Season 16

Film critic Margaret Pomeranz introduces this encore edition on the very special personal and professional bond shared by filmmaker Sarah Watt and her husband actor and writer William McInnes.

Nazeem Hussain and Aamer Rahman have become two of the hottest young comedians on the Australian comedy scene. They first met seven years ago as a result of their support for asylum seekers and for anti racism activism. But they quickly found their forte was comedy. In the space of five years the two mates from Melbourne have achieved what other up-and-coming stand-up comics can only dream of. They established their own stage show... 'Fear Of A Brown Planet' and sold out around the nation... Most recently they've gone international with successful shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in London.

Kristina Keneally made history by becoming the first female Premier of New South Wales. What few realise is the family experience that she says led her into politics and toughened her for the brutal crossfire of public life.

This week's program continues the baffling case of Jeffrey Gilham, currently serving a life sentence for the murders of his own parents in Sydney nearly twenty years ago. Jeffrey Gilham was a free man for fifteen years after receiving a good behaviour bond for the manslaughter of his brother, Christopher, whom he claimed had killed their parents. But his uncle Tony Gilham became suspicious and waged a determined campaign for more than a decade to convict his nephew for all three deaths. Tony Gilham is certain justice has now been served, but Jeffrey Gilham's wife Robecca and other supporters are contesting the verdict and an appeal will be heard next month.

This week's Australian Story program is the first of a two-parter on the notorious case of Jeffrey Gilham, in jail for life for the murders of his own parents. Gilham's uncle, Tony Gilham, campaigned for more than a decade to put his nephew behind bars, and he's convinced justice has been done. In Sydney next month, an appeal will be heard against both his conviction and his sentence. Both sides of the divided family have spoken with Australian Story. But Jeffrey Gilham's wife and supporters are speaking publicly for the first time. They believe he's innocent of murder...

This week's program tells the story of the Australian woman at the heart of Steven Spielberg's much anticipated Christmas blockbuster. Zelie Bullen is a former stunt woman, turned world renowned animal trainer. She is stepping into the international spotlight as the woman who trained 'Abraham', the lead horse in Spielberg's production of the Tony award winning play 'War Horse'. The movie is being likened to 'ET' and tells the story of a boy who follows his beloved horse into the trenches in World War One. Zelie Bullen married into the famous Bullen circus family. Her own early history with its triumphs and tragedies, reads like a film script. But it's the once in a lifetime performance she drew from the horse 'Abraham' that seems set to make Hollywood history... Bullen says "At the end of the job Steven (Spielberg) threw up his arms for a big hug and said 'all of the love that you put into your animals has come out on screen, on my screen and it will be there forever'." Now Bullen is on a reunion quest of her own. She says she is desperate to acquire 'Abraham' and bring him back to her property on the Gold Coast hinterland...

This week we revisit the story of two Australian scientists and their quest for one of medicine's holy grails finding a way to treat cancer without the dreaded side effects. Four years ago, Dr Jennifer MacDiarmid and Dr Himanshu Brahmbhatt sparked worldwide interest with a revolutionary new technique to deliver chemotherapy. Animal tests have produced spectacular results and now the scientists are ready to move onto human trials.

This week's program tells the story of a most unlikely friendship between a TV Drama legend and three young men who grew up as part of the notorious 'Bra Boys' from the Sydney suburb of Maroubra. Sue Masters is a television producer and writer responsible for some of Australia's best known and best loved dramas including SeaChange and Brides of Christ. At Channel Ten, she oversaw the award winning The Secret Life of Us. She had never even visited Maroubra, 'I had only ever read bad press', but now she's teamed up with 'Bra Boys' Macario de Souza and his friends Mark Matthews and Richie Vaculik to work on a big screen documentary about big wave surfing, alcohol fuelled violence and the sequence of events that finally frightened the young men into cleaning up their lives. On the surface, the award winning TV producer and the three young men had nothing in common, but as the story unfolds unlikely connections emerge... Sue Masters says: 'This is very much about young men trying to stop their best friend from ruining their life and doing everything in their power to harness their talents, focus on their fitness and keep them out of the pubs and out of trouble'.

When Catherine Smith was found not guilty of attempting to murder her own husband it was a turning point in one of the most extraordinary cases in Australian criminal history. Ms Smith and her six children had suffered twenty years of terror at the hands of her husband, Kevin. She didn't get the help she needed from the authorities and Kevin Smith made it clear he would stop at nothing in his efforts to punish and control the people he regarded as his property. But in the last few months, the diminutive Catherine Smith has finally succeeded in turning the tables on a man now regarded as nothing less than a psychopath.

Forty-one year old Gavin Larkin was the ultimate alpha male with a seemingly perfect life. He was a highly successful advertising executive with friends in high places. But there was a problem. He was, as he says himself, 'a bit of a prick'. Gavin decided to change a few things and three years ago he used his marketing nous and his high profile contacts to create a national day of awareness called R U OK? Day. Within nine months, R U OK? Day achieved levels of awareness about depression and suicide prevention that other organisations had failed to achieve over the course of decades. But not long after the launch, the super fit indomitable Gavin was anything but okay.

Not since the mighty Phar Lap has a horse captured the public imagination like Black Caviar. She remains unbeaten after thirteen runs and has been declared the best racehorse in the world. She's the first non human to have her story documented on Australian Story. Black Caviar has been rested for a few months and is being readied to return to the track for her fourteenth contest. If she wins, she equals Phar Lap's record. With exclusive access, we go back to where it all began on a stud farm in Victoria and see how she's transformed the lives of everyone involved.

This week's program is about Jonty Bush who's a recent winner of the Young Australian of the Year title. The title's familiar but Jonty Bush's astonishing personal story is much less well known. At the age of only 32 violent death has been her constant companion. In the space of a few years she lost two of her closest family members in separate and unrelated crimes and had to take over the task of raising her own brother. Instead of succumbing to grief and anger, she took up the challenge to change the world and in the process changed herself...

In this week's concluding episode journalist and publisher Ita Buttrose AO, OBE recounts the 'ballistic' consequences of leaving Kerry Packer's empire to go to work for his great rival Rupert Murdoch. Suddenly there were tougher times culminating in the failure of her own magazine Ita. 'It was like her third baby and she lost it. 'It hurts' says her brother Julian. 'I licked my wounds for a few months.. but you know not everything you do in life works. You've just got to accept that' says Ita Buttrose. From being the most admired woman in Australia, she suddenly found herself applying for jobs and receiving no response. 'Society kind of spat her out and nobody came to her aid' says former colleague and Cleo editor, Shelley Gare. But when the smash hit drama series Paper Giants reignited interest in Ita Buttrose, she was poised and ready to embrace a wave of opportunities with undiminished vigour and determination. According to Trevor Kennedy, former Packer right hand man, 'Ita's always had a major eye for the main chance'. This week she talks candidly about men, dating, loneliness, family, media ethics and grabbing life by the throat, at any age...

The smash hit 'Paper Giants' ABC TV drama triggered a tsunami of interest in the life and times of journalist and publisher Ita Buttrose AO, OBE. Now, in a candid, moving, and surprising double episode, Ms Buttrose, and those closest to her, go on the record with their recollections of a trail blazing career and a momentous period in Australia's social history. It's access all areas, from her early career, her alliance with Kerry Packer and their spectacular falling out, to the wilderness years and her 'rebirth' following the success of 'Paper Giants'. Those interviewed include former Packer right hand man Trevor Kennedy, actress Asher Keddie, Ms Buttrose's brother Julian and her daughter Kate, Governor-General Quentin Bryce and former 'Cleo' magazine editors Shelley Gare and Lisa Wilkinson.

Two years ago we brought you the story of two veterinary staff who were exposed to the Hendra horse virus with devastating consequences. The virus struck again this year, and so far has killed another fifteen horses. With more than seventy people in Queensland and New South Wales monitored for exposure to the Hendra virus, there is pressure to understand why it's spreading so rapidly and to develop a vaccine. This week, we bring you an encore edition of our bittersweet story of Queensland vet Ben Cunneen and his co worker, Natalie Beohm.

Captain Hec Waller and Ordinary Seaman Teddy Sheean both saw service during the darkest days of the Japanese advance towards Australia during World War II. Despite their heroism neither was ever nominated for the Forces' highest accolade, the Victoria Cross.

This week's program tells the story of international banker Sascha Chandler and a secret he'd harboured since childhood. Two years ago he decided to deal with his demons and joined forces with a dogged New South Wales detective to bring to justice one of the country's most elusive and dangerous predators. Andrew McIntosh had managed to escape the authorities over and over again. It's a story of many twists and turns and can now be told for the first time.

If you could die at any moment, how would you live your life? Would you attempt to have children? These were the dilemmas that confronted Alisa Latto and her husband Alastair. Alisa, who is 36, was born with a life threatening genetic condition - one shared by her two siblings and her mother, Rosemary... When her oldest brother died two years ago Alisa said it became crystal clear there were only two ways she could live her life. 'I was either going to do nothing or everything'. After undergoing open heart surgery, she decided the one thing she really wanted was to experience motherhood but doctors said there was a good chance she would die if she bore a child. She looked at adoption and surrogacy but everywhere she turned, everything was stacked against her - legally, medically and financially. Eventually she tracked down an overseas laboratory that was able to examine her DNA and isolate the faulty gene that causes the connective tissue disorder. But she still faced major obstacles. Then, in Los Angeles, an unexpected saviour appeared in the form of a 27 year old mother called Brandi Brewster... This week's Australian Story follows Alisa and her family on an incredible journey with more twists and turns than anyone could ever have anticipated...

This week the conclusion to the story of Penelope Dingle and her family. Mrs Dingle was a former model and actor married to a high profile TV science guru. At the age of 43 she was diagnosed with a common cancer. But in almost inexplicable circumstances she turned her back on conventional medicine, with far reaching consequences for everyone in her circle.

Penelope Dingle was a former model and actor married to TV science guru Peter Dingle. At age 43, she was diagnosed with a common cancer regarded as highly curable if it's caught early.

This week's program features a true story that is stranger than fiction. Sally Nielsen is twenty-five and she's a wedding planner. When her own fiance suffered a catastrophic stroke, she ignored the advice of some of those closest to her and stuck by him. Now her efforts have produced an amazing medical breakthrough.

The conclusion of our story on Dr Simon Palfreeman, the Newcastle pathologist on a mission to help his son who's serving twenty years in a Bulgarian jail.

For three and a half years, Newcastle pathologist Dr Simon Palfreeman has been shuttling between Australia and Bulgaria negotiating that country's complex and controversial justice system to try to help his 24 year old son.

Sabina Wolanski was left alone in the world at 17 when her family were killed in the Holocaust. In 2005 she addressed a gathering of state dignitaries in Berlin, received a standing ovation and reduced journalists to tears.

Charlie Teo is a Sydney neurosurgeon, loved by patients but unpopular with some in the medical establishment. He is credited with prolonging the lives of many people with tumours that were considered inoperable.

Brian Sherman rose to great wealth and success as a businessman. His son Emile is a co-producer of 'The King's Speech', winner of this year's best picture Oscar. But what really unites the family is their overwhelming passion for animal welfare.

This week we're continuing our fifteenth anniversary countdown of some of the most memorable and popular episodes of Australian Story. We're featuring one story from every year and bringing you up to date with what's happened to people. This week, we conclude with the years 2003 to 2010. As you would expect, there's some laughter and some tears - but there are some big surprises too.

Celebration of 15 years of Australian Story featuring Gayle Shann, Chris Sarra, Beth Heinrich, Greg Combet, Belinda Emmett, Bob Irwin, Gemma Sisia and Michael Ware.

On 22 July 2007, Peter Hodgkins threw a rock at a car from an overpass at Kiama, NSW, smashing the skull of beauty therapist Nicole Timbs (Miller) and changing both their lives forever. Now out of jail, Hodgkins is attempting to make amends by working with police. In this week's program, Nicole Timbs, Peter Hodgkins, their families and the police offer their perspectives on the lifelong impact of this shattering moment.

Band manager David Powell took the Melbourne rock band JET from obscurity to ARIA triumph and then onto the international stage. But fate was less kind to David - today he is lucky to be alive to tell his story.

This week's program is about an Australian businesswoman who came to the rescue of a young man who seemed beyond hope and beyond help. Eight years ago Elizabeth Clayton was living in Fiji when she encountered a young man known as the 'chicken boy'. He'd been kept in a hen house as a child and then tied up for 22 years in an old people's home. His name was Sujit and they were about to change each other lives in remarkable ways...

This week's program concludes the story of John Quigley, a lawyer and politician widely praised for his four year battle to free a man wrongly imprisoned for murder. As we revealed, it's all come at a steep personal price for Quigley, who now finds himself in the dock, facing professional misconduct charges. At the same time, he's tackled major health crises; the demands of a young family, and, most recently, another notorious case involving police wrongdoing...

Part 1 of the program about lawyer and politician John Quigley whose three decades in the public spotlight have drawn controversy, enmity and notoriety.

In 2010 a Victorian court sentenced Robert Farquharson to a minimum 33 years jail for deliberately driving his three sons to their death in a dam on Father's Day.

Paul de Gelder was a Navy clearance diver with a reputation as one of the toughest of the tough. It was routine for him to swim long distances in the middle of the night, often in shark infested waters. Two years ago he was testing new sonar equipment in Sydney Harbour when he was attacked by a shark and pulled from the water, barely alive. Surveying his injuries, he told his doctor 'Make me a terminator'. This week's program follows his recovery and the twists and turns that followed. It includes chilling footage of the attack, just released by the Navy exclusively for this program.

Jade Hopper is a young woman on the cusp of the toughest decision of her life - to pursue her dream of becoming a world no. 1 tennis player or to court success from her law studies.

On the eve of his retirement from public office, the nation's longest serving Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery, reflects exclusively on his sixteen years in the top job. Cowdery's reign encompasses some of the nation's most notorious criminal prosecutions including the cases of Ivan Milat, Gordon Wood, Keli Lane, and the moral outcry over Bill Henson's photographs of children. Loved by many in the legal profession, but loathed by some in the political arena, Nicholas Cowdery is acknowledged as a fierce defender of the DPP's independence. His decision from the outset not to 'curry favour' with his political masters led to a 'take no prisoners' leadership style that's divided friends and foes alike. In a rare insight, Nicholas Cowdery reveals the stories behind some of his most difficult decisions - and finally explains what the gift of two olives in a jar from one of his biggest opponents really stood for.

Fraser Island, off the coast of Queensland is the only place in the world with a population of pure dingos, but some authorities say they're in trouble with their numbers declining. Experts disagree about the best way to manage the island which is mostly National Park and the issue has become highly political. This program is about wildlife photographer Jennifer Parkhurst, whose passion for dingos set her at odds with park rangers - and brought her to the brink of disaster...

For the last 48 years Jacki Weaver has been one of Australia's best loved actors. Now 63, she has achieved a stunning career high by being chosen as one of the Best Supporting Actress nominees for this year's Oscars.

Doug Sunderland is an 85 year old motor bike rider who travelled solo around Australia becoming the centre of a social networking phenomenon on the way.

Maggie MacKellar was a city dweller who seemed to have it all - a successful academic career, a devoted husband, a young daughter and another baby on the way.