Press Release from ABC1
The team from Hungry Beast is back. Once again, the show will challenge audiences with a mix of the unexpected and the unconventional – this year sharpening its focus with episodes themed around specific issues facing the world today.
Over 12 weeks, Hungry Beast viewers will see investigative journalism, deeply moving explorations of what it is to be human, stories from way out of left-field and graphic delights you won’t find anywhere else on TV.
Episode One explores Captivity – from life in prison and people trapped in their own bodies, to weird effects of captivity on animals and an entire nation held captive by one man. Upcoming themes include Secrets, Waste, Faking It and Download.
Monique Schafter, Dan Ilic, Kirsten Drysdale and Nick Hayden will front the show this season, while regular segments including Kirk Docker’s close up Voxpops, Follow The Money and The Beast File will return.
ABC TV’s Head of Arts and Entertainment, Amanda Duthie, says the series will build on its unique approach to current affairs. “Hungry Beast is a show that takes risks – in the stories they chose and the manner in which they tell them. By bringing together the serious, the unusual and the light-hearted, it will continue to resonate with audiences, in particular the under-40s.”
Hungry Beast launched in 2009 after ABC1 and Zapruder’s other films recruited young people from around Australia to create a TV program that looked at topical issues with a fresh perspective. The brief: to break out of the standard news cycle and tell us something we don’t know.
In 2010, the second series reached new heights. Nominated for a rare double – an AFI and a Walkley – its stories were seen on screen and online by millions of people around the globe. It was the second most watched program on the ABC for 18-39s.
“In 2009 and 2010, Hungry Beast showed that journalism can evolve in new and exciting directions. Newcomers 18 months ago, the Hungry Beast team are now making names for themselves in the industry. Watch out in 2011” says Executive Producer, Andrew Denton.
Preview here www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ5Lmvom37k.
Hungry Beast premieres Wednesday 23 March, 9.30pm ABC1
Repeats Thursdays, 10.15pm ABC2
Available on ABC iview