The brand new series features Australia’s top real estate agents Gavin Rubinstein, D’Leanne Lewis, and elite buyer’s agent Simon Cohen, who will transport viewers into the fast-paced world of buying and selling high-end, luxury real estate within the harbour city.

The show will follow their professional and personal lives, set against Sydney’s most affluent playground. The trio will showcase some of the most breath-taking homes in the exclusive Sydney property market, complete with stunning harbour views and iconic beachfront backdrops.

“We are pleased to be announcing the new Sydney real estate docu-reality series to our growing and successful Amazon Australian Originals line up,” said Erika North, Head of Originals, Asia Pacific, at Amazon Studios. “Prime Video has commissioned five Amazon Original series in Australia since 2019, including The Test: A New Era for Australia’s Team, a series of 10 stand-up comedy specials by some of Australia’s best comedians, LOL: Last One Laughing AU with Rebel Wilson, the upcoming Back to The Rafters and the untitled AFL docu-series project.  We are looking forward to continuing our work with talented Australian producers to showcase the beautiful backdrop Sydney provides and give customers a glimpse into the world-class real estate market in this iconic city.”

“Sydney’s real estate market is unlike any other in the world, it’s a brilliant mix of big personalities, spectacular properties and high-stakes deals. We are thrilled to be working with Amazon Prime Video on this premium production.” said Chris Culvenor – co-CEO Eureka Productions. “Sydney’s real estate sales continue to grow each year, and at the heart of these multi-million-dollar deals is the outstanding local real estate agents. Amazon Prime Video is uniquely placed to share stories with audiences in more than 240 countries and territories, showcasing one of the world’s most stunning cities to a global audience, through the lens of our real estate dynamos.”

The series will be produced by Eureka Productions and will be executive produced by Chris Culvenor, Paul Franklin, Rikkie Proost and John Karabelas. The series was developed by Kentel and will be co-produced by executive producers Benjamin Scott and James Kennedy.

The docu-reality series will be filmed on location around Sydney. Together with independent health and safety consultants, in full consultation with industry partners, and in accordance with all current government guidelines, the production team has developed comprehensive production protocols to ensure that the series is produced in a safe and responsible manner during this time of global pandemic.

Louisa Graham, chief executive of the Walkley Foundation, said: “This year’s finalists continue to impress with courageous acts of journalism. We had hoped that, despite the uncertainty created by Covid-19, we would be able to come together in person to celebrate the hard work, innovation and resilience shown by our industry over the past 12 months. But to safeguard the health and safety of our journalists, partners and staff we will celebrate virtually. Wherever you are, please join us in raising a toast to this outstanding journalism, which serves the public by informing during crises, sparking inquiries, prompting changes to the law and holding the powerful to account. Cheers!”

Finalists are selected by panels of peers on the basis of overall merit and journalistic excellence. The Walkley Foundation encourages a diversity of entries from journalists around Australia. This year it received 1408 entries.

All Walkley Award-winners will be announced in a live broadcast on ky News Extra (Foxtel Channel 603) and streamed on the Walkley website (walkleys.com) from 7pm AEDT on Friday, November 20. 

2020 Walkley Award finalists

PRINT/TEXT NEWS REPORT
Award Partner Media Super

Luke Henriques-Gomes, Guardian Australia, “Robodebt failure exposed by leaked documents”
Jacqueline Maley and Kate McClymont, The Sydney Morning Heraldand The Age, “‘Dirty Dyson’: a harasser on the High Court”
Sharri Markson and Kylar Loussikian, The Australian and The Weekend Australian, “The Thousand Talents Plan” 

PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM
Award Partner Sydney Airport

Nina Funnell, Kerry Warren and Lori Youmshajekian, com.au, The Herald Sun, NT Newsand The Mercury, “#LetUsSpeak: Victoria blocks sexual assault victims from using real names”, “Give Rape Survivors a Voice” and “Gang rape victim becomes first Tasmanian to speak out following gag law reform”
Chris Vedelago, Sumeyya Ilanbey and Cameron Houston, The Age, “The man who made a toxic waste disaster,” “What happened to us in West Footscray? Firefighters call for answers after toxic fire” and “’Don’t fight’: CFA told to stay home if chemical stash explodes”
Elise Worthington, Lesley Robinson and John Stewart, Four Corners, ABC, “Please Don’t Judge”

INNOVATION
Award Partner Google News Initiative

Juliette O’Brien, com.au, “Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Australia”
Visual Stories Team, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, “Invisible Crime – Are we failing victims of sexual violence”
Dylan Welch, Alexander Palmer, Clare Blumer and Suzanne Dredge, ABC, “Anatomy of a suicide bombing”

HEADLINE, CAPTION OR HOOK
Award Partner Qantas

Anthony De Ceglie, The West Australian, “THE ROYAL FORMERLY KNOWN AS PRINCE,” “BRIDGET OVER TROUBLED RORTERS” and “YOU HAD ONE JOBKEEPER”
Baz McAlister, The Courier-Mail, “Apoocalypse Now,” “The Windsor of Our Discontent” and “You Shook ‘Em All Night, Elon”
Duska Sulicich, The Age, “There’s a square in there, and a glare as well,” “Bat hit crazy” and “The laud’s prayer” 

FEATURE WRITING LONG (OVER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner UQ

Annabel Crabb, Quarterly Essay, “Men at Work: Australia’s Parenthood Trap”
Trent Dalton, The Weekend Australian Magazine, “Back From The Black”
Russell Jackson, ABC, “The Persecution of Robert Muir” 

FEATURE WRITING SHORT (UNDER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

Harriet Alexander, Nick Moir, Mark Stehle and Richard Lama, The Sydney Morning Herald, “The Monster: A short history of Australia’s biggest forest fire”
Liam Mannix, The Age, “The Perfect Virus: two gene tweaks that turned COVID-19 into a killer”
Sarah Walker, Australian Book Review, “Contested Breath: The ethics of assembly in an age of absurdity” 

COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
Award Partner PwC Indigenous Consulting

Stan Grant and the Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, “I Can’t Breathe” 
Annabel Hennessy, The West Australian, “Kill or Be Killed? The incarceration of Jody Gore”
Calla Wahlquist and Lorena Allam, Guardian Australia, “Rio Tinto explodes Juukan Gorge, and BHP’s 24-hour backdown” 

COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Award Partner BHP

Carla Hildebrandt, Mandurah Mail, “Annette Deverell investigation”
Matthew Kelly, Helen Gregory, Anita Beaumont and Donna Page, Newcastle Herald, “Your Right to Know”
Charlotte King and Andy Burns,Background Briefing, ABC, “Regional stillbirths: No one told these country mums why their babies died”

CARTOON 

Glen Le Lievre, Patreon, “Peace at last”
Jim Pavlidis, The Age, “Back in Black, Highway to Hell”
David Rowe, The Australian Financial Review, “Thoughts and Prayers” 

SPORTS JOURNALISM

Peter Badel, Travis Meyn, Robert Craddock and Kate Kyriacou, The Courier-Mail, “Fall of the Brisbane Broncos” 
Jessica Halloran and Julian Linden, The Australianand The Daily Telegraph, “On Thin Ice: Katia’s story”
Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Amy Donaldson, Fred Shaw and Justin Stevens, 30, ABC, “The Final Race”

SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon

Matthew Abbott, The New York Timesand Oculi, “Football’s Longest Drive: 2000kms across Central Australia”
Robert Cianflone, Getty Images, “Sporting Arenas”
Sam Ruttyn, The Daily Telegraph, “UFC 243”

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
Award Partner ABC

Avani Dias, Hack, triple j,ABC, “The colleague, the girl, the police: Student framed and imprisoned over terror offences tells whole story for the first time”
Dr Norman Swan, Tegan Taylor and Will Ockenden, ABC, “Coronacast”
Mark Willacy, Alexandra Blucher and Rory Callinan,AM, ABC, “The Village Idiot Killing” 

RADIO/AUDIO FEATURE

Rachael Brown and ABC Trace Team, ABC, “Trace: The Informer”
Nicola Harvey, Nakkiah Lui and Miranda Tapsell, Audible, “Debutante”
Hedley Thomas, Slade Gibson and Peter Murphy, The Australian, “The Night Driver”

PRODUCTION
Award Partner Judith Neilson Institute 

Casey Briggs, Andrew George, Ryan Kerlin and Peter Matejcek,ABC, “The Curve: COVID-19 data journalism”
Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, “Black Summer”
Visual Stories Team, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, “Invisible Crime – Are we failing victims of sexual violence”

SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nine News

Samantha Maiden,The New Daily, “Hawaii Two-O: Scott Morrison’s bushfire holiday”
Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer and Sumeyya Ilanbey, 60 Minutes, Nine, “The Faceless Man”
Paul Sakkal and Chloe Booker, The Age, “Hotel quarantine”

COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OR ISSUE
Award Partner Facebook

ABC News and ABC Regional and Local Team, ABC, “ABC Bushfire Coverage”
Richard Baker and The Agehotel quarantine news team, The Age, “Hotel quarantine”
Stan Gorton, The Islander, “Kangaroo Island bushfire coverage”

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon

Matthew Abbott, The New York Timesand Oculi, “A kangaroo rushes past a burning house in Lake Conjola”
Brad Fleet, The Advertiser, “One billion deaths”
Jake Nowakowski, Herald Sun, “Extinction Rebellion” 

BUSINESS JOURNALISM
Award Partner ING

Adele Ferguson, Lesley Robinson and Lauren Day, Four Corners, ABC TV and The Sydney Morning Herald and
The Age, Nine Network, “Immoral and unethical”
Jared Lynch and Nick Evans, The Australian, “Ending business payment rorts”
Michael Roddan, The Australian Financial Review, “#AMPToo – sexual harassment at AMP”

FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Award Partner Nikon

Matthew Abbott,  The New York Times and Oculi, “Black Summer”
David Caird,  Sunday Herald Sun, “Behind the COVID Door”
Nick Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Firestorm” 

TELEVISION/VIDEO CAMERAWORK
Award Partner Australian Super

Adam Bovino, Today and Nine News, Nine, “George Floyd Protests”
Scott Morelli, 60 Minutes, Nine, “Permafrost”
Aaron Smith, ABC TV and ABC iView, “Revelation”

TELEVISION/VIDEO NEWS REPORTING
Award Partner Seven

Amelia Brace and Tim Myers, Sunrise, Seven News andThe Latest, Seven Network, “Beat the Press: Journalism Under Attack”
Alex Hart, Seven News Sydney, Seven Network “New South Wales Fires”
Chris O’Keefe, Nine News, Nine Network, “The Ruby Princess Emails” 

TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS SHORT (LESS THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner SBS

Marc Fennell, Ninah Kopel and Joel Stillone,The Feed, SBS, “Stuffed: Inside Australia’s Biggest Museum Heist”
Adele Ferguson and Chris Gillett, 30, ABC, “Alinta Exposed: Power, lies and privacy breaches”
Dylan Welch, Suzanne Dredge and David Maguire, 30, ABC, “Battlescars” 

TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS LONG (MORE THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner TEN

Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer and Sumeyya Ilanbey, 60 Minutes, Nine, “The Faceless Man”
Louise Milligan, Mary Fallon and Lauren Day, Four Corners, ABC, “Boys Club”
Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, “Killing Field”

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

Jacqueline Maley and Kate McClymont, The Sydney Morning Heraldand The Age, “‘Dirty Dyson’: a harasser on the High Court”
Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters, 60 Minutes, Nine, “Secrets of War”
Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, “Killing Field” 

COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE

Nigel McNay, The Border Mail, “Ineptitude at heart of shutdown,” “Go into the dark to see the light” and “Someone knows what happened”
Ranjana Srivastava, Guardian Australia, “I am a frontline doctor: here’s how you can help me,” “No Zoom meeting ever replaces the solace of grieving with relatives,” and “How did we miss our colleague’s grief?”
Tony Wright, The Age, “You learn a bit working on a local paper. It’s all about the people,” “The tragedy of Mary and William, and a federation in chaos again” and “The vaccines that saved the rock ‘n’ roll generation, and many more” 

WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD SHORTLIST

Against Our Oath, Heather Kirkpatrick, Waratah Films
Revelation, Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton and Tony Jones, ABC and In Films
Storm in a Teacup, Nia Pericles and Celia Tait, ABC and Artemis Media 

WALKLEY BOOK AWARD LONGLIST

Stephanie Convery,After the Count, Viking, Penguin Random House Australia
Antony Dapiran, City On Fire, Scribe
Tom Doig, Hazelwood, Viking, Penguin Random House Australia 
Garry Linnell, Buckley’s Chance, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House Australia
Paddy Manning, body count, Simon & Schuster
Sophie McNeill, We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know, ABC Books
Lucie Morris-Marr, Fallen, Allen & Unwin
Margaret Simons, Penny Wong, Black Inc.
Suzanne Smith, The Altar Boys, ABC Books

NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nikon

Matthew Abbott, The New York Times and Oculi 
Kate Geraghty, The Sydney Morning Herald
Nick Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald

2020 NIKON-WALKLEY PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE WINNERS

These are not Walkley Awards, but prizes administered by the Walkley Foundation on behalf of Nikon. These photos will also appear in the Nikon-Walkley Press Photography exhibition.

NIKON-WALKLEY PHOTO OF THE YEAR
WINNER
Christopher Hopkins, The Age, “I Want to Hold her Hand”

NIKON-WALKLEY PORTRAIT PRIZE
WINNER
James Brickwood, Australian Financial Review Magazine, “Adam Goodes”

NIKON-WALKLEY COMMUNITY/REGIONAL PRIZE
WINNER
Sylvia Liber, Illawarra Mercury, “Strength and Resilience”

NIKON-WALKLEY CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN DAILY LIFE
WINNER
David Gray, Getty Images, “Dealing with drought”

—

Top Photo: Christopher Hopkins Walkley Winner 2020

Zempilas had already indicated that if he won the election, he would stand down from his duties at 6PR. However, it emerged yesterday that Seven had indicated earlier this year it didn’t wish Zempilas to renew his contract which expires next month. Zempilas is the face of Seven Sport in the state, appearing nightly on Seven News and covering AFL matches played in the state.

Sportsbet has Zempilas at a $1.60 favourite in the Perth poll, with former ABC journalist Dianne Bain the second favourite at $2.95.

WAtoday reported yesterday the 49-year-old said he was sad to leave 6PR and was proud of the achievements of the breakfast team with fellow broadcaster Steve Mills.

“I’ve had an unbelievable time at 6PR and have been very proud of our successes and my partnership with Steve Mills,” Zempilas said. “I will miss being a part of 6PR breakfast very much.”

Radio 6PR content manager Emily White said several candidates were in line to replace Zempilas in the high-profile job.

“Baz will finish at the end of the year and leaves with our best wishes,” she said.

“We’re considering a number of options for the breakfast show in what’s shaping as an exciting 2021 for 6PR.”

Zempilas and Mills this morning joked that Seven News Perth was celebrating a birthday today. Zempilas dared his panel operator to play the Seven News theme, joking, “It might be the last thing you ever do!” The theme got a short burst before Zempilas said, “that’s enough”.

—

Top Photo:  Basil Zempilas on the campaign trail this week

It’s been seven months since Covid crippled Australia’s live music industry, leaving artists, venues, crew, and music lovers without a vital part of our country’s culture and economy. Born out of this crisis, The Sound’s purpose is clear: to showcase Australian music. With unique, multi-platform content, season two will continue to highlight the vast array of local talent within our industry, with artists given the opportunity to perform for prime-time audiences on our national broadcaster.

The epic first season featured 85 artists filmed at 58 locations nationwide. It was packed full of ARIA winners, chart toppers, the hottest new talent and moving performances by incredible First Nations talent.

Returning for season two is host Jane Gazzo (ex-triple j, Recovery) who’ll also be joined on our screens by Bridget Hustwaite (triple j Good Nights) along with a guest co-host each episode. Expect the return of segments ‘From The Vault’ (unseen historical footage) and ‘Tribute’ (incredible collaborations on legendary tracks)… plus a few new surprises.

Says host Jane Gazzo: “I am delighted to be part of The Sound season two. Australian music is not just being celebrated on the ABC with The Sound, but also documented and highlighted during what has been possibly the most unusual year ever for the arts and music industry. The positive feedback from season one validated just how much Aussie audiences love their music television… I look forward to seeing the massive talent and contributions from so many of our established and emerging artists. Bring it on!”

The Sound is a Mushroom Vision production in association with ABC. Producer Saul Shtein. Executive producer Michael Gudinski. ABC series producer Marie Davies.

—

Top Photo:  The Sound hosts Jane Gazzo (left) and Megan Hustwaite

The KPI is to have at least 50% of the key creative roles across all formats (feature drama, television drama, online drama and documentary) that receive Screen Australia development and production funding to be held by women and female-identifying practitioners, across a three-year-average. This is the first year of the new KPI reporting and considers the key creative roles of producer, writer and director. The tracking period is 2019/20 to 2021/22.

“We want to see real and significant inclusion of women in screen projects and ensure our female and female-identifying practitioners are equally represented in our industry,” said Joanna Werner, Screen Australia board member, chair of the Gender Matters Taskforce and acclaimed producer.

“While we are encouraged by the result overall, the KPI has been lifted by high levels of participation by women in development applications, and these high levels are not yet carrying through to some areas of production.

“We can also see in industry-wide data that tracks participation over an eight-year period that men continue to dominate all key creative roles in feature production, and writer and director roles in television drama, online drama and documentary.

“Systemic change is not something that happens overnight and we recognise that there is still more progress to be made. We hope to gain valuable insights from this three-year KPI reporting period, as we continue to work towards achieving gender parity,” added Werner.

Screen Australia has also released data relating to protagonists of successful feature, online and television drama development and production applications in order to monitor female representation on screen, however this is not counted towards the overall KPI.

“Screen Australia puts consideration around what stories are being told and who is telling them at the centre of our decision making. The inclusion of development data in the Gender Matters KPI shows our commitment to ensuring women are not an afterthought or quota for inclusion that needs to be filled on projects when they reach production – they are present every step of the way,” said Nerida Moore, Screen Australia’s head of development.

“While the first year results for development are promising, the process of developing a project can take anywhere upwards of five years for a feature drama, and around two years for episodic content to move in to production. Many projects we see included in this year’s successful development applications won’t reach production by the end of this three year KPI reporting period. A number of factors influence conversion rates including marketplace, natural attrition and creative reasons. We want to continue to see strong results across every application area and hope this in time converts to more female-led projects being made,” said Moore.

—

Top Photo: 
The Gender Matters Taskforce at their first meeting in early March 2020.
Photo: Daniel Boud
Back L to R – Anusha Duray, Joanna Werner, Monique Keller
Middle L to R – Lisa French, Sarah Bassiuoni, Tania Chambers, Rachel Okine, Deanne Weir, Fiona Tuomy
Front L to R – Meg O’Connell, Sophia Zachariou, Rosie Lourde, Liz Doran, Que Minh Luu, Kristy Matheson
Not pictured Taskforce members – Rachel Griffiths, Bonnie Elliott, Malinda Wink

Sheahan, who has spent two decades delicately crafting stories and conducting revealing interviews, has decided to retire from television.

His 234th and final Open Mike episode will air on Tuesday, October 20, but like all good storytellers, the last chapter has a plot twist with AFL 360 hosts Gerard Whateley and Mark Robinson taking charge for a not-to-be-missed one hour special to farewell one of the greats of football media.

“I cherish my time at Fox Footy. I have worked on every program on the network at some point, culminating with 11-years on Open Mike, and now get to leave on my own terms. I have spent 50-years at the top level in the game I have loved from birth… without taking a mark or kicking a goal! I’ve been blessed,” said Sheahan.

Since Open Mike began in 2009, Sheahan has gained the trust of his guests to tell their stories. Whether it was an outlandish Warwick Capper, a wounded Anthony Stevens, or endless amounts of footy legends including Leigh Matthews, Chris Judd, Kevin Sheedy, Adam Goodes, Stephen Kernahan, Jim Stynes, Nathan Buckley and Malcolm Blight.

Arguably the most gut-wrenching Open Mike episode came in 2018 when Richmond champion Merv Keane detailed a tumultuous 25-day period in which he lost his wife and daughter.

Throughout every minute of every episode of Open Mike, the former chief football writer for the Herald Sun maintained the same vigour for news that was evident throughout his 40-years in print media.

“Legend has it that Rupert Murdoch wants his best footy writers to write footy until they drop then drag themselves up and write one more yarn, such is the importance of big-time sport in media. In my 40-year career there’s been no better nor more important footy writer across Australia than Mike Sheahan. And I doubt there ever will be,” said Steve Crawley, executive director of Fox Sports.

The final episode of Open Mike airs at 8.30pm next Tuesday on Fox Footy, channel 504 on Foxtel.

Ceberano returns to Sony Music, having previously released her album Kensal Road with the company in 2013.

On returning to Sony Music Entertainment, Ceberano said: “In a time where nothing is as it was, it’s comforting to come back to a familiar stable with champions like Denis Handlin and Robert Rigby. And certainly with the attention being focused more on Australian music, it’s a comfort to be with one the biggest and best record companies. So grateful for their support during this time and their ongoing loyalty to Australian music.”

“I have always had tremendous respect for Kate as she is a pioneer in the Australian music industry”, said Denis Handlin, chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment Australia and New Zealand. “We are thrilled to welcome Kate back to the Sony Music family and we look forward to working with her for this new chapter of her career.”

Kate will release Sweet Inspiration, the 28th album of her music career, on February 5th 2021. The album, which Ceberano has produced, features two new original songs Hold On – available now – written by Ceberano during the Melbourne pandemic lockdown, and the album’s title track Sweet Inspiration, written in collaboration with veteran Sony Music recording artist Rick Price.

In the mid-80s Kate Ceberano came blazing onto the Australian music scene as the front person for pop funk band I’m Talking and went on to notch up five consecutive hit singles and a Platinum album debut. Ceberano’s music career spans four decades with seven Platinum and seven Gold albums to her name, and multiple ARIA Awards. 

Phew, Seven has nailed a new reality format. Maybe their slogan for 2021 should be: More SAS, less POO.

SAS Australia doesn’t look like any other reality show on TV. It actually looks real and scary and when a former soldier says “only those with mental strength, courage and pure grit will pass”, he is not kidding. Can’t wait to see who will go the distance.

The only issue is some dubious casting and no, not Schapelle Corby. Surely she has done her time and deserves a chance to show another side. Schapelle could have taken a much easier TV option than this, and she will win over the audience.

“Glamour model” Arabella Del Busso (not her real name) is a different story though, because she has paid no price yet for a questionable past that alleges fake pregnancies and fake identities. Having already cashed in to do 60 Minutes (and wasn’t that a car crash), this troubled woman should not be getting any more rewards. How much lower can that bar get?

Another celebrity, who can talk the talk but not walk the walk, doesn’t make it to the end of the first episode (oh dear). Their identity has already been revealed in the media. Since when did tabloids ruin a brand new TV show’s first night by giving away plot spoilers. How much lower can that bar get?

At least there is a positive and nice vibe over on Junior MasterChef (Sunday on 10). As before, this feelgood show is a non-stop parade of remarkable and inspirational kids. Ratings are a bit soft though, but maybe that’s what happens when you finish a family show at 9.20pm the night before kids go back to school.

Well done to Gruen (Wednesday on ABC), those awesome ratings suggest your audience was hanging out for a return. Has anyone been asking for a Dexter comeback though, especially after the Showtime serial killer drama disappeared up its own arse back in 2013?

10 is giving Bachelor In Paradise a rest, and that’s probably a good thing. With so many reality formats forced to stay home next year, there are only so many dating shows the Gold Coast can handle. 2021 is going to be tough for those Bachelor and Bachelorette rejects, unless they want to get thrown into freezing water on SAS Australia.

Primetime News
Seven News 962,000/932,000
Nine News 903,000/847,000
ABC News 706,000
10 News First 313,000/202,000
SBS World News 170,000

Daily current affairs
A Current Affair 647,000
7.30 523,000
The Project 302,000/454,000
The Drum 171,000

Breakfast TV
Sunrise 241,000
Today 222,000
News Breakfast 202,000

Late night news
The Latest 264,000
Nine News Late 144,000
ABC Late News 70,000

Thursday TV

Seven: Home and Away ended its week with another 90 minutes from Summer Bay with 475,000 watching after three nights close to 550,000.

A Thursday movie followed in Sydney and Brisbane, 2017’s The Greatest Showman with Hugh Jackman on 96,000.

The Preliminary Final edition of The Front Bar was on 339,000 with 208,000 in Melbourne.

Nine: A Current Affair Thursday did 647,000 after a drop to 623,000 on Wednesday.

Paramedics started the factual medical series evening with 367,000, Kings Cross ER was on 346,000 and 294,000, and then A&E After Dark from the Hull Royal Infirmary in England did 178,000.

10: Sydney ferries, Covid-19 and The Bachelorette were among the stories featured on The Project with 454,000 after 7pm.

After 468,000 on Wednesday, episode four of The Bachelorette was on 534,000. Becky found a possible partner and there was some bickering from the bachelors.

The Goggleboxers were kept busy looking at Junior MasterChef and The Social Dilemma among other things. After 613,000 last week, last night Gogglebox was on 661,000. 

ABC: With The Heights second season completed, Scottish Vets Down Under got the Thursday night 8pm slot and it had an audience of 340,000.

Escape from the City’s Jane Hall was then taking two house hunters around Mission Beach looking for life by the seaside with 367,000 tuned in. This is the end of a long run of the successful show in the timeslot, with a Joanna Lumley doco next week.

SBS: Episode three of Michael Mosley: Queen Victoria’s Slum was on 119,000 at 7.30pm.

Episode three of the fourth season of Fargo followed with 61,000 after a double episode launched the season a week ago.