With the sad passing of Julian McMahon last week today I’ve turned back to The Power, The Passion.

Seven boldly commissioned a daytime soap in 1989 – the first local daytime soap produced in 20 years for Seven. It was part of a wider plot during the Christopeher Skase era to unseat Ray Martin on Nine, joined by The Bert Newton Show which screened before it.

Created by Bevan Lee, filmed in Melbourne, it centered around ruthless business tycoon Gordon Miles (Kevin Miles) who manipulates his wealthy empire, grooming a surprising heir amidst family intrigues, love affairs, and shady deals as he nears the end of his life.

Julian McMahon made his Australian television acting debut as Kane, medical student and son to Dr. Andrew Edmonds (Alan Cassell) and Ellen (Olivia Hamnett). He previously worked as a model, including Levi ads.

After a one week engagement, and stripping down for his buck’s party, Kane married Rebecca (Libby Purvis) but their honeymoon ended abruptly when Kane was arrested for the murder of Sonny (John Higginson). Go figure.

Alas, the show would not see out a year, ending at 168 episodes with The Bert Newton Show axed and the soap already moved to 11:30pm.

McMahon would go on to join the cast of Home and Away as Benito “Ben” Lucini in 1989, lasting another year, this time for 150 episodes.

By 1993 he was in US soap Another World, followed variously by Profiler, Charmed and Nip / Tuck, amongst others.

Period dialogue may offend.

Much has been written around the infamous Mushroom Trial which concluded in Morwell this week.

But here’s some insight into how news crews covered the event.

Nine News Deputy News Director Nathan Tanti today sent this email to staff…

Hello team

For the past three months, one story has ruled them all. That epic chapter has finally ended, and what a ride it’s been.

Throughout the trial, the deliberations, the verdict, and the washup, every member of this newsroom contributed in some way. It’s rare to cover such an all-consuming story for so long, and watching the newsroom mobilise – particularly on Monday – was something to behold.

Everyone would agree Amber Johnston and Penny Liersch have given so much to this saga. They uprooted their lives to tell this story for eleven weeks straight – effectively moving to Morwell for the entire duration.

From the Today show to Daytimes to 6pm to Late News, as well as the podcast, radio, digital, social, YouTube, international outlets, and various docos and specials, Amber and Pen have lived and breathed the mushroom trial, balancing the demands of daily news and the legalities of a highly sensitive jury trial.

All that preparation came to the fore on Monday, when Penny fed the verdicts out from the courtroom one by one, allowing Amber to deliver them to a national audience within seconds. It was described to me as a lesson in planning and composure. We had a plan, we stuck to it, and it worked.

It’s particularly worth noting that during the course of the trial, the Supreme Court never pulled Nine up for pushing the legal boundaries, let alone crossing the line. This is a huge accomplishment given the volume of information there was to work through every day. Our commitment to accuracy held us in good stead.

We thank Amber and Penny for giving it their all.

So much dedication and effort went into this story from all corners of the newsroom – much of it going on in the background, unseen by many.

The camera crews that were part of the Morwell Bureau rotation, away from home for days at a time – Tim Baker, Jason Conduit, Liam Dix, and Tom Elia – as well as those on standby in Leongatha and at GTV, ready to launch once the jury was back.

The editors who sifted through hours of vision to prepare for rolling coverage, contributed to the world-class coverage on verdict day, and cut dozens of mega packages, sometimes with little time to spare.

The reporters and presenters who supported, workshopped, counselled, listened to, and backed up the Morwell Bureau, while covering the rest of the day’s news.

The producers who curated dozens of packages and lives, helped find the angle, monitored live blogs, wrote graphics, serviced the network, and crafted some epic bulletins.

The COSs who made sure the newsroom was prepared every step of the way, and managed to get across everything else happening on any given day with fewer resources. May we never speak the words ‘desk buddy’ again.

The links team which balanced trial coverage with other commitments back in the city.

The graphic artists who designed OTSs and created graphics to make the trial and verdict packages stand out from the rest.

The digital and social teams which pumped out so much content (see Vi’s note from earlier today – 10 million impressions!) to complement the broadcasts and give hungry viewers angles that might have not made it to air.

The story planning and promo shuffling that constantly took into account the possibility of a result.

The control room teams, studio crew, and makeup/wardrobe teams who were on standby for hours on end, ready to get us on air within minutes (for the record, we were on air just NINE minutes after the notification of a verdict being reached).

The chasers and COS assistants who picked up entire packages so the ‘desk buddy’ reporters could stay within a few metres of the studio.

The library team which ensured all the material from two years of coverage was on hand at a moment’s notice, ready for whatever the editors needed.

The MEX team which ingested countless PTCs and other feeds from Morwell and other networks, and the MC team which helped ensure our comprehensive rolling coverage went off without a hitch.

Kylie who became a Morwell accommodation specialist, making sure our team was taken care of every night.

I reckon Sport asked more than anyone, ‘Will there be a verdict today?’ Good on you for remaining patient for crews when most cammos were stationed in Morwell.

All those who did extra days, swapped shifts, worked RDOs, and pitched in on days off – it is greatly appreciated.

And finally, a big shout out to our lawyers. The Legal Team took calls and answered emails day and night to ensure we could cover the story the way we wanted to without falling foul of the law.

On broadcast and on digital/social, we have seen the incredible interest in this story, and proven how we can meet the viewers where they are, with up to date, accurate, and engaging content.

The audience overwhelmingly chose 9News during the trial, and particularly on Monday. A big reason for that is the way our team told the story.

We will all remember the mushroom trial, and the way the world was watching. Well done on being a part of it. THANK YOU.

Tipping Point topped entertainment on Thursday at 844,000 in National TV audience, beating The Chase on 641,000.

7:30 was 587,000 then Joanna Lumley’s Danube (435,000) and Airport 24/7 (355,000). In key markets were RBT (232,000) and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? UK (228,000).

AFL was 554,000 where it screened with NRLW at 236,000.

Seven won Thursday.

Seven News was 1.36m then Home & Away (746,000).

Nine News was #1 at 1.4m then A Current Affair on 1.1m.

ABC News drew 850,000. Hard Quiz (381,000), Grand Designs Australia (301,000) and Griff’s Great Australian Road Trip (174,000) followed.

10 News pulled 358,000 then Deal or No Deal (248,000), Law & Order: SVU (200,000), 10 News+ (150,000) and a Cheap Seats replay (122,000).

On SBS it was SBS World News (210,000 / 154,000), Tour de France (157,000), Treasures of the World with Bettany Hughes (122,000), Mastermind (111,000).

The Morning Show: 276,000 / 165,000
Today Extra: 193,000 / 114,000/

National Total TV: Thursday 10 July 2025

EXCLUSIVE:

TV Tonight is on site at Neighbours studio on this historic final day of Production.

9:30am
I’m sitting in the cafeteria of NEP’s Nunawading studio as Neighbours cast and crew are undertaking their last ever day. I’ve been here many times before, for Neighbours, for Prisoner, Holiday Island and a once-glorious music show my parents brought me to.

I feel pretty sad to return for this occasion but grateful the team has given me such rare access this morning. I’ve never Live blogged from a studio production before, so while I don’t quite know what to expect, I’m keen to try and act as a link between production and you, the loyal fans in Australia, the UK and beyond.

I encourage you to comment, maybe share which city / region you are from, pass on messages to the cast and crew or ask a question I will endeavour to answer (may not get to them all sorry!)

And hit refresh across the next two hours as we update!

9:44am

TV Tonight paps the paps who are outside the studio fence…. a pity they are not inside. A 10 News+ crew is also here for the morning.

9:49am
I am frantically chatting with cast to bring you quotes… stay tuned.

10am:
Stefan Dennis swings by to share his feelings…. “I had a lovely send off from my wife this morning where she made the loveliest of last days, and it still hasn’t sunk in, because I’ve been absolutely flat chat since the second I opened my eyes. I think if you ask me this question, in about eight hours, you’re going to be talking to a different person. I know everybody’s going, ‘Oh, you know, you must be used to it’, because this is the second / third time round for me. It’s yet again, another ending. And endings are never happy, it’s sort of sad happiness, isn’t it?”

10:05am
Rebekah Elmaloglou reflects on her final day: “I’ve got a massive, massive day in pretty much every scene. So I’m kind of focusing on just getting through with that. I’ve got a bit of a head cold too, which isn’t ideal. Hoping that will get better before the wrap party tomorrow night. But it’s really kind of mixed emotions. I guess it’ll really hit me at the end of the day, when we’ve got the last scene with a lot of cast in. We’ve got a big party scene that we’re doing. So I’m hoping that I’m able to get through the day and focus on what I’m doing, character-wise. And then we’ll probably be able to celebrate. It was really weird driving through the gates this morning for the last time. What wasn’t weird is my last alarm, getting me out of bed. I was so glad to see the last of that moment!”

10:13am
The cafeteria is in a Christmas in July mood, especially for cast and crew on the last day (this room was famously the Prisoner cafeteria if you ever watched that). Around the walls are pics and clippings from recent years.

10:19am
Annie Jones admits to being emotional: “I sat in the makeup chair and burst into tears, so it didn’t start very well. They made me up, and then I went and did one of my final scenes, and burst into tears again. So it’s a little tricky, a little tricky….It’s a surreal day to be going through this again, saying goodbye to everyone, it breaks my heart a little bit, I have to say. I’ve been coming to this building a very, very long time. In the beginning I was probably 18. I came back again in 2018. It’s been a big part of my life. I’ve been Neighbourly for a long time.”

10:28:
Huge thanks to Tom Sage from the social team who is bringing me cast and crew for chats in the cafeteria. Legend.

10:35am
Riley Bryant who plays JJ Varga-Murphy is one of the younger cast members, one of hundreds to hone a craft through serial drama. He filmed his final scene yesterday, but is here to be with everyone: “It was actually really sad, there’s really no other word for it. It’s devastating. I cried right after my last scene when we wrapped. It’s just so special to be able to feel those feelings and develop those relationships with the people you work with. I’ve been on the show, nearly two and a half years now…. I’ve learned how to quickly learn a scene, I’ve learned a lot of naturalistic acting… acting classes can’t compare to what it’s like being on a show for two years. And learning from Stefan Dennis, Alan Fletcher, Jackie Woodburne.”

10:48am:
Executive Producer Jason Herbison pays me a visit to tell me how the day pans out: “We have one crew going today. Neighbours is traditionally shot with two crews and the location crew start the week before studio, so now the final week of the show we just have the studio crew going. The location crew actually finished on Monday. It’s a busy day in studio, basically, we’re filming all the final scenes in studio and we’re wrapping tonight. There’s a wrap party tomorrow night….We’re having Christmas in July, as you can see so it’s a bittersweet mood. We’re all sad to be seeing the end of the show. But as I said before, you know, very grateful that we’ve had this this chapter in this time together, and a little bit of hope, who knows, for the future. …A little reminder that we do have five months more of storylines. We have a big five months of Neighbours still to air. We absolutely are not slowing down story-wise. Lots of big storylines, lots of new characters, lots of big story locomotives still to play out. So whilst it’s the final day today on set, for our viewers, there’s still five big months of the show to watch.”

10:55am
Stefan and Rebekah filming one of their very last scenes. Cast are loving reading your comments and heartened by how far it is reaching right now.

11:00am
In the cafeteria there is music playing through the audio… Joe Cocker, “You Are so Beautiful.” Jeez, we don’t need help to cry thanks.

11:10am
I’m not going to turn around all these chats by 11:30… a dilemma!

11:12am
Emerald Chan who plays Sadie Rodwell is another of the show’s younger actors: “There’s definitely a lot of emotions, a lot of sadness, but also a lot of hope for the future. So that’s always nice.( My last scene was) really sad. And my last line just, I think, summed up my entire emotion and how I was feeling. A coincidence, but it was really nice…. This has been my only acting job and it’s been the best…. I thought this (shooting schedule) is normal. Apparently this is fast! But I’ve learned so much about the industry, so much about other actors and the manners that you have to have, the teamwork you really have to have with each other. And the trust as well. It’s collaborative … it’s not just the actors, just not the crew, it’s everyone together. ”

11:23am
TV legend Nadine Garner has been working behind the scenes with the team for several years. Coincidentally, her links to the show go back to its beginning at Seven: “We shot Henderson Kids at Seven. And of course, Neighbours was at Seven. So the very first Neighbours was happening while we were shooting. It was exciting, because I was a teenager, and the Neighbours cast were all 20-something and groovy and young, and it was going to be this next big, hip show. I was there when it was first launching, and I remember it being a big moment in Australian television. Everybody kind of knew it was going to be the big hallmark show. ..

“But here I am. I came back to help the producers the first time it ended because Eve (Morey) had turned into an intimacy coach, and they needed some cast support. So I’ve sort of stepped in as a cast support person. They call me a Coach, but I’m not that interested in coaching acting. I’m really interested in actor wellbeing, so I kind of provide a space for actors to come and talk about what’s going on for them, so that they can be match fit. Sometimes the schedule is so intense for some of them, that they just need a pit stop place to kind of recalibrate and go back out there.”

Having worked with its younger actors she also comments on the training ground that Neighbours has provided.

“Look, it’s just happened again with Xavier Molyneux just booking Bloodaxe. Neighbours has always been a training ground, not just for actors. We’ve seen incredible pathways for Guy Pearce and Margot Robbie, but also crew. There’s been a generosity of spirit in this place to train people up in every department, from props and art department, through to sound design and editing. Everyone’s been given a go. They’ve always got attachments and traineeships happening here and given the depressed nature of film making and television making in Melbourne, particularly Victoria, at the moment, this will be sadly missed. It’s going to be a sadly missed training ground. ”

11:30am:
While I’m formally wrapping this Live blog now, I still have some quotes to come, so I will update those later this afternoon.

Updated:

Sally-Anne Upton who plays Vera: “I never, ever, ever thought in my life that this building will be such a significant part of my life for 35 years. I came out for Bingles at the end of 1989, then we shot the Comedy Company out of here, all the Crawford’s Productions, like Law of the Land … I knew that Prisoner was shot out here from my my time with Annie Phelan and Betty Bobbitt and Lois Collinder. And then, of course, Bert Newton filmed out of here.before Como. I was a regular on his show.

“I got associated with Neighbours through working as a nurse for an actor who broke her leg, and she needed somebody to be here. Because I had nursing skills and acting skills, I could help her with the lines and then I just stayed on, whether as medical advisor, or nurse. When COVID hit, they went down to a very skeleton crew cast. Natalie Lynch locked herself in a room for two days (to create a world-first schedule), it was amazing.

“And then out of that, Vera had already been created, and they have honoured me by developing her even further and now I’m in the opening credits!

“Neighbours is like a metropolis. It’s really fantastic and I’m not just being biased. It’s been nominated for two Emmys, and now it’s going. The government needs to subsidise this.”

Series Producer Andrew Thompson explained that shooting today is: “Block 1786 directed by Eugenie Muggleton, the second to last, sets up the finale beautifully. It’ s a big day, emotional, obviously I’m bouncing on and off set to do cast final scenes and then jumping back into the edit……I haven’t had time to process it, to be honest, but I’m proud. Proud of the last 460 episodes and all that we’ve achieved and the workplace that we’ve created, the new talent that have had an opportunity to get their first gig here. We’re overwhelmed but with a great sense of pride and joy.”

Mark “Whits” Heuston is DP Camera Operator who has more than 3 decades on the show: “I started in staging, and worked my way through Assistant Focus Pulling, Camera and then into DP. So it’s been a good learning curve…. It’s very mixed emotions, sometimes sad, sort of happy sometimes. But I’ll miss the people -not the hours – because you spend more time here than you do at home. You get home late at night, sometimes you come here at dark and you’re leaving at dark…. I started here just doing one or two days. 35 years later, I’m still here.”

Alex Long, Head of Hair and Make Up, reflects on highlights: “It’s very sad. Obviously, we’ve been through this once before, but it’s a bit different this time,… It’s a pretty long day today. But it’s long days every day. We don’t wrap until 7 o’clock tonight. … I guess the last couple of years, the travel has been the highlight. Going to the Outback in particular was amazing, and Hamilton Island nice…. There’s 10 of us so it’s a large team and the mixture in this current team is probably half who were here from previous Neighbours and girls who are new to the current Neighbours.”

Script Producer Lisa Maroun has been in the writing dept since the reboot, and previously freelance: “My favourite thing about Neighbours are all of our really comedic, silly stories, the things that give you a belly chuckle. So there’ll be a few of those coming up. There will, of course, be high drama between all of our Neighbours, and there will be love stories where people will come back to each other, but also will be torn apart…. The last two years, I’ve mentored so many new writers, young people starting out. This is the place to do it. This is such a learning ground, and we need it in Melbourne. This place gave me my first writing credit at a time where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep pushing in the industry, because it’s so hard to get a break. It’s so hard to get your foot in the door.”

This concludes today’s on site interviews (and congrats to the team on a Daytime Emmy nomination today).

Please keep the comments coming as the cast and crew are reading!

A reminder you’ll see a story from Angela Bishop tonight on 10 News+.

My thanks to Neighbours and Network 10 for today’s unique access.

David.

Today marks the historic final day of production for Neighbours at their home of 4 decades in Nunawading.

Cast are grateful but melancholy about their last day of filming when they spoke with TV Tonight.

A Live Blog from the studio will also be published from 9:30am AEST today (12:30am UK) and you are encouraged to share your thoughts with the team.

EXCLUSIVE:

Alan Fletcher

“It does feel different. There’s obviously enormous sadness… we finished up with some crew in the studio on Monday and there were tears shed. Suddenly you think, ‘These people have been part of my life for a very long time.’ Realistically, it’s unlikely we’re going to see much of each other in the future unless we moveon to another job.

“There’s enormous sadness for the fans. I’m on all the social media platforms, so I get to see their comments about how desperate they are for the show to be saved. I try and console that as best I can, but there’s not much you can say. So I’m very sad for them. I’m fortunate because I’ve got a project to go straight to. I’m off touring the UK with music, and that’s going to to distract me. In fact, the same thing happened last time the show was cancelled. I went straight off to the UK and did my Dr. Karl stage show.

“I think if I had to sit at home next week and mow the lawn, it would hit me pretty hard, but it probably won’t hit me for a while yet., I imagine once I’m amongst the fans in the UK, that’s when I ‘ll see their palpable grief. I suppose that’s when it’ll hit me a bit more.

“I mean Neighbours as we know it is done. That’s the harsh reality. But Fremantle as a company are always forward planning and always looking at what they might do next. So, who knows what they might generate? Hopefully, if they generate something that’s kind of in the genre, the fans would connect with that ….with a new cast and a new look, new situation. Who knows? But it’s all spectacular conjecture.”

Annie Jones

“I think we’re even sadder because these last two years have been such a gift. We were so grateful to Amazon for saving us, but also we just felt so loved by all of the fans that took the time to write in and email and just make so much noise to let it be known how much they’re going to miss the show. That’s kind of continued. We get a lot of lovely, lovely comments from people online, just telling us how much the show means to them and how devastated they are now that it’s ending again. So we really feel the weight of all of that even more so, this time around. It’s gonna leave a big hole in a lot of people’s lives, unfortunately.”

Rebekah Elmaloglou

“If you ask me on Friday night, I’ll be probably an absolute mess. Look, I’m devastated as we all are. We’re such an incredibly close family and we have so much fun.

“Stefan (Dennis) and I have so much fun. We’re so naughty and we just love our characters, we love working with each other. It’s been a wonderful place to work at. I’m just devastated that I won’t get to see everyone every day. I think I’m just a little numb at the moment. It’s a very different feeling this time around….. I’m not sure, it’s a really hard one to explain.

“Jason (Herbison, producer) is very optimistic about the future. I mean, it’ll never be the same platform or episodes if it did come back. But honestly, the way he’s written it has kept it very open to a few really clever options.”

Matt Wilson

“We’ve had some practice with this, haven’t we?

“This time, I know that anything can happen because Amazon picked it up out of nowhere. So it wouldn’t surprise me if it did get picked up. And it wouldn’t surprise me if it didn’t. Last time it felt more like the end, because we didn’t know that was a possibility, whereas this time it would not surprise me.

“There’s a lot of reasons why somebody would pick up this show. It’s got to be the cheapest created drama in Australia. There’s so many reasons, particularly if streamers have to hit their local content quotas to be able to trade here. It’s got to be one of the only shows that can nail that local content quota in one purchase.”

ABC has picked up 2025 British murder-mystery drama I, Jack Wright.

Produced by Federation Stories the 6 part series tells the story of a family feuding over the fortune left behind by murdered patriarch Jack Wright, a powerful and successful businessman.

It stars Trevor Eve, Gemma Jones and John Simm.

It has also been acquired by broadcasters in France, the Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Switzerland and Hong Kong.

Source : C21

We’re 99 days out Telethon 2025, but first guests have been announced for the annual WA even on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 October 2025.

A massive 26-hours will be broadcast live across Channel 7 and 7plus, and for the first time nationally on 7flix.

Emma Memma met with the 2024 Little Telethon Stars backstage at her Perth show earlier this week.

“Telethon holds a very special place in my heart, it’s such an incredible and important event, and I can’t wait to be back in Perth, singing, dancing and signing with everyone again!” she said.

Also joining the 2025 lineup are Shannon Noll, Manu Feildel, Shane Crawford, Mick Molloy,
plus stars from Home and Away, Better Homes and Gardens, Sunrise, The Morning Show and The Chase, as well as the 7NEWS Perth team, and Telethon’s very own Fat Cat.

Channel 7 Telethon Trust Chairman Richard Goyder said “Telethon stands at the heart of providing hope and delivering tangible outcomes for those who need it most.

“This work is only possible thanks to the unwavering commitment, generosity and kindness of the WA community.”

Last year’s Telethon raised a record $83.3 million.

Tomorrow marks the final day of production for the team at Neighbours.

It’s a sad occasion but I’m pleased to advise TV Tonight will be Live Blogging from the studio tomorrow morning, to bring you a fly-on-the-wall insight into the very last day.

My thanks to Neighbours and Network 10 for facilitating this rare opportunity at a historic time.

Friday July 11
9:30am – 11:30am AEST
12:30am – 2:30am UK

Fans can also comment on the post and I will try to answer those, or possibly pass on (you will need a TVT account).

I also have a special feature to publish tomorrow to mark the final day.

David.

Nominees have been announced in the Daytime Emmy Awards, with Australia’s Curtis Stone nominated in the Outstanding Travel and Adventure Program for his series Field Trip with Curtis Stone.

Updated: Neighbours has been nominated in the Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video.

Winners will be announced on October 17 in Pasadena.

Primetime Emmy noms are announced next week.

Here are key categories:

Outstanding Daytime Drama Series

Days of Our Lives
Peacock

General Hospital
ABC

The Young and the Restless
CBS [Sony Pictures Television]

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Daytime Drama Series

Sharon Case as Sharon Newman
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Eileen Davidson as Ashley Abbott
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Melissa Claire Egan as Chelsea Lawson
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Nancy Lee Grahn as Alexis Davis
General Hospital (ABC)

Michelle Stafford as Phyllis Summers
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Laura Wright as Carly Spencer
General Hospital (ABC)

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Daytime Drama Series

Peter Bergman as Jack Abbott
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Eric Martsolf as Brady Black
Days of Our Lives (Peacock)

Greg Rikaart as Leo Stark
Days of Our Lives (Peacock)

Paul Telfer as Xander Kiriakis
Days of Our Lives (Peacock)

Dominic Zamprogna as Dante Falconeri
General Hospital (ABC)

Outstanding Lifestyle Program

George to the Rescue
NBC

Hack Your Health
The Secrets of Your Gut
Netflix [Tremolo Productions]

Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Forward
NBC [Hearst Media Production Group]

Homegrown
Magnolia Network [Eclipse Creative]

You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment
Netflix [Netflix | OPS | The Vogt Foundation]

Outstanding Travel and Adventure Program

Expedition Unknown
Discovery Channel [Ping Pong Productions]

Field Trip with Curtis Stone
Hong Kong
PBS [Sunny Side Up Productions]

The Good Road
PBS [Good All Over]

How I Got Here
BYUtv [FORTÉ Entertainment]

Joseph Rosendo’s Steppin’ Out
PBS

Mexico Made With Love
PBS [Symbio Studios]

Outstanding Daytime Talk Series

The Drew Barrymore Show
CBS Media Ventures

The Jennifer Hudson Show
Warner Brothers Television Distribution [JHUD Productions | Warner Bros. Unscripted Television | Telepictures]

The Kelly Clarkson Show
NBCUniversal Syndication Studios

Live with Kelly and Mark
Disney Entertainment Distribution

The View
ABC

Updated:

Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video
“Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade” (ABC [Film 45 | EverWonder Studio | Yellow Shoes Studio])

“The Drew Barrymore Show” (CBS Media Ventures)

“Neighbours” (Amazon Prime Video [Amazon MGM Studios | FremantleMedia Limited])

“The View” (ABC)

“The Young and the Restless” (CBS)

Outstanding Emerging Talent in a Daytime Drama Series
Olivia d’Abo as Fifi Garrett, “The Bay” (Popstar! TV [LANY Entertainment | SheMogul Entertainment])

AnnaLynne McCord as Cat Greene, “Days of our Lives” (Peacock)

Ashley Puzemis as Holly Jonas, “Days of our Lives” (Peacock)

Christian Weissmann as Remy Pryce, “The Bold and the Beautiful” (CBS)

Lisa Yamada as Luna Nozawa, “The Bold and the Beautiful” (CBS)

Outstanding Guest Performance in a Daytime Drama Series
Linden Ashby as Cameron Kirsten, “The Young and the Restless” (CBS)

Clint Howard as Tom Starr, “The Bold and the Beautiful” (CBS)

Jacqueline Lopez as Blaze, “General Hospital” (ABC)

Alley Mills as Heather Webber, “General Hospital” (ABC)

Valarie Pettiford as Amy Lewis, “The Young and the Restless” (CBS)

Avery Kristen Pohl as Esme Prince, “General Hospital” (ABC)

Outstanding Daytime Personality – Non-Daily
Sir David Attenborough, “Secret Lives of Orangutans” (Netflix [Silverback Films])

Brad Bestelink, “Living with Leopards” (Netflix [Wild Space | Natural History Film Unit Botswana | Freeborne Media | Netflix])

Andi Sweeney Blanco, Courtney Dober, Rob North & Kirin Stone, “The Fixers” (BYUtv)

Anthony Mackie, “Shark Beach with Anthony Mackie: Gulf Coast” (National Geographic [Nutopia])

Martha Stewart, “Martha Gardens” (Roku [Marquee Brands])

Outstanding Writing Team for a Daytime Drama Series
“Days of our Lives” (Peacock)

“General Hospital” (ABC)

“The Young and the Restless” (CBS)

Outstanding Directing Team for a Daytime Drama Series
“Days of our Lives” (Peacock)

“General Hospital” (ABC)

“The Young and the Restless” (CBS)

Source: Deadline

Nine News Brisbane reporter Tim Arvier has departed after 21 years at Nine, to join Premier David Crisafulli’s team.

“After 21 adventurous years filing stories for Nine, I’m having a bit of a change with a new job,” he said on Instagram.

“I’ll be moving away from the day to day shenanigans of Queensland politics & heading to government department land for some new responsibilities, including heading up the Queensland Crisis Communications Network to oversee events like floods, cyclones and major police/emergency incidents.

“I’ll miss working at Nine. It’s a great place full of great people and I’ve made many lifelong friends amongst the camera teams, producers & editors. A special thanks to the Qld leadership team of Brendan Hockings & Kylie Blucher for their unwavering support over the years. The newsroom is in great hands and I know it will continue to thrive.”

“Tim and I started in the industry together around 20 years ago, and I’ve seen first hand how much he’s poured into his journalism career,” Nine’s Queensland news boss, Brendan Hockings, also told The Australian.

“We’ve spoken about this at length, so I know how Tim has agonised over leaving a profession and place he loves but, in the end, he feels the time is right to take on this new role. He leaves with our thanks and best wishes.

“Nine is Queensland’s No.1 television news thanks to the strength of our team across the board.

“We have a very healthy stable of newsbreakers and I’m excited to watch them take up the challenge of holding the government to account.”

State of Origin III has pulled a massive 3.9m viewers in National TV Audience.

That lifts on Origin I (3.76m) and Origin II (3.75m), making it the top TV audience so far in 2025.

City audiences were Sydney 1.00m / Brisbane 915,000 / Melbourne 397,000 / Perth 176,000 / Adelaide 123,000 -and the highest ever BVOD audience of all time with 978,000 watching on 9Now (beating FIFA Women’s World Cup Semi Final: Matildas v England by 7,000).

The game was a bloodbath for the NSW Blues, still on 0 at half time, with Queensland Maroons winning 24 points to 12 by the siren.

Nine easily won Wednesday with a massive 52% share.

Against such mega competition 7:30 drew (747,000) then Gruen (582,000), MasterChef Australia (513,000) and Border Security (425,000 / 366,000).

Later The Front Bar was 351,000 then Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee (330,000), and Elsbeth (200,000).

Nine News won with 1.49m so too did Tipping Point at 851,000 which topped Entertainment. Wimbledon was up to 335,000 in a late slot.

Seven News drew 1.44m then Home & Away (831,000) and The Chase (671,000).

ABC News averaged 927,000. Hard Quiz rpt was high at 374,000 then Spicks & Specks 189,000 and QI (147,000).

10 News pulled 356,000 for 10 then Deal or No Deal (349,000), 10 News+ (162,000) and FBI: International (124,000).

On SBS it was SBS World News (230,000 / 163,000), Tour de France (127,000), Mastermind (121,000), How Disney Built America struggled at 112,000 then Eat Smart: Secrets of the Glucose Goddess (91,000).

Sunrise: 379,000
Today: 300,000
News Breakfast:  233,000

National Total TV: Wednesday 9 July 2025

Are Media, the publisher of magazines including TV Week, is on the market.

Its magazine stable also includes The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, New Idea, Who, and Take 5.

Mediaweek reports Mercury Capital, led by venture capitalist Clark Perkins, acquired then-Bauer Media for an estimated $40–50 million in 2020. That deal came just eight years after Bauer had paid $525 million for the formerly-known ACP Magazines.

A spokesperson said: “Further to recent speculation, and on the back of a number of market enquiries and approaches, we can confirm that a decision has been made to commence a sale process for Are Media, Australia’s leading omnichannel content company for women. KPMG Corporate Finance has been engaged to run a formal sale process.”

Jane Huxley is CEO of Are Media, with Amber Giles as Editorial Director of TV Week. The iconic magazine has been published since 1957, operating the Logie Awards since 1959.

If you’ve watched Deal or No Deal you’re no doubt familiar with the gameplay basics of opening brief cases with cash amounts, trying to walk away with the most amount of money and learning when to accept or reject offers from the show’s own banker.

But how are people chosen, and who allocates the remaining brief cases?

Host Grant Denyer answers the questions you’ve always wondered….

How are contestants chosen? Is it all locked in prior to filming on the day based on their application and back story?

GD: No. We shift on the day a lot as well. Everyone who turns up has the ability of being chosen to play the game. That is 100% legit. Sometimes we have, maybe some preferred selections, but we watch them through the day as well. They don’t know it but we have secret cameras that film them to just see, ‘Are they into it? Are they feeling it? Do they know how the game works?’

So it’s a flexible thing. If someone turns up, and on paper seemed like a good potential, they might be a bit flat, or look a little disinterested. We’ll go, ‘Maybe they’re having an off day.’

I’m not involved in in the selection of the contestants at all. I do not know who they are until I call their name out.

How are the case-holders on the podium selected?

GD: They are just everyone who is in that same section of the audience where the main contestant was pulled.

We have a spare block of audience that comes in and replaces that block.

I would feel terrible if people thought that coming on the show that day, were made to sit through five episodes and they didn’t get their chance. This way someone sort of roughly gets pulled from every block. If you aren’t a main player, you still get the opportunity to go up and hold a case.

It’s kind of why the atmosphere in there is so off the charts because everyone is genuinely supporting of the player that’s currently playing. They could be next. If not, they’ll be holding the cases.

How are cases then allocated to those holding them? Do they choose them or are they handed out by production?

GD: We have our cases pre-loaded, done by a third party under strict regulation. We basically get (people) to go up there and take a spot. Whatever case lands in their hands, is the case that lands in their hands.

The cases come last, and they obviously are not allowed to open them.

Is the case given to their loved one strategically given a high or low value?

GD: We encourage them to bring someone with them, just so they’re not alone in the stand. It usually creates a bigger energy in the room and some encouragement.

People tend to leave their partner till last, for whatever reason. That’s the pattern. We don’t know why. We don’t tell them to do that. I think they want to keep their friends or family member in play until the very end, so they can lean on them for advice. But also it gives (their partner) a better chance of being able to correctly guess what’s in their case and win money if there’s only a couple of cases left to choose from.

Bu yes, if that person’s got a low amount left in their case, or high amount left in case, it can destroy or improve a game.

Case holders guess the amount in their brief case, but unless they are professional psychics is there any logic to this?

GD: I’m surprised, to be honest, how often it can actually be correct. That’s weirded me out a lot. Why we ask them is, obviously, it’s their chance to win some money for themselves, but you also start to learn and understand who’s trying to destroy this person’s game and who wants them to do well.

So sometimes you can see personalities emerge.

Has anyone ever accepted an early offer?

GD: No, not that early. It’s funny. People come in with an idea that, ‘If this gets to 20 grand, I’m taking it.’ But that could come in the first two or three rounds. It’s weird, people can still see all these really large green amounts on board, and then the old greed dragon kicks in and they can’t help themselves. They get caught up in the spectacle of the lights and the crowds cheer and all of a sudden, their heart’s racing and the temptation of winning bigger overwhelms them. No one’s ever taken such a drastic early offer that I’ve had to pad for 22 minutes, thank God!

The banker’s offer isn’t always [total remaining value  ÷ number of cases] so is there a formula to bank offers?

GD: I don’t want to give too much of the smoke and mirrors away, but the banker is a real person. If it was just an algorithm, it would be boring. Everything would be extremely predictable, right? So you would kind of know, roughly what offers are going to come in. Therefore, that would negate the purpose of a banker.

The banker has the ability to dial it up and down a little bit. If one of the contestants has given the banker some lip, you know, expect to pay the price in the next bank offer. But if we’re all in the room right behind this person, maybe we’ve fallen in love with why they need the money… occasionally, the banker is a little more generous. Sometimes the purpose of why you want to win the money can affect the bank offers, depending on how the banker is feeling that day.

Deal or No Deal screens 7pm weeknights on 10.

Seven continues to be frustrated by breaches of the Broadcasting Services Act after the media watchdog the Australian Communications and Media Authority found captioning errors.

The latest was a captioning error lasting just 46 seconds during Seven News Adelaide last October – the second by Seven News Adelaide in six months.

ACMA received a complaint, claiming that the bulletin contained, ‘Unsatisfactory captioning standard and inappropriate location of captioning text box’.

ACMA’s review found that in one segment on the US presidential election, approximately 46 seconds of spoken content of the 1 minute and 54 seconds of the news item were not captioned.

It concluded captions:

– were not readable, as required by subsection 10(a);
– did not accurately recreate the soundtrack of the Program, as required by subsection 11(a); and
– were not comprehensible, as required by subsection 12(a). The lack of any captions for a 46-second period of the Segment means it would have been difficult for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers to follow the meaning of the Segment.

Other than this segment, ACMA found the captions for the remainder of the program were satisfactory.

Seven defended that the root cause of the error was related to an overload of a “relay server” which caused its Lexi captioning system to disconnect for 50 seconds. It added, “Neither Seven nor AI-Media had any control over the technical error that occurred. Further, Seven submits that notwithstanding the measures it has put in place to identify and resolve issues that arise generally, this relay server error was not anticipated.”

ACMA ultimately determined that the breach be disregarded due to  “significant, unforeseen technical difficulties.”

However more concerningly, last December ACMA found a string of captioning breaches relating to a June 2024 bulletin also by Seven News Adelaide.

It found a run of issues around Comprehensibilty and Accuracy across a number of segments, totalling 7 minutes 53 seconds.

Seven also attributed those to an unforeseen technical fault involving the specific captioning equipment in use.

“This equipment has been removed from service and in addition the individual caper has been cancelled on the poor monitoring and failure to escalate to the on-shift coordinator”, said Seven.

Seven disagreed with ACMA’s view that it failed to comply with captioning requirements, and stressed the difficulty of live captioning. It maintained it was doing “everything possibly can to comply with the standard. However, Seven is unsure what more can be done to satisfy the ACMA of its commitment to providing captioning to its deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers within an impractical legislative framework.”

Seven’s Legal Counsel even requested that ACMA not publish its Investigation Report.

“Seven respectfully request that the ACMA exercises its discretion not to publish its final Investigation Report,” Seven said in its submission.

“Seven submits that publication at this time would be unduly detrimental to it and may give the impression that Seven does not take its captioning obligations seriously. This is absolutely not the case. We are committed to fulfilling our captioning obligations as evidence by the fact that we invest considerably in our captioning services with a highly reputable provider, maintain a high level of captioning compliance and regularly caption beyond the minimum requirements.”

ACMA did not comply with that request, however it did publish some of its 44 page report as images making it less friendly for journalists to cut and paste in detail (and password protected a PDF which prevented such).

A second Driving Change summit, bringing together the disability and commercial advertising, broadcast and production sectors, will be held in November at Bondi Beach.

Bus Stop Films hosts its 2025 event, following an inugural summit last November, to explore the employment of people with disability across the screen content industries, on both sides of the camera and above and below the line. Advocate April Hélène-Horton and comedian Madeleine Stewart will again host the event.

It follows the release of the SDIN’s Everyone Counts 2.0 report released this week, showing that disability representation in the screen sector both on screen (12%) and behind the camera (6.8%) remains well below the level of disability experienced by the Australian population.

Over 50 speakers have been locked in, with more to come.

Keynote speaker will be Bella Roberts, London based editor, content creator, Editorial Assistant on Netflix’s Adolescence and Tik Tok influencer with 550,000 followers and 16.7 million likes; and Laura Winson, founder of Zebedee, inclusive talent agent and advocate for inclusion. Laura is Honorary Fellow at the Conde Nast College of Fashion and was named Grazia’s ‘Most Influential Women in Fashion’.

Key speakers include:

Opening Address by the Governor General Sam Mostyn AC
Bella Roberts – Content creator. Editorial Assistant on Netflix’s Adolescence and Tik Tok educator
Laura Winson, Founder Zebedee, inclusive talent agent.
Carly Findlay OAM – writer and advocate
Matt Formston – Blind Surfer, advocate and filmmaker
Dr. Jenny Crosbie – Interim Director, Centre for Inclusive Employment
Hannah Diviney – writer/actor/advocate
Kerry Tavrou – Head of Inclusion & Diversity, Tennis Australia
Elizabeth Wright – Paralympian. ABC Sports Journalist

Governor General Sam Mostyn AC will again open the event which will explore topics including AI, tech & gaming; disability and advertising; Blind / Low Vision community and culture; disability and sports broadcasting; unpacking screen agency support and support for employers wanting to hire people with disability. More speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Bus Stop Film’s CEO Tracey Corbin-Matchett OAM says: “Last year’s Summit was such a brilliant celebration and exploration of our amazing deaf/disabled and neurodivergent community and the creative impact and value we add to the screen, media and advertising sectors. I encourage policymakers, producers, creatives, and commissioners to join us at Driving Change 2025, as we continue to foster meaningful employment pathways on both sides of the camera.”

Mark Butler, Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing says: “The Australian Government is proud to support the work of Bus Stop Films as they continue to break down barriers for people with disability in the creative industries. The Summit will be an invaluable opportunity for people with disability to connect with the wider screen industry. Not only will it amplify the creative work of the community, it will also drive opportunities for employment, inclusion and leadership. We look forward to the rich and engaging discussions this Summit will deliver.”

Susan Templeman MP, Special Envoy for the Arts, who recently visited with the Bus Stop team on set for their feature film Boss Cat, says: “I applaud Bus Stop Films on their mission to make our screen industry more diverse and inclusive of people with a disability. Events like the Disability Employment Summit not only help us imagine that future, they are a powerful catalyst for change. The Summit will bring together great minds and goodwill to generate new ideas and forge new connections. I commend everyone involved for their commitment to expanding access and opportunity within our creative industries.”

Extending the outcomes of the first Summit, Bus Stop Films is also releasing an impact report, facilitated by leading creative industry consultants, Creative +Business, based on surveys and focus groups with both job seekers and employers to research the barriers both groups face around disability employment. The report identified key barriers around income, access, education and representation when it comes to disability employment. The impact report also notes that, while the majority of jobseekers rely on work or financial support outside the screen sector to survive, conversely the industry seeks to better understand what funding is available to support the hiring of people with disability. The full report is available here.

Bus Stop Films is funding the Summit through its own resources, together with significant support from the Australian Government, Netflix, ABC, Screen NSW. Additional sponsors are always welcome.

The event will be fully accessible with live captioning and Auslan interpretation. Tickets for both in person and digital access are available.

Tuesday 25th – Thursday 27th November 2025 at the Bondi Pavillion, Bondi Beach.

Photo: Julia Firak

SBS has picked up Britain’s Railway Empire in Colour a 2 x 60 min colourised documentary about Britain’s railway empire from UK indie producers Woodcut.

It tells the story of how Britain gave railways to the world, from the first tentative experiments with steam power, through the boom years at home, to the exporting of this new technology to every corner of the globe.

Distributed by Woodcut International, it employs newly colourised archive similar to Titanic in Colour, which screened on SBS last year, with leading experts and enthusiasts, including TikTok trainspotter Francis Bourgeois.

A broadcast date is yet to be announced.

Source: C21

Channel Seven footy show The Agenda Setters made an unfortunate error when paying tribute to the late Richmond Football president, Ian Wilson, who passed away last week aged 91.

Ian Wilson was father to the show’s own panelist, Caroline Wilson, who was not present.

When host Craig Hutchison paid tribute, a Vale image incorrectly showed Bill Barrot, a midfielder for Richmond, who passed away in 2016.

The Herald Sun suggests the image was probably sourced via a Google search of an article by Caroline Wilson at The Age.

On 7plus, Seven later corrected the image with one of Ian Wilson.

Meanwhile on Footy Classified, Caroline Wilson’s former show, Sam McClure also paid tribute. With a correct image by Nine.

Question: Why did Seven screen three episodes of Home & Away on a Tuesday?

Answer: because Stranded on Honeymoon Island is sinking and it didn’t want to screen it at 7:30. Last night it drew 251,000.

Last night Summer Bay soap’s triple play drew 856,000 / 808,000 which led its slot / 743,000 viewers in National TV Audience.

Meanwhile Murder Down Under was 759,000 then 7:30  (719,000), MasterChef Australia (636,000) and Walking with Dinosaurs (309,000).

Later The Cheap Seats led with 493,000 well in front of  Stranded on Honeymoon Island (251,000 / 142,000), Insight (233,000) and Whale Wisdom (221,000).

Seven News was #1 at 1.5m then The Chase (685,000).

Nine News was 1.43m with wins by A Current Affair (1.13m) and Tipping Point (868,000 which topped Entertainment). Excluding the pre-show, Wimbledon was up to 231,000. In select markets were Footy Classified (207,000) and Freddie & the Eighth (213,000).

ABC News averaged 919,000. Hard Quiz (406,000) and I Was Actually There (143,000) followed.

10 News was 395,000 for 10. Deal or No Deal drew 323,000 then 10 News+ (188,000) and FBI: International (169,000).

On SBS it was SBS World News (237,000 / 191,000), Continental Railway Journeys (218,000), Tour de France (179,000) and Mastermind (127,000).

Sunrise: 381,000
Today: 315,000
News Breakfast: 224,000

National Total TV: Tuesday 8 July 2025

UK period crime Grantchester will end with its upcoming 11th season.

In the forthcoming season, Robson Green returns as Geordie with Rishi Nair as Alphy, Al Weaver as Leonard Finch, Tessa Peake-Jones as Mrs. C, Kacey Ainsworth as Cathy Keating, Oliver Dimsdale as Daniel Marlowe, Nick Brimble as Jack Chapman, Bradley Hall as DC Larry Peters and Melissa Johns as Miss Scott.

Series creator, writer and executive producer Daisy Coulam said in a statement: “At its heart, Grantchester is a show about the power of friendship and love. We’ve been so lucky over the last 11 series to experience that on and off screen. For over a decade now — cast and crew (many who’ve been there since the beginning) have met each summer to film. And it’s been an absolute joy. Thank you to James Runcie for entrusting us with his characters. Thank you to the lovely people of real Grantchester. Thank you to everyone who’s been a part of the show in any way — big or small. I’ll miss you terribly.”

Robson Green said, “From the very beginning, I have had the incredible fortune to be part of this extraordinary team of talented, passionate and dedicated individuals who have become more than colleagues. They have become family. I have made friendships forged through shared laughter, challenges and triumphs. The bonds we’ve formed extend far beyond the camera lens, and I know that they will endure long after the final scene within the Grantchester world has been filmed. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this incredible journey. Emma Kingsman-Lloyd and Daisy Coulam….from that very first day you gave me the extraordinary opportunity to be part of this experience It has been an honour to share in the magic of Grantchester,’and I am forever grateful for the memories, the friendships and the love that this journey has given me. I hope I made you proud.”

Rishi Nair said: “It’s been the greatest honour to step into the world of Grantchester and be part of a show with so much heart. Over two seasons — and now as we begin filming our third — I’ve had the privilege of telling stories that mean so much to so many, and I’m deeply thankful for that. As we begin filming this final chapter, I do so with a full heart and endless gratitude — for the memories, the friendships, and the incredible journey we’ve shared. To the entire cast and crew — thank you for your unwavering support, love, and warmth that you all bring onto set every day. Working alongside you all, and more importantly getting to know you, has been a true privilege and joy.”

Emma Kingsman-Lloyd, Executive Producer for Kudos, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be returning for another series of Grantchester adventures. After eleven incredible series, and the most wonderful experiences with a fantastic cast and crew, we have decided to bid a very fond farewell to our favorite crime fighting duo. Audiences are in for the most ambitious and thrilling series yet – Geordie and Alphy are going out with a bang!”

In Grantchester Season 11, it’s the heady summer of ’63, and Alphy is learning more about his past. He comes to realize that there is a whole other life he could have led, making him question who he is and what he believes in. He’s also continuing to get to know Meg, the Bishop’s daughter…

Geordie, for once, is positively brimming with bonhomie! He’s learned to weather the storms of life and is enjoying a time of relative peace. Cathy’s happy now that CeCe’s Fashion Boutique is a success, and the kids are old enough to look after themselves! But then, out of the blue, the Chief Superintendent comes to Geordie with a beguiling offer. It could be a chance for Geordie to finally be in charge, but it could also mean an end of his crime solving days. And his crime solving partnership with Alphy…

During a quiet period at the halfway house, Leonard finds himself with time on his hands, and a chance to take stock of his own life and whether he’s doing enough with it. When one of Daniel’s neighbors becomes ill, Leonard is drawn into helping care for the neighbor’s son Raymond – and discovers a paternal side to himself he never knew he had.

In Season 11 everyone will question the paths they are on, and some huge decisions will be made. This final season will look at family, forgiveness, identity, and faith – big changes are coming to Grantchester…

Grantchester S10 is currently screening Saturdays on ABC.

Julia Zemiro will host Crime Night! a comedy true-crime panel show where real-life cases are examined through the lens of criminology and comedy.

Produced by Dreamchaser and Maverick Entertainment, the six-part series will see Julia Zemiro, alongside a panel of criminologists and comedians dissect famous cases. They will discover the science behind the crimes and use that same science to examine our own lives with hilarious consequences.

“Excellent criminologists and brainy comedians? Check! One very engaged host? (That’s me!) Yes Check!” says Zemiro.

“I am so excited to be back at the ABC steering a panel show about modern day criminology. This new team of writers and producers are a breath of fresh air to work with, as we delve into the science behind the crimes. The how, the what and the why. The curious, the serious and ultimately very human side of crime.”

Rachel Millar, ABC Head of Entertainment, said: “Australians can’t get enough of True Crime, and we’re excited to join forces with Dreamchaser and Maverick to bring this innovative and original format to ABC screens. For anyone who loves bingeing the latest true crime podcast, or playing detective in the group chat, this is the show for you. Led by the inimitable Julia Zemiro, this is a show that will make your spine tingle with intrigue, whilst making you laugh at the same time.”

Carl Fennessy and Monique Keller, Dreamchaser Executive Producers, said: “Crime Night! is the first commission under our Maverick Entertainment and Dreamchaser producing partnership. We’re thrilled to be launching this brand-new comedy true-crime panel show in partnership with the ABC. The combined talents of Executive Producers David Forster, Frank Bruzzese and Julia Zemiro are exceptional, working alongside a brilliant panel of criminologists and comedians to examine the fascinating real-life cases we’re all obsessed with in the funniest possible way.”

Filming will begin in early August in Melbourne, (to be part of the studio audience click here) and will air later this year.

Production credits: Commissioned by the ABC. Produced by Dreamchaser and Maverick Entertainment in association with the ABC. Maverick Executive Producers: David Forster, Frank Bruzzese and Julia Zemiro. Dreamchaser Executive Producers: Carl Fennessy, and Monique Keller. ABC Executive Producer: Michiko Smith. ABC Head of Entertainment: Rachel Millar.

Final names have been announced for the Future Vision at ACMI next week.

They include filmmakers Rachel Perkins, David Michod, Lynette Wallworth and ABC Chair Kim Williams.

Also attending are creators Belinda Chayko (Fires), Elise McCredie (The Clearing), Jacquelin Perske (The Tattooist of Auschwitz), Mithila Gupta (Four Years), Marieke Hardy (Heartbreak High), Peter Mattessi (Return to Paradise) and Warren Clarke (The Heights). Appearing alongside producers Amanda Higgs (Bad Behaviour), Helen Bowden (After the Party), Jo Werner (The Newsreader), Jude Troy (The Clearing), Rosemary Blight (Top End Bub), executive producers Kevin Whyte (Deadloch) and directors Amiel Courtin-Wilson (Man on Earth) and Cherie Nowlan (The Survivors).

“This year, Future Vision has attracted some of the most exciting and thought-provoking thinkers and creative artists currently working around the world and in Australia,” said Co-Chairs Tony Ayres And Bruna Papandrea. “We are honoured they are making the time to provide inspiration for new creative and business practices – and to advance the craft of storytelling so Australian stories can be enjoyed across the globe.”

They join international headliners Richard Gadd (Baby Reindeer), Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley) and Soo Hugh (Pachinko).

The new guest speakers will feature at the following invite-only industry sessions. To apply for accreditation, visit the Future Vision website.

Creative Leadership: In Conversation
Tuesday, July 15 (Invite-only: The Roundtable)
A deep-dive into the future of leadership in television and screen industries, featuring Rachel Perkins and Kim Williams AM in a thought-provoking conversation moderated by Oscar-winning producer Emile Sherman (The King’s Speech, The Power of the Dog). This high-level dialogue explores key questions around resilience, creative leadership, market understanding, the evolution of Australia’s storytelling legacy and how we can inspire new leaders.

Staying Bold: The Courage To Create
Wednesday, July 16 (Invite-only: The Writers Room)
A powerful session on creativity and boldness, with internationally renowned artist Lynette Wallworth, filmmaker Amiel Courtin-Wilson, and headline international guest Sally Wainwright, creator of Happy Valley and Gentleman Jack. Moderated by actor and writer Mary Coustas, the panel will explore the emotional and artistic courage it takes to break new ground in screen storytelling.

TV legend Jana Wendt, 69, has given an interview to Guardian Australia as she releases a collection of 12 short stories, The Far Side of the Moon.

In the interview, she acknowledges Marg Downey’s famed parody of her in Fast Forward.

“She was great,” Wendt says. “She got the head turn, which I am possibly doing even now, and she did an achingly slow, deep delivery and I think that at times I might have been achingly slow.”

For Nine’s 60 Minutes and A Current Affair, Wendt interviewed them all… Kermit the Frog, Netanyahu, Gorbachev, Kissinger, Murdoch, Bhutto, David Malouf, Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Paul Keating, John Howard, Ron Casey and more.

Bob Hawke even called her suggestion that his famed parliamentary tears for Tiananmen were merely a display “despicable, contemptible and repugnant”.

“Obviously I liked to ask questions that challenged people and sometimes people resist and resist and resist and you need to break through that wall of resistance,” she says.

“Sometimes it is through a pointed or a sharp word, and then you get a flow of … something.

“When I look around these days in politics, I think boy, is it controlled. I mean, I actually remember having fun interviewing politicians.

“The language has changed,” she says, not just that used by politicians but what she calls ‘professionalised classes.’

“Really the language has been destroyed as a medium for actually saying things that are meaningful. In fact, what a lot of this language does is try to bypass true meaning, because true meaning could get you into a lot of trouble.”

You can read more at Guardian Australia.

Veteran Queensland journalist and animal advocate Michael Beatty, who featured on This Day Tonight, Today Tonight and The 7:30 Report, has died aged 76.

His passing was announced on Sunday, after being diagnosed with leukaemia. Son Liam wrote on social media that “dogs all over Brisbane were howling” as he passed away that day with his family by his side.

“He never lost his fighting spirit, as he continued to defy the odds.

“[He] committed a lifetime to giving a voice to those without one, or who he believed needed a louder one, [and] spent his final days reflecting on a life well lived with his close friends and family.”

Beatty was born in England, the son of Canadian actor Robert Beatty who starred in Where Eagles Dare, Superman III and IV, Murder on the Orient Express.

After interviewing David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Nicks and a teenage Michael Jackson, he joined the ABC in Sydney in the 1970s.

He spent three decades reporting across current affairs shows such as This Day Tonight, Today Tonight and The 7.30 Report, as well as producing documentaries for Wild Life and Beyond 2000.

He covered the downfall of the Marcos regime, the 1981 Brixton riots, land mine removal in Cambodia and the war between Myanmar’s military junta and the ethnic Karen.

He was state producer for Good Morning Australia and State Affairs.

But he was also well-known across Queensland. for his animal advocacy, becoming RSPCA Queensland’s senior media adviser, landing him a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019.

Beatty was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018, a condition he lived with for seven years, until he was also diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

A former Channel 7 colleague told the Courier Mail: “Michael, your observations of life and the way you brought to life the wonderful characters you met along your travels will always reflect your story-telling genius; you cared for animals and humans and always stood up for the underdog.”

Source / Photo: ABC

Emmie Milligan, much loved member of the Gogglebox family, has died aged 96.

On Instagram Isabelle Silbery paid tribute to her grandmother, describing her as “..an orphan, a nurse, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, the oldest woman on TV, a great grandmother, an author and so much more. Thank you for loving her as much as we did and will forever. Have a big rest now- you deserve it. Xxxxx”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Isabelle Richards (Silbery) (@isabellesilbery)

Emmie featured in Gogglebox from 2016 – 2023, stepping back after being diagnosed with dementia, always known for her wit and candid comments on the television shows she was asked to review.

“Our hearts are so heavy with sadness,” wrote Gogglebox co-stars Keith and Lee. “Emmie was our adopted grandmother to Keith and I as we lost our grandparents years ago. You told us so many stories about your life and now they are memories for us to keep. Rest in peace, sweetheart you’ll never be far from our hearts.”

Matty Fahd wrote: “It was an honour to have met her. She was a truly special woman. May she rest in peace.”

Angie Kent said: “Beautiful Emmie. Words can’t describe what you meant to so many of us. Thank you for the countless laughs, tears, goosebumps and memories! Rest now. Your girls are so loved and looked after.”

“Ohh i’m so so sorry to hear. She was so beyond loved❤️,” Lainey Grech commented.

Holly Dalton wrote, “Sending all my love to you all. Rest in peace our beloved Emmie ❤️.”

This post updates.

Screen Producers Australia has opened applications opened today for Ones To Watch, SPA’s flagship professional development and mentoring program.

Each successful applicant will be individually matched with an experienced SPA member mentor for personalised one-on-one guidance.

Participants gain access to a six-month industry webinar series, in the lead-up to the 40th iteration of Screen Forever in 2026.

The program also carries a $20,000 Ones To Watch Screen Placement, supported by Screen Australia.

“Each year, our Ones To Watch program adapts to reflect the ever-evolving needs of Australia’s early-career screen producers. As applications open for 2025, we’re proud to once again offer this unique platform that empowers up-and-coming producers with the tools, insights, and connections they need to succeed. We look forward to discovering the next wave of producing talent and supporting them as they take the next steps in their careers,” said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner.

Grainne Brunsdon, Chief Operating Officer, Screen Australia, said, “Ones To Watch continues to play a vital role in developing Australia’s next generation of screen producers. Screen Australia is proud to support this initiative, particularly the Ones To Watch Screen Placement, which opens doors to meaningful, hands-on experience both locally and internationally. We look forward to seeing how the program continues to empower early-career producers and strengthen the future of Australia’s screen industry.”

The 2025 Ones To Watch cohort will be eligible to apply for the Screen Placement, designed to facilitate hands-on engagement with a production or production company anywhere in the world. Past recipients include Rae Choi (2024), Amy Parry (2023), Emma Roberts (2022), Jessica Magro (2021), Ljudan Michaelis-Thorpe (2020), and Rachel Higgins (2019).

Since its inception, the program has supported over 170 emerging and early career producers in fast-tracking their careers. 2023 alumna Amy Parry arranged a placement with Irish production company Trimoon, which participated in Ireland Connect, the second iteration of SPA’s Global Connect Program. 2024 alumni Rae Choi, Georgia Noe, Scarlett Koehne all recently progressed in the SBS & Screen Australia Digital Originals program, Joseph Meldrum recently joined NITV as a Commissioning Editor, and Shontell Ketchell is currently writing on the Australian version of BBC Studios Production of Ghosts Almuni Liam Heyen and Cyna Strachan from Mad Ones recently produced the feature Jimpa, directed by Sophie Hyde and starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, which premiered at Sundance in 2025.

2025 will see Above The Line Accounting and 3P Studio come on board as the program’s newest supporting partners, joining existing partners Screen Australia, Film Finances, Fulcrum Media Finance, Media Arts Lawyers, Media Super, SBS, and Screen NSW.

Applications  close at 11.59pm AEST on Wednesday, 27 August 2025.

Major breaking news lifted News bulletins on Monday.

Seven News was #1 at 1.57m ahead of Nine News on 1.51m.

ABC News pulled 972,000 then 10 News (454,000) and SBS World News (231,000 / 174,000).

All of them were up on last Monday night.

Meanwhile The 1% Club led its slot at 898,000 then 7:30 (858,000), Parental Guidance (671,000) and MasterChef Australia (626,000).

Later Have You Been Paying Attention? led with 701,000 then Four Corners (688,000), a Seven News special (679,000) and Media Watch (623,000).

Seven won Monday.

Home & Away topped entertainment overall at 921,000 with The Chase on 706,000 and 911 at 363,000.

A Current Affair won its slot at 1.2m with a win for Tipping Point (894,000). Footy Classified was 162,000 then 100% Footy (150,000) in their markets.

A Hard Quiz replay drew 383,000 then Lucy Worsley Investigates (258,000) for ABC.

Deal or No Deal scored 321,000 for 10. Unfortunately 10 News+ settled on 199,000 meaning it lost far too much of its news lead-in. Inspired (Unemployed) Impractical Jokers managed 190,000.

On SBS it was Tour de France (159,000), Portillo’s Andalucia (146,000), Mastermind (107,000) and Sue Perkins: Lost In Thailand (103,000).

Sunrise: 393,000
Today: 296,000
News Breakfast: 212,000

National Total TV: Monday 7 July 2025

SBS has launched new Commissioning Inclusion Guidelines (2025-2028), reaffirming its commitment to ensuring all Australians see themselves and their communities represented on screen.

The guidelines outline comprehensive multi-year targets for inclusion of talent from historically and ongoing under-represented communities in roles across SBS-commissioned programs, including internal productions.*

They include updated benchmarks for people with disability and introduced a new sub-target for non-European culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

“At SBS, inclusion is central to who we are as an organisation, and underpins how we commission and create content,” said Kathryn Fink, SBS Director of Television (pictured below, right).

“Our previous guidelines set a new benchmark for representation in our sector, and our new Commissioning Inclusion Guidelines for 2025-2028 continue to support our ambition, and SBS’s unique purpose as a network.

“We believe that an industry without barriers to having your voice heard is essential to fuelling the ongoing success of Australian storytelling – both at home, and globally. Our goal is to drive meaningful, long-term industry change by investing in the depth and breadth of Australian talent, on and off screen. We’re proud to continue working closely with production partners across the sector to deliver a truly authentic portrayal of contemporary Australia through the stories we commission, and the people who bring them to life,” she added.

They are announced as the Screen Diversity Inclusion Network releases its Everyone Counts 2.0 findings on diversity amongst 395 Australian TV and film projects, both on and off-screen.

The launch of the SBS Commissioning Inclusion Guidelines (2025-2028) follows the conclusion of SBS’s first Commissioning Equity & Inclusion Guidelines (2021-2024), with SBS successfully achieving all of its targets, which were then extended a year while the next iteration was developed.

SBS’s guidelines aim to remove barriers when casting on-screen talent and hiring off-screen crew, and focus on representation of people from five key under-represented groups – First Nations peoples, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, LGBTQ+ people, people with disability, and women – based on what Australia looks like today.

In the new guidelines, SBS has updated benchmarks for people with disability and introduced a new sub-target for non-European culturally and linguistically diverse communities. These updates recognise areas where improvement is needed across the sector. SBS’s guidelines were also informed by industry engagement and consultation, as well as taking on board SBS’s previous performance, and analysis of population and industry data.

SBS’s Scripted and Unscripted commissioned programs have targets for on- and off-screen roles, and for career progression, on a show-by-show basis. In measuring this, SBS will also track how it is representing key groups across its entire commissioned content slate.

SBS’s commitment to transparency and accountability continues with its new guidelines, with public reporting each year to measure and update on progress. SBS also continues to invest in initiatives providing meaningful career opportunities and pathways for under-represented talent and enriched storytelling. These opportunities, and more information about the guidelines, are available on the SBS website.

* SBS’s Commissioning Inclusion Guidelines do not apply to SBS’s News and Current Affairs and Sports programming. Targets do not apply to NITV productions which have their own unique equity goals, as outlined in the NITV Commissioning Guidelines.

EXCLUSIVE:

• • • First Nations people continue to be well-represented in on-screen roles but under-represented in off-screen roles.
    • Disabled people continue to be vastly under-represented compared to the population benchmark both on screen and behind the camera.
    • LGBQA+ people continue to have strong representation compared to the population benchmark, both on screen and off.
    • People with Asian and African ancestries / ethnicities continue to be under-represented compared to population benchmarks.
    • People with European and Anglo-Celtic ancestries / ethnicities continue to be over-represented.

The temperature of industry diversity, both on and off screen, has been measured in a survey, Everyone Counts 2.0, conducted for the Screen Diversity Inclusion Network.

The volunteer industry survey aims to document the diversity of all roles on TV and film projects in Australia – from extras through to on-screen leads; producers through to runners; and hair and make-up through to visual effects; working on productions ranging from Reality TV through to feature films.

The results draw from 12,900 on and off-screen contributor roles filled by 6,976 unique individuals in 395 Australian TV and film projects from July 2021 to June 2024.

The report reveals representation both on and off screen of women, First Nations people, people with disability, LGBQA+, transgender, intersex and gender diverse people, primary carers, people aged over 55 years, the ethnicity and socio-economic status of respondents, and people who speak languages other than English at home.

These were the key findings across the 3 year survey:

• 3.4% are First Nations, with a higher rate of disability among this group (13%) than in the talent pool overall (8.2%)
• 8.2% are disabled, with this group having higher representation of women (54%), gender diverse people (9.5%) and First Nations people (4.2%) than the talent pool overall (50%, 2.4% and 3.4% respectively)
• 20% are LGBQA+, with this group having higher representation of women (57%) and gender diverse people (12%) than the talent pool overall (50% and 2.4% respectively)
• 2.0% are transgender, and 0.8% are intersex with a further 1.6% reporting ‘unsure/don’t know’ if they were ‘born with intersex variation(s)’
• 2.4% are gender diverse and 50% are women, although we know from other research that many screen industry roles remain gendered and that women may be more likely to respond to surveys
• 26% are primary carers and a further 5.8% occasional primary carers
• 20% are aged 55 years or over, a similar rate to Australia’s ageing workforce
• 8.9% speak languages other than English at home (or in addition to English)
• 54% have Anglo-Celtic ancestry/ethnicity, 36% European, 11% Asian, 2.8% Middle Eastern, 2.3% Pacific Islander, 1.6% Central or South American and 2.0% African
• 15% perceive their socio-economic status growing up as below average or least advantaged (considering their family’s work, wealth, and education), 44% average and 39% above average or most advantaged. (2% either selected ‘other status’ or ‘prefer not to say’)

Counting diversity in industry roles 2021–24

Significantly, the productions which participated were 70% Scripted and 30% Unscripted, dominated by Free to Air Television.

This means results would differ if the spread better represented production output in Australia.

Now in its eighth year of operation, the SDIN launched in 2017 under its original host Australian Film and Television Radio School, before moving to the South Australian Film Corporation in 2022.

From July 1 2025, SDIN will be hosted by The Everyone Project under a model focused on practical engagement with industry.

The new hosting arrangement will see the executive functions of the SDIN continue to be managed by agreement of member organisations, with The Everyone Project continuing to operate independently.

The SDIN acknowledged outgoing Co-Chairs, Head of Film, Screen and Culture at Monash University Olivia Khoo and independent producer Loani Arman and thanked outgoing SDIN Project Officer Anita Kimber, who provided admin support since August 2023.

Founder of The Everyone Project Adam Smith said, “As The Everyone Project continues to grow and evolve, we are pleased to note a continual increase in participation over the past three years, demonstrating SDIN members committed to increasing diversity and inclusion at all levels.

“With a clear alignment in our values and purpose, The Everyone Project is pleased to take on a new role supporting the administration of the SDIN, and we are committed to evolving The Everyone Project to ensure improved outcomes for industry.”

Nine has declined to comment on a report in The Australian that 60 Minutes edited responses in online statements from restaurant groups, following an exposé on the hospitality industry.

The Australian reported the Swillhouse and Merivale groups, whose venues were featured in Juna 29’s story on culture and conduct at restaurants, accused 60 Minutes of editing their responses.

The initial report, ‘Out of Order’ lifted the lid on sexual harassment, assaults, rampant drug abuse and staff being ripped off. It quoted statements from restaurant management and pointed to “full replies” on the show’s official website.

But The Australian reported Nine heavily edited Swillhouse’s responses to the story – claiming it removed key details of its reply – before posting a cut-down version in its place.

Merivale Group also accused 60 Minutes of editing its response to the story.

Some of the published responses are lengthy, but the article suggests, “60 Minutes took it upon itself to cut out and censor all the bits they didn’t like.”

It isn’t clear if excised sentences were indeed crucial or superfluous to the issues raised.

Nine declined to comment when TV Tonight asked whether it had edited sections from those responses.

Tick, tick tick…

A 94th General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union has canvassed a range of views around Israel’s continued participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, following broadcasters raising the matter in recent months.

The EBU has indicated it intends to analyse how participation is managed amidst geopolitical tensions. An investigation will be led by an unnamed former senior TV executive, who will present their findings ahead of the next General Assembly in December.

“At today’s EBU General Assembly, Members held an open and constructive discussion on the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) and the increasingly complex global context in which it takes place,” said an EBU statement.

“The Assembly was a chance to celebrate the success of ESC 2025 – not just in terms of its record-breaking reach and engagement but in terms of its cultural resonance and ability to foster inclusivity, creativity, and a sense of belonging on a world stage.

“But of course, despite its extraordinary success, the Eurovision Song Contest, like many other events, is not immune to the pressures of global politics. Questions around participation have become increasingly sensitive and multifaceted, and our Members hold a wide range of perspectives on these issues, which they were able to express in detail today.

“Members had a constructive exchange of views. There was a shared understanding that this is an unprecedentedly complex situation and there is a wide diversity of opinions. Members also expressed their support for the work of the Israeli public broadcaster Kan and its independence, noting the pressure it is repeatedly experiencing from the Israeli government.

“To help us navigate the current landscape, a former senior TV executive has now been invited to lead a structured and in-depth dialogue with our Member broadcasters in the coming weeks.

“They will engage with Directors General and other stakeholders to gather insights on how we manage participation, geopolitical tensions, and how other organizations have approached similar challenges. They will report back with recommendations this autumn.

“The EBU remains committed to transparency and will continue to keep Members informed of developments in the months ahead.”

Israeli media Ynet reported that the only countries to show support for Israel’s participation were Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Meanwhile, Iceland and Slovenia were the two countries most outspoken against Israel’s ongoing presence.

In the end, a vote on Israel’s participation did not take place. This is reportedly in part due to the UK representative from the BBC, who asked to abstain from a vote and suggested that conversations on the matter continue over the coming weeks.

However, Ynet’s sources also report that, had a vote taken place, the majority of broadcasters would likely have not sided in Israel’s favour: “If the war continues, Israel will have a hard time staying because many countries are against it.”

Source: wiwibloggs

MasterChef Australia is now in its home stretch as it counts down the Top 10 towards its finale, before a new season of Australian Survivor: Australia vs the World (with JLP hosting).

Judge Andy Allen recently explained to TV Tonight why the show still films alternate endings.

“Yes we still do multiple endings … it’s the only way to get a true winner,” he said.

“You can try and contain the 200 people I suppose, with friends, family, crew, if you wanted to gamble it.

“But I think there is so much on the line with this show, the last thing anyone wants is for a production that goes for six months, airs for three months (and then get spoiled).

“It’s the only real way to keep it under our hats.”

In the early years when the finale was filmed same day as broadcast, everyone would be kept on site in lockdown until it had screened.

So this therefore means in some of the alternate endings, judges are telling porky pies with their scoring, just for the sake of cameras?

“If you want to put it that way…” he replied.

MasterChef Australia this week is screening episodes filmed in Qatar.

Corrected.

Screenwest Head of Production Chris Veerhuis will depart the WA organisation after three and a half years in the role to travel with family.

During this time he has implemented the Western Australian Production Attraction Incentive, overseen the Documentary Production Fund and helped establish the Digital Games Fund.

“My time at Screenwest has been inspiring and rewarding on so many levels. I would like to thank the CEO, Board and Screenwest staff for allowing me to help craft the position the WA screen industry finds itself in right now,” he said.

“I’d like to also give a shout out to all the agencies, studios, producers and production companies that have listened intently as I pitched our great state over the last few years!

“With unprecedented levels of physical production underway, the studio set to open, a 20% PDV incentive in place, the Documentary and Digital Games sectors thriving and a list of Production Attraction projects that include The Twelve S2 and S3, The Surfer, The Travellers, Ghosts Australia, Reckless and an untitled scripted series based on infamous bank robber Brenden Abbott. I believe it’s a wonderful time for our local talent, cast and crew to shine.

“I’ll leave with a hint of sadness, knowing there is so much still to come however am unbelievably exited to take the opportunity to be with my family on this extended road trip and experience all that this country has to offer.”

Screenwest Chief Executive Rikki Lea Bestall said: “Chris has made an indelible mark with his relentless energy, passion and dedication to the Western Australia’s screen industry. We thank Chris for his contribution to Screenwest and the greater screen sector and wish him and his family a fun and memorable trip.”

He departs on 21 August. Recruiting for a new Head of Industry Development is underway.

SBS chair George Savvides will depart the broadcaster as his second term concludes.

He joined as Deputy Chair in 2017 and was appointed Chair in 2020.

During that time the public broadcaster has undergone a significant digital transformation, supported Australian communities through the Covid-19 pandemic, was recognised as the nation’s most trusted news brand, named Australian podcaster of the year three years in a row, commenced work on its expansion to Western Sydney, and launched its Elevate Reconciliation Plan.

SBS Managing Director, James Taylor, said: “I’d like to congratulate George, on behalf of the Board and the organisation, for the immense contribution he has made to SBS over the last eight years. From the very beginning, he saw the potential and responsibility of SBS — not just to be a broadcaster, but to be a builder of trust, identity, and inclusion in this country.

“He’s been a fierce advocate for SBS’s independence and public value, and his voice has carried weight with government and community stakeholders who trust and respect him deeply.”

Mr Savvides described his time as Chair of SBS as “one of the greatest privileges of my professional life.”

“As I prepare to depart the role of a lifetime, I’m proud that SBS continues to go from strength to strength, delivering essential services to all Australians with a strong focus on building respect, understanding and cohesion to deliver better social and economic outcomes for all the communities we serve,” he said.

“SBS is a public institution that enjoys deep levels of trust among our audiences in an age of misinformation and polarisation. It continues to be an exemplar, offering a seat at the table to all Australians in every language, from every background, across a diverse range of experiences. The story of SBS is – and always has been – the story of Australia.

“I want to thank my fellow Board members and Managing Director James Taylor for their support and expertise over the years, as well as the incredible SBS team – who every day look to the future with the same courage and conviction that brought SBS into being 50 years ago.”

Current SBS Deputy Chair Christine Zeitz will serve as Acting Chair until a new Chairperson is appointed by the Federal Government.

“George has been an outstanding Chair – bringing a rare combination of strategic discipline, lived values, and deeply personal leadership to the role. I thank him for his service, and I look forward to bringing an equal level of passion and dedication to delivering on SBS’s Charter whilst serving as Acting Chair,” she added.

Both Travel Guides (1.15m) and Dancing with the Stars (939,000) rose in numbers compared to last Sunday.

Meanwhile both MasterChef Australia (576,000) Spicks & Specks (533,000) dipped in figures.

Later 60 Minutes drew 680,000 then 7News Spotlight (476,000), Bay of Fires (240,000) and Fake (219,000).

Seven won Sunday.

Seven News was #1 at 1.48m. UK doco The Philpotts: A Very British Horror managed 229,000.

Nine News was narrowly beaten on 1.45m. Wimbledon was up to 347,000.

ABC News scored 798,000 then Compass (221,000) and Little Disasters (129,000).

10 News was 328,000 for 10. In its first Sunday outing 10 News+ was 186,000, leaving Masterchef to make up ground. FBI was 111,000 / 98,000.

On SBS it was SBS World News (223,000 / 134,000), Tour de France (190,000) and Mont Saint Michel: Rising Again (169,000).

National Total TV: Sunday 6 July 2025

The Australian Directors Guild is amongst industry groups grappling with AI, with concerns at the rapidity of change and how it is impacting.

Speaking last month at Screenworks Regional to Global conference, Sophie Harper, Executive Director of the Australia Directors Guild said, “I was speaking to one of our board members, who’s a commercial director, and he said that low budget commercials are now being fully AI generated, which means that there’s no opportunities for Directors -unless they’re just directing the AI- to hone their skills and get practice. So it’s appearing in a lot of different ways.

“The Directors Guild of America says that copyright has to be attributed to a person, and AI is not a person… the AI must serve, not replace human authorship.”

Harper also cited examples of how AI is being used internationally by Directors.

“For example, virtual production, generative face and body transformation (Robert Zemeckis film Here with Tom Hanks and Robin Wright)…synthetic voices. ADR (Peter Jackson used AI to on the Beatles documentary to make them clear), audio clean up, STEM separation, film restoration (David Finch used AI for the restoration of Seven), generative concept art, storyboard to motion, synthetic B roll, speech to edit and smart assembly..

“They’re sort of the many ways the AI is being used. You can see, it’s really hard to be black and white about this.”

EXCLUSIVE:

Neighbours will wrap production this Friday, July 11, and finish on air on Thursday December 11 in Australia and the UK.

It’s the second time in three years the team based at Nunawading will say goodbye, and despite the pleas and petitions by fans, there is no imminent lifeline.

But Executive Producer Jason Herbison is still hopeful of a return some day, if conceding it won’t be in this form.

“It’s a mix of emotions,” he admits. “It is Groundhog Day here, it does feel very much like deja vu. We have been through this before. I’m sad, but it’s a different feeling to how it was, for me anyway, in 2022.

“But more than anything, I think we all just feel a sense of gratitude that we got another 460 episodes. Not many shows make it to 100 episodes. We just made another 460 on top of the 9000+ we made before. So I think we all just feel very grateful that we’ve had this extra chapter, and we got to tell these extra stories.

“Lots of people have had their their their foot in the door in the last two and a half years, they’ve started their careers, and they’ve had that opportunity, as I did, 25 years ago.”

There’s no big network send-off this time around, but cast and crew will share Friday away from the gaze of media. Neighbours will still go out as Australia’s longest-running drama, if somewhat disrupted, until it presumably gets superceded by its longtime serial challenger, Home & Away.

“Last time it was terribly, terribly sad,” Herbison recalls. “We’d been going for so long, and there were people that had been here continuously for so long that it was a lot to deal with emotionally. Not that it isn’t this time and I can’t speak for everyone, because it is different for everyone. But for those of us that did go through it in 2022 you just can’t go through the same thing twice, it’s gonna feel different.”

In February Amazon Prime announced it would no longer fund the series after its two year run, having folded the Freevee platform. That left Fremantle with no broadcast partner to join 10, despite its ongoing love from British soap fans.

“The show is not ending because it’s not still popular. We do still have a very loyal audience. That’s valuable. That means something, you can’t buy that kind of loyalty and brand awareness,” he explains.

“It was known a year ago that Amazon Freevee was going to be winding up, so we knew that could impact us. When you know the landscape is changing, you start to wonder what the future means….. we weren’t completely blindsided. We knew there were some challenges and we were able to communicate that to everyone as well.”

Jason Herbison

So how has he faced plotting the next farewell?

“I absolutely didn’t want to compete with our last finale. That was amazing. I’m very proud of it. I don’t think I could top that. But I am leaving the show on another hopeful, optimistic note,” he reveals.

“It’s different to the previous finale, but there are some thematic similarities here and there.

“When we get to the last three months of the show there are some big stories that start to dovetail into each other, and they do lead to a certain point for all the residents. There are some interesting possibilities that come out of that.”

Don’t expect another cavalcade of returning faces this time around, with Herbison describing the finale as a farewell to the Amazon era (2023 – 2025).

“When it comes to the actual finale you’re going to see a bit of a focus on people from this particular era, but that could include people that were on the show before, because they’ve come back.

“It is very much open ended as to how it might come back one day. There is absolutely that possibility, and that’ll make more sense when we get there, as to why I’ve gone the way I’ve gone. But there are definite ways that the show could return in the future.”

Just what is he hoping for? Sequels, prequels, telemovies, Christmas specials, road movies, podcasts and YouTube clips?

“It could be anything. It really could. Obviously, when we ended in 2022 and Amazon picked us up, we basically came back pretty much the same, although the new model was airing 4, we’ve still been making 5 episodes a week,” he continues.

“The narrative and the storyline, and I guess the overall tone and model of the show, was pretty much the same. All I’m really saying is, it doesn’t have to be.

“IBut  don’t want to make Neighbours like a student film. I think the brand is too important to do that. But there are other ways to go about it. Maybe it is less episodes, maybe it is a shorter run, maybe it is shorter seasons, maybe it is telemovies…. origin stories. All of these things are things that we talk about, but obviously, right now we are focused on winding up this chapter in a fulfilling way.”

Winding up, in practical terms also means tough decisions on cast contracts, sets, props, costumes and leasing of the Nunawading studio.

“We are winding the site up, and we are packing up. That doesn’t mean we can’t come back at some point. As far as I’m aware, the landlord NEP is still very keen to keep it as a functioning studio. It’s an amazing studio site. We’ve invested a lot and made a lot of improvements to it.

“In terms of carrying the whole site by ourselves, as we have for decades now, that’s not something that’s feasible for us going forward,” he confirms.

“We’ll definitely be storing some things. Some things might be repurposed. We’re developing other projects, other things are coming up. ….I’ll be able to talk to you about that very soon,” he teases.

Lastly, what is Herbison’s message to fans?

“I just want to say we appreciate all of you. It is incredible when news like this gets out and and you do see that fan response. Of course, we get letters and emails and all that sort of thing too. I’m just always touched time and time again.

“People say to me, ‘This show means so much to me, you don’t realise…’ and I’m like, ‘I think I do realise, now. Took me a little while, but I think I do realise how much it means to you, and I’m sorry that we’re not continuing at the moment.’

“Again, I think when you see the way I’m ending the show, there is hope for for the future, whatever that could look like.”

Neighbours screens 4pm Monday – Thursday on 10 / Prime Video.

Newcomer 10 News+ has had a baptism of fire with disappointing ratings, audience feedback and troubling headlines.

It launched to 291,000 in National TV Audience, but by the end of the week it had effectively halved to 152,000. It was also half the audience of The Project, which it had succeeded. But 10 maintains its quest is a “marathon not a sprint” and looks to how The Project also fared in its early weeks.

Meanwhile the week went to Seven at 29.5% to Nine’s 27.9%. 10 was just 14.6%.

Seven News Sunday topped the week at 1.47m viewers, just ahead of Nine’s 1.4m.

Travel Guides was best in entertainment at 1.07m then Dancing with the Stars at 920,000.

Have You Been Paying Attention? was best for 10 at 774,000.

Seven:

1. 7NEWS Sunday: #1 program in all people and grocery shoppers. National reach 2.39 million, national audience 1.47 million.
2. 7NEWS Monday: #1 program in all people and grocery shoppers. National reach 2.32 million, national audience 1.5 million.
3. 7NEWS Tuesday: #1 program in all people in total TV. National reach 2.23 million, national audience 1.49 million.
4. 7NEWS Wednesday: #1 program in total people and grocery shoppers. National reach 2.14 million, national audience 1.43 million.
5. Seven’s AFL: Friday Night Football: #1 program in all people, 25 to 54s, 16 to 39s and grocery shoppers. #1 sport program. National reach 2.13 million, national audience 628,000.
6. 7NEWS Thursday: National reach 2.02 million, national audience 1.32 million.
7. Dancing With The Stars: National reach 1.96 million, national audience 921,000. Up on last week.
8. 7NEWS Friday: #1 news program in total TV. National reach 1.88 million, national audience 1.25 million.
9. 7NEWS Saturday: #1 news program in total TV. National reach 1.65 million, national audience 1 million.
10. Seven’s AFL: Thursday Night Football: #1 sport program. National reach 1.59 million, national audience 541,000.
11. The Chase Australia Monday: National reach 1.45 million, national audience 716,000.
12. The 1% Club: National reach 1.44 million, national audience 791,000.
13. The Chase Australia Tuesday: National reach 1.44 million, national audience 746,000.
14. Home and Away Monday: #1 drama. National reach 1.4 million, national audience 902,000.
15. The Chase Australia Wednesday: National reach 1.4 million, national audience 706,000.
16. Seven’s AFL: Sunday Afternoon Football: #1 sport. National reach 1.4 million, national audience 488,000.
17. The Chase Australia Friday: National reach 1.31 million, national audience 640,000.
18. The Chase Australia Thursday: National reach 1.26 million, national audience 637,000.
19. Home and Away Wednesday: #1 entertainment program in total TV. National reach 1.3 million, national audience 877,000.
20. Home and Away Tuesday: #1 drama. National reach 1.24 million, national audience 850,000.
21. 7NEWS Spotlight: National reach 1.15 million, national audience 581,000.
22. Stranded on Honeymoon Island Tuesday: National reach 1.02 million, national audience 337,000.
23. Border Security – Australia’s Front Line: National reach 1.01 million, national audience 556,000.
24. The Front Bar: National reach 1.01 million, national audience 534,000.
25. Sunrise Tuesday: #1 breakfast program. National reach 1 million, national audience 413,000. 30% more viewers than Today.
26. Sunrise Wednesday: #1 breakfast program. National reach 992,000, national audience 422,000. 17% more viewers than Today.
27. Sunrise Monday: #1 breakfast program. National reach 986,000, national audience 411,000. 26% more viewers than Today.
28. Home and Away Thursday: #1 drama. National reach 973,000, national audience 705,000.
29. Sunrise Thursday: #1 breakfast program. National reach 963,000, national audience 405,000. 30% more viewers than Today.
30. Weekend Sunrise Sunday: #1 breakfast program. National reach 941,000, national audience 385,000. 48% more viewers than Today.

Source: OzTAM VOZ national total TV, overnight program reach (broadcast TV 1 min/BVOD 15 sec), national average audience. Share based on “when watched” 1800-2400. #1 programs based on reach on day of broadcast, unless otherwise noted.

Nine:

Corrected.

More good news recently for Australian drama….

Acorn TV’s Darby & Joan, which has also screned on ABC, is now available in the UK on streaming service U (formerly known as UKTV Play).

The CJZ-produced drama, starring Bryan Brown and Greta Scacchi is even teased by UK’s Digital Spy “as good as Death in Paradise.”

Meanwhile Easy Tiger’s Four Years Later, which screened on SBS, will premiere in India on Lionsgate Play on July 11.

The Indian-Australian romance drama featuring actors Shahana Goswami and Akshay Ajit Singh was created by Mithila Gupta and directed by Fadia Abboud. Filming took place in both India and Australia and also stars Kate Box, Taj Aldeeb, Roy Joseph and Luke Arnold.

Source: Indulge Express

Former TV chef Peter Russell-Clarke, who would constantly greet viewers with ‘G’day’ on his ABC cooking shorts and asking “Where’s the Cheese” has died, aged 89.

Surrounded by his beloved wife Jan and two children, Peter and Wendy, he suffered complications following a stroke, passing away on Friday, the Herald Sun reported.

Derryn Hinch tweeted, “G’Day. Me ol’ mate, Peter Russell-Clarke, the Egg Man, has died. He really was a talented likeable rogue.”

Wearing his signature neckerchief, he hosted a five-minute television show called Come and Get It, on the ABC from 1983 – 1992, broadcasting over 900 episodes -usually before The Goodies or Inspector Gadget.

Switch channels and ads would show him scrambling across the countryside for with a backpack full of cheddar, as onlookers shouted “Where’s the cheese?”  Victorian egg sales rose 5% in three years when he fronted Victorian Egg Board campaigns. Decades later, strangers would still ask him that question.

He would feature on The Don Lane Show, Good Morning Australia and play a cook on Prisoner. He appeared in the 1983 film At Last…Bullamakanka: The Motion Picture alongside Derryn Hinch; worked as a creative director in a top advertising agency, ran an unnamed pop-up restaurant in Carlton decades before they were a thing, wrote at least 35 recipe books and was a United Nations food ambassador. He was official chef for the Prince of Wales Silver Jubilee dinner.

Russell-Clarke was an accomplished painter, beginning his career as a freelance cartoonist.

In recent years he has been in the wars, battling covid, cancer and suffering a heart attack. But he never lost his spirit, larrikin humour or belief in Australian produce.

“I’ve never actually flogged anything, or in my belief I haven’t; anything that I have attempted to promote is always been grown on an Australian farm because I believe that the Australian farmer is the most efficient in the world. Not believe—he is the most efficient in the world,’ he once said.

‘”When I was a boy, 50 per cent of our export income came from agriculture, it’s now down to 12 per cent.

“We’ve got a beautiful country with all the facilities to grow food for the rest of the world and yet we don’t. We’ve got politicians who’ve got their… where do politicians put their heads? Under their armpits or elsewhere. They don’t seem to understand that Australia needs to grow things.”

ABC said in a statement, ” The ABC pays tribute to much-loved television chef, author and artist Peter Russell-Clarke.  Peter became a household name in the 1980s on the ABC’s popular cooking show Come and Get It, hosting more than 900 episodes between 1983-1992. His passion for good food and ability to connect with audiences left a lasting mark on Australian food culture and television. He was known for his trademark neckerchief and signature catchphrases ‘G’day’ and ‘Where’s the cheese?’  Peter will be fondly remembered, and we extend our sincere condolences to his family.”

Source: Swillhouse, ABC

Ally Langdon is nominated for her first Gold Logie Award for A Current Affair and Olympic Games Paris 2024.

She’s also up for the very first Ray Martin Award for Most Popular News or Public Affairs Presenter.

What’s the best and worst thing about attending Logies night?
Best thing about the Logies is running into your old mates from the other networks. Hands down the worst thing is surviving the night in high heels.

This is an award nomination for your work for the past 12 months. What’s been the highlight of your work over the past year?
It’s been an incredible year – from my amazing day job hosting A Current Affair, to election coverage and filming the third season of Parental Guidance. It is so hard to pick a highlight but something well outside the box for me this past year was heading to Paris for hosting duties at the 2024 Olympic Games. An experience like no other that I am forever grateful for.

Why should viewers vote for you?
A vote for me is actually a vote for the incredible people I get to work with each and every day. ACA is a show for the little guy, the battler. When no-one else will help or listen we step in. And I am so proud of the results we as a team so often get. Everyone cares and I think sometimes our show is underestimated.

Who else from your network would you like to have seen nominated for Gold?
This is an impossible question to answer. Can I nominate everyone I’ve ever worked with?

If not you, then who?
I couldn’t pick a winner from this year’s line up. Each of us has followed our own path to this point, and I think most of us are a little overwhelmed to be nominated. I’d hand on heart be happy to see any of them win.

Vote at 65th TV Week Logie Awards, screening 7pm Sunday 3 August on Seven.

In 2008, Julian McMahon attended the G’Day USA: Australia Week gala in New York City.

He was honoured with the Excellence in Entertainment Award for his contributions to the entertainment industry.

The event included from Shannon Noll, Christine Anu, the Qantas Choir and a sheep shearing demonstration. Also in attendance were Miranda Kerr, Rachael Taylor and Jack Thompson.

Sadly the event followed the tragic passing of Heath Ledger, with Australia’s consul-general in New York John Olsen reading  a letter from Kim Ledger.

Published as Big tick for Nip / Tuck actor January 27, 2008

Actor Julian McMahon will tonight receive a special award for services to entertainment as part of the Australian trade promotion G’day USA.

The son of former prime minister William McMahon and Lady Sonia McMahon, he has spent half his adult life in Los Angeles. Prior to finding success in the US on Nip / Tuck he has appeared in Charmed, Profiler, and the soap Another World.

“Obviously, when you first get here you have to build your life here,” he said.

“I’ve had friends who couldn’t stand the pressures here, who just couldn’t stay here, either emotionally or physically.

“I now have family here and real estate. These things are really important.”

Not bad for a boy whose Aussie history includes Summer Bay, The Power The Passion and dating a Minogue!

Photo: G’Day USA 2017.

US composer Mark Snow, best known for The X-Files, has died aged 78.

Composer Sean Callery announced his passing on Friday at his home in Connecticut, via Facebook (below).

Snow composed the theme to The X-Files, creating the echo effect on the track by accident. He felt that after several revisions, something still was not right. Creator Chris Carter walked out of the room and Snow put his hand and forearm on his keyboard in frustration. By doing so, he accidentally activated an echo effect setting.

He also penned music for Smallville, Ghost Whisperer, Blue Bloods, Hart to Hart, The Love Boat, Vega$, Starsky & Hutch, Cagney & Lacey, T.J Hooker, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Dynasty, Bull, The Twilight Zone, One Tree Hill, Kojak and even Australia’s All Together Now.

In addition to X-Files, Snow wrote the music for Millennium, another Chris Carter-created project.

Snow also composed music for the X-Files movie, Ernest Saves Christmas, Crazy in Alabama and The New Mutants.

Source: Deadline, Wikipedia.

Actor Julian McMahon, best known for FBI: Most Wanted, Charmed, Nip / Tuck, Home & Away has died, aged 56.

“I wish to share with the world that my beloved husband, Julian McMahon, died peacefully this week after a valiant effort to overcome cancer,” his wife Kelly McMahon said in a statement to Deadline.

“Julian loved life. He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved his work, and he loved his fans. His deepest wish was to bring joy into as many lives as possible. We ask for support during this time to allow our family to grieve in privacy. And we wish for all of those to whom Julian brought joy, to continue to find joy in life. We are grateful for the memories.”

McMahon was one of three children of former prime minister Sir William “Billy” McMahon and Lady Sonia McMahon, former husband to Dannii Minogue.

He started started his career on soaps The Power, The Passion and Home and Away, with 150 episode credits to his name on IMBb.

He found success in the USA starring in shows such as Another World, Nip/Tuck, Charmed, Profiler, FBI, FBI: Most Wanted and The Residence as the Australian Prime Minister.

Films included Fantastic Four, Premonition, RED, Paranoia, You’re Not You, Swinging Safari, and was praised for his most recent Australian film The Surfer, currently screening on Stan.

His final credit was 2024 film The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat.

“What shocking news,” FBI franchise boss Dick Wolf said in a statement. “All of us at Wolf Entertainment are deeply saddened by Julian’s passing and our condolences go out to his entire family.”

“Warner Bros. Television mourns the loss of our friend Julian McMahon. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, colleagues, and fans,” said WBTV.

Nicolas Cage, who recently starred in The Surfer, said, “Such deeply saddening news. I spent six weeks working with Julian, and he was the most talented of actors. Our scenes together on The Surfer were amongst my favourites I have ever participated in, and Julian is one of my favourite people. He was a kind and intelligent man. My love to his family.”

Rose McGowan, who starred with McMahon on Charmed, said, “Oh Julian you force of brilliance, wild talent and humour. For you, your family and loving fans all over the world, I pray comfort.”

Dylan Walsh his co-satr on Nip / Tuck said, “I’m stunned. We rode this wave together and I loved him. My heart goes out to Kelly and [their daughter] Maddy. Jules! I know you’d want me to say something to make you smile — all the inside jokes. All those years you had my back, and my god, we laughed. My heart is with you. Rest in peace.”

Kelly Carlson who played his wife in Nip / Tuck said, “I just heard about the passing of Julian McMahon….I’m completely shocked and saddened by it. I didn’t know he wasn’t well for a while.” She added, “my heart goes out to his family….thanks for a great six, seven years on Nip/Tuck together. We had so much fun. Everybody had so much fun.”

Ioan Gruffudd, from Fantastic Four said, “Even though we played each other’s nemeses, there was always so much lightness and laughter working together. Every encounter with him was a joy. It was an honor to be Dr. Richards to his Dr. Doom. My heart goes out to his wife and family. God speed Julian.”

Joely Richardson on Instagram said, “Woke up to the shocking news of Julian McMahon’s passing at 56. I can’t believe it. We worked together for many years, covering every possible storyline and then some… “ulian could be hysterically funny, was hugely charismatic (drama swirled in his wake), and most of the female population fell for him as ‘Christian Troy’….Ouff this is hard to write— seminal times we all shared, led by the insanely talented @ryanmurphyproductions, our ace producer Micheal [sic] Robin, beloveds @stephfowlermakeup @eyrichlou @kruegermekash — the whole team. Our love triangle with my tv husband Dylan Walsh (together you were giggly schoolmates)….. This has taken me back, and ABACK. I remember our 1st script reading, we knew we were onto something but no clue what a ride we were about to have— Julian suggested we do a meditation to quell nerves (we didn’t do it). I remember presenting with you at the Emmys when our autocue cut out and we somehow improvised our way through it on live tv. I remember the year we both got Golden Globe nominations and our show won best tv series— your mom, sat beside you, beamed with pride. I remember the episode when we all had to age up with prosthetics— how we laughed then, and how it’s making me cry today. My enormous condolences to your family and children. You lived a large life my friend, Bravo 🌟.”

Alyssa Milano said, “I’m heartbroken. ulian McMahon was magic. That smile. That laugh. That talent. That presence. He walked into a room and lit it up—not just with charisma, but with kindness. With mischief. With soulful understanding…. “We spent years together on Charmed—years of scenes, stories, and so many in-between moments. He made me feel safe as an actor. Seen as a woman. He challenged me, teased me, supported me. We were so different, and yet somehow we always understood each other….Julian was more than my TV husband. He was a dear friend. The kind who checks in. The kind who remembers. The kind who shares. The kind who tells you the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable—but always with love… My heart is with Kelly, with Madison, and with Iliana—his girls, his world. He adored them. You could feel it in every conversation, every story, every text. He was a family man above all, and he loved deeply. Losing him feels unreal. Too soon. Too unfair. Rest, my friend. I’ll carry your laugh with me. Forever Cole. Forever Julian. 🕊️💔”

This post updates.

Source: ABC, Deadline

In 2011 Poh Ling Yeow was nominated for Best New Talent.

In 2025 she has graduated all the way to Gold Logie nominee.

What’s the best and worst thing about attending Logies night?
PLY: The heels are the worst thing and I do find the red carpet really hard. Sometimes the questions are so random. Often they’re quite young and they (refer to) trends of things, and I don’t know what’s going on.

But I have had some really beautiful experiences at the Logies. I’ve met two of my dearest on the red carpet. One of them was Magda Szubanski. The first Logies I ever went to, I was so lost. I’d just popped out of MasterChef, and I managed to get myself a little nom for New Talent or something for Poh’s Kitchen. I just got thrown onto the red carpet and I felt like a fish out of water.

And so I got through that, and at the end of the night, I was just like, ‘Wait, can I find someone?’ Because no-one knew who I was. It was like I was a ghost, people were just looking through me. And I remember thinking, ‘I feel so lonely… I wonder if I can find a fellow weirdie around here.’ And I cast my eyes across the room. I just saw a Magda traipsing across, heels in hand, not giving an ‘F.” I just marched up to her and introduced myself. We’ve been really good mates since.

This is an award nomination for your work for the past 12 months. What’s been the highlight of your work over the past year?
PLY:  It’s just witnessing this incredible juggernaut. The machinations that are required for the show to operate, it’s really amazing. We are a bit of a giant family…. a lot of a giant family. We spend half a year together. I’ve made so many friends, and I love the contestants. I love every aspect of it. Like, I love the mentoring. I love,seeing people who come on the show and dare to expose their wildest dreams. I’ve become really good mates with Sofia it’s just all pluses for me.

Why should viewers vote for you?
PLY:  I hate this question… You’re selling your skills and your craft, not yourself. Whereas this is a bit too personal. It feels yucky.

Who else from your network would you like to have seen nominated for Gold?
PLY:  I’m going to say Melanie Bracewell, because I love her. She’s so chill and normal. I think she’s awesome.

If not you, then who?
PLY:  Julia Morris.

Voting at 65th TV Week Logie Awards screens 7pm Sunday 3 August on Seven.

Legendary news anchor Mal Walden has commented on the new 10 News+ foray at his former network.

On X he posted, “I find it so sad that Network Ten has stuffed up another news experiment. In 2011 a news revolution was launched by George Negus.

“It peaked at 600,000 viewers but within 3 weeks had sunk to below the top 100 weekly programs.

“The rest is history…is history repeating?”

Mal Walden joined 10 Melbourne in 1987, remaining until 2013. He authored the book “From the Word Go: 40 Years of 10 Melbourne” plus “The Newsman: 60 Years of Television.”

In another post he remarked, “Bring back Number 96.”

Not sure that’s on the cards, Mal!

Winners were announced in the 2025 South Australian Media Awards at a gala dinner in Adelaide on Thursday.

Nine’s Ben Avery was crowned 2025 Journalist of the Year for his investigation into the death of Anthea Bradshaw.

“Through dogged and outstanding journalism, [Ben] shone a light onto a case which risked being forgotten and offered hope to a family which had every reason to have lost it,” the judges said.

“Few journalists would have been capable of gaining the access and information … and he turned that into a gripping and objective deep dive into a tragic case.”

Other winners included ABC’s Eva Blandis, who received the Max Fatchen Award for Best Young Journalist and Freelance Journalist Megan Spencer.

TV and related categories (winners in bold):

Visual Storytelling
Andrew Foote, 7NEWS, ‘PKG Cultana Army 16.04.24’
Bill Ormonde, ABC, ‘Out of the Darkness’
Lincoln Rothall, Che Chorley, Jody Kestle & Michael Clements, ABC, ‘Protecting a Predator’

Multimedia News or Feature 
Briana Fiore, ABC, ‘Ex-Brethrens on Breaking Free’
Nicholas Maher, ABC, ‘International Law & Democracy Explained’
Bill Ormonde, ABC, ‘Broken Hill High School Mould Outbreak’

Best Rural/Regional Journalist
Eugene Boisvert, ABC, ‘South East SA Stories’
Bill Ormonde, ABC, ‘Body of Work’
Amelia Walters, ABC, ‘A Voice for Victims, Placement Poverty Burning Out Medical Students and Love that Defied the Odds’

Business, Economics or Finance Report
ABC News South Australia, ABC, ‘Whyalla Woes’
Claudia Dichiera, CityMag, ‘The Fall of Adelaide’s Hospitality Industry’
Luke Williams and Emma Brasier, The Advertiser, ‘Millions Missing: The Cost of No Accountability in Davenport’

Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique
No award in 2025

Culture and Arts Report
Jack Evans, ABC, ‘BTN High – Class of Cabaret’
Jane Howard, Guardian Australia, ‘Adelaide Biennale 2024: Light Takes Centre Stage in ‘Tender’ Survey of Australian Art’
Sarah McLean, ABC, ‘South Korean Recluses’

Investigative Journalism
Brad Crouch, The Advertiser, ‘The Secret ICAC Tapes’
Hannah Foord, 7NEWS, ‘Magill Taskforce’
Luke Willams and Emma Brasier, The Advertiser, ‘Torn by Neglect: Davenport’s Abandoned Council and the Kids who Suffer’

Political Report
Charlie Gilchrist, InDaily, ‘University of Adelaide Student Elections Overturned’
Stephanie Richards, ABC, ‘One of ‘Fewer than Five’’

Social Equity Report
Thomas Kelsall, InDaily, ‘SA Voice to Parliament Coverage’
Cale Matthews, ABC, ‘South Australia’s Accessibility Problem’
Stephanie Richards, ABC, ‘Uncovering SA’s Baby Removal Practices’

Sports Report
Eugene Boisvert, ABC, ‘Inclusive Sport in South East’
Neil Cross, ABC, ‘In the Pool, in the Game, in the Saddle’
Ian Henschke, Freelance screened by Run Nation Film Festival, ‘The Golden Mile’

The Max Fatchen Award for Best Young Journalist
Eva Blandis, ABC, ‘Body of Work’
Thomas Kelsall, InDaily, ‘Uni Merger and Voice Coverage’
Isabel McMillan, The Advertiser, ‘Body of Work’

Journalist of the Year
Ben Avery, Nine Network

In 1984, Young Talent Time sang up a storm for Kambrook Heaters.

What sponsor wouldnt be happy with Tina Arena, Dannii Minogue, Johnny Young, Joey Perrone singing their very own jingle?

Warm as toast…

Alice Springs-based First Nations broadcaster Imparja Television has a new CEO, Amy Graham, who succeeds Alistair Feehan who departed last September.

Amy Graham joined Imparja began 18 years ago in the Production Department, rising to Production Manager, overseeing Imparja News, Yamba’s Playtime, and various documentaries, including the theTatts Finke Desert Race documentary. In September 2023, she promoted to General Manager and has been serving as Acting CEO since September 2024, providing instrumental guidance and leadership during this period.

Christopher Neade, Chair of the Board, said, “I thank Amy for her dedication to Imparja over the past 18 years and particularly her stewardship of the organisation since taking on the Acting CEO role in September 2024. Amy’s collaborative and inclusive leadership style, strategic insight, and passion for Aboriginal media make her the ideal choice to guide Imparja into its next chapter. The Board is confident that under Amy’s guidance, Imparja will continue to grow and strengthen as a leading Aboriginal broadcaster across the country.”

Amy Graham said, “I am honoured to accept this role at an organisation with such a rich history and strong commitment to its communities. I look forward to working alongside the talented team at Imparja to embrace new opportunities, support First Nations storytelling, and ensure a sustainable and exciting future for our organisation.”

Imparja Television is a free-to-air broadcaster serving over one million residents and millions of tourists across a 3.6 million square kilometre area spanning six Australian states and territories. The network delivers its signal via 28 transmission towers, low-watt retransmitters in over 20 remote towns, and satellite to 200 remote Indigenous communities through the VAST platform. Additionally, Imparja provides free satellite services to 14 Indigenous radio stations.

Amy Graham also holds a Directorship with Free TV Australia.

In its fourth outing 10 News+ canvassed important news topics surrounding the Child Care Sector, the Mushroom Trial, and Sean Combs but unfortunately the news for 10 was not good.

Last night it drew 159,000 viewers, trailing SBS World News and sitting at around half the numbers The Project could expect. It has dropped each night from its opening episode of 291,000 and been unable to build on its lead in. 10 will be reminded of the tough first weeks of The Project before the show took off, determined to give the show time to improve.

Meanwhile Tipping Point led entertainment at 803,000 in National TV Audience.

An extended Home & Away was next best at 705,000 / 636,000 / 600,000.

7:30 was 607,000 then Joanna Lumley’s Danube (484,000), Airport 24/7 (372,000).

AFL was 541,000 then Wimbledon (386,000).

Seven won Thursday.

Seven News was 1.32m then The Chase (637,000). In select markets Who Wants To Be A Millionaire UK averaged 224,000 then Air Crash Investigation (128,000).

Nine News was #1 at 1.35m then A Current Affair (1.00m).

ABC News scored 865,000. Hard Quiz (346,000), Grand Designs Australia (309,000) and Griff’s Great Australian Rail Trip (179,000) followed.

10 News was 334,000 then Deal or No Deal (241,000). The Kim Kardashian Diamond Heist managed 128,000 with Law & Order: SVU at 112,000.

On SBS it was SBS World News 228,000 / 156,000, Mastermind (120,000), Treasures of the World with Bettany Hughes (135,000), 7/7: The London Bombings (108,000).

The Morning Show: 262,000 / 153,000
Today Extra: 183,000 / 114,000

National Total TV: Thursday 3 July 2025

US actor Michael Madsen, the actor best known for Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill: Vol 2, has died, aged 67.

Madsen was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, California on Thursday morning. His manager Ron Smith said cardiac arrest was the apparent cause.

Madsen’s prolific career spanned more than 300 credits stretching back to the early 1980s, becoming a Tarantino regular.

He featured as as Mr Blonde in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs. dancing to Stealers Wheel’s Stuck in the Middle with You while sadistically torturing a captured police officer.

He had roles in Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood. He was an alternate choice to play the hit man role that revived John Travolta’s career in 1994’s Pulp Fiction.

“In the last two years Michael Madsen has been doing some incredible work with independent film including upcoming feature films Resurrection Road, Concessions and Cookbook for Southern Housewives, and was really looking forward to this next chapter in his life,” his managers Smith and Susan Ferris and publicist Liz Rodriguez said in a statement.

They added that he “was one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, who will be missed by many”.

Other credits included WarGames, The Natural, The Doors, Thelma and Louise, Species, Donnie Brasco, Free Willy, Die Another Day, Sin City, Scary Movie 4.

TV credits included Miami Vice, Quantum Leap, St. Elsewhere, Cagney & Lacey, Tour of Duty, Jake & the Fatman, CSI: Miami, 24, Hawaii Five-0.

Source: ABC,

Tony Ayres Productions today announced that it is developing the series Toxic for ABC.

Toxic is created by Elise McCredie (Jack Irish, The Clearing, Stateless) and Tony Ayres (The Survivors, Clickbait, Stateless). The creative team is working closely with respected ABC journalist and podcaster Rachael Brown.

Told in multiple timelines and from multiple perspectives, Toxic is a layered and intricate series that explores events and characters without judgement. It is a riveting thriller about marriage, faith and motherhood.

Tony Ayres Productions is backed by Matchbox Pictures and Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Updated July 8:

In one of the most intriguing and high-profile murder investigations in recent Australian history, Erin Patterson was charged with multiple counts of murder after three of her guests died and a fourth spent months in hospital following a lunch where she served them Beef Wellington that contained the toxic ‘Death Cap’ mushroom.

Tony Ayres, Managing Director & Executive Producer, Tony Ayres Productions says: “True stories ask storytellers to probe the complexities of human behaviour. What really lies beneath the headlines? It’s both a challenge and a responsibility to go beyond the surface – to reveal, not just sensationalise.”

Elise McCredie, showrunner commented: “I am delighted to be working with long-time collaborator Tony Ayres on this tangled, heart-breaking story. Sitting in on the trial, watching evidence unfurl, change direction, and reposition itself has been an exercise in the subjectivity of ‘truth’ and a blueprint for a dramatic retelling that explores multiple perspectives in an honest and compelling way.”

Rachel Okine, Head of Scripted, ABC commented: “We’re excited to be partnering once again with our long-time collaborators, Tony Ayres Productions, on this powerful new project. This investigation has already captivated audiences across Australia and we’re eager to dive deeper into the complexities behind the headlines to bring this story to life with the team”.

About a decade ago, when Survivor had reached its 30th season, host Jeff Probst was asked who he would like to succeed him one day?

“For 14 years I had no idea,” he told ET Canada.

“People would say it should be a former Survivor (contestant), and I would say ‘Maybe. There is a lot more to doing a show then having played it.’

“But actually, there is a guy, his name is Rove McManus.

“He is an Australian television host and we became buddies …. and he thinks like me, he is much funnier then me, a much smarter wit.

“He loves Survivor.

“I’ve told him, if something happens to me on location and I had to leave, everyone knows the guy to call, is you.”

10 is yet to comment on its successor to Jonathan LaPaglia.

Source: Herald Sun

It was always something of a dilemma, but ultimately whether to promote the return of Kerry Fox to Bay of Fires fell to ABC, co-creator and star Marta Dusseldorp said.

In last Sunday’s episode, Kerry Fox reappeared as Frankie into Mystery Bay, previously thought to be long dead.

But if it was any spoiler, it was already included in the season trailer.

“The ABC believed that she had a following, and they really wanted to flag that she was returning,” said Dusseldorp.

“And I said, ‘Look, you guys are the professionals. I’m fine with it,’ because it’s not actually the fact that she returns, it’s how and why that I found particularly interesting.

“Kerry does an incredible job this season and it was always a show about me and her Stella (Dusseldorp) and Frankie (Fox), really.”

Bay of Fires continues 8pm Sunday on ABC.

The Dispatcher Access Coordinator Trainee Amy Marks.

Screen Australia recently announced the latest recipients to share in over $380,000 of Industry Development funding – bridging skill shortages and boosting the capabilities of the Australian screen workforce.

Ghost Pictures Pty Ltd – Crowded House – Private Universe Documentary: Through the production of the upcoming Crowded House documentary, Ghost Pictures will upskill emerging post-production professionals in the specialised field of archival content – building capability in this area and strengthening the Australian screen industry’s ability to preserve and showcase archival material.

Never Too Small Pty Ltd – Online Crew Pathway: Production company and YouTube channel Never Too Small, in partnership with Haven’t You Done Well Productions, will utilise this support to create a clear pathway for crew to develop real-world skills in online production, bridging the gap between traditional media and the fast-moving online content industry.

Paradise Productions No.1 Pty Ltd – Return to Paradise Series 2: For the second season of BBC Studios’ Return to Paradise, Paradise Productions have built a Development Plan to grow and support specialised training in three key shortage areas: script supervisors, post-production coordinator and assistant director.

Perpetual Entertainment Production Pty Ltd – Production Coordinator Upskilling: With this support, Perpetual Entertainment will upskill three production coordinators across NSW and WA to become production managers or a post producer.

Production Company 60Forty Films, with Werner Film Productions providing production services – The Dispatcher Access Coordinator Training: The Dispatcher will utilise this support to source, train and employ local access coordinators to; educate crew on inclusivity, remove barriers for cast and crew through reasonable adjustments and create active and incidental opportunities to increase representation both in front of and behind the camera. This multi-tiered approach aims to produce a blueprint for an inclusive production, no matter the budget.

The following host companies and individuals supported through BTL: Next Step are:

Drama Queen – Production Manager Placement (NSW): Serena Hunt (Phi and Me, Night Bloomers) from NSW.

Helium Pictures Pty Ltd – Production Manager Placement (NSW): René Tahija (Renegade Nell) from NSW.

Australian Production House Pty Ltd – Production Accountant Placement (QLD): Kym Melzer (Godzilla x Kong, Ticket to Paradise) from QLD.

Poster Boy Productions Pty Ltd – Production Manager Placement (VIC): Lauren Kate Nichols (Strange Creatures, Urvi Went To An All Girls School) from VIC.

Poster Boy Productions Pty Ltd – Post Production Supervisor Placement (NSW): Pooja Pillai, producer and voice artist from NSW.

The Seven Network and WIN Network have reached a new content agreement which has seen Seven’s channels return to the Riverland, Griffith and Mount Gambier via aerial transmission this afternoon.

It follows WIN TV switching off the signal earlier this week after failing to reach commercial terms.

In a joint statement the parties said, “Both Seven and WIN acknowledge the significant impact of free-to-air television in regional communities and the importance of providing news, sport, entertainment, and a voice to regional Australians.

“We thank the people of the Riverland, Mount Gambier and Griffith communities for their patience while we worked through this matter.”

Seven’s programming resumed at 5pm AEST.

VFX and post-production business Cutting Edge has officially entered into a Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation, IF reports.

According to a public notice from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the company was placed into liquidation on June 27, with the decision to wind up the company made following a general meeting of the members.

It marks the end of a nearly three-decade journey for the company, which is based in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

The VFX, picture, and sound post-production team has serviced a slew of high-profile productions, such as Nautilus, Thirteen Lives, Aquaman, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Earlier this year, the company completed post-production on Stan drama Good Cop/Bad Cop.

Last year, the Queensland Government committed to supporting the expansion of Cutting Edge’s Gold Coast base, naming it as one of 12 small-to-medium businesses to receive a grant as part of the $5 million Capital Grants program.

William Paul Cotter, from Robson Cotter Insolvency Group, has been appointed as the liquidator tasked with overseeing the process.

Former Project presenter Georgie Tunny has joined 10 News+,  adding to its Melbourne faces.

Georgie said: “I’ve always been a fan of news delivered differently and am excited to be staying with the 10 family. Can’t wait to see where this new chapter leads!”

Martin White, VP News, Paramount Australia said: ‘I’m delighted Georgie is joining us at 10 News+ and I am looking forward to seeing the stories with heart that she can produce for us. Georgie is a standout journalist with a remarkable ability to connect with people and uncover the moments that resonate most”.

She becomes the first on-air talent from The Project to move to the new offering, after the show wrapped on air last week.

Both Waleed Aly and Sarah Harris have formally departed Network 10.

10 News+ debuted on Monday with Denham Hitchcock and Amelia Brace to 291,000 viewers but has slipped to 205,000 last night. As the show finds its feet readers are giving it a mixed report card on story content and length, plus presentation.

On Friday night Hugh Riminton and Ursula Heger will present.

Tunny also narrates House Hunters Australia.

Her background spans ABC, Flash, Fox Sports and national radio, covering everything from breaking news to major entertainment events, including interviews with icons Sir Paul McCartney, Tom Cruise, and Formula 1 champions Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Georgie’s love of sport has seen her report pitch-side with the Matildas’ Lydia Williams, co-host the Two Good Sports podcast, and travel to the US as part of the IVLP Fellowship for leading female sports journalists. She’s equally comfortable in the thick of a crisis, having anchored the ABC’s rolling Black Summer bushfire coverage in 2019 and reported on the Northern Victoria floods from Echuca in 2022.

Sometimes in TV it’s important to give community issues a spotlight as an extended A Current Affair did last night on domestic violence, even if it means giving up some ratings share.

At 799,000 it was third in its slot, averaging lower than its normal weeknight, but the discussion put the topic to a mainstream audience. ACA used to do these important forums far more frequently, now the domain of shows such as Insight on SBS.

Overall, Wednesday was a quiet night of viewing with Home & Away the top entertainment drawcard at 877,000 in National TV Audience.

Gruen led with 715,000 then 7:30 (713,000), then MasterChef Australia (608,000) Border Security 556,000 / 554,000, but Trump vs Musk was a switch-off at 429,000 from 8pm.

Later The Front Bar was 534,000 then Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee (435,000), Wimbledon (283,000), Spicks & Specks (249,000) and Elsbeth (242,000).

Seven won Wednesday.

Seven News was #1 at 1.43m then The Chase (706,000). Unfiltered scored 320,000 then Ashley Cain: Into the Danger Zone (104,000).

Nine News drew 1.38m with Tipping Point at 859,000.

ABC News led its slot at 951,000. Hard Quiz (367,000) and QI (188,000) followed.

10 News was 376,000 then Deal or No Deal (321,000). 10 News+ slipped again to just 205,000 ranking behind SBS World News (although the latter does split its results into two figures). FBI: International was 148,000.

SBS World News reports 211,000 / 184,000 then How Disney Built America (171,000), The King & The Prince’s Secret Millions (161,000), Mastermind (121,000) and The Veil at just 54,000.

Sunrise: 422,000
Today: 361,000
News Breakfast: 249,000

National Total TV: Wednesday 2 July 2025

1800Respect
teachusconsent.com
fullstop.org.au
Sexual Assault Crisis Line: 1800 806 292
Mensline Australia: 1300 78 99 78
Police: 000

Not every drama series, particularly those at ABC will screen in consecutive years, because good drama takes time.

Speaking recently on a panel at Screenworks Regional to Global conference, creatives behind at a panel on Mystery Road: Origin spoke to the importance of nurturing the script.

Ongoing series also provide an opportunity to develop new writers.

Deb Cox, Writer / Producer said, “I think it’s really important for the developing of the next generation. When I think even back to decades ago in my career on SeaChange. If you have a series that lasts for more than one season, you can train people. They can shadow you on the first series and then go solo in the second, and then become a really strong writer in the third. It’s so important for development of the industry.

Writer Stephen McGregor said, “Just give as much time as you possibly can to the writing process. You know, don’t rush it. I think we had a really good time frame.”

Brett Sleigh ABC Drama Commissioner concurred, “If you look at Mystery Road and its roll out, these are not year on year offerings. These take time. There’s a lot of consideration goes into the script and story, and it shows on screen. But you definitely have to wait for your for your treat.”

Mystery Road: Origin will screen later this year on ABC.

Home & Away‘s Lynne McGranger has her very first nomination for the Gold Logie and a second Silver nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Drama.

What’s the best and worst thing about attending Logies night?
LM: The worst thing is spending hours getting made up, getting your hair done, getting ‘trussed’ up, often poured into a dress, and wearing really uncomfortable shoes (because it’s in the Logies handbook) and then having to walk a couple of kilometres along the red carpet. That’s the worst thing (although I always love meeting the fans).

The best thing is when you finally get to the table, you get to kick off your shoes and pray that you don’t have to get up again – because your feet are never going to fit back in your shoes – and have a nice, cheeky vino.

This is an award nomination for your work for the past 12 months. What’s been the highlight of your work over the past year?
LM:  Irene hitting the bottle again after Bronte’s betrayal. (And more recently -although this wasn’t on-screen during the nomination period- – my upcoming exit storyline).

Why should viewers vote for you?
LM:  Because I’m old and I might be dead by the next Logies.

Who else from your network would you like to have seen nominated for Gold?
LM:  Larry deserves a second outing. And I also think Sam Mac.

If not you, then who?
LM: If not me then Lisa or Poh.

Voting at 65th TV Week Logie Awards screens 7pm Sunday 3 August on Seven.

The Wake in Fright Trust, Umbrella Entertainment, Sanctuary Pictures, and AACTA have joined forces to launch the Wake in Fright Development Initiative— a national film development program offering $30,000 of funding and hands-on development support.

The initiative seeks to uncover bold and original storytelling in the thriller and horror genres, with a strong focus on amplifying under-represented voices.

The selected project will receive $30,000 in funding and dedicated development support from Sanctuary Pictures, with the goal of progressing the film into production.

$25,000 of the funding will be allocated to the writer to complete a draft and a polish, and $5,000 set aside for a script editor to help refine the script.

Open to all Australian writers, the Wake in Fright Development Initiative actively encourages submissions from women, First Nations people, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) individuals, deaf and disabled practitioners, LGBTQIA+ creatives, and those living in regional and remote areas.

Entrants are asked to submit a treatment (10 – 20 pages), a pathway to audience document (1 page), a development plan (1 page), and example(s) of previous work e.g. short film, TV series, or other writing samples. Please see resources section for further guidance on entry requirements.

Applications are due by 5pm AEST, Tuesday August 12, 2025.

Remarkably, Paramount has capitulated settled its lawsuit with Donald Trump to the tune of $16m after the President sued CBS News over its handling of a 60 Minutes interview during the 2024 election.

Trump sued for $20 billion over the promotion of the interview last fall with his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump claimed that 60 Minutes tried to mislead voters by airing two different edits of remarks made in the interview with Harris.

CBS News journalists and executives had sought to fight the suit and its allegations of “election interference.” But lawyers at Paramount Global had been trying to strike a settlement with Trump, perhaps believing that such a deal will help secure the Trump administration’s approval of Paramount’s pending deal to merge with Skydance Media.

In April Bill Owens also resigned as the show’s executive producer, telling staff he believed he no longer had journalistic independence.

Presenter Scott Pelley, who defended Owens on air, recently noted a settlement would be “very damaging to CBS, to Paramount, to the reputation of those companies…I think many of the law firms that made deals with the White House are at this very moment regretting it. That doesn’t look like their finest hour.”

“With this record settlement, President Donald J. Trump delivers another win for the American people as he, once again, holds the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit,” Trump’s legal team said in a statement. “President Trump will always ensure that no one gets away with lying to the American People as he continues on his singular mission to Make America Great Again.”

None of the $16 million will be “paid directly or indirectly to President Trump,” but will instead go toward his presidential library, according to Paramount.

The company also agreed that “60 Minutes” would, in the future, release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after such interviews have aired, “subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.”

An apology was not part of the settlement.

Source: Deadline, Variety, CNN

Cinematographer Ronald Geoffrey Johanson OAM ACS, a former long-serving National President of the Australian Cinematographers Society, has died, aged 75.

Ron or ‘Ronny’ as he was often referred to, was the ACS’ much-loved, highly respected National ACS President for fourteen years from 2008 to 2022, National Vice President for five years and a past Queensland president for over ten years.

He was a driving force in establishing the first ACS National headquarters in North Sydney in 2010. He was immensely proud to be one of the dedicated members who helped bring the clubhouse to fruition. He did this not for personal recognition but for the society, its members and the future of Australian cinematography.

Ron helped expand the recognition of the ACS on the world stage, becoming only the second ACS president to serve as the Australian representative on IMAGO – the International Federation of Cinematographers- and eventually became a co-president in 2021. In fact, he fostered alliances with many international cinematography guilds as well.

He was instrumental in making the ACS more inclusive; by working with the other Australian guilds to bring our industry together to make it the best it could possibly be. He strove to make the ACS more welcoming to all and to implement changes to improve the ACS. He made the society truly national by establishing branches in every state and territory. He also drove the process to upgrade the ACS website – www.cinematographer.org.au, to guide the publication of the ACS’ own 288-page book on the history of cinematography in Australia – The Shadowcatchers, which was published in 2012.

Described  as larger than life, he was deeply caring, generous soul, and a mentor to many over the years whom he helped and supported whenever and however possible. Many of his mentees have gone on to promising careers and have achieved recognition from their peers, as well as won numerous awards along the way.

Ron was born and raised in Melbourne and although he could be self-deprecating about his academic achievements, at the age of 16 in 1965, he managed to secure a job at Crawford Productions as a naïve message boy. In 1967 he was employed as a camera assistant at Senior Films in St Kilda, then promoted to camera operator and by 1970 he became their lighting cameraman before going freelance around 1972. It wasn’t long after in 1976 he was asked to move up to Brisbane to join Martin Williams Films as inhouse Director/DoP where he worked on many large TVC’s and docos.

Later, in 1980, he started his own successful production company Roly Poly Picture Company in Brisbane where he was Director/DoP on many quality TVC’s around Australia and across the world, as well as television series, documentaries and feature films including director Scott Hicks first feature, Freedom.

His work during these years earned him recognition with many significant awards, including three National ACS Gold Tripods, numerous State Gold ACS Awards, four New York Festival International Advertising Awards, three Mobius Awards, two Cannes Awards, and much more. Ron received ACS accreditation #212 in 1992, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, and was awarded Life Membership in 2007. In 2014, he was honoured with an OAM for his mentoring and services to the film industry.

Under Ron’s leadership, the ACS was acknowledged with the Byron Kennedy Award in 2014, this being the first time a guild rather than an individual had been recognised, with this prestigious recognition highlighting the status of the ACS within the Australian film industry.

In 1999, he was presented with a special Kodak Award for services to the film industry. In 2004 the Queensland New Filmmakers ‘Kinetone Award’ was bestowed on him for his contributions to the Queensland film industry and in 2009 he was inducted into the Queensland Advertising Hall of Fame.

In 2015, he received the Ron Windon ACS Contribution Award, recognising his enormous service to the society and industry in general. Still, with all these accolades, Ron remained a humble human being.

Australian Cinematographers Society said in a statement, “All this recognition was for the love of the craft of cinematography that gave him a fantastic career and life, which he repaid in spades by giving back to the industry that he so loved. He had a ‘can-do’ attitude, a positivity which inspired others to ‘do’, to achieve and to be on the journey with him. Ron was aware he was not perfect, but he certainly did his best!

“Ron had an infectious personality that drew people from all walks of life to him. He easily made people feel comfortable with his wicked and extremely quick sense of humour, not always politically correct and often quite cheeky.

“To Ron, family was everything. He was a loving partner, a proud father and a funny and caring Grandpa. ‘Family’ also included so many strong friendships, where he often demonstrated his loyalty, kindness, generosity and consideration. His loyalty knew no bounds, including continuing to support his beloved football team, Essendon, the Mighty Bombers, as he’d like to call them, even when they were not so mighty. He said he could never understand rugby league.

“Ron is survived by his wife Linda, his amazing mother Edna, his younger brother Alan, his wife Julie and family, Ron’s children Shannon and Kelly, their partners and four grandchildren. His family will miss him greatly, as will the many, many friends, colleagues and collaborators he has made over the years in the industry.”

Current ACS national president Erika Addis added, “Ron was a true gentleman and a true one of a kind. He did so much for so many and in particular his beloved ACS. The world of cinematography and his family at the ACS have lost one of their most inspiring and devoted members and more so, one of their best friends. Everyone at and associated with the ACS benefitted from his unwavering love for our craft and our society. He will be dearly missed.”

Melbourne-based reporter Laura Turner, who has been with Nine News for 15 years, has been poached by Seven News.

The Herald Sun reports Seven’s Melbourne Director of News Chris Salter sent an email to staff.

“Laura (Turner) is a natural leader in our industry — she’s got a strong news sense and a passion for breaking and telling compelling stories,” Salter said.

“Her experience will be an enormous asset for us.”

Turner, who has been crime reporter and US correspondent, is one of six new appointments to the Seven newsroom

Salter also noted, “Ratings are up 14 per cent year on year — our bulletins are looking great — and we have a new newsroom/studio that’s the envy of the industry.”

How to Kill a Client, a new dark comedy series from Easy Tiger Productions (Colin from Accounts, The Twelve) has been selected for Screen Australia’s Dynamic Television Scripted Initiative.

How to Kill a Client is the third project – following Fox Hunt and Dark Mode – to receive $100,000 in development funding through the initiative ($50,000 from Screen Australia and $50,000 from Dynamic Television).

Adapted from the book How to Kill a Client by Joanna Jenkins by writers Sarah Dollard (Bridgerton) and Scout Cripps (The Undertow), How to Kill a Client interweaves the murder investigation of corporate high-flyer Gavin Jones with the final six months of his tumultuous life. The series follows what happens when the partners of a highly reputable law firm become prime suspects in the murder of a client. But the investigation proves trickier than expected, as the killer has the motive, means and a broken moral compass – not to mention the smarts – to get away with it.

The series will be produced by Ian Collie (Four Years Later), Rob Gibson (Territory) and Nat Lindwall (Totally Completely Fine), with Catherine Millar (NCIS: Sydney) attached as director.

Screen Australia Director of Narrative Content Louise Gough said, “On paper, How to Kill a Client draws audiences into a compelling whodunnit structure with laughs and mysteries at every turn. We are proud to support this project and its strong creative team alongside Dynamic Television, as it showcases the breadth of talent among Australian screen partitioners.”

Carrie Stein, Dynamic’s President Global Scripted Television said, “How to Kill a Client is a razor-sharp, darkly funny series with a knockout creative team behind it. From the first read, we were drawn to its twisted take on ambition, loyalty, and the moral gray zones of the corporate world. This is exactly the kind of bold, character-driven storytelling the Scripted Initiative was designed to support, and we’re thrilled to help bring it to life for global audiences.”

The Dynamic Television Scripted Initiative, a collaboration between Screen Australia and Los Angeles-based Dynamic Television, supports distinctive scripted television projects that show potential for global success.

The top performing entertainment show on Tuesday was actually outside primetime, while 10 News 10+ saw its numbers slip in its second outing.

Tipping Point‘s 5pm edition was best in entertainment at 857,000 in National TV Audience.

7:30‘s 737,000 viewers pipped a Wimbledon Tipping Point special at 711,000 then MasterChef Australia (663,000), Stranded on Honeymoon Island (337,000) and Who Do You Think You Are? (332,000).

Later The Cheap Seats scored 477,000 just ahead of Wimbledon (460,000), Walking with Dinosaurs (294,000 from 8pm), Insight (244,000) and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (195,000).

Nine News averaged 1.47m then A Current Affair (1.09m),

Seven News was #1 at 1.49m then Home & Away (850,000) and The Chase (746,000).

ABC News drew 916,000. A Hard Quiz repeat at 360,000 was actually higher than any of ABC’s post 8pm shows. David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef (204,000) and I Was Actually There (132,000).

10 News was higher than usual at 442,000 with Deal or No Deal at 330,000. Unfortunately 10 News+ could not hold its lead-in, averaging 244,000 and dropping in its second outing. FBI: Most Wanted was 148,000.

On SBS it was SBS World News (242,000 / 232,000), Dateline (145,000) and Mastermind (119,000).

Sunrise: 413,000
Today: 318,000
News Breakfast: 279,000

National Total TV: Tuesday 1 July 2025

Updated.

More impressive names are joining the Future Vision event held by Australians in Film in Melbourne later this month.

Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan (Deadloch), Danny Philippou (Bring Her Back), Micheal Lucas (The Newsreader), Nicholas Verso (Invisible Boys) and Vanessa Gazy (Echoes) are new guest speakers at industry panels.

Danny Philippou, co-writer and co-director of global horror hits, Talk to Me and Bring Her Back will join Tig Terera (Swift Street) and Catherine Smyth McMullen (The Sandman) for the Future Voices and Disruptors panel on Monday 14 July, which is open to all to attend.

“Future Vision is a one-of-a-kind incubator for Australian screen talent looking to attract international audiences and creative investment,” says Peter Ritchie, Executive Director of Australians in Film. “Our 2025 lineup brings together boldly innovative creative leaders who are shaping the future of Australian television on world screens”.

Sessions at ACMI on Monday 14 July are open to public with Industry professionals to attend on Tuesday July 15 and Wedensday July 16.

Seven has turned to Sunrise in its stoush with WIN TV which switched off Seven transmission in Griffth, Riverland and Mt Gambier.

Residents are caught in the middle after the two media companies could not reach an agreement to renew a current broadcast agreement.

This morning as part of a political discussion with Labor minister Clare O’Neil and Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, Natalie Barr pressed on whether the government should intervene, citing the loss of AFL and News as key factors in the saga.

Nat Barr: “Clare, should broadcasters be allowed to hold onto their license if they’re not delivering the local news and the Aussie stories regional communities rely on?”

Clare O’Neil: “It is concerning Nat, and you’ve brought football into it… and, you know, I don’t think we’ve had a bigger footy fan in the Lodge than Anthony Albanese so I know this is really going to worry him. We’re aware of this issue, I know our fantastic communications Minister Anika Wells has asked the parties to work together and also is talking to her regulator about whether there’s any regulatory action that can be taken here. So, the Government is concerned about that. We want footy to flow freely across the country… the government is working with Networks to try to resolve this.

Nat Barr: “Bridget what’s your message to regional voters who have lost AFL, local bulletins due to WIN’s decision to turn off the signal?”

Bridget: “Nat this is our cultural practice, particularly in the regions – it’s our bread-and-butter. Access on free-to-air TV for football, cricket and I would also argue netball, needs to be able to be seen by everyday Australians through free-to-air TV. Now, government regulation has meant that it’s increasingly difficult for free-to-air TV to operate and be sustainable. The Government needs to get involved, not ‘Anika, sit ‘em down for a little chat’. These are commercial entities having to make commercial decisions because the environment they’re operating in isn’t financially sustainable – so that’s what needs to be fixed because we want to watch our sport in the regions.

Nat Barr: “That’s pretty scathing Clare, you doing to make sure Anika does more than get them in the room for a chat?”

Clare O’Neil: “I don’t think Anika needs any advice from me or respectfully from Bridget about how to handle this matter, she’s completely on top of this. I agree with a lot of what Bridget has said there – we do want sport flowing free into our suburbs but also into our regions and the government is working with the networks to try to get this corrected.”

Nat Barr: “Let’s hope it gets sorted out and the viewers aren’t held to ransom.”

However the chat did not offer any detail on why the two broadcasters have not reached an agreement.

Last month WIN CEO Andrew Lancaster said, “While we are disappointed with Seven West Media’s decision, we respect their right to pursue their own commercial strategies. WIN remains committed to serving our regional audiences with a strong local presence and programming.”

A reminder that the Minister and Seven boss were shoulder to shoulder just a week before she urged both parties to reach an agreement, when Seven opened its new Melbourne base at MQT. A week sure is a long time in politics.

Martin Österdahl will be stepping down from his role as Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest after five years in the role.

Appointed in 2020, he faced the challenges of staging of the contest in Rotterdam during the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the unprecedented hosting of the 2023 Contest in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine.

In 2024 Österdahl came under pressure following the disqualification of Dutch entrant Joost Klein following a backstage incident in 2024. 2025 has seen ongoing protests over Israel’s participation and objections by some broadcasters.

Martin Österdahl said, “From day one, I was inspired by the Contest’s unique potential and power to unite people through music – never more so than in 2021, when we brought Eurovision back live to millions around the world amid a global pandemic, demonstrating the resilience and spirit at the heart of our community. I am immensely proud of the changes we made to modernize and strengthen the Eurovision Song Contest. These include establishing the permanent ‘United By Music’ slogan for the event, attracting long-term sponsors and brand-extension partnerships, and growing engagement and reach on our digital platforms that have brought millions of new fans to the Contest.

“The ESC is now an event where hundreds of thousands sign up to buy tickets, a show watched by hundreds of millions, connecting with youth audiences worldwide, and stands as a unique platform for overnight global success for artists and songwriters.

“As my overall involvement with the ESC is now approaching a period of twenty years in total, it has been the honour of my professional life to steer the world’s largest music event, developing the Contest as a global super brand that brings joy to more people than ever before.

“I am deeply grateful to the entire ESC community and particularly to the ESC Core Team, participating broadcasters, artists, and fans for their passion and support.”

Martin Green CBE, who was appointed Director of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2024, will assume the Executive Supervisor’s duties on an interim basis.

Martin Green said, “On behalf of everyone at the EBU, all our participating broadcasters, partners and the entire Eurovision Song Contest community, I extend my sincere thanks to Martin Österdahl for his vision, expertise and tireless commitment to the event. His steady leadership through some of the Contest’s most challenging and innovative years has set new standards of excellence. As we approach our 70th anniversary next year, Martin is leaving his role having played an integral part in growing the Eurovision Song Contest brand and ensuring its bright future. We thank him for his amazing work and lasting impact on the Song Contest, and wish him every success.”

Further announcements regarding the future structure of the Eurovision team will also be made in due course.

Network 10 has also reported on its first half of the 2025 Calendar Year (including non-survey weeks) by focusing on its 10 streaming improvements (formerly 10 Play).

10 streaming claims its biggest year ever, up 16% year-on-year. But 10 hasn’t provided any shares for the January – June period.

Noted amongst its highlights:

Sam Pang Tonight: 10’s biggest new show launch since 2022.
10 News: Total TV audience up 12% on 2024.
Australian Grand Prix 2025: Up 34%. Biggest race audience since 2016.
Have You Been Paying Attention?: Up 5%.
The Cheap Seats: Up 7%.
Gogglebox: Up 5%.
A-League home and away season up 9% year-on-year.
Nickelodeon: #1 commercial multi-channel in kids.
FAST channels up 16% on 2024.

Daniel Monaghan, SVP Content and Programming, Paramount Australia, said: “10 is home to the most popular comedies in Australia as well as family-friendly entertainment and fan-favourite reality TV.

“Audiences love to laugh with our weekly comedies Have You Been Paying Attention? and The Cheap Seats up year-on-year plus Australia’s favourite funny man launched Sam Pang Tonight that delivered our biggest new show launch since 2022.

“From celebrity hi-jinks in the jungle, survival on Samoan beaches, masterful kitchen wins, to hilarious quips from couch critics, our reality formats have connected with die-hard fans and engaged new audiences in H1.

“There were epic launches, strong seasons and huge finales but one stand out success was Gogglebox which, in its first season exclusive to 10, saw an astonishing 170% growth in streaming.

“But there’s more to come in the second half of the year with Survivor: Australia V The World premiering straight after we crown the winner of MasterChef Australia: Back To Win, The Amazing Race: Celebrity Edition jets off soon, Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly is back, Talkin’ Bout Your Gen launches with fearless new host Anne Edmonds, Ghosts Australia will hit our screens, Gogglebox returns to the couches, Sam Pang Tonight goes for round 2, and of course Big Brother is returning to its original home on 10.”

Source: Virtual Australia, OzTAM, Regional TAM, National Total Audience. 10 Total TV reach is National, 2am-2am, When Watched, January 1 to June 29 2025. Football reach includes A-League, Matildas, Socceroos, When Watched. Top regular programs is National, Broadcast TV, 7 Day Consolidated, Master series name, excluding one-offs and Sport. Streaming growth is minutes viewed including co-viewing, Weeks 1-26 2025 vs. 2024. Socceroos growth is 10 match averages 2025 vs. 2024, 7 Day Consolidated, National Total Audience. Grand Final reach includes pre/post match. Biggest A-League Men series includes finals. Gogglebox growth vs. H1 2024.

Sydney based Disney Studios Australia has become the first operating film studio in Australia to implement solar energy.

Led by the studio’s “Green Team”, the installation of more than 700 solar panels powering a 460kW system marks a major step forward in reducing the studio’s environmental impact and reflects the studios commitment to meaningful and measurable action towards a healthier planet.

“This project was driven by our team’s dedication to do better for our industry and for the environment,” said Head of Disney Studios Australia, Yasmine Lintmeijer.

Cassey Stone, Disney Studios Australia Sustainability Executive said, “This project is a significant milestone in our journey toward a more sustainable future. By integrating green grid energy onto our site, we’re not only reducing emissions but also setting a new benchmark for sustainability within the screen industry”

The solar initiative is one of many environmental projects led by the studio’s ‘Green Team.’

The site has already achieved The Walt Disney Company’s 2030 zero-waste-to-landfill target, nine years early, through waste segregation. Additionally, the studio has transitioned a number of buildings to 100% GreenPower and introduced rain water tanks across the site to reduce water consumption.

Source: AusFilm
Photos: Disney Studios Australia

12 New Zealand mid-career and established producers have been selected for the 2025 Activator Screen Business Programme, an international business development initiative by Libertine Pictures, 113 Partners, Hinterland and Spada.

Between July and October 2025, they will take part in an intensive programme including industry-led workshops, expert business training and visits to Sydney, London, and Los Angeles.

Alexander Behse – Monsoon Pictures International
Documentary and feature producer known for pushing boundaries in the development, production, and financing of indigenous and factual programming. Alexander’s screen production credits include the box-office hit POI-E: The Story of Our Song, New Zealand’s first HBO Max Original There is No I in Threesome and the SXSW-premiering Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web (Hulu).

Alexandra Reed – Bloom Pictures
Documentary and drama producer specialising in socially engaged, character-led storytelling. Alex’s credits include the Netflix docu-feature Mister Organ, the HBO Max Original There Is No I in Threesome and feature documentary The Girl on the Bridge.

Cameron “Cam” Bakker – Kevin & Co.
Entertainment and comedy producer behind some of Australasia’s most successful formats. Cam’s producing credits include Taskmaster NZ, Creamerie, Double Parked and Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee (NZ & Australia).

Cass Avery – Dark Doris
Multi-platform documentary producer and writer known for purpose-driven storytelling. Cass’s credits include Richie McCaw feature doc Chasing Great (New Zealand’s highest grossing feature documentary), mental health advocate documentary The Girl on the Bridge and Prime Minister, the audience award winner at Sundance 2025.

Georgina Conder – Miss Conception Films
Drama and comedy producer with a focus on underrepresented voices. Georgina’s credits include a string of hit feature films including The Breaker Upperers, Cousins, Red, White & Brass and the award-winning TV series Not Even.

Mario Gaoa – The Brown Factory
Writer, director, and producer of scripted and documentary projects with a Pacific lens. Mario’s credits include bro’Town, We Are Still Here, Duckrockers and Kiwi box office record-breaker Tinā.

Halaifonua “Nua” Finau – Tavake
Writer and producer developing bold, unapologetic Pacific-led content. Nua’s credits include box office hit Red, White & Brass, TIFF-premiering TV drama The Panthers and award-winning Rachel Griffiths-led comedy-drama series Madam.

Nicole Horan (Ngāti Maniapoto) – Hi Mama Productions
Producer of scripted and factual content grounded in kaupapa Māori. Nicole’s credits include factual series such as Toa Hunter Gatherer, documentary including Speak No Māori and scripted content like the upcoming Dead Ahead.

Nigel McCulloch (Ngāti Whakaue) – The Down Low Concept
Writer-producer specialising in comedy and music documentary. Nigel’s credits include 7 Days, Hounds, Scribe: Return of the Crusader and Alien Weaponry: Kua Tupu Te Ara (Tribeca).

Paul Yates – NZDB / Kitchen Table Productions
Veteran writer and producer of comedy and drama. Paul’s credits include Wellington Paranormal, Under the Vines, and the upcoming sci-fi series Warren’s Vortex.

Rachale Davies (Ngāti Māhanga) – Boxed Media
Director and producer of factual and formatted content. Known for championing diverse voices, Rachale founded Boxed Media to amplify underrepresented stories. Her credits include major unscripted series, award-winning documentaries, and shows like The X Factor and Bondi Rescue.

Robyn Paterson – Sweet Productions
Award-winning documentary and unscripted producer with a focus on purpose-led content. Robyn’s credits include Down for Love, Grand Designs NZ, Finding Mercy and Licence to Drive.

The 2025 Activator Screen Business Programme is made possible with the support of the New Zealand Film Commission, NZ On Air, and Te Māngai Pāho, the Vista Foundation, Netflix, Grant Thornton and Gallagher Insurance. The programme was developed by Libertine Pictures and 113 Partners, with 113 Partners overseeing the course content and Libertine Pictures and Hinterland managing the market connections and assisted by Spada.

Deb Knight, is leaving her Money News radio role (2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR) to return to television fulltime, effective July 21.

She will become presenter Nine News Morning bulletin at 11:30am each weekday and will also present Nine News Afternoon each weekday in Sydney. She will continue to host A Current Affair on Saturday nights.

Fiona Dear, Nine’s Director of News and Current Affairs, said, “Deb is an exceptional journalist and a beloved figure on Australian screens. Her extensive experience, versatility and deep connection with audiences make her the perfect fit for these key news presenting roles. We are thrilled to have her back full-time in our 9News and Current Affairs family.”

“I’m incredibly excited to be stepping back into a full-time television role with 9News and Current Affairs,” said Knight. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to be part of the daily news cycle and connect with viewers during these important bulletins. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time in radio, particularly hosting Money News, and I’m grateful for the wonderful listeners who tuned in. I’m also very pleased to continue hosting A Current Affair on Saturday nights.”

Nine News Morning is currently hosted by Alison Pitrowski.

Channel 10’s own talent have now begun to lash the network over its decision to sack Jonathan LaPaglia on Australian Survivor.

An Instagram post from Gogglebox‘s Lee & Keith has vented on Instagram over the casting decision, joining the throng of fans online urging the network to reverse its decision.

“I am absolutely devastated to hear that Jonathan (JLP) has been replaced. AND BY DAVID GENAT 😳😡,” write Lee & Keith.

“Jonathan to me is the Australian Survivor. I truly don’t know how anyone would think this will boost the ratings.

“One of my favourite shows…. without Jonathan at the helm.

“Please Channel 10 rethink your decision. You must know by now the outrage in the public forum who loves Survivor is NOT happy about this.

“Everyone is heartbroken, Jonathan. It will not be the same without you.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lee and Keith (@lee_and_keith)

Lee & Keith venting online won’t go down well with network bosses, nor Endemol Shine Australia, which produces both Gogglebox and Australian Survivor.

But the cast were always chosen for their unfiltered opinions and calling it how they see it.

Lee & Keith arguably represents middle Australia, and today they are siding with the majority.

10 last night unveiled its new early evening schedule.

Despite a lengthy ‘world exclusive’ report on Australian mother Debbie Voulgaris imprisoned in Taiwan, the reception according to OzTAM numbers this morning was lukewarm.

10 News+ averaged 291,000 in National TV Audience, over a million viewers behind rival bulletins which comes as no surprise.

It debuted lower than the 388,000 for The Project (6:30 – 7:30) last Monday, which was enjoying a bit of a surge in its final week.

It also did not hold the audience from 10 News which was 403,000 at 5pm. 10 really needs the show to lift on that base (10 News+ not 10 News-) in order to assist its entertainment schedule.

If it dips tonight now the curiosity factor is over 10 will be hoping for a “J Curve” where the show gradually builds its reputation and audience bit by bit. It can look to The Project as a key example of such.

If there was a positive it was that Deal or No Deal lifted in its new 7pm slot, drawing 350,000 viewers last night, up by nearly 100,000 compared to last Monday.

Meanwhile 7:30 led its slot at 819,000 then The 1% Club (791,000), Australian Story (754,000), Parental Guidance return (729,000), and MasterChef Australia (665,000).

Later Have You Been Paying Attention? led with 774,000 then Four Corners (735,000), Media Watch (651,000). Stranded on Honeymoon Island trailed at 294,000 in its later slot.

Nine News pulled 1.45m with wins by A Current Affair (1.2m) and Tipping Point (878,000). Wimbledon was up to 235,000 across the network. Footy Classified was 160,000 and 100% Footy (152,000) in their markets.

Seven News was 1.5m then Home & Away (902,000) and The Chase (716,000). 911 managed 216,000.

ABC News scored 955,00. Hard Quiz (371,000), up on House of Games, and Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius (259,000) followed.

Elsewhere on 10 was Inspired Unemployed (Impractical) Jokers at 216,000.

On SBS it was SBS World News (224,000 / 171,000), Portillo’s Andalucia (145,000), Sue Perkins: Lost in Thailand (106,000), Mastermind (104,000) and Willem & Frieda (59,000).

Sunrise: 411,000
Today: 325,000
News Breakfast: 213,000

National Total TV: Monday 30 June 2025

WIN TV has switched off Seven in Riverland, Griffith, and Mount Gambier ater failing to reach a deal with Seven West Media to renew the current broadcast agreement.

Seven West Media Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Howard, said: “Despite our best endeavors, we have been unable to reach a mutually acceptable commercial agreement with the WIN Network to provide access to Seven via aerial transmission in Riverland, Griffith, and Mount Gambier.

“Seven has not turned off our signal. We continue to provide our content to WIN for broadcast into these markets and WIN has made the decision to switch off the Seven signal to these communities.

“While we are disappointed WIN has made this decision, these communities are important to us and they can access Seven’s news, sport and entertainment content live, free and on demand on 7plus,” he said.

“In the meantime, Seven is seeking the assistance of the Federal Government and the Australian Communications and Media Authority to help resolve this matter as quickly as possible.”

Last month WIN CEO Andrew Lancaster said, “While we are disappointed with Seven West Media’s decision, we respect their right to pursue their own commercial strategies. WIN remains committed to serving our regional audiences with a strong local presence and programming.”

Communications Minister Anika Wells recently said, “The Government urges the parties to continue negotiations and work together to deliver for these communities.”

Meanwhile Southern Cross Media Group has completed the sale of its remaining television assets in Tasmania, Spencer Gulf, Broken Hill, Mt Isa, Darwin and Remote, Central and Eastern Australia to Seven West Media.

SCA has applied the upfront cash consideration of $3.75 million from the sale towards reducing net debt.

The total consideration from the sale of SCA’s television assets is, in aggregate, in the range of $19 to $24 million. This includes both the SWM proceeds of $3.75 million and the previously announced profit share proceeds of $15 to $20 million from the sale of the 3 TV licences to Network 10.

John Kelly, SCA CEO, said: “With the successful divestment of our regional TV assets, our entire strategic focus is now All About Audio. This clarity is already delivering results. As our share of audio revenue grows, we remain disciplined on costs and are committed to giving advertisers unmatched. access to the ‘Audience That Matters’ – Australians aged 25 to 54.”

Jeff Howard, said: “Seven is proud to be Australia’s largest regional commercial television network. We’re excited to expand into these new markets and further harness the strength of our news, sport and entertainment content – across both Seven and 7plus.

“Following the acquisition of Southern Cross Media’s television assets, 7News has unparalleled breadth and depth across regional Australia, and we will be upscaling our investment in news across these markets to reflect the importance of these communities. Ownership of these licences will allow us to connect directly with these regions moving forward.”

Seven will be continuing Tasmania’s one-hour, locally produced bulletin seven nights a week. Seven will soon provide news updates in Spencer Gulf (Whyalla and Port Pirie, South Australia), Darwin and Broken Hill, alongside updates in Newcastle, Wollongong, Canberra, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Mildura.

Seven’s Director of Regional News, Paul Patrick, said: “7News is an intrinsic part of the communities we operate in, with the only local 6.00pm bulletins in all our major regional markets. From our journalists to our camera operators, and production teams across the country, we are passionate about telling local stories that resonate with our local audiences. We are their voice.”

Seven states it is committed to regional jobs in regional communities, with regional news hubs in Maroochydore (Queensland), Bunbury (Western Australia), Launceston (Tasmania) and Canberra. In addition, Seven has journalists, camera operators and production teams creating local content in Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Ballina, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree, Tamworth, Orange, Dubbo, Canberra, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Launceston, Hobart, Geraldton, Bunbury and Albany.

Seven’s National Sales Director, Regional Sales, Greg Gabel, added: “Seven is proud to go above and beyond to support our local communities. From sponsoring the 7Rocky River Run to supporting Volunteer Marine Rescue and junior AFL teams in every state, we thrive on being an integral part of regional Australia.”

Don’t mess with Australian Survivor fans.

Social media is flooded with fury over the decision to axe Jonathan LaPaglia as host of Australian Survivor.

Most are summed up by the sentiment, “JLP is Australian Survivor.”

“We cannot allow this change to happen without voicing our strong support for JLP to remain the host of Australian Survivor,” a petition at Change.org states.

“The host plays a crucial role in maintaining the show’s appeal, and Jonathan LaPaglia has proven himself time and again as the perfect fit for this role. His deep understanding of the game, combined with his rapport with contestants and viewers alike, makes him irreplaceable.”

The petition currently has more than 2300 signatures.

It follows JLP taking to Instagram yesterday to confirm an “epic blindside” when he was contacted by Network 10 to advise they were going in “a different direction” for 2026.

“I have loved and will dearly miss the immensely talented crew, all the crafty players and our loyal sassy audience. I’m a huge fan of this incredible game, always have been, always will be. It has been one of the greatest adventures of my career to helm Australian Survivor, so it is without a doubt the hardest challenge of all to snuff my own torch but here goes:  JLP the tribe has spoken.”

10 thanked JLP for his “authority, intelligence and empathy…. over the last 10 years” but did not detail why he was eliminated in a brutal TV twist.

That only leads to speculation around cost-cutting but also suggestions of clashing with producers.

In his Insta post JLP referred to “non-elim bullshit” which follows from him telling TV Tonight,  “I don’t like the non-elims in our show. I’m not a fan.”

Some years ago he also upset producers when the pandemic hit, saying there was no way Australian Survivor could film in Queensland due to its hefty infrastructure. That came at a time when producers were liaising on location incentives to do just that.

But fans recognise LaPaglia’s commitment to the show. If he’s outspoken it’s because he cares about a quality product and the viewer experience.

If there were production differences, it’s to Endemol Shine Australia and Network 10’s detriment that they could not find a satisfactory resolution.

Anyone who watches Survivor knows, it’s not just about announcing challenges and hosting a Tribal Council. You need to be across the gameplay machinations, and you need the ability to live call the Challenges like a football match -it’s not something that can be scripted.

10 is yet to confirm a new host for 2026, but rumours suggest ‘Golden God’ David Genat. While he’s been a good villain for the franchise, the host needs likeability. After one season hosting Rush on Nine, Genat best serves the genre as a contestant (my pick would be former TV host Eden Gaha, who previously produced the US Survivor).

Dumping JLP has massively pissed off fans. This is one of those times when 10 needs to acknowledge “We have listened to the fans” resolve its differences with him and turn a negative into a positive.

But it depends if there is an executive willing to dig deep.

“We urge Channel 10 to reaffirm their commitment to excellence by keeping Jonathan Lapaglia at the helm of Survivor Australia. His dedication to the show has enriched the lives of many, and the loyalty of the viewership should not be underestimated,” says the petition.

As the search for the next NSW studio continues, backers of the Pacific Bay Resort Studios & Village project in Coffs Harbour have called upon the NSW government to build a 450-metre amenity wall to shield the site from noise created by the $2.2 billion Coffs Harbour Bypass.

Constriction of the planned studios have stalled since the Bypass plans move the existing Pacific Highway closer to the site, currently home to Pacific Bay Resort.

The NSW Government recently pledged $100 million toward developing another studio in Sydney.

Announced by Russell Crowe in 2021, the Coffs Harbour project at $650 million is fully privately funded.

Organisers claim the project cannot proceed without the certainty of a barrier being erected by TfNSW Contractor (Ferrovial Gamuda JV) saying it is impractical to expect the adjacent landowner (Pacific Bay Resort) to obtain approvals and to erect the barrier on Crown Land after the Bypass is open and traffic is then flowing on the new road infrastructure.

“We’ve done the hard work. The site is zoned, the funding secured, the industry partners are in place. We’re simply asking the NSW Government to enable what they say they support,” said a spokesperson for the project.

“We’re not asking for $100 million. We’re not asking for a handout. We’re asking for one thing — a fair go,” they said. “This is a privately funded, advanced project on privately owned land that aligns directly with the government’s own screen strategy. The only thing holding it back is an amenity wall.

“All we need now is for the NSW Government to follow its own strategy — and let this region help to lead the future of Australian screen production.

“We don’t need any money for our studios – just an instruction from TfNSW to the contractor to build the amenity wall as part of the Coffs Bypass Project, to replace 35-year-old forest barrier being removed by TfNSW. The project is on our land, unlike most of the other potential candidates to be the second NSW sound stage complex.”

The bypass is set to be completed in late 2027.

Key Project Features:
• $650 million, fully privately funded development
• Strong support from educational and industry partners including SONY, AFTRS, NIDA, TAFE, SCU, Epic Games, Lux Machina, ARRI, VA HIRE and Spectrum Films
• Unlike many potential projects competing for government support, this development is entirely on zoned private land and does not require public funding to proceed
• Just 10 minutes from a regional airport with domestic and international capacity – with daily flights to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane
• Will create jobs, skills pathways, industry growth, and regional economic diversification
• The project aligns directly with the NSW Government’s Screen and Digital Games Strategy 2025–2027, which outlines goals to expand infrastructure, decentralise industry growth, build workforce capacity, and drive international engagement.
• Purpose-built sound stages and virtual production facilities with integrated on-site accommodation, dining, and leisure, with mild year-round weather allowing for continuous operation
• It is led by three individuals with deep ties to the region and to the national screen sector and has commitment from major global players

Nine network is claiming victory for the first half of the 2025 Calendar Year (including non-survey weeks).

Nine claims its “strongest start to a year in ratings history” against Total People and the key demos of People 25-54 & People 16-39, attributing growth driven by younger audiences, with Total TV viewing up 12.1% with People 16-39 and up 8.8% with People 25-54.

Hamish Turner Executive Director 9Network & 9Now said, “Free-to-air television is demonstrating remarkable vitality and continued growth, proving its appeal as a unifying platform that ensures all Australians can share in our nation’s cultural moments.

“These outstanding half-year results underscore the sustained strength and cultural relevance of Nine’s content. We are privileged to deliver free access to premium news, sport and entertainment for all Australians.

“The State of Origin series delivered the year’s two highest-rating programs, showcasing the ability of free-to-air to unite the nation. Married at First Sight continues to set the topical benchmark and the phenomenal success of Tipping Point has re-energised the 5pm timeslot. We’re also encouraged by double-digit audience growth across 9News and strong performances from 60 Minutes, A Current Affair, and Today. Notably, The Floor is the highest new format launch in VOZ history, reaffirming the importance of our local content.”

Married at First Sight is the No. 1 entertainment program of the year to date. The smash hit program enjoyed its highest rating series in VOZ history with an National Total TV Audience of 2.6 million people tuning into every episode (up 16.6% year-on-year). On 9Now, each episode averaged more than 1 million viewers (up 24.9% year-on-year).

State of Origin has broken decade old records, with Game 1 recording its highest ratings since 2016 and Game 2 its highest ratings since 2015. The two matches are currently the two highest rating programs of the year. They each have an average National Total TV Audience of 3.8 million (up 14.5% year-on-year) and a National Cumulative Reach of 7.9 million.

9News is the No. 1 news bulletin across the 5 City Metro and in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Each weeknight, the bulletin records an average National Total TV Audience of 1.233 million – up 11.5% year-on-year and its best result since 2022. Audience growth is even more significant with the younger demos – up 14.4% with the People Under 55 and up 13.6% with People 16-39.

The first series of The Floor was a ratings smash and is the highest new format launch in VOZ history. The fast-paced trivia show hosted by Rodger Corser secured a National Total TV Audience of 1.4 million per episode and a National BVOD Audience of 210,000 per episode.

Tipping Point is the undisputed No. 1 afternoon game show, with a National Total TV Audience of 845,000 per episode (up 11.2% year-on-year).

Australian actor Donald Macdonald, who featured in Come in Spinner, The Box, Play School and I Married a Bachelor, has died, aged 86.

He died this week following a battle with cancer.

His theatre and television career in Australia and the UK spanned more than forty years.

Macdonald (pictured top second from left) began his career as the Hero at Sydney’s famous Music Hall. He appeared at the Philip Theatre in shows such as Is Australia Really Necessary with Miriam Karlin and the hugely successful A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down.

A cousin to Paula Duncan, he was a Play School presenter between 1966 – 1969, and starred in ABC’s I Married a Bachelor before working in the UK.

He had many guest roles in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, The Pathfinders, Alvin Purple, Certain Women, Skyways, Chopper Squad, Demolition, Secret Valley, A Town Like Alice, Kingswood Country, Bellamy, Home Sweet Home, Cop Shop, For the Term of His Natural Life, A Country Practice, Come in Spinner, Rafferty’s Rules, Heroes II, GP, Jag, and Rake.

On The Box he played John Barnett, a closeted gay news reader who had a long relationship with Lee Whiteman, played by Paul Karo, who passed away in April.

Film credits included Superman Returns and Kenny.

He was also a screenwriter and novelist writing stage comedy Caravan. Other plays include Hot Taps, Giuseppe, Saints Alive, Seasons, Boulevard Play and Truth.

The Australian Writers’ Guild has announced its shortlist for the 2025 Emerging Writers’ Awards and the John Hinde Award for science fiction.

Eight projects for the Emerging Writers’ Awards were selected from over five hundred entries including feature films, dramatic and comedic television pilots and a short thriller.

Winners will be announced at an industry event in Melbourne in mid-July. Each category winner will take home $5,000 in script development funding, generously provided by Scripted Ink.

“Together with all of our judges, the AWG wishes to sincerely thank all writers who entered these awards. It is a pleasure and a privilege to read your work,” said AWG.

Short Form

Homebody by Jess Fisher [Television, Comedy]
After an agoraphobe accidentally kills her estranged sister’s criminal ex-boyfriend, a detective arrives in their small Queensland town to investigate but the sisters must confront their differences in order to keep their deadly secret buried from the cops and a local bikie gang.

Hussk by Senie Priti [Short film, Thriller]
A middle-aged woman’s solitary retreat by the Snowy River becomes a dangerous game of Cat and Mouse when three fishermen invade her campsite, unearthing her survival instincts and buried past as she fights to reclaim her space.

Sugar Soap by Georgia Struckel [Television, Comedy]
A single mother starts working as a “cleaner” for a contract killer. Accidentally.

Long Form

Graves’ End by Mads McRae [Television, Drama]
A young woman faced with the death of her father does the one thing she swore she’d never do and brings back the dead with devastating consequences.

Hell’s Gate by Danielle Frost [Feature, Horror]
A convict with a haunted past joins a British expedition to salvage a sunken warship, but as they descend into Hell’s Gate, they uncover a terrifying secret that threatens to consume them.

Hysterical by January Jones [Feature, Thriller]
When Harriet moves to a new development in rural Australia, strange things begin to happen to her body.

Penny Loafers by Melody Chen [Television, Comedy]
Nineteen year-old Penny Wu wakes up in the body of her finance bro older brother, Daniel, the week before his death. As Penny stumbles through Dan’s life and uncovers the dark truth behind his accident, she must also grapple with painful questions about their relationship, her fractured family, and ultimately, what it means to live a life of her choosing.

Tiny Places by Charlie Milne [Feature, Drama]
In small-town South Australia, a complacent man is given the technology to journey into the mind of his wife, where they rekindle their relationship as her dementia worsens.

Meanwhile nine sci-fi scripts have been selected from hundreds of entries to the 2025 John Hinde Award. The shortlist – across produced and unproduced categories – includes seven feature films and two episodes of children’s television series Rock Island Mysteries.

Winners in each category will take home $5,000, generously provided by the John Hinde Trust.

Produced Category

Rock Island Mysteries: ‘An Echo Must Return’ by Rachel Laverty [Children’s Television]
Rock Island Mysteries: ‘To Catch a Ghost’ by Matthew Bon [Children’s Television]
War Machine by Patrick Hughes and James Beaufort [Feature Film]
Zero by Jesse Laurie [Feature Film]

Unproduced Category

Blood Will Have Blood by Vivienne Walshe [Feature Film]
Mine by Noah Jordan [Feature Film]
The Harvest by Darcy Conlan [Feature Film]
The World Michael Made by Peter Redhead [Feature Film]
Tiny Places by Charlie Milne [Feature Film]

The shortlisted projects will soon be available for producers and executives to explore on AWG’s Pathways Showcase site.

Sadly for ever-popular Australian Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia, the tribe has spoken.

Alas, his torch has been snuffed out in a Reality TV twist nobody saw coming…

Network 10 has confirmed his exit which TV Tonight understands was not his choice.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @jonathanlapaglia

“10 can confirm that the upcoming season of Survivor: Australia V The World will be the last series hosted by the formidable Jonathan La Paglia (JLP),” the network said in a statement.

“JLP has brought a unique blend of authority, intelligence and empathy to his role as host of Australian Survivor over the last 10 years. Acting as a referee and managing the intense pressure of the game while also acknowledging the human drama unfolding, JLP has been a compelling and memorable figure in the world of Survivor.

“We look forward to JLP hosting the next epic instalment of Survivor: Australia V World coming soon to 10. We extend our sincere gratitude to JLP for his outstanding contribution over 10 years on Survivor. We wish him continued success in his acting and presenting career.

“We will be making an announcement shortly about who will take over hosting duties for the 2026 season of Australian Survivor.”

Daily Mail yesterday reported LaPaglia was to be replaced by ‘Golden God’ David Genat, who has played twice in Australian Surivor, hosted Nine series Rush, won Search for a Supermodel and won Deal or No Deal Island in the USA.

He features in Australian Survivor: Australia vs the World alongside returning players George Mladenov, Luke Toki and Janine Allis competiting with players from Survivor US, Québec, South Africa, New Zealand and Finland. It is expected in Q3.

This post updates.

It was a Sunday night battle on screen last night.

Thailand on a budget in Travel Guides at 1.07m landed ahead of Dancing with the Stars, in which Susie O’Neill was eliminated, at 921,000 in National TV Audience.

MasterChef Australia was 629,000 then Spicks & Specks (605,000).

Later 60 Minutes drew 693,000 then 7News Spotlight (581,000), Bay of Fires (284,000) and Fake (230,000).

Seven won Sunday.

Seven News was #1 at 1.47m. 24 Hours in Police Custody managed 240,000.

Nine News drew 1.4m. Numbers were soft for both The Wrong Man: 17 Years Behind Bars (150,000) and Footy Furnace (124,000) in their respective cities.

ABC News averaged 865,000. Compass (281,000) and Little Disasters (165,000) followed.

10 News First -the last before renaming as 10 News- pulled 345,000. A Dog House episode at 6pm drew 234,000. FBI drew 117,000 / 91,000.

On SBS it was SBS World News (222,000 / 148,000), Paris: Mystery of the Lost Palace (140,000), The Arc De Triomphe: A Nation’s Passion (101,000), and The Zelensky Story at just 50,000.

National Total TV: Sunday 29 June 2025

For the first time in its three-year history this year’s Australian Children’s Content Summit in Coffs Harbour will be offering a $20,000 pitch prize as part of its ‘Exclusive Content Pitch’ initiative.

Open to all registered delegates, the pitch prize supported by Minderoo Foundation offers an incredible opportunity to present original intellectual property supporting early childhood development directly to Minderoo Pictures. Shortlisted projects will be revealed during the Communicating Climate Change in Early Childhood session during the summit, with the winner announced at a later date.

Australia’s only dedicated children’s content summit will once again offer delegates the exclusive opportunity to pitch directly to a three major global public broadcasters, Australia’s ABC, the United Kingdom’s BBC and Canada’s CBC.

As part of the summit’s ‘Exclusive Content Pitch’ initiative, screen professionals will also have the opportunity to pitch one-on-one to commissioning, audio, distribution and acquisition executives from ABC and ABC Commercial as well as representatives from the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, Amazon Kids+, Apple TV+, ITV, Warner Bros Discovery, Odin’s Eye Entertainment, Merchantwise, Nine Network Australia and more.

SLR Productions CEO and Australian Children’s Content Summit Founder Suzanne Ryan said, “We’re thrilled to be offering, for the first time, a $20,000 pitch prize through our Exclusive Content Pitch initiative, which year after year continues to create exciting opportunities for creators to be seen, supported, and celebrated on a global stage. With the presence of leading content decision makers from across the globe, this year’s summit is committed to championing bold and original storytelling from today’s content makers.”

CBC Kids’ Senior Director, Children’s Content Marie McCann said, “I am really excited to return to Coffs Harbour for the Australian Children’s Content Summit. At the 2023 summit, I had the chance to better understand the Australian production scene, found a couple of great projects and strengthened connections with our broadcast partners. Looking forward to seeing what 2025 has in store”.

Alan Schauder, Group CEO, Merchantwise said, “At Merchantwise, we’re passionate about championing the talent and creativity within Australia’s children’s content industry. As a leading brand licensing and merchandising agency, we see firsthand the global potential of locally created characters and stories. It takes a very special property to make it in the highly competitive world of consumer products. We are always on the lookout for high potential brands and properties to help nurture and take to the world and look forward to participating in this year’s Exclusive Content Pitch initiative.’

Odin’s Eye Entertainment Founder & CEO Michael Favelle said, “At Odin’s Eye Animation, we’re always looking for high-concept stories featuring compelling characters. The Exclusive Content Pitch initiative is a fantastic platform for uncovering standout projects and engaging directly with passionate creators. We’re excited to return this year and continue our support of this vibrant creative community.”

Applications for this year’s ‘Exclusive Content Pitch’ initiative are now open and close ahead of the summit on July 25 2025 with all registered delegates invited to apply. ‘Exclusive Content Pitch’ information is available to all registered delegates, with details included in the summit’s official program, www.australianchildrenscontentsummit.com and the Australian Children’s Content Summit social media platforms.

Destined to be the most dynamic and collaborative summit yet, this year’s event continues to include new featured international guests including Christina Reynolds, Creative Executive, Apple TV+ as well as many other distinguished representatives from the world and across Australia.

As Silver Partner and Bronze Partner respectively, Cute Music and Bus Stop Films now join a growing list of committed partners supporting the future of local and international children’s and family storytelling.

Australian Children’s Content Summit
Monday 25 August to Thursday 28 August 2025
Pacific Bay Resort, Bay Drive, Coffs Harbour

OzTAM has launched Streamscape – a new quarterly report that, for the first time, delivers a unified, independent view of Total Video consumption in Australia.

Streamscape includes Broadcast TV (ABC, Seven, Nine, 10, SBS), their respective BVOD platforms, and Streamers Netflix, Kayo, Foxtel, Disney+, Amazon, Stan, Binge, Prime Video, Paramount+, Apple TV+ , Britbox, Optus Sport, Hayu, Acorn TV, YouTube and Other Video.

Notably it is yet to include connected devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers.

The first Streamscape report, covering the quarter January to March 2025, reveals that Broadcast TV  accounts for the majority of viewing among Total People, with 61.5% share.

BVOD services (ABC iview, 7plus, 9Now, 10 and SBS On Demand) represent 8.4% of Total Video, while Digital Video (which includes Streaming services* such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Youtube etc) makes up the remaining 30.1%.

Available quarterly to paid subscribers, at launch Streamscape provides a monthly snapshot of video viewing to TV sets, across key demographics. Reporting will continue to evolve, with future updates set to further expand demographic granularity and incorporate viewing on additional connected devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers.

OzTAM CEO, Karen Halligan, said: “Streamscape is a game-changer for the industry. For the first time, agencies, marketers and media owners can access consistent, comparable data across platforms in a credible format. It’s a critical step toward more effective planning and provides a deeper understanding of how Australians engage with video. And this is just the beginning – Streamscape will continue to evolve to further meet the needs of our rapidly changing media landscape.”

Streamscape is intended to transition from its initial document format to a digital, interactive dashboard for its subscribers in the first half of 2026.

*Streaming services logos and brand names (including but not limited to Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube and Amazon) used within, or in relation to, the OzTAM Streamscape report are the property of their respective owners and are used in the Report for identification and reporting purposes only. OzTAM makes no claim of endorsement from or affiliation with these services, and their inclusion does not imply any commercial relationship.

When Martin White, Vice President, News at Paramount Australia came to hiring anchors for 10 News+ he reached out to Denham Hitchcock, who had only returned to 7News Spotlight in February after a two year break.

“When Denham picked up my call and said ‘Let’s go for a beer,’ I nearly fell off my chair. I was like, ‘Brilliant. He’s a legend. Fantastic!'” he tells TV Tonight.

For Hitchcock (pictured second from right), who had returned to Spotlight on a Casual basis, the fluid format of what White (pictured right) was proposing won him over.

“The moment that he explained the show and his vision for it, I was hooked,” says Hitchcock. “Having a programme that is on six nights a week, but has a format that is changeable…. we could do long format investigations, it might be half the show. If it’s big enough, it might be the whole show. We’ll also tackle news of the day.

“We’re not stuck with a two minute by two minute rundown of the news days of events. It can change and morph as the show sees fit. It’s news that matters to people, so less of the factory fires and the car crashes, more of the cost of living or big world events like what’s going on in Israel and Iran at the moment, coupled with stories that will be breaking ourselves. The whole concept of that is so exciting to me. You would probably know more than me, but I don’t think that there’s been a format like this done before.”

Hitchcock anchors alongside former Seven journalist Amelia Brace (pictured second from left) from Sunday – Thursday with Ursula Heger and Hugh Riminton leading Friday nights.

White is also excited for the show’s availability on multiple platforms including 10, YouTube and Spotify.

“We have to put our product where people are,” he explains. “So we’re putting it on all these different platforms, in all these different ways. And yes, linear is vitally important …the viewers at six o’clock we want all of them, and regional Australia, suburbia, inner city, wherever they are. We want to do something that can appeal to absolutely everybody. But we do have to appeal on a whole bunch of different platforms, and I think that’s going to be the strength of this.”

But YouTube and Spotify are not part of the VOZ ratings panel -and 10 isn’t even selling ads on Spotify, so is it a push to create awareness?

“We’re just trying to get as many people on as many platforms as possible, and then monetise as we go, as partnerships develop.”

10 News+ also goes head to head with TV’s biggest drawcards, Seven and Nine 6pm bulletins, and follows its own local 10 News at 5pm. Is 10 confident its audience is wanting news at 6pm, given recent noises about no longer consuming The Project in the same way it once did?

“We do run our own race a little bit at 10. We don’t need to think about what other people do. We don’t need to put ourselves up as being competition for anybody else. While we’re taking everybody on, we’re doing it in a very much our own way.

“The reason it came about was the success we’ve had with our news brand, particularly over the over the last 12 months,” says White. “It’s a bit of multi platform success. To give you a few numbers, in VOZ we’re up 12% 5pm year on year, 31% Lunchtime, 44% Afternoon, 18% Late News. Our streaming numbers are up. We are a million subscribers on YouTube, a million subscribers on Tiktok. So we are a successful and growing news brand on all platforms. The genesis of it was that we were asked whether we’d like to expand. And so we are. This is kind of a natural fit for something that really complements what we’re already doing. We have our local flagship bulletin at five, and now we have more of a national network news bulletin at 6 as well.

“We had a lot of research about about what viewers want and where the gaps are and we know that viewers want live news, they want sport ….our research shows as well, that people are needing to find more things to trust. There is a bit of an issue around that, particularly with social media and the proliferation of misinformation. So we decided there was a real place for a news product that felt very grown up. That still has heart, still has humour, but is essentially something people can trust, and that’s what we’re rooting into everything that we do.”

Hitchcock is promising a big story for tonight’s premiere episode.

“You’ve got to bring out the big guns on night one,” he insists.

“It’s a story on a Melbourne mother of five called Debbie Voulgaris. She was in the news cycle not too long ago. She got caught going into Taiwan with seven kilos of heroin and cocaine in her suitcase. She said that she was not guilty. In February this year, the day before her trial, she pled guilty. She was sentenced to 16 years prison in Taiwan, and since then, she’s disappeared from the news cycle.

“The real truth behind that story is something quite different. At the heart of it is a scam, and she was asked to go by someone that she knows very well, to go and deliver a suitcase. She did not know the contents of that suitcase. Now this investigation that you will see, will have all of the messages, the scam, how it started, who the person is, who sent her there who asked her to go and what is currently happening with her in Taiwan. In fact, you’ll hear from her from a Taiwanese prison cell.”

The show will also feature live interviews at its desk, with reporters Political Editor Ashleigh Raper, Bill Hogan, Brianna Parkins, Samantha Butler, Carrie-Anne Greenbank, Claudia Vrdoljak and 10’s Entertainment Editor Angela Bishop. Even with the tall order of 6 hours a week to fill, White says he doesn’t expect to rely on international feeds.

“That’s not the plan, no. I mean, we will do international stories, but no, we’ll be making everything with Australian journos here. And, of course, we have a correspondent in the US and the UK and we’ll use them as necessary.”

Shifting to 10 is also keeping things in the family for Hitchcock, following in his father’s footsteps several decades earlier.

“When I was a kid, dad worked at Channel 10 News,” he recalls. “He was one of the main reporters here, and he went on to become the News Director here, before he broke his neck in a spinal accident. He’s still with us, mentally still very sharp, but he’s in a wheelchair and was unable to work anymore. But I used to watch him heading out the door, going off to work.

“I watched him on the on the TV in far flung places, and so coming in here has been a little bit like coming home, to be honest. Because it was such a part of my childhood, old stickers all over the bunk bed, and I used to sing the theme song. Dad would come home and quiz me on the news. He’d give me newspaper articles, and I would write television stories off a newspaper article, and then he’d grade it for me when I was eight years old or so. So Channel 10 was very much part of his DNA.

“I gotta say, it probably was one of strong reasons that I also wanted to come across after speaking to Martin. Just to kind of close that loop. Dad, who’s still here, is more excited than me.”

10 News+ 6pm Sunday – Friday on 10.

10 and 10 Play ➔ 10
10 Peach Comedy ➔ 10 Comedy
10 Bold Drama ➔ 10 Drama
10 News First ➔ 10 News
10Play.com.au ➔ 10.com.au

In a first for Australian broadcasters, Network 10 is consolidating its free-to-air (10), streaming (10 Play) and programming handles under one unified 10 brand.

Described as “a brand evolution” it sees a consistent identity system across all touchpoints – no matter where audiences watch.

10 Bold Drama becomes 10 Drama, 10 Peach Comedy becomes 10 Comedy, 10 News First becomes 10 News and 10 Play simply becomes 10 with shows teasing “watch and stream free.”

10Play.com.au will trim to 10.com.au.

The logo has also dropped the long-familiar circle for a cleaner look.

Karen Song, Head of Network Design, Paramount Australia said, “We’ve cleaned up our brand architecture, and that means getting rid of a lot of those sub-brands that didn’t service or didn’t have a place or needed to resonate differently in the current market.

“Really, it’s just streamlining, building on that equity that we already had, making sure that we’re modernised and future fit.”

Claudio Amati, Head of Network Creative, Paramount Australia said, “It’s about simplifying what is a really cluttered market with so many brands out there. There’s subscription, there’s free TV, and we really wanted to just make sure that 10, the master brand, is the hero.”

Paramount’s portfolio, includes MTV Studios, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, CBS, Showtime, and select hits from Paramount+. Currently, viewers have access to an abundance of live, free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels powered by PlutoTV spanning entertainment, lifestyle, drama, kids, reality, comedy, talk shows, TV series, boxsets, movies, and more.

10’s digital library will expand further this year with the launch of new FAST channels: My Strange Addiction, Homicide Hunters, and Aftershock, plus Australian comedy favourites from Working Dog – The Cheap Seats and Thank God You’re Here – will also be joining the FAST channel line-up in August.

10 will also welcome a new British drama channel from All3Media Demand Drama, which will include TV series’ adaptations from novels by screenwriter Lynda La Plante.

L to R: Claudio Amati, Karen Song,

According to Amati, the refresh follows similar moves in the UK.

“We’re taking Channel Five’s lead with the ‘watch and stream free’ messaging. They actually used ‘watch and stream’. But we did research to make sure that we were hitting all the touch points. And what came out of the research five or six months ago was that there was confusion in the market as to what services were free and what services you paid for,” he explains.

“We decided to add the word ‘free’ on the end of that tagline… it also differentiates us from Paramount+, which is obviously our SVOD.”

The redesign has been led internally, in the pipeline for six months with minimal outsourcing to third parties.

“Production-wise, creative-wise we’ve done that all internally, in parallel of our (Business As Usual),” says Song. “The promos that we have to produce across all of our distribution channels, billboards, socials, everything.

“We’ve probably had no more than six people work on it since October, but more so in the last eight weeks when we’ve ramped it up.”

“We’re both veterans at 10. I’m coming on to 25 years, and Karen is coming up to 20 years,” Amati continues.

“We lived through the whole evolution of the Seriously brand, and then the evolution of bringing in the digital channels, 10Play. We started when there was just one 10, so we understood back then who we were, what we stood for.

“Then all these other things started coming from left, right and centre, and really started to clutter the market.

“Really, this is us just pulling it back now and stripping it down and making it actually easier for the consumer to understand.”

Despite the lacklustre start for Stranded on Honeymoon Island, Seven still won the ratings last week.

Nine News Sunday topped the week at 1.52m ahead of Seven News Sunday on 1.42m.

Dancing with the Stars return led entertainment at 910,000 with Sunday’s Lego Masters best for Nine at 899,000.

As always Have You Been Paying Attention? was best for 10 at 717,000.

Seven won with 29.1% then Nine 27.2%. 10 drew 13.6%.

Seven sent through some results on their first half of 2025 Calendar Year (which included non-survey weeks).

Seven:

Seven has claimed the most watched network in 15 of the 26 weeks in the first half of the 2025 Calendar Year (includes non-survey weeks) and increased its 6.00am to midnight audience in all people, 25 to 54s, 16 to 39s and grocery shoppers. Every month, Seven reaches 17.2 million Australians nationally. Standout performers for Seven over the past six months included 7NEWS, Sunrise, AFL, Test and BBL cricket, The 1% Club, Australian Idol, Farmer Wants A Wife, Super Bowl LIX, Ludwig, The Morning Show, The Front Bar and Dancing With The Stars.

7plus was the fastest-growing BVOD platform in the first half of 2025 CYTD and its share of te
commercial BVOD market rose from 35.9% to 38.7%. The number of daily active users
increased by more than 37% year-on-year.

Seven’s Group Managing Director, Television, Angus Ross, said: “Seven’s strong first half shows we really know how to connect with Australians through the news, sport and entertainment content they want, no matter how or where they are watching.

“Our ‘content spine’ shows – Sunrise, The Morning Show, The Chase Australia, 7NEWS, Home and Away and Better Homes and Gardens – win viewers week in, week out. AFL remains Australia’s #1 winter sport, and our 7.30pm entertainment hits including Australian Idol, Farmer Wants A Wife and The 1% Club are proven winners with real staying power.

“Australian Idol’s audience increased again this year, which is a fantastic result, The 1% Club gets stronger every year, and Home and Away is having a stellar year,” he said.

“The remainder of 2025 is looking very strong for Seven. Dancing With The Stars is off to a flying start and then launching out of the 65th TV Week Logie Awards we have the new seasons of The Voice, My Kitchen Rules, RFDS, Once In A Lifetime with Dr Chris Brown, Jim Jefferies And Friends and First Dates, along with major specials Working Class Man [the story of Jimmy Barnes], Boyzone, Live It Up: The Mental As Anything Story, Carols In The Domain and the Channel 7 Telethon in Perth, which raised a record $83.3 million last year.

“Australia’s biggest sporting events also feature in the second half of 2025 – AFL including the Finals series, more Supercars including the Bathurst 1000, horse racing and, of course, The Ashes Test commencing in November,” Mr Ross said.

Source: VOZ 5.0. Total TV audience based on con7 CYTD to 24 June 2025, unless specified otherwise. Shares based on 6am to midnight CYTD to 26 June unless specified otherwise. Ranking based on total TV reach unless specified otherwise.

Nine:

With the end of The Project on Friday, what’s next on the agenda for Roving Enterprises?

Craig Campbell, Head of Television at Roving Enterprises (pictured left), tells TV Tonight, “I still get to play with the two most favourite things I do every year, which is the ARIAs and AACTA Awards. I start on ARIAs next week, although to be honest, both are all year round propositions these days.

“I would like to think I have a duty to ARIAS, which is music, and AACTAs which is film and television.

“I’d like to think as a company, we owe it to the industry to see if we can, I guess, push for an entertainment format somewhere. Something that lets you have your celebrities, lets you have your PR stunt so that we proudly, as a company, get to support the industry all year round, not just on two nights of the year when there’s awards on.”

Grant Denyer is nervous but excited to see Deal or No Deal take on the 7pm battle, as part of 10’s new early evening schedule.

Having a game show at 7pm marks a point of difference from current affairs, serial drama and news programmes.

Episodes are already in the can until late this year, with 195 episodes filmed between November and mid March.

“It doesn’t change much for how we shoot the show, because they’re already done. But obviously the significance of the shift is a part of 10’s rejigging of their nighttime schedule. 7pm gives us the chance to be in front of more eyeballs, which is exciting,” says Denyer.

“We’ve already made a name for ourselves as a bit of a hit with a lot of young families, but at 6pm that’s a tough time slot against the rusted on audiences of the news. But also, young families haven’t necessarily always settled down by 6pm, you know, they might have after school activities still going on. It’s not yet quite dinner time, so everyone’s sort of still buzzing and banging about.

“7pm you’ve got more of an audience that’s ready to be couch-bound and entertained. So I think it’s, it’s really good, really exciting.”

Monday’s episode features Sandra Sully hoping to raise money for SpinalCure Australia.

Deal or No Deal 7pm weeknights on 10.

Seven has waited too long to premiere US series Grosse Pointe Garden Society with confirmation it is now axed after a single season.

Despite Seven touting the show as one of its how new acquisitions, holding it from its February US premiere means there is now little incentive to invest in its season when they finally get around to showing it.

NBC has axed the series five weeks after its US finale.

The series stars AnnaSophia Robb, Melissa Fumero, Ben Rappaport and Aja Naomi King as four members of a garden club in a Detroit suburb whose lives become intertwined by scandal and a shared secret — a murder none of them wants to discuss.

According to the Hollywood Reporter the decision was due in part to NBCUniversal exploring a potential move to Peacock for the series. A deal didn’t come together, however, leading to the end for the series.

Seven was due to screen the series in Q2 but is yet to confirm its plans.

It ended with a 90 minute sentimental retrospective as hosts past and present reflected on all that was The Project.

Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Sam Taunton, Georgie Tunny last night were joined by original hosts Carrie Bickmore, Dave Hughes, Charlie Pickering (in NZ), Tommy Little, Susie Youssef, Hamish Macdonald (in London), Lisa Wilkinson (video message) and Rachel Corbett. Founding executive producers Rove McManus and Craig Campbell did not appear, despite having previously featured on its 10th birthday special in 2019.

There were montages galore showcasing the causes and campaigns The Project has backed, and significant stories including how 13yo Indonesian boy Ali Jasmin serving five years in a maximum security adult prison, a #MilkedDry campaign for farmers, Marriage Equality, banning Engineered Stone, and Carrie’s Beanies for Brain cancer.

There were flashbacks to celebrity guests, rehearsal outtakes (Christopher Pyne singing Fernando), and host memories, all before an invited audience of its own production family.

The tears flowed from Carrie Bickmore, Georgie Tunny, Rachel Corbett and more.

Fittingly, it finished with one last Waleed Aly editorial, on saying goodbye….

“16 years ago, some outstandingly creative people began an audacious TV experiment. Could you straddle the worlds of news, popular culture and comedy in a single show, a single segment, a single moment? Could you create a world where Will Ferrell can interview the Prime Minister? It’s not the done thing. Could you cover everything from wars and revolutions to Kim Kardashian breaking the internet to the latest developments in Qantas customer service? (Carrie, that’s how you say it),” he said.

“Could you do that in the space of five minutes? It’s not the done thing. Could you do a prime time commercial news show that hooked its audience by playing with them instead of scaring them, that didn’t trade on demonising groups of people who have no platform to respond? It’s not the done thing.

“Well, we done the thing, and according to everyone involved, it started terribly! It wasn’t meant to survive six months, but it did, and it stabilised, then it thrived, then it soared. And the little show that could became the landmark show that did. And that is a miracle. And maybe miracles aren’t meant to be explained, but maybe this one can be. And maybe the clue is that nothing like this show exists anywhere in the world, as our international guests would constantly tell us when they came in. And that’s because I think this show reflected the best of this country.

“It was irreverent. It knew when things were serious, but it refused ever to take itself that way. It always gave its best, but it never presumed to think it was doing everything right. For God’s sake, the show’s name is The Project. It’s never finished, and it reflected our lives. You love, you cry, you get things wrong, you laugh, and you do all these things all at once, not in isolation, because that’s life.”

He added, “I guess I’m meant to say that we’ll meet again, but the truth is we won’t, not in this combination. This impossible show and the people who gathered around it, is unlike anything that came before it, and nothing like it will exist again. This show brought people together with sometimes very little in common, and made them long term friends. It showed what can happen when we open our hearts to each other in good faith, and if we decide that that bit, that can exist forever and that is something to celebrate.

“On that note, thanks so much for having us. Goodbye.”

Waleed Aly has been at The Project desk for over a decade and while nobody wants to say goodbye, it’s time, so this is our final moments on air, from one of the greatest people we have ever met. pic.twitter.com/tkxpOo5gkG

— The Project (@theprojecttv) June 27, 2025

Media watchdog the Australian Communications and Media Authority has decided not to register a revised Code of Practice put forward by commercial television networks.

Free TV Australia was seeking to extend M Classification from 7:30pm – 6am and 12 – 3pm on school days to 10am – 3pm regardless of school days or weekends.

The move could have seen an additional 800 hours of alcohol advertising on free-to-air channels each year.

Based on evidence obtained during the code review process the ACMA was not satisfied that the revised code would provide appropriate community safeguards.

“Of particular concern to the ACMA was the proposal to extend the times when M rated content would be permitted, allowing more M content, including advertising for products such as alcohol, to be shown on commercial TV at times when children are more likely to be watching,” ACMA said in a statement.

“This decision means that the current code will remain in force.

“Since the code was last updated in 2015 there has also been significant research into the impacts of alcohol advertising, including in relation to sport.

“To address outstanding community concerns on this matter the ACMA is commencing a body of work to assess the suitability of alcohol advertising restrictions in the current code, including exemptions for sporting events.

“This work would inform the Authority’s considerations as to whether the current code is providing appropriate community safeguards and, if not, the ACMA should determine a content standard. We will provide further updates on this work in due course.”

The code review also highlighted significant community concern regarding gambling advertising on commercial TV.

“While broader gambling reforms are under consideration by government, the ACMA encourages Free TV to proactively review the existing gambling advertising rules ahead of any potential government reforms,” said ACMA.

“The ACMA also remains of the view that Free TV should voluntarily extend its broadcast safeguards to all television content provided online, consistent with the approach taken by the national broadcasters.”

Amongst the other Code changes which had been proposed:

A commercial for a film, DVD or computer game will no longer need to carry the Classification as deemed by the Australian Classification Board.

When broadcasting a news or Current Affairs Program, warnings as appropriate must be given before a segment if the content is likely to seriously distress or seriously offend a substantial number of viewers, but this no longer needs to be a spoken warning.

There are also changes to the way Complaints may be lodged, with all broadcasters required to link to the Free TV complaints page. Viewers will be able to write to networks for complaints or lodge an eletronic complaint via Free TV Australia.

Free TV said in a statement: “Free TV Australia will carefully consider the ACMA’s feedback in relation to the Commercial Television Code of Practice and will continue to engage constructively with the Authority’s future initiatives.

“The existing Code continues to provide strong community safeguards, with free-to-air television remaining the most highly regulated broadcast medium in the country.”

TV Tonight frequently acknowledges the passing of those who have worked behind the scenes, whether high profile or diligent workers of a collaborative business.

Today veteran presenter Pete Smith pays tribute to a devoted audience member, Sandra Best. Because without the audience there is no show.

“Earlier this week, there was a death notice in the Melbourne Herald Sun for a Sandra Best,” Pete Smith writes.

“The name was familiar to me because I realised Sandra had been a regular attendee at Channel 9 live shows dating back well over fifty years.

“Along with Sandra there was a small number of other people of various ages who were always in the audience of whatever show was being produced.

“On some occasions back in the ’60s and ’70s these devotees would have tickets for not only the nightly variety shows but also for daytime productions like Take The Hint with Frank Wilson or Tommy Hanlon Jnr’s It Could Be You.

“They were certainly hectic and exciting times to be working in television.”

Vale, Sandra and thanks Pete.

In 2016, Nine didn’t need to show actual talent from its season of Australia’s Got Talent to promote the show.

It had 21-year-old Josh Saunders, a dance instructor from Sunbury, a town just outside Melbourne in the state of Victoria. His face said it all.

Dave Hughes, who hosted the season, even went on to tell the Today show “That guy should win.”

Josh Saunders described being used for the promo as “extremely flattering” before going on to say: “It’s just ridiculous, let’s be serious. It’s ridiculous.”

I wish I got paid…But im glad you enjoyed the show!! It has been AH-mazing and who knows what this experience will bring @SallyRMelb

— Josh Saunders (@ThePromoGuyOz) March 14, 2016

Former Reality TV contestant Tamika Chesser, who competed on Beauty and the Geek in 2010, was arrested and charged with murder last Thursday after a man’s remains were found at a unit in South Australia.

Chesser, 34, stands accused of murdering her partner, Julian Story, in Port Lincoln last week. She appeared in court today via video link. She is being held under a mental health detention order. A suppression order on her name was lifted, ABC reports.

SA Police documents submitted to the court said emergency services were called to the property on  June 19 after a neighbour reported a fire at Ms Chesser’s unit.

The document said police arrived at the scene after being called by firefighters, where they allegedly located the victim’s remains in the bathroom.

“Once the scene was secure and safe police entered the premises and in the bathroom sighted the deceased remains which were severely burnt and disfigured,” the document said.

Tamika Chesser was runner-up on Beauty & the Geek in 2010 on Seven.

She will return to court again in December.

After 45 years business reporter Peter Ryan has decided to retire from ABC News due to ill health.

Ryan began his career as a copyboy and cadet on Sydney’s Daily Mirror, and has held a variety of jobs over the years, but describes the ABC as his “spiritual home”.

His outstanding work in TV and radio news and current affairs, including his reporting for flagships AM, The World Today and PM, has made him a familiar face and voice to many Australians and earned him the enduring respect and appreciation of audiences and his peers.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers: “Peter Ryan is an absolute legend. Every day as you wake up and you think about what’s happening in the economy, if you only needed to listen to one voice to be sure that you got its essential elements, it would be Peter’s.”

ABC Director, News Justin Stevens: “In my conversations with Peter over the past year I’ve been inspired by his resilience, courage and humility. It’s devastating news that he is having to retire. We will miss him greatly, and also his strong journalism and authoritative analysis.”

Peter Ryan shares his highs and lows from 45 years:

“So what have I learned from 45 years in journalism? This is for younger and older colleagues alike.

“When I look back at my start on Sydney’s Daily Mirror in 1980, as an 18-year-old straight out of school, we were still printing newspapers off hot metal. People were smoking in newsrooms and there was a lot of yelling as deadlines ran down to the wire.

“My parents were absolutely delighted when I was finally hired by the ABC in 1984. Our TV always seemed to be stuck on Channel 2, we were forced to watch the 7pm news every night and I had to listen to AM and PM in the kitchen.

“I’d love to be with you all there, but one strong message I have is, never let anyone tell you the good old days were really that good – that’s a bit of a myth.

“I’d like to thank the ABC for taking so many risks with me over the years, giving me my dream of a foreign posting in Washington and then into big editorial roles.

“But for me in the end it’s all about being a reporter out in the real world telling it as it is. I’m always chuffed when I hear people tell me you’re able to take complex issues and break them down into three good parts. When someone tells me that, that’s more important than a whole lot of awards.

“A few words of editorial advice. Avoid cynicism – be passionate. A good team can often be a very small team – I’ve worked in some of the best. Be proactive – come to the table with a great story so no one else comes up with a dud that might waste your time.

“Work closely with top people – shut up and absorb like a sponge. Maintain a fastidious contact book – some low-profile contacts could soon move into higher powered roles or more importantly work in backrooms where the big decisions are often made.

“Show up to work early and prove that you’re ready to take on the big story of the day. Try to have a Plan B in your back pocket just in case your original brilliant idea doesn’t go anywhere and the EP comes walking your way.

“Finally: Be kind and caring to people who need it.”

Peter’s many career highlights include being the ABC’s Washington Bureau Chief, head of TV news and current affairs in Victoria, Executive Producer of Business Breakfast, founding editor of Lateline Business, which later became The Business, and Business Editor. Since 2016 he has held the role of Senior Business Correspondent.

In 2017 Peter won a Walkley Award for his expose on the Commonwealth Bank scandal. His coverage contributed to the calling of the banking Royal Commission and in 2018 he was the National Press Club finance journalist of the year for his coverage of the commission.

In 2022 he was recognised with the Order of Australia medal for his significant service to journalism.

Peter has been a mentor to many younger journalists, generous with his time and experience. He was founding chairman of the Kennedy Foundation, a trustee on the board of the NSW Journalists Benevolent Fund and has had a long-term involvement with journalists’ union the MEAA.

Three sports events screened across networks on Thursday night.

NRL was the top sports drawcard at 702,000 then AFL (524,000) and Matildas v Slovenia (294,000), but there werre variations in playouts depending on the city.

Tipping Point (793,000) topped entertainment then Home & Away (746,000).

7:30 was 595,000 then Joanna Lumley’s Danube (459,000), Airport 24/7 (347,000), Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly (302,000 where it screened)

Seven News was #1 at 1.37m then The Chase (692,000). Movie: The Proposal drew 197,000.

Nine News was best for Nine at 1.28m with ACA at 966,000. Paramedics was 272,000 and Emergency (269,000) in select cities.

ABC News pulled 860,000. Grand Designs Australia (321,000), House of Games (250,000) and Griff’s Great Australian Rail Trip (211,000) followed.

Both 10 News First and The Project drew 356,000 last night, the latter in its penultimate episode. Deal or No Deal managed 238,000.

On SBS it was SBS World News (232,000 / 141,000), Treasures with Bettany Hughes (129,000), 7/7: The London Bombings (107,000), Sherlock & Daughter and Mastermind (both 99,000).

The Morning Show: 267,000 / 172,000
Today Extra: 180,000 / 134,000

National Total TV: Thursday 26 June 2025

Marge Simpson has not been killed off by The Simpsons.

Clickbait articles ran this week following a Season 36 finale, “Estranger Things,” (which actually aired on May 18 stateside) with a flash forward sequence.

In the episode Bart and Lisa are seen drifting apart as they stop watching “Itchy & Scratchy” together. They agree to maintain their relationship, but drift apart after Marge dies. Years later, Lisa is commissioner of the NBA and Bart is running an unlicensed retirement home where Homer lives. Bart and Lisa are still estranged when she comes home to make a speech at Springfield Elementary — but after she discovers a video Marge made urging them to look after each other, they reestablish their bond. Marge, meanwhile, is watching this happen from heaven — while carrying on an affair with Ringo Starr.

“Obviously since the The Simpsons future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they’re all different every time,” executive producer Matt Selman has told Variety. “Marge will probably never be dead ever again. The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago.”

“Here’s my take: Websites need traffic, and headlines equal traffic,” Selman said. “And then you can explain that the headline was misleading at the very end of the article. Every single media outlet that ran this story knew that in no way was Marge dead. They all knew it, but they ran the headline anyway.”

Not here, mate.

Production has commenced in Victoria on Goolagong, a three-part ABC mini-series based on the inspiring true-life story of world champion tennis player, Evonne Goolagong.

In her breakthrough role portraying one of Australia’s most-loved female sporting heroes, is rising new star and proud Whadjuk and Ballardong Noongar woman Lila McGuire (The Twelve) alongside Marton Csokas (Asylum, Equalizer), Felix Mallard (Ginny and Georgia, Turtles All The Way Down) and Luke Carroll (Mystery Road Origin, Scrublands).

Currently filming on the lands of the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung, Taungurung, and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nations, Goolagong is made by Werner Film Prodcutions, directed by Wayne Blair (Mystery Road, Total Control) and written by Steven McGregor (Mystery Road Origin, Sweet Country) and Megan Simpson Huberman (Dating The Enemy, On The Job). Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Roger Cawley are Associate Producers.

ABC Head of Scripted, Rachel Okine, said: “We are thrilled to bring the inspiring story of Evonne Goolagong Cawley to ABC screens. This is the story of a true sporting trailblazer whose resilience, humility and grace created a legacy that continues to reverberate around the globe. With an exceptional creative team bringing this remarkable life to screen, Goolagong promises to be a landmark television event”.

Werner Films Productions Producer, Joanna Werner said: “It’s so incredibly rewarding to see Goolagong move into production after nearly nine years in development. Having Evonne and Roger involved as Associate Producers has been invaluable, and we’re so proud to be telling such an important Australian story with their guidance. We’ve undertaken a nationwide casting process to assemble an exceptional ensemble, including exciting new talent and skilled tennis players. Lila McGuire brings something truly special to the role of Evonne — we’re excited for audiences to see her in this breakout role and to be moved by Evonne’s inspiring story. We’re deeply grateful to the ABC for championing this project and recognising its significance from the outset. And we’re thrilled that BBC Studios will now take this uniquely Australian story to audiences around the world”.

“Working on the Goolagong series is one of the proudest moments of my career,” said Goolagong’s Co-Producer, Danielle MacLean. “Evonne’s success in the world of tennis broke barriers for our people and inspired a generation. Her story is one of perseverance, talent and the inner strength that helped her succeed against the odds. As a First Nations filmmaker, I feel deeply honoured to help bring it to life”.

Screen Australia Director of Narrative Content Louise Gough and First Nations Department Development and Investment Manager Jorjia Gillis said: “Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, is one of Australia’s greatest sporting legends with a story destined for screen. This distinctive series from a powerhouse creative team cleverly balances a celebration of Goolagong’s sporting triumphs and a lifetime of adversity as a First Nations woman living, winning and loving in a patriarchal world. What shines through is a story of commitment, community and culture — a story that will resonate with audiences worldwide.”

VicScreen CEO Caroline Pitcher said: “We are honoured to support some of Australia’s most exciting First Peoples talent both in front of and behind the camera, including writer Steven McGregor, producer Danielle MacLean and director Wayne Blair, who will bring Evonne Goolagong’s inspiring story to the screen. This is a story that will resonate with all Australians and will deepen our connection to Evonne as both First Peoples woman and athlete, and her unique strength, resilience, and vulnerability as she navigates her life’s journey”.

Goolagong will air in 2026.

The journey will take us from the tiny NSW regional town of Barellan, where an eager eight-year-old Aboriginal kid first peered through the cyclone wire fence of a tennis court to the centre courts of the world, where Evonne (McGuire) would reach the world number one ranking and endear herself to millions around the globe.

Along the way, the obstacles will be immense. At age 12, Evonne will leave behind her family to be coached by the imperious Vic Edwards (Csokas). While the on-court success that follows unites a nation, a deeply disturbing dynamic is playing out behind the scenes that will threaten to tear everything apart. And, when she falls deeply in love with Roger Cawley (Mallard), Evonne will have to decide whether to follow her heart or follow her career. Or, whether she can do both.

Production credit: A Werner Films Productions series for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Major production investment from Screen Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in association with VicScreen. Written by Steven McGregor and Megan Simpson Huberman. Directed by Wayne Blair. Produced by Joanna Werner and Co-Produced by Danielle MacLean. Associate Producers Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Roger Cawley. Executive Producers Joanna Werner and Stuart Menzies. ABC Executive Producers Brett Sleigh and Rachel Okine. BBC Studios will handle global sales.