What to watch on ABC iview – quick links
ABC iview: new this week
Australian Story: The Leyland Brother – Mal Leyland – 30 March
TV legend Mal Leyland is preparing for his final outback trip. Aged 81 and suffering from moderate dementia, the co-star of the long-running Ask the Leyland Brothers series will host a convoy of four-wheel drive enthusiasts on a journey from the west to east coasts of Australia.
The month-long trek will commemorate the 60th anniversary of Mal and Mike Leyland’s groundbreaking continental crossing of Australia in 1966 and raise money for a planned Mal Leyland museum in Cairns.
‘Having dementia is interesting because it depends a little bit on what it affects,’ Mal tells Australian Story.
‘If you’ve got a good memory of the good things in life, the good things are far more important.’
At the peak of their popularity in the 1960s and 70s, the Leyland Brothers’ travel documentaries were among the top-rating programs on Australian television. They’re often credited with sparking the boom in camping and four-wheel driving, with the phrase “doing a Leyland Brothers” becoming shorthand for an extended outback holiday.
But the brothers fell out when a shared business venture went bust, and their relationship never fully recovered.
Mal was diagnosed with dementia two years ago and is being cared for by his only daughter, Carmen.
‘The hardest thing has been watching this man that I idolised my whole life, slowly disappear in front of my eyes,’ she tells Australian Story.
Monday, 30 March, 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Four Corners: Campus Chaos – 30 March
Australian universities are in turmoil. Deep cuts to jobs and courses are triggering fury on campuses across the country.
This week on Four Corners, reporter Steve Cannane investigates how years of shrinking public funding, rising debt and increasingly corporate decision making have pushed some of the nation’s most important public institutions to breaking point.
Campus Chaos reveals the scale of spending on outside consultants and asks what that means for transparency, accountability and the future of higher education.
Monday, 30 March, 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival All Stars Supershow – 1 April
Live, loud and packed full of laughs – get ready for the Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow! Hosted by Brett Lake and Bron Lewis, there’s no better place to kick off the Melbourne International Comedy Festival season.
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy – 3 April
Film (2004). Enter the world of 1970’s TV news, where Ron Burgundy and his loyal Channel 4 News Team are San Diego’s #1 rated news source. All is well in their male-dominated world of news until rising star reporter Veronica Corningstone turns it upside down.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – 3 April
Film (2013). After losing his job, Ron reassembles the news team and squares off against a new rival.
ABC iview: recently added
Foreign Correspondent: Vanishing Greece – 24 March
Current affairs. Greece is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations – more than 30 million visitors travel there every year. But extraordinarily, Greece itself is in danger of running out of Greeks. The population is in freefall, with predictions it will drop by 20% by 2050.
On Foreign Correspondent, reporter Rhiannon Shine travels to the birthplace of her grandparents to see the problem firsthand. Right across the country, ghost towns are becoming all too common. There are far more deaths than births, young people have left in droves, and migration is deeply unpopular. If modern Greece can’t solve its population problem, it’s at risk of joining its ancient ancestors as a living museum. Watch the trailer.
The Matter of Facts – 24 March
Series. In an era defined by trolls, chatbots, misinformation and disinformation – truth and lies can become indistinguishable. Hosted by Hamish Macdonald, The Matter of Facts takes audiences to the frontline of the global information wars, where information is manipulated to influence what we believe, how we behave and who we vote for.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2026: The Gala – 25 March
Special. Join host Denise Scott as she kicks off the celebrations in true Melbourne International Comedy Festival fashion with The Gala. Featuring comedians from here and overseas, it’s a night of belly laughs that’s not to be missed.
ArtsHub: 12 shows to see at Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Patience Season 2 – 27 March
Series. The arrival of a new detective creates tension and challenges for Patience as she navigates her role in solving complex crimes while exploring new personal relationships.
Fake or Fortune Season 12 – 29 March
Series. Philip Mould and Fiona Bruce team up to investigate more thrilling cases of art world mystery and intrigue as they track down the provenance of works of art with the aim of proving their authenticity, helped by evidence from family collections, museums, archives and laboratories.
Flower & Flour – 16 March
Kids’ series. Flower is a curious seven-year-old girl living above her parents’ bustling restaurant. By her side is Flour, a mischievous cat made from a bag of flour. This is a laugh-out-loud buddy comedy about friendship, family and the magic of community.
Flower & Flour shows kids that wonder is waiting right outside their door, and that life is brighter and funnier when we share it with each other.
The Piano Season 2 – 15 March
Series. Eighty-eight keys. Infinite voices. One magical instrument that speaks straight to the heart. Hosted by Amanda Keller, the six-part series The Piano returns, celebrating the extraordinary power of the piano to unlock stories from everyday Australians with remarkable musical gifts.
Can You Keep a Secret? – 15 March
Series. Dawn French plays domineering granny Debbie Fendon, a woman who will stop at nothing to protect her family – it’s just the person they most need protecting from is her. And when her hermit-like husband, William (Mark Heap), unexpectedly dies, she makes an outlandish decision that will put the family under more pressure than ever before.
Frauds – 15 March
Series. Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker star as confident tricksters whose toxic yet darkly funny friendship is rekindled in order to pull off the art heist of the century.
Set against the epic rolling hills of southern Spain and the dark criminal underbelly that casts a shadow over the glistening coast, Frauds is a complex and addictive story of friendship, deception and survival.
Kids Baking Championship Season 12 – 13 March
Kids’ Series. Twelve kid bakers head ‘bake to school’ to take on challenges inspired by the absolute best parts of being in school. Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman host as the talented young bakers dream up and create tasty treats in hopes of becoming head of the baking class and winning the $25,000 prize.
Compass – 8 March
Series. Returning for 2026, Compass explores the Australian soul – our beliefs, our ethical dilemmas and the changing face of our spirituality – sharing stories of individuals and communities tackling life’s big questions. Hosted by Indira Naidoo.
Top End Bub – 7 March
Series. A follow-up to the smash-hit film Top End Wedding, comes this heart-warming new series starring Miranda Tapsell and Gwilym Lee.
Lauren and Ned are living their best life in the city, which is tragically interrupted when Lauren’s sister Ronelle dies in a car crash in the Top End. Rushing back to Darwin, the couple is thrown into the chaos of Top End life.
Blue Murder Motel – 7 March
Series. In this brand-new murder mystery series, married ex-cops Vinny and Cole have swapped the homicide beat in Sydney for their retirement dream, running a retro seaside motel in a coastal New Zealand town. But only six weeks in to their new life, that dream takes an unexpected, annoying turn when they suddenly find themselves assisting the town’s laidback surfer cop in his investigations.
Blue Murder Motel stars Aussie actors Michala Banas and Brett Tucker, who previously appeared together in McLeod’s Daughters.
