24 July 1977: The premiere of the five-part drama Pig In A Poke, starring Paul Mason and Justine Saunders. The series was a spin-off from the 1974 TV play of the same name.
24 July 1984: ABC premieres The Young Wife, a series based on the novel by David Martin. The story of a young Greek-Cypriot woman who moves to Melbourne in the 1950s to take part in an arranged marriage. Starring Christine Totos, Nick Lathouris, Olivia Hamnett and Simon Chilvers.
24 July 1987: Christopher Skase’s Universal Telecasters purchases Seven Network stations ATN7 Sydney, HSV7 Melbourne and BTQ7 Brisbane from Fairfax for $780 million.
24 July 1989: The new-look 10 TV Australia premieres game show Family Double Dare, hosted by Larry Emdur.
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24 July 1995: The Nine Network presents a one-hour special to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Sale Of The Century.
24 July 2001: Network Ten presents the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate — ‘That We Need 10 New Commandments’ — featuring Rod Quantock, Paul McDermott, Deborah Cheetham, Rich Hall, Greg Fleet and Dave Gorman.
24 July 2008: ABC launches its online viewing portal, ABC iview.
25 July 1990: Noni Hazlehurst, Deidre Rubenstein and Tony Barry star in the documentary-drama Breaking Through (ABC), focusing on the real-life case of Cathy Ann Matthews and her frightening and painful childhood. The physical, emotional and sexual abuse perpetrated by her father was so distressing that she shut it out of her conscious mind for over 40 years.
25 July 1992: The Seven Network begins its coverage of The Games Of The XXV Olympiad with a two-hour preview followed by specials The Torch Of Champions: The History Of The Summer Games and Seoul ’88: 16 Days Of Glory before crossing to Barcelona for live coverage of the Opening Ceremony from 3.30am (AEST).
25 July 1993: After months of planning and numerous working titles, the new sketch comedy series The Comedy Sale debuts on Seven, starring Frank Woodley, Colin Lane, Mikey Robins, Ross Daniels, Daina Reid and the Umbilical Brothers.
25 July 1996: Mike Munro returns with a new series of This Is Your Life on Nine.
25 July 2000: ABC premieres Chequerboard Revisited, a six-part retrospective on the groundbreaking documentary series that ran between 1969 and 1975. The first episode features Peter Bonsall Boone and his partner Peter de Waal, who ‘came out’ as a gay couple in a Chequerboard episode in 1972.
25 July 2005: The Nine Network screens the special The Best of Bert Newton, featuring memorable moments from a career spanning almost five decades.
26 July 1995: ABC premieres drama series Correlli, starring Deborra-lee Furness and introducing Hugh Jackman.
26 July 2002: The Seven Network begins coverage of the XVII Commonwealth Games from Manchester, United Kingdom. SBS premieres Aussie Jokers, a nine-part series looking at the connection between ethnicity and humour in Australia. The first episode features George Kapiniaris, returning to Greece where he finds himself torn between his Greek and Australian origins.
26 July 2005: ABC premieres documentary series Dust To Dust, going behind the scenes of the funeral industry.
26 July 2006: ABC comedy show The Glass House reaches its 200th episode and features guest star Molly Meldrum.
