Dr Karl’s How Things Work

[TV.Cynic]

We follow Dr Karl as he travels across Australia, stepping behind factory doors to see how some of Australia’s best loved products are made. He’ll uncover their inner workings… and meet the people who keep them going. From the factory floor to the packing lines, this series will offer a fascinating insight into the processes required to make our everyday products – from ginger beer and toilet paper to cricket balls.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

An ABC original. Producers: David Symonds, Bruce Permezel, Oliver Graham, Suzanna Vuletich. Executive Producer: Dr Penny Palmer. Series Producer: Elle Gibbons. ABC Head of Documentary and Specialist: Susie Jones

[TV.Cynic]

- YouTube

Tuesday 7 January 8pm

[TV.Cynic]

Episode 1: Toilet Paper

Tuesday 7 January 8.00pm

The battle for bog roll during the Covid 19 years showed us just how much we Aussies value the stuff. In this episode Dr Karl lifts the lid to discover how recycled toilet paper is made at the Encore toilet paper factory.

[TV.Cynic]

Episode 2: Chocolate

Tuesday 14 January 8.00pm

At the Haigh’s chocolate factory, Dr Karl gets the full Willy Wonka experience of how this sweet treat is made. Following it from bean to bar he discovers that the future of chocolate is in jeopardy.

[TV.Cynic]

Episode 3: Ginger Beer

Tuesday 21 January 8.00pm

Dr Karl takes a peek inside the Bundaberg Ginger Beer Master Brewery. From the ginger farm to the packing line – he sees how this iconic soft drink, that’s made from a spice and then fermented is made.

Dr Karl hits the factory floor in his tireless quest for understanding

[JohnsonTV]

All six episodes from this series are now available on iView. The remaining three episodes will discuss the manufacturing of cricket balls, Allen’s lollies and Bega Cheese.

Tonight’s first episode (toilet paper) has also been posted on ABC Science’s YouTube channel as a sneak peek.

- YouTube

[TV.Cynic]

Episode: 4: Cricket Balls

Tuesday 28 January 8.00pm

Dr Karl visits the Kookaburra Sport cricket ball factory in Melbourne and learns how this global symbol of Australian sport is crafted from humble beginnings.

[JohnsonTV]

Just watched episode 1 on YouTube tonight and saw in the closing credits that this show is under the ABC’s Catalyst umbrella.

[TV.Cynic]

Episode 5: Lollies

Tuesday 4 February 8.00pm

We know we shouldn’t, but most of us can’t resist the temptation of a lolly. At the Allen’s factory, Dr Karl steps onto the factory floor to see how Snakes Alive are made… spoiler alert, the most popular flavour is red.

[TV.Cynic]

Episode 6: Cheese - final

Tuesday 11 February 8.00pm

In this peep behind Bega’s factory doors, Dr Karl learns how cheese is made… and it would appear that he knows more about String Theory, than he does string cheese.

[TV.Cynic]

ABC Showcase announced returning with a new season next year 2026 .

[TV.Cynic]

Season 2

EPISODE 1 & 2 OF 8

TUESDAY 6 JANUARY 8.00 PM

Episode 1: Chips

At the Smith’s factory in Tingalpa, the factory that never sleeps, Australia’s hunger for chips keeps the machines frying 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Dr Karl tears open the packet on how the humble potato transforms into this crunchy, salty lunchbox staple.

Guided by seasoning specialists, manufacturing masters, and frying fanatics, Dr Karl discovers the intricate balance of flavour, texture, and science needed for that perfect crunch.

But the real journey doesn’t begin in a factory, it starts in the soil. In Euston, we meet farmers growing a special variety of potato that’s changing the chip game, engineered to deliver just the right slice, sizzle, and snap.
We visit Murray River Salt Company, we discover how tackling an environmental issue can produce a gourmet salt.

Dr Karl crunches down on the mathematics, biochemistry, and engineering that creates this golden wonder. From farm to fryer, Dr Karl reveals the hidden science packed into every chip.

Episode 2: Aussie Rules Balls

At the Sherrin factory in Melbourne, over 45,000 balls are stitched up every year for our nation’s favourite game. Dr Karl kicks off the story of the ball, the true bounce at the heart of Aussie Rules. Guided by craftsmen as devoted to footy as they are to their stitching, he explores the science and secrets behind every bounce.

For more than a century, the craft has stayed true: complex materials, hidden stitches, and a little bit of magic.
Cotton gives each ball the guts to survive the bruising ballet of the game. We take a mark in Central Queensland, where farmers grow fields of the “white gold”. Back in Melbourne, we join St Kilda Football Club as they trial new tech that could change the way the game is played.

From farm to footy field, Dr Karl follows the journey of the ball, the science, the sweat, and the stitchwork that keep Australia’s game kicking.

[TV.Cynic]

EPISODE 3

TUESDAY 13 JANUARY 8.00 PM

Guided by a pie-tastic team in Perth, Dr Karl embarks on a culinary odyssey to uncover how Australia’s iconic meat pies are made.

He dives into the recipe for the factory’s signature filling, explores the science of gluten and discovers how humble wheat grains are transformed into the flour that becomes pastry dough.

[JohnsonTV]

I wondered if Karl visited Mrs Mac’s Pies factory in Perth?

[TV.Cynic]

Yes - ep 3 includes a visit to Mrs Macs.

[TV.Cynic]

EPISODE 4

TUESDAY 20 JANUARY 8.00 PM

Dr Karl slides behind the doors of a guitar factory to see how Australia’s favourite instrument is made.

There’s not much to fret about with a gifted team of luthiers, leading hands and Lloyd the Demo Guy guiding Dr Karl from tonewood selection to the final tune-up.

The first step is choosing the perfect timber – the all-important ‘tonewood’. Colour, hardness and moisture each shape the final sound.

Precision machines and master craftspeople work in harmony to cut, shape, bend, sand, brace, glue, paint and coax a guitar into existence. Dr Karl gets hands on along the way, with results that strike more than a few bright notes.

[JohnsonTV]

‘I discovered things I had no idea about!’: The factory visit that surprised...

This time, for Dr Karl’s How Things Work, he visits the factories and farms behind staple consumer goods such as potato chips, AFL footballs, meat pies, guitars, bread, boots, ice cream and books.

Of all the products Kruszelnicki investigates in the series, he found the process of guitar-making most affecting.

“It’s quite different from the chips … It’s the human involvement at each stage on this production line,” he says. “There are many stages where there are humans doing human things. They’ve got a template that is different for each type of guitar, and then they have to apply their own special little bit just here … Each guitar is tested by a human, who every now and then says, ‘It’s a dud – it just is’ and then they throw it out.”

[TV.Cynic]

EPISODE 5

TUESDAY 27 JANUARY 8.00 PM

The factory’s most experienced baker gets Dr Karl hands on from the get-go as they create a giant 300-kilogram batch of dough destined to become square shaped sandwich bread.

But before that, it needs to embark on a conveyer belt rollercoaster ride specifically designed to make the bread as light, fluffy, and ‘spreadable’ as possible.

Dr Karl watches as the dough is divided, weighed, rested, subdivided, and specially arranged before entering the oven.

[TV.Cynic]

EPISODE 6

TUESDAY 3 FEBRUARY 8.00 PM

Dr Karl gets a real kick out of discovering how leather boots are made at a factory in South Australia.

Dr Karl takes a behind-the-scenes peek into how a sartorial superstar is made; the leather boot.

From first cut to final polish, making a leather boot from a single piece of leather requires over 80 individual processes. To kick things off, Dr Karl unpacks the chemical wizardry behind turning raw animal hide into leather at a tannery in Brisbane.

On the factory floor, Dr Karl uses a giant hydraulic stamp to cut his boot from leather before witnessing delicate sewing requiring great hand-eye coordination – and has a crack at it himself.

[TV.Cynic]

EPISODE 7

TUESDAY 10 FEBRUARY 8.00PM

Australians each devour around 18 litres of ice cream a year, making us the third largest population of ice cream eaters on the planet.

Eager to do his bit for the national average, Dr Karl happily volunteers his taste buds to the cause.

Inside the factory, Dr Karl discovers ice cream is a surprisingly complex concoction.

It’s mixed, heated, cooled, frozen, moulded, frozen again, dipped, rolled and finally wrapped in a continuous feat of stainless-steel precision.