Really looking forward to this but strange it’s going in Big brothers slot
The thinking probably is other news specials earlier in the year rated well in that timeslot so that’s the best place to put it in the schedule
I found this Channel 4 press release from January 14 this year.
On July 14th, 2001, 27-year-old English backpacker Joanne Lees flagged down a truck on a lonely stretch of the Stuart Highway in central Australia. She had a horror story to tell. According to Lees, in the dead of night, she and her boyfriend Peter Falconio had been attacked on the highway. She claimed Falconio had been shot and she had been bound before escaping into desert scrub.
Tapping into long held fears about the Australian outback, the story created a firestorm of tabloid headlines in the UK and Australia. International tourists stayed away from the Northern Territory as a massive police manhunt went nowhere for 16 months. That is until a tip-off led to a small-time drug runner, Bradley John Murdoch, being arrested. Murdoch flatly denied it all, but the jury disagreed and found him guilty of murder, sentencing him to life in prison.
For some experts and onlookers, the guilty verdict in Murdoch’s murder trial has always felt clouded with doubt. In one of the most detailed re-investigations of the Falconio case ever mounted, Falconio: An Outback Murder? (wt), a new four-part series for Channel 4, will explore the details and the questions that surround this infamous case.
Channel 4 Specialist Factual commissioning editor, Nicola Brown said: “The culmination of years of painstaking re-investigation into one of the most infamous cases in recent history, this series asks fresh questions about a story that has remained in public consciousness for almost 20 years.”
Falconio: An Outback Murder? (wt) was commissioned by Channel 4 Specialist Factual commissioning editor, Nicola Brown. The 4x60 series will be made by CJZ and will air on Channel 4 in 2020, followed by TX on the Seven Network in Australia.
Production ender on the program. Seems a bit of a stretch to preface the name of the program " 7NEWS Presents".
5 Likes
Yeah and no - it’s similar to the ABC occasionally presenting BBC Panorama/PBS Frontline reports/investigations under the 4 Corners branding
1 Like
I wonder if Seven plans to show all four episodes in just two weeks? 
1 Like
There was an interview with former foreign correspondent Roger Maynard on Sunrise (in the studio) this morning regarding the show.
I think this tweet best sums up many viewers’ feeling about the show’s premiere tonight.
Most tweets were negative towards the show.
1 Like
How was it received in the UK when it aired on Channel 4?
I didn’t mind the doco. It was just a bit repetitive and long. And there were lots of ads. I probably won’t watch next week.
The repetition aspect probably would have been avoided if Seven showed the documentary in the same way Channel 4 did (ie; as 4 x 1 hour episodes) rather than P1/P2 last night and P3/P4 this Sunday
2 Likes
This Sunday, Part II of the top-rating true crime event that’s making world headlines.
From the heart of the Australian outback, the inside story of the terrifying crime that shocked the world.
This blockbuster four-part true crime series investigates the 2001 disappearance of British backpacker Peter Falconio in outback Australia.
Every detail and the dramas that have surrounded this extraordinary case from day one are examined in this comprehensive re-investigation.
With exclusive access to the never-before-seen original defence case documents, the documentary will re-examine the evidence put forward at the trial of the man convicted of Falconio’s murder – Bradley John Murdoch.
The case you think was closed. The murder you thought was solved. What really happened on that night in the outback?
1 Like
Ratings killer !
How about the double twist with Joanna Lee’s alter ego friend by e-mail !
Good take on it.
Why anyone would be interested in a yarn from a crook like Fraser is beyond me.
2 Likes
Sounds like it would have been a good fit on the old Sunday Night with how questionable the content is 
2 Likes
Do you know what an alter ego is?
Also confirmed that the documentary was commissioned by Channel 4 before it was picked up locally by Seven.
2 Likes
Very thorough investigation, shows why we should not believe in a sole witnesses account, with lots of inconstancies’ to her story. The police also acted assisted in fabricating a witnesses account and a failure by the police to question the witnesses statements with evidence from the crime scene .
They should do the George Pell story next, that would really expose the truth!
Yeah cool, then they can do one on how Fraser himself (despite the guilty plea) was an innocent lamb in his own criminal proceedings which saw him wrongfully convicted.
The answer to Channel 7’s question is - we already have the answer. It’s not whatever sewage spills out of this program.
1 Like