A documentary-meets-musical retelling of the saga of Schapelle Corby, who became Australia’s most famous drug smuggler.
A musical comedy retelling of the saga of Schapelle Corby, who in 2004 became Australia’s most famous drug smuggler when she was caught with 4.2 kilograms of cannabis inside her boogie board bag at Bali’s international airport.
The unfolding circus of Corby’s ordeal, including the late intervention of flamboyant Indonesian lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, is brought to life through a combination of interviews and irreverent musical numbers that put a satirical spin on this famous story.
Written by The Chaser’s Chris Taylor and Andrew Hansen, and directed by Aunty Donna’s Max Miller, the show looks beyond the courtroom soap opera that captivated the nation to highlight what the saga reveals more broadly about Australian cultural entitlement and cultural blindness.
Featuring interviews with Alexander Downer, Erwin Siregar, Cindy Wockner, John Stewart, and Steve Cannane.
In the series final, we follow the true story of one of the young Afghan refugees caught up Australia’s infamous Tampa affair. When a Norwegian freighter ship rescued 433 asylum seekers from a distressed fishing vessel, it was then controversially advised by the Australian government that the freighter wasn’t allowed to enter Australian waters.
When the ship’s Norwegian captain defied Australian orders and sailed towards Christmas Island, Prime Minister John Howard dispatched SAS troops to board the ship and seize control.
Through a combination of interviews and satirical songs, this episode tells the story of an Australian moral failing; the story that pinpoints the moment in our recent history when we lost the right to claim that we’re a tolerant, welcoming nation.
The episode examines a national discomfort with outsiders and race that we still haven’t properly reckoned with today; and highlights how governments of all stripes can fan our anxieties and fears to improve their own political fortunes.
Featuring interviews with the Tampa refugee Abbas Nazari, former Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock, and political commentators David Marr, Peter Mares and Julian Burnside.
Interesting that they rejigged the format. Not sure what it would have been like without the interview inserts. While they were useful in telling the story, I think they changed the tone of the show.
It is unclear why they are claiming that they’ve reinvented the format to include the interview inserts. The Norwegian series, which was shown here on SBS a few years ago, clearly has them as well.
