A crime thriller centred on a female detective and a seemingly open-and-shut case will again lead Nine’s scripted slate for 2024, with the network unveiling Blood On The Tracks – the Platform Killer at Wednesday’s upfronts.
Produced by Easy Tiger and Anton, the series follows detective Kate Fletcher as she gets to the bottom of what is initially thought to be the suicide of a train commuter during peak hour.
Despite pressure to drop her investigation, she uncovers a web of connections to other deaths on the rail network, taking her from the city underground to outback freight lines, and into the path of the killer.
Blood On The Tracks – the Platform Killer joined fellow crime drama Human Error – announced as part of the 2023 upfronts – in the otherwise sports-heavy 2024 line-up outlined at Sydney’s Horden Pavillion.
The company revealed the team that will cover the 2024 Paris Olympics, for which it will have two dedicated channels delivering content from the event 24 hours a day. In the lead-up to the games, 9network will screen Beyond the Dream, a documentary series produced by Wide World of Sport that goes “beyond the headlines to discover the untold stories that led to some of the greatest Olympic and Paralympic moments”.
Youth preservation and property also form part of Nine’s factual agenda for next year with Do You Want to Live Forever? and Listing Melbourne.
In the former, Dr Nick Coatsworth will guide six Aussies on a powerful journey to stop the clock and turn back time. With science and technology catching up to the dream of living forever, the series will examine if biological clocks can be wound back, analyse the secrets of living younger and longer, ask whether diseases can be ended, and take a look at the world of the superaged.
Listing Melbourne will also focus on the journey of six individuals, albeit in a world of high-stakes deals, demanding clients, and unbreakable bonds. Produced by Abode Entertainment, the program will follow the agents as they navigate Melbourne’s property market, showcasing opulent homes while juggling their complicated personal lives.
Elsewhere, a couple of well-known game show formats will find a home at Nine next year in the form of Tipping Point and Jeopardy! Australia.
Todd Woodbridge will host the Australian version of Tipping Point, in which three players will answer general knowledge questions, hoping to win counters that can be used on a large coin pusher, arcade-style machine. Contestants from all over Australia will have the chance to win mystery prizes along with cash prizes if they can beat the machine. Having first debuted more than ten years ago on British network ITV, the program will be produced locally by Endemol Shine Australia.
The history of Jeopardy! goes back much further, with the reverse quiz show premiering on NBC in 1964 after being created by Merv Griffin. An Australian version was broadcast on Channel Seven during the 70s, before being briefly revived by Network 10 in the early 90s. Whisper North production is behind the newest local iteration, which will be fronted by English broadcaster and actor Stephen Fry.
In the lifestyle stakes, a collection of alumni fromThe Block will get another chance to showcase their makeover skills.
Head landscaper Dave Franklin will front The Garden Hustle alongside host Lisa McCune, helping everyday homeowners and renters on their journey to create their very own garden oasis. The Ambience Entertainment production is created and produced by Monica O’Brien.
For Budget Battlers, produced by Northlight Productions, 2018 Block contestants Norm and Jess will carry out renovations for unsung heroes while showing viewers how to renovate an entire home on a budget.
The Block is among a slew of returning programs for Nine in 2024, joining Married At First Sight, Lego Masters Australia, The Summit, Travel Guides, The Hundred with Andy Lee, RPA, Big Miracles, Emergency, Paramedics, Space Invaders, Parental Guidance, RBT, Planet Earth III, For the Love of Pets, and Getaway.
Nine also announced that former A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw would be returning to the network next year for a new project, with details still to be revealed.