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<\/a><\/p>\nMuster Dogs returned for a fourth season last night, now with rookie trainers learning to raise young pups, partnering with new dramedy Dog Park starring Leon Ford and Celia Pacquola.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just such a beautiful show,\u201d says Jennifer Collins ABC Director Screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeon Ford\u2019s created this beautiful ensemble cast, with Celia Pacquola as a fantastic, optimistic character, who plays against Leon\u2019s character, Roland, who\u2019s grumpy. He begrudgingly joins a community of dog lovers at their local dog park. It\u2019s a feelgood, warm, drama about belonging, loneliness and community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe joy of this timeslot is having Muster Dogs leaning into leading into Dog Park. Dogs are something that we\u2019ve lent into at ABC from Bluey to Muster Dogs to now Dog Park. I think those audiences will find everything that they love about Muster Dogs is there in a dramatised form.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q1\u2019s Monday line-up features Australian Story, Four Corners, Media Watch, Planet America while the news division has announced ABC National Forum hosted by David Speers in a yet-to-be-revealed timeslot. Collins confirms these will feature across the year in response to big topics -the first around the lives and experiences of Jewish Australians following the Bondi attack.<\/p>\n
Todd Sampson\u2019s Why? explores BASE jumping, Donor Dads, Doomsday Preppers, Alien Church worshippers.<\/p>\n
\u201cABC is the natural home of Todd. I\u2019ve seen the full series of this one, and each of them is completely different. I love the way that he goes into these communities with a really open mind, doesn\u2019t judge, doesn\u2019t challenge, very much just elicits the motivation\u2026.He is very much embedding, where he can, and immersing himself in people\u2019s lives,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Alex Lee hosts entertainment series Tonight at the Museum where celebrities are quizzed on artifacts in front of an audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe joy of this show is that it does play into curiosity, and I think science, history, all those educational elements, but presented in such a fun, light, smart way. It\u2019s perfectly designed for an ABC audience, in that it does have that mix of smart game play and pure entertainment, Collins continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat also makes this show distinctive is that it is set in a museum. So we\u2019re out of the studio and right in the middle of Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery, and it\u2019s able to leverage not only the objects that are in the museum, but also the staff and the experts that sit around that curated space. It\u2019s good, good co-viewing, family entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Piano returns for a second season now with Guy Sebastian joining Andrea Lam and host Amanda Keller. Prepare for more uplifting, emotional stories says Collins.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s 22 year old Felicia, whose oldest sister played piano but sadly passed away. She comes in and plays a traditional Chinese song, and talks about how the piano just connects her family together and that they can celebrate Florence\u2019s life through the piano. Just a gorgeous story,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n \u201c100 year old Betty comes in and plays, \u2018It Had to Be You\u2019 thinking of how beautiful her husband was, Louis, who she lost at 53 \u2026 Erin from Sydney, who is the daughter of Steve Mortimer plays a lullaby and talks about Steve going through his dementia, brought about by head repetitive head trauma. The piano and the songwriting helped her process what he was going through.\u201d<\/p>\n Hamish Macdonald presents The Matter of Facts in which he deep dives into our trusting of information in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about his exploration of misinformation, disinformation, how we can identify misinformation and disinformation, what makes us vulnerable to the algorithms of social media? \u201d she asks.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy are we so susceptible to being tricked and scammed, and the fact that we land in these echo chambers and only hearing one conversation? He\u2019s exploring, over the top of this, what happens if we lose our faith in facts? Where does that leave us navigating a world where truth and lies can be indistinguishable?<\/p>\n \u201cIt starts in Jindabyne, his home town actually, around a massive fight around the Brumbies there, and how the two sides can\u2019t even agree on the basic facts of how many Brumbies are in that area. There\u2019s one side who are wanting to cull, one side that that fiercely don\u2019t want to cull, but they\u2019re not even working from a fact base.\u201d<\/p>\n The Assembly S3 features interviews with Andy Lee, Claudia, Karvan, Jimmy Barnes, Dave Hughes, Jess Mauboy and Ian Thorpe.<\/p>\n A new scripted comedy Bad Company marks Anne Edmonds\u2019 first scripted series since short-run series Edge of the Bush. She joins Kitty Flanagan in a workplace comedy aout a theatre company on the brink of bankruptcy.<\/p>\n \u201cTo have Kitty and Anne on our screens is a real privilege, and seeing these strong character archetypes going head to head is hilarious. It also has a fantastic ensemble\u2026 it has relatable moments but it does take us into some completely unexpected and bizarre territory at times.\u201d<\/p>\n Also returning are Gruen and Guy Montgomery\u2019s Guy Mont Spelling Bee while Urzila Carlson leads her own comedy series, aptly titled, Urzila.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen one episode and I laughed from beginning to end, it is just delightfully naughty, laugh out loud,\u201d Collins declares. \u201cUrzila owns this show 100%. It\u2019s her on stage doing stand up comedy, and then intercut with sketches and she\u2019s joined by an extraordinary ensemble of people like Sam Pang, Julia Morris and Nazeem Hussain.<\/p>\n Doco series Shaun Micallef\u2019s Going for Broke looks at Australia\u2019s love affair with gambling.<\/p>\n \u201cShaun brings his wit, but he also brings in equal measures, his empathy and his interrogation and inquiry. It was a surprise to me that he\u2019s never stepped into an RSL before. He\u2019s not gambled previously. So he walks into it really trying to understand this national pastime and but also explores how people get drawn into that group of addiction. Australians lose nearly $32 billion every year. We spend more on gambling than we do on drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n Quized on her own first hand experience, Collins reveals, \u201cNo, I don\u2019t partake in gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n Also coming in Q2 is the ambitious revival of Race Around the World, which Collins originally worked on in the 1990s. Solo storytellers will crisscross the globe to create 10 spectacular films, in 10 countries, in 100 days.<\/p>\n \u201cThe show is going to stay true to the DNA of the original, but there will be some new elements. But ultimately, it\u2019s all about the racers and their films, which will sit between about 2.5 \u2013 4 minutes. Zan Rowe and John Safran are super excited about the cast that are coming through, which will be locked off in the next few weeks, I imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n A bog change to the original sees the series screen while racers will still be en route -plus the addition editing on the fly and the audience with social media.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything\u2019s in real time this time. They\u2019ll have to be able to manage all of that and respond to judging in the studio and social media, and still be able to continue on the race and make those films,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Sam Pang leads his first scripted series Ground Up, as an AFL administrator Hugh Shen tasked with establishing a football club in Tasmania. From Gristmill\u2019s Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope, it is now filming with cast including Marg Downey, Lucy Durack, Dave Thornton, and Emma Harvie.<\/p>\n Stuff the British Stole with Marc Fennell is back for a third sesaon whilst two-part documentary Rolf Harris: Can You Tell What I Am Yet? charts the rise and dowfall of Rolf Harris.<\/p>\n Quarter 3 features new drama series Treasure & Dirt which kicks off with a death in an opal mining town in South Australia.<\/p>\n It\u2019s directed by Madeleine Gottlieb, who has done an extraordinary job. She just brings this very distinct visual signature to the direction, lots of stylistic flourish. She creates a very atmospheric, menacing environment. Michael Dorman, who plays Ivan and Liv Hewson, who plays Nell are wonderful. There\u2019s this real feel of being uncomfortable, and it\u2019s very disorienting. I think this is really very distinctive to what else we\u2019ve got on the drama slate, and it really stands out.<\/p>\n \u201cI kept thinking when I was watching this we are so lucky with the range of locations we have in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n In Class Clowns, six comedians, Dave Hughes, Nina Oyama, Luke McGregor, Bron Lewis, Matt Okine and Becky Lucas are back in the classroom for a competition series.<\/p>\n \u201cJulia Morris is relishing being the principal. It has terrific gameplay, really well designed, very relatable challenges all around our favourite school subjects, like physics and geography and mathematics.\u201d<\/p>\n Annabel Crabb revives Kitchen Cabinet, whilst Portrait Artist of the Year returns.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n