ABC TV - Programs and Schedules

A look at online guides suggest Broken Hill receives ABC Adelaide as the city follows Central Standard Time.

Waltzing the Dragon with Benjamin Law

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Tuesdays at 8:30pm from 30 July

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From the gold rush to Crazy Rich Asians, the ABC examines the Chinese-Australian relationship with Waltzing the Dragon with Benjamin Law

Journalist, author and broadcaster Benjamin Law presents the two-part documentary Waltzing the Dragon with Benjamin Law, starting on ABC and ABC iview on Tuesdays at 8:30pm from 30 July. The series takes a fresh eye to the “sweet and sour” of the China-Australia relationship, digging deep into the overlapping histories of the two countries, unpacking the present and looking to the future of Australia’s waltz with the dragon.

Benjamin, a Queensland born and bred, self-described “ABC” (Australian born Chinese) who speaks “yum-cha Cantonese” investigates his own Chinese-Australian heritage and asks how his family’s journey fits in with those of the other 1.2 million Chinese Australians – a question that is not just relevant to him, but to all Australians as the nation’s ties with China continue to deepen.

Over two episodes, Benjamin first goes road-tripping with his wonderfully hilarious mother Jenny, and then his ambitious entrepreneur father Danny. They embark on a fascinating journey to trace the Chinese-Australian history, from long before the days of the gold rush, to Bob Hawke’s post-Tiananmen Square Massacre immigration intake, to Crazy Rich Asians. As Benjamin gains more of an understanding of how the two countries are entangled and China’s increasing sway over Australia’s fortune, so too will the viewer through his insightful and often witty narration.

So many Australians think of the Chinese in Australia as a side-note to Australian history ,” Law says. “ That included me, before working on Waltzing the Dragon. To fully understand how the Chinese engineered Australia’s first global trade – centuries before the First Fleet – and that we’ve been here well before the Gold Rush, was revelatory to me .”

Australia’s economic past, present and future has always been married to China’s, and we can’t begin to understand how to grapple with Australia’s future with China unless we understand our past. On a personal level, to travel with my parents across Australia and China to trace our roots was equal parts emotional and hilarious. As much as it’s a homecoming for me and my family, this show will resonate with Australians who have at least one parent born overseas .”

In episode one, ‘Homecoming’, Benjamin and mum Jenny look for the ties of blood that bind China and Australia today and that have kept its people at odds in the past. They travel from Caloundra to Canton in search of her mysterious family roots. Above their former Chinese restaurant, they recall a tough, but iconic Australian family life which, for Benjamin, was shattered by Pauline Hanson’s election in 1996. In rural Queensland they bust myths surrounding colonial Australia, discovering Chinese shearers and farmers who transformed the state, as well as Chinese miners who beat discriminatory laws to marry and start proud Australian dynasties. During their time in China, Jenny and Benjamin discover their ‘Australian-ness’ and uncover their place in a vast family lineage previously unknown to them.

In episode two, ‘Fortune’, we meet Benjamin’s workaholic Dad. Entrepreneur Danny, who is part of a more than 300-year-old tradition of Chinese seeking their fortunes in Australia, recalls his early business and property development days in Queensland during the post-White Australia Policy Whitlam era. Father and son explore their connections to the tradition of Chinese market gardeners in Australia, the banana trade and the economic forces that shaped Australia’s antipathy to Chinese people for most of the 20th Century.

Benjamin travels to Arnhem land to learn more about the pre-colonial Australian-Chinese trading between Indigenous Australians of the North Coast and Indonesian and Chinese merchants, and heads to the NSW town of Young, a place now keen to attract Chinese tourists, but that until recently commemorated its history of Anglo Celtic rioting against Chinese miners in the gold rush era.

Finally, Danny and Benjamin travel to booming southern China where Danny is closing a deal that Benjamin knows little about. It’s in the village of Danny’s birth that Benjamin sees his father in a new light and finds a nexus between China’s and his own family’s pursuit of wealth, the call of duty and love.

Production Credits: Waltzing the Dragon with Benjamin Law is a Headland Media and WildBear Entertainment Production for the ABC.

Thanks. Wikipedia advises the feed is from Sydney but I know that’s not reliable info. Many of the info on the regional television wiki pages is out of date at best, total fiction at worst.

I can see the advantages of NSW news and other content being taken by ABC in Broken Hill during state elections, etc - perhaps they do switch to a Sydney feed in such circumstances?

Week commencing 7 July


Sunday 7 July
7:40pm The Planets Series Premiere
8:40pm Harrow
9:35pm Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes For Lizards
11:00pm David Stratton’s Stories Of Australian Cinema: Family

Monday 8 July
8:00pm Back Roads: Burketown, QLD
8:30pm Four Corners
9:15pm Media Watch
9:35pm Q&A
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business
11:30pm Blue Water Empire

Tuesday 9 July
8:00pm Ask The Doctor: Loneliness
8:30pm Blue Water Empire Series Final
9:25pm Louis Theroux: Extreme Love - Dementia
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Q&A

Wednesday 10 July
8:00pm Anh’s Brush With Fame: Archie Roach
8:30pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
9:00 pm Squinters: On The Road Again Season 2 Premiere


9:25pm Insert Name Here: Anne
9:55pm Adam Hills: The Last Leg
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business
11:25pm Four Corners

Thursday 11 July
8:00pm Escape From The City: Port Douglas QLD: The Grays
9:00pm No Offence
9:45pm Humans
10:35pm ABC Late News
11:05pm The Business
11:20pm Wentworth

Friday 12 July
7:30pm Gardening Australia
8:30pm The Heights x 2
9:25pm TBA
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
11:45pm Planet America

Saturday 13 July
7:30pm Shakespeare And Hathaway: Nothing Will Come of Nothing
8:15pm Father Brown: The Sacrifice Of Tantalus
9:05pm Harrow
10:00pm Inspector George Gently: Gently Liberated
11:30pm Poldark

Stargazing: Moon and Beyond

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Tuesday 16 July at 8.00pm

Stargazing returns for a very special edition on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing mission. Professor Brian Cox and Julia Zemiro will be back with a lively, funpacked hour of television.

Brian meets Apollo legend General Charlie Duke to hear first-hand how he guided Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the lunar surface from mission control and what it felt like to ride on the most powerful rocket ever built. Stargazing’s ‘Space Gandalf’ Greg Quicke explores one of the world’s largest tides to discover why we need the moon. And Professor Tamara Davis investigates what it takes to escape earth’s gravity.

We find out about the pivotal role Australia played in bringing Neil Armstrong’s giant leap to television screens across the globe and meet one of the men who made it happen – engineer Mike Dinn. And the head of Australia’s brand new space agency, Dr Megan Clark, is in the studio to tell us what the future holds for the Australian space race.

And could the first person on Mars be an Australian? Dr Paul Scully-Power, the first Australian in space, talks about his own experiences as we explore the qualities needed to become an astronaut of the future. A group of young Australians who all want to step foot on the red planet demonstrate how mental acuity, dexterity and leadership are crucial skills for survival in the harsh vacuum of space

Fly Me to The Moon

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Tuesday 16 July at 9.00pm

Narrated by John Barron, Fly Me to the Moon features interviews with prominent Australians as they reflect on this triumph of human achievement, and also examine the role played by scientists down under as they helped with the landing and broadcast of the historic occasion.

Tapping into the treasure trove of the ABC’s archives, the documentary will broadcast footage not seen since that momentous day, and document the aftermath as the famed Apollo 11 astronauts made their way around our nation on a victory tour.

Australia’s only three astronauts, Dr Philip Chapman, Dr Paul Scully-Power, and Dr Andy Thomas, will be brought together for the first time to describe how their lives have been inspired and defined by this historic moment in time, and what it was like to work for NASA during the Apollo missions and in the decades since.

More than 500 million TV viewers around the world watched the spacecraft touchdown on the lunar surface, a moment that remains the most watched TV event in history - but it almost didn’t happen. Former scientists from the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station will describe the pressure they felt as the world’s eyes turned to them for the first images of this magnificent achievement.

The space race not only came at a time of significant cultural change in Australian life, but also as new battle lines were being drawn in the cold war. Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard will recount this turbulent time in our political history, and how the space race became a proxy for international tensions.

The documentary will examine the legacy of the space exploration, and the impact it had on Australian culture. With the recent launch of the Australian Space Agency, the program will also look ahead to the future, to speculate when mankind might make that giant leap once again.

Good to see an Australian perspective on the 50th anniversary.

Ah yes, when I think of comedy - I naturally think of the Helpmann Awards…

Bobby was the funniest.

ABC is among several overseas broadcasters to have acquired four-part BBC mini-series Dark Money, which premieres in UK next Monday (July 8).

Week commencing 14 July


Sunday 14 July
7:40pm The Planets The Two Sisters Earth and Mars
8:40pm Harrow Series Final
9:35pm The Scribe
10:35pm Shetland
11:35pm Tanna

Monday 15 July
8:00pm Back Roads: Kulin WA
8:30pm Four Corners
9:15pm Media Watch
9:35pm Q&A
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business
11:30pm Blue Water Empire

Tuesday 16 July
8:00pm Stargazing: Moon and Beyond
9:00pm Fly Me To The Moon
10:00 pm Ask The Doctor: Modern Life
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Q&A

Wednesday 17 July
8:00pm Anh’s Brush With Fame: Kylie Kwong
8:30pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
9:00 pm Squinters: A Winding Road
9:25pm Insert Name Here: Paul
9:55pm Adam Hills: The Last Leg
10:35pm ABC Late News
11:05pm The Business
11:25pm Four Corners

Thursday 18 July
8:00pm Escape From The City: Southern Highlands NSW: The Di Pietros
9:00pm No Offence
9:50pm Humans
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business
11:25pm Wentworth

Friday 19 July
7:30pm Gardening Australia
8:30pm The Heights x 2
9:25pm Loch Ness
10:15pm ABC Late News
10:45pm The Business
11:00pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
11:30pm Planet America

Saturday 20 July
7:30pm Shakespeare And Hathaway: In My Memory Lock’d
8:15pm Father Brown: The House Of God
9:05pm Harrow
9:55pm Inspector George Gently: Gently And The New Age
11:25pm Poldark

Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None

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Premieres Saturday 10 August at 7:30pm 3 episodes

Set in 1939 while Europe teeters on the brink of war, And Then There Were None follows ten strangers with dubious pasts who are lured to Soldier Island, an isolated rock near the Devon coast in southern England. Cut off from the mainland, with their hosts mysteriously absent, they are each accused of a terrible crime, and when members of the party start to mysteriously die, they all realize they may be harboring a murderer among their number. Who will survive? And who is the killer?

Featuring a critically-acclaimed, international cast that includes Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Aidan Turner (Poldark), Miranda Richardson (Girlfriends), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) and Noah Taylor (Shine).

ABC to screen Attenborough documentary

… the rights to David Attenborough’s landmark documentary Climate Change: The Facts have been secured by the ABC and will be broadcast next month.

It’s been described as TV’s most comprehensive guide to the climate emergency yet, and given that Attenborough just this week highlighted Australia as an “extraordinary” example of a country where people in power remained climate change deniers, we can imagine it may have quite an impact locally.

Week commencing 21 July


Sunday 21 July
7:40pm The Planets The Godfather Jupiter
8:40pm Midsomer Murders: The Ghost Of Causton AbbeySeries Premiere
10:10pm Helpmann Awards 2019 Rpt
11:55pm Shetland

Monday 22 July
8:00pm Back Roads: Fish Creek, VIC
8:30pm Four Corners
9:15pm Media Watch
9:35pm Q&A
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business
11:30pm Stargazing: Moon and Beyond

Tuesday 23 July
8:00pm Ask The Doctor: Antibiotics
8:30pm TBA
9:30pm Brian Cox: The 21st Century Race For Space
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Q&A

Wednesday 24 July
8:00pm Anh’s Brush With Fame: David Wenham Season Final
8:30pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
9:00 pm Squinters: Roadhouse Blues
9:25pm Insert Name Here: Xmas
9:55pm QI: Night
10:25pm ABC Late News
10:55pm The Business
11:15pm Four Corners

Thursday 25 July
8:00pm Escape From The City: Byron Bay NSW: The Ryans
9:00pm No Offence
9:45pm Humans
10:35pm ABC Late News
11:05pm The Business
11:20pm Wentworth

Friday 26 July
7:30pm Gardening Australia
8:30pm The Heights x 2
9:25pm Loch Ness
10:15pm ABC Late News
10:45pm The Business
11:00pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
11:30pm Planet America

Saturday 27 July
7:30pm Shakespeare And Hathaway: The Envious Court
8:15pm Father Brown: The Blood Of The Anarchists
9:05pm Friday On My Mind
10:35pm Pine Gap
11:35pm Poldark

ABC currently replaying last week’s episode of Mad as Hell accidentally.

Climate Change: The Facts

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Sunday 11 August at 7.40pm

Presented by Sir David Attenborough.

We’re just two degrees away from a climate catastrophe.

If the rate of global warming continues, we’ll reach the threshold for permanent environmental damage within 40 years.

Heatwaves from the Mediterranean to the Arctic. Wildfires running out of control across the USA. Rising numbers of heat-related deaths. The evidence of climate change is all around us: it’s happening now.

But we have the power to prevent it.

Using dramatic user-generated content and emotional first-hand testimony, this documentary delivers the facts about global warming simply and strikingly. Intimate stories get inside the lives of the people affected by climate change, and those fighting it. And world-leading experts reveal the developments that are redefining our horizons.

How can cows eating seaweed save the planet? Why should we put power plants on water? These inspiring stories show how we can take control of our future.

This is the greatest challenge we’ve faced. And the human race can rise to it.We’re on the verge of an environmental catastrophe. This is the story of how we can prevent it.

Miriam’s Deathly Adventure

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From Tuesday 13 August at 9.30pm

Inimitable actress Miriam Margolyes is rather terrified of death. In this though provoking and entertaining two-part documentary, she’s on a mission to confront her fear of ageing and death and tackle our greatest taboo – our own mortality.

With her unique mix of charm, cheek and intellectual curiosity Miriam’s travelling through the UK, Europe and America taking an unflinching look at different approaches and attitudes to dealing with death.

In Episode One Miriam checks into Wren Hall, a dementia care home, to see what getting old might actually look like. With average life expectancy for women in the UK at 82, Miriam, 77, knows statistically she hasn’t got long left and the chances are, like most of us, she’ll end up in a home. She meets Geoff, who visits his wife June every day following her stroke six years ago.

Terrified and chastened she heads to America to meet people who believe that soon we’ll not only be able to ‘cure ageing’ but with radical medical and technological advances we could actually ‘defeat’ death enabling us to live forever.

In California Miriam heads to RAAD Fest - the world’s largest gathering of life enthusiasts. The Revolution Against Ageing and Death festival attracts thousands of people, with some going to extreme and even dangerous lengths to prevent ageing and prolong life.

Next she meets pioneers of the super longevity movement - the eerily youthful 82-year-old Bernadene and cryotherapy enthusiast Jim. At their monthly meeting in Arizona Miriam sees a growing community of people who are trying to achieve ‘unlimited lifespans’ by thinking and feeling differently about how we deal with death. In his minus 140-degree Celsius cryo chamber Miriam learns of Jim’s philosophy that rather than waste our lives because we all think death is inevitable, why not aspire to immortality and improving the world with our wisdom?

Loma Linda, near San Diego, is one of the world’s five ‘Blue Zones’ - longevity hotspots where people live longer than anyone else on earth and residents survive ten years longer than the average American. It’s also home to over nine thousand Seventh Day Adventists – strict believers in healthy living and a devotion to God. Miriam joins 71-year-old Marijke at water aerobics – part of her daily three-hour exercise regime. Surrounded by hundreds of sprightly pensioners, all preaching the gospel to fitness and Jesus, Miriam next accompanies Ida to her experimental laughter therapy session at Loma Linda’s medical university.

But not everyone wants to laugh their way to long life. For some, the answer to super longevity is found in science. At the Church of Perpetual Life in Florida, Miriam meets founder Bill Falloon. His church doesn’t involve God but rather a devotion to supplements that may keep you alive long enough to allow you to benefit from scientific breakthroughs that will lead to immortality. But they don’t come cheap and Miriam begins to wonder whether fighting death and achieving a healthy never-ending old age is beyond the pockets of most and wonders what this means for those who can’t afford it.

Returning to the UK humbled, Miriam heads back to Wren Hall. Geoff’s invited her to a party where she soon realises that while the privileged busily fret about extending their lives, for most people, the best way to deal with death is to make the most out of life.

Poldark - Season 5

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From Saturday 17 August at 8.30pm

The fifth and final series of Poldark is set in a new century and with it comes the promise of a hopeful future, but the past casts a long shadow over Cornwall.

The Poldarks look forward to life together in peace, but a plea from Ross’ old Army Colonel, Ned Despard (Vincent Regan), compels him to the capital to help. As Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) manages their affairs in Cornwall she encounters disenchantment and a new opponent, Tess (Sofia Oxenham). George (Jack Farthing) meanwhile struggles to engage with the world after Elizabeth’s death and it falls to Cary (Pip Torrens) to expand the family empire as Valentine (Woody Norman) struggles to find his place within it.

Arriving in London, Ross (Aidan Turner) finds it gripped with paranoia and is determined to save Ned from the conspiracy that imprisoned him. George enters into an alliance with a merchant behind Ned’s imprisonment, Ralph Hanson (Peter Sullivan), whose business is in upholding the slave trade. Meanwhile, Geoffrey Charles (Freddie Wise) decides to follow in Ross’s footsteps and enter the military but also finds himself drawn to Cecily Hanson (Lily Dodsworth-Evans), Ralph’s daughter. As George’s grief leads the Warleggans into uncharted and worrying territory, Ross discovers a grave plot and is urged to heroism, while Demelza is forced into action herself back at home.

Schedule change -

9:00pm- Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell
9:30pm- No Offence
10:20pm- ABC Late News
10:50pm- The Business
11:08pm- Wentworth

Week commencing 28 July


Sunday 28 July
7:40pm The Planets Life Beyond the Sun Saturn
8:40pm Midsomer Murders: The Ghost Of Causton Abbey Season Final
10:10pm David Bowie: The Last Five Years
11:45pm Shetland

Monday 29 July
8:00pm Back Roads: Flinders Ranges, SA
8:30pm Four Corners
9:15pm Media Watch
9:35pm Q&A
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business
11:30pm TBA

Tuesday 30 July
8:00pm Waltzing The Dragon With Benjamin Law
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8:30pm TBA
9:30pm Are You Autistic?
10:15pm ABC Late News
10:45pm The Business
11:05pm Q&A

Wednesday 31 July
8:00pm Hard Quiz Season Return
8:30pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
9:00 pm Squinters: Thunder Roar
9:25pm Insert Name Here: John
9:55pm QI: Naked Truth
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Four Corners

Thursday 1 August
8:00pm Escape From The City: Greater Region of Hobart TAS: The Viapiana
9:00pm No Offence
9:45pm Humans
10:35pm ABC Late News
11:05pm The Business
11:20pm Wentworth

Friday 2 August
7:30pm Gardening Australia
8:30pm The Heights x 2
9:25pm Loch Ness
10:15pm ABC Late News
10:45pm The Business
11:00pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
11:35pm Planet America

Saturday 3 August
7:30pm Shakespeare And Hathaway: Too Cold For Hell Season Final
8:15pm Father Brown: The Skylark Scandal
9:05pm Friday On My Mind
10:35pm Pine Gap
11:30pm Poldark

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but ABC has been showing a BBC series called The Repair Shop on late afternoons (around 5pm) in the past month or so. In each episode, family heirlooms are restored for their owners by experts. Series 3, which has 15 episodes, began today. Series 4 debuted in UK in April so it may be shown here as well.

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I watched one last week around 11:00am about the repair of a gramophone player. Interesting, but I can understand why the ABC is showing it as a daytime program.