ABC TV - Programs and Schedules

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.

Keeping Faith

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Premieres Friday 23 August 8.30pm

Keeping Faith is an 8-part series that tells the story of lawyer, wife and mother Faith (Eve Myles) as she fights to find the truth behind the sudden disappearance of her husband. She comes to discover that her beautiful, idyllic home town, set on the estuary, harbours many dark secrets that threaten the lives of Faith and her family. Faith’s ordeal transforms her from a stay-at-home, fun-loving and carefree mother to detective, action hero and lover. She takes risks and gambles and finds a new inner strength.

Dark Money

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Premieres Friday 23 August 9.30pm

Money cannot change the past.

Following the success of National Treasure, which told the story of a celebrity in the spotlight and his alleged sexual misdemeanour, The Forge brings us Dark Money, their new individual series penned by the award-winning Levi David Addai.

Dark Money follows a young British boy riding the wave of success for his role in a Hollywood blockbuster, when it soon becomes apparent he’s suffered abuse on set by the renowned producer. On discovering the devastating news, his parents accept a substantial pay-off to keep silent rather than press charges. Not wanting to hurt their family further from publicity hell, they think this will allow them all to move on.

They were wrong. Whilst the pay-off outwardly transforms their lifestyle, the hurt and betrayal cannot be erased and the family begins to crack.

Dark Money confronts the conflict between the price of silence and a parent’s responsibility to their son. The film studios’ responsibility to its crew and a young boy who put his trust in them. And ultimately if justice can play a role.

Week commencing 4 August


Sunday 4 August
7:40pm The Planets Into the Darkness: Ice Worlds Season Final
8:40pm Les Norton: You Wouldn’t Be Dead For Quids Season Premiere


9:35pm David Bowie: Finding Fame
11:10pm Shetland

Monday 5 August
8:00pm Back Roads: Riverina, NSW Mid Season Final
8:30pm Four Corners
9:15pm Media Watch
9:35pm Q&A
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business
11:30pm Waltzing The Dragon With Benjamin Law

Tuesday 6 August
8:00pm Foreign Correspondent: High Steaks Season Return
8:30pm Waltzing The Dragon With Benjamin Law Final
9:30pm Louis Theroux: Savile
10:50pm ABC Late News
11:20pm The Business
11:35pm Q&A

Wednesday 7 August
8:00pm Hard Quiz
8:30pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
9:00 pm Squinters: Bless The Broken Road
9:25pm Insert Name Here: Jane
9:55pm QI: Non-Sequiturs
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Four Corners

Thursday 8 August
8:00pm Escape From The City: Perth Hills WA: The Roberts
9:00pm No Offence
9:45pm Humans
10:35pm ABC Late News
11:05pm The Business
11:25pm Wentworth: Think Inside the Box

Friday 9 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 10 August
7:30pm Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None Premiere
9:15pm Les Norton: You Wouldn’t Be Dead For Quids
10:10pm Pine Gap
11:10pm Poldark

Documentary film The Australian Dream, about former Sydney Swans AFL player Adam Goodes and written by Stan Grant, will be shown on ABC early next year. It was revealed at the film’s world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival this evening.

Week commencing 11 August


Sunday 11 August
7:40pm Climate Change: The Facts
8:40pm Les Norton: Wrongside Rossiters
9:40pm Secrets of Silicon Valley: The Persuasion Machine Series Premiere
11:00pm Apple Tree Yard
11:25 pm Rwanda & Juliet

Monday 12 August
8:00pm Australian Story Series Return
8:30pm Four Corners
9:15pm Media Watch
9:35pm Q&A
10:40pm ABC Late News
11:10pm The Business
11:30pm Waltzing The Dragon With Benjamin Law

Tuesday 13 August
8:00pm Foreign Correspondent
8:30pm Catalyst: Staying Younger for Longer: Body
9:30pm Miriam’s Deathly Adventure
10:30pm ABC Late News
11:00pm The Business
11:15pm Q&A

Wednesday 14 August
8:00pm Hard Quiz
8:30pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
9:00 pm Squinters: Take a Back Road Season Final
9:25pm Diary Of An Uber Driver Series Premiere


9:55pm QI: Nature/Nurture
10:25pm ABC Late News
10:55pm The Business
11:10pm Four Corners

Thursday 15 August
8:00pm Escape From The City: Northern Rivers NSW: The Ommundsons
9:00pm Little Women
10:00pm Humans
10:50pm ABC Late News
11:20pm The Business
11:35pm Wentworth: Snakehead

Friday 16 August
7:30pm Gardening Australia
8:30pm The Heights x 2 Season Final
9:25pm Loch Ness Season Final
10:15pm ABC Late News
10:45pm The Business
11:00pm Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL
11:30pm Planet America

Saturday 17 August
7:30pm Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None
8:30pm Poldark Season 5 Premiere
9:30pm Les Norton: Wrongside Rossiter
10:25pm Pine Gap
11:25pm Luther

AFL documentary Collingwood: From the Inside Out will have its TV premiere on ABC on Tuesday, September 3 at 9.30pm. Produced by Josh Cable and Marcus Cobbledick, it details the lives of coach Nathan Buckley and players Brodie Grundy, Jarryd Blair and Adam Treloar throughout the 2018 year. The documentary will debut at the Melbourne International Film Festival next Thursday evening (August 15).