulsive, egotistical, and prone to exaggeration? And how did he - a colonial German Jew and a civilian soldier - come to lead the Australian Imperial Force at the Western Front and be the first commander in 200 years to be knighted on the battlefield?

Across two episodes Greste plays detective and military analyst, unearthing private letters, diary entries and unit histories from Monash and protagonists on each side of the conflict. These intimate accounts reveal a much richer and more detailed picture of the man himself, and this terrible conflict in which 60,000 Australians were killed. By shining a fresh light onto Monash’s triumphs and tragedies, Greste will offer up his assessment on Monash’s legacy for contemporary Australia. A complex, talented and enigmatic man, fiercely intelligent and a brilliant tactician, Monash’s engineering background put him in a unique position to see and solve problems on the battlefield. This approach saved thousands of lives on the Western Front, and also set the stage for how war is still conducted today.

Production Credits: An Artemis Media Production in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Screenwest and Lotterywest, The Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Executive Producer Celia Tait, Writer Director Victoria Midwinter Pitt, Line/Field Producer Robin Eastwood. ABC Commissioning Editor Stephen Oliver.

Absolutely Champers has just appeared in the ABC forward guide in May

Joanna & Jennifer: Absolutely Champer

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Sunday 6 May at 7:40pm

Absolutely Fabulous stars Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley share 25 years of friendship and comedy history. Now these two funny ladies are reuniting on screen to take a trip that would make their alter egos Eddie and Patsy green with envy.

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2 Likes

Thanks again @TV.Cynic, let’s hope it doesn’t get bumped a second time. I might hunt it down online as it is when I feel like some comedy watching.

Corey White’s Roadmap to Paradise

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Wednesday 2 May at 9:40pm

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All the world’s problems will be solved by comedian Corey White when his show hits screens on ABC in May

Screening as part of the ABC’s Wednesday entertainment line-up, Corey White’s Roadmap to Paradise is a 10-part series, premiering on Wednesday 2 May at 9.40pm on ABC & ABC iview, or viewers can watch the complete series on iview after episode one airs.

The world’s got some crushing problems; some overwhelming, terrifying, civilisation crushing problems. The best and brightest have been trying to solve them for decades, even centuries. The entire hive mind of humanity has failed to solve its most vexing challenges so maybe it’s time to turn to the next least best option and ask a three-time university dropout and ex-ice addict what he’s got kicking around in his solution box. The ABC did just that, and the result is Corey White’s Roadmap To Paradise.

Corey White’s Roadmap to Paradise is a brand-new series like no other, which will see comedian Corey White try to solve the biggest problems facing everyday Australians. Corey White’s Roadmap To Paradise will set Corey on a collision course with conventional wisdom as he takes on an urgent structural issue in each of the series’ ten episodes. At the end of this series, Corey will have had a shot at fixing Democracy, Australia Day, Environmentalism, Capitalism, Gambling, Domestic Violence, War on Drugs, Foster Care, Terrorism, and Housing.

This series unites an array of voices that you rarely hear on TV and lives in a unique genre of its own combining expert interviews, comedy sketches and Corey’s raw monologues. Corey is spectacularly unqualified to propose how to fix the world’s most urgent problems, but that’s not going to stop him from having a go (plus he has his own Australian Story episode which he figures counts for something).

ABC has bought the rights to BBC comedy-drama Shakespeare and Hathaway - Private Investigators, starring Mark Benton and Jo Joyner. The show has been renewed for a second season.

Week commencing 15 April


Sunday 15 April
7:40pm Grand Designs: East London
8:30pm Midsomer Murders: The Incident At Cooper Hill
10:00pm Would I Lie To You?
10:30pm Harrow: Aarum Potestas Est
11:25pm Silent Witness: Remembrance (Part 2)

Monday 16 April
8:00pm Australian Story
8:30pm Four Corners
9:15pm Media Watch
9:35pm Q&A
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business

Tuesday 17 April
8:00pm The Checkout
8:30pm Employable Me Final
9:30pm Louis Theroux: Drinking To Oblivion
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Q&A

Wednesday 18 April
8:00pm Hard Quiz
8:30pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
9:00pm Sando
9:30pm Insert Name Here
10:00pm Tonightly With Tom Ballard Rpt
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Four Corners

Thursday 19 April
8:00pm Kiri
8:50pm Wentworth
9:35pm QI
10:10pm ABC Late News
10:40pm The Business
10:55pm Employable Me
11:55pm Doctor Who: The Time Of The Doctor

Friday 20 April
7:30pm Gardening Australia
8:30pm Harrow
9:25pm Silent Witness
10:20pm ABC Late News
10:50pm The Business
11:10pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
11:40pm Planet America

Saturday 21 April
7:30pm Father Brown
8:15pm The Good Karma Hospital
9:05pm Prime Suspect 1973
9:50pm The Level
10:40pm Wentworth
11:25pm rage

Week commencing 22 April


Sunday 22 April
7:40pm Grand Designs: Herefordshire II
8:30pm TBA
9:30pm National Treasure
10:20pm Harrow
11:15pm Silent Witness

Monday 23 April
8:00pm Australian Story
8:30pm Four Corners
9:15pm Media Watch
9:35pm Q&A
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business
11:25pm Golf: PGA TOUR Highlights

Tuesday 24 April
8:00pm The Checkout
8:30pm General Monash And Me 2-Part Series Premiere
9:30pm Guilty Premiere
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Q&A

Wednesday 25 April
8:00pm Hard Quiz Final
8:30pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
9:00pm Sando
9:30pm You Can’t Ask That
10:00pm Tonightly With Tom Ballard Rpt
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Four Corners

Thursday 26 April
8:00pm Kiri
8:50pm Wentworth
9:35pm QI
10:10pm ABC Late News
10:40pm The Business
10:55pm The Honourable Woman
11:55pm Doctor Who

Friday 27 April
7:30pm Gardening Australia
8:30pm Harrow
9:25pm Silent Witness
10:20pm ABC Late News
10:50pm The Business
11:10pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
11:40pm Planet America

Saturday 28 April
7:30pm Father Brown
8:15pm The Good Karma Hospital
9:05pm Prime Suspect 1973
9:50pm The Level
10:40pm Wentworth
11:25pm rage

Week commencing 29 April


Sunday 29 April
7:40pm Grand Designs: Herefordshire II
8:30pm TBA
9:30pm National Treasure
10:20pm Harrow
11:15pm Silent Witness

Monday 30 April
8:00pm Australian Story
8:30pm Four Corners
9:15pm Media Watch
9:35pm Q&A
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business
11:25pm Golf: PGA TOUR Highlights

Tuesday 1 May
8:00pm The Checkout
8:30pm General Monash And Me Final
9:30pm Judi Dench: My Passion For Trees Premiere
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Q&A

Wednesday 2 May
8:00pm Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery: Season Premiere
8:30pm Gruen Season Premiere
9:10pm The Weekly With Charlie Pickering Season Premiere
9:40pm Corey White’s Roadmap To Paradise Series Premiere
9:55pm Tonightly With Tom Ballard Rpt
10:25pm ABC Late News
10:55pm The Business
11:10pm Four Corners

Thursday 3 May
8:00pm Kiri
8:50pm Wentworth
9:35pm QI
10:10pm ABC Late News
10:40pm The Business
10:55pm The Honourable Woman
11:55pm Doctor Who

Friday 4 May
7:30pm Gardening Australia
8:30pm Harrow
9:25pm Silent Witness
10:25pm ABC Late News
10:55pm The Business
11:15pm Planet America

Saturday 5 May
7:30pm Father Brown
8:15pm The Good Karma Hospital
9:05pm Inspector George Gently Rpt
10:35pm The Level
11:25pm Wentworth: The Things We Do

Why are they persisting with this repeat once a week?