ABC1's blog

9:30pm – Monday, December 10 on ABC1

Respected international art dealer and one of the UK’s foremost experts on the discovery and identification of lost British art, Philip Mould, joins forces with BBC journalist Fiona Bruce in Fake or Fortune? to reveal the art world as they investigate remarkable stories that lie beneath the surface of paintings. Every picture tells a story, but none quite like this as paintings are about to be treated as evidence at a crime scene, using old fashioned detective skills and the latest forensic testing.

In the early years of the 20th century, spinster sisters Gwendoline and Margaret Davies spent much of their vast fortune buying the cream of European art as a gift to the people of Wales. When Gwendoline died in 1951 all the paintings in her collection were bequeathed to the National Museum of Wales.

Amongst the works most proudly displayed were many by J.M.W.Turner, perhaps the nation’s best loved artist. These paintings were the pinnacle of the sisters’ collection, carefully selected and greatly valued.

Yet within months of this extraordinary act of generosity, the authenticity of the paintings was thrown into doubt by art world experts who branded them fakes. These prized exhibits were deemed ‘unfit to hang on the gallery’s walls’. For more than half a century a cloud has hung over three of the landscapes, said by experts to be a hand other than Turner’s. But Philip believes this may be a miscarriage of justice.

Philip and Fiona investigate.

10:15pm – Sunday, December 9 on ABC1

Sunday Arts on ABC1 has a new timeslot, a new host, and a new attitude to match with a special summer season of ground-breaking arts programs.

This summer join ABC1 for a new season of arts offerings on Sundays from 10pm, presented by renowned playwright and theatre director Wesley Enoch. Over 14 weeks, Sunday Arts Up Late will present an eclectic program of cutting-edge arts content including feature-length documentaries, short-run series and one-off specials.

Katrina Sedgwick, Head ABC TV Arts says, “This new arts timeslot for our summer season allows us to engage with some of the finest, most provocative and challenging arts films from Australia and around the world. We are also thrilled to have the very talented Wesley Enoch on board as a new face to our arts line-up.” Currently Artistic Director of the Queensland Theatre Company, Wesley has held positions at theatre companies across the country including STC, MTC, Belvoir St, Malthouse Theatre and The Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts. He has written a body of work that includes The 7 Stages Of Grieving (cowritten with Deborah Mailman), Little White Dress, Black Medea, and Grace And The Story Of The Miracle At Cookie’s Table, for which he won the Patrick White Playwrights’ Award (2005). Wesley Enoch is a proud Noonuccal Nuugi man.

The season begins with a multi-award winning feature film directed by Matthew Akers, Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present. This documentary is a mesmerising portrait of the pioneering and controversial Yugoslav performance artist Marina Abramovic, centred around her blockbuster 2010 show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

8:30pm – Sunday, December 9 on ABC1

The Pillars of the Earth, adapted from the Ken Follet novel, is a sweeping epic of good and evil, treachery and intrigue, violence and beauty. This is a four-part drama set in the 12th century against the backdrop of war, religious strife and power struggles which tear lives and families apart.

The story revolves around the building of a cathedral in the fictional market town of Kingsbridge over 50 years.

A white ship sinks under suspicious circumstances, drowning King Henry’s sole heir. His nephew Stephen takes the throne, triggering a power struggle with Henry’s daughter Maud and bastard son Gloucester and plunging England into anarchy. Aliena, daughter of the Earl of Shiring, rejects William Hamleigh’s brutish proposal of marriage, sparking the young man’s bitter fury. Visionary mason Tom Builder and his family search for work in the English winter and meet tragedy on the road. Meanwhile in Kingsbridge, the monastery’s idealistic new prior Philip learns a dangerous secret and becomes obligated to ambitious, sinister cleric Waleran Bigod.

Tom Builder’s fortunes change when he is engaged by Prior Philip to rebuild Kingsbridge’s ruined church as a cathedral.

CAST: Waleran Bigod (Ian McShane), Tom Builder (Rufus Sewell), Prior Philip (Matthew Macfadyen), Ellen (Natalia W�rner), Jack (Eddie Redmayne), Richard (Sam Claflin), Bartholomew (Donald Sutherland), Aliena (Hayley Atwell), Regan Hamleigh (Sarah Parrish), William Hamleigh (David Oakes) and Percy Hamleigh (Robert Bathurst).

7:30pm – Sunday, December 9 on ABC1

Presented by Penelope Keith and Paul Martin, The Manor Reborn, a four-part series, sees a team of historians, experts and volunteers reinterpreting 500-year-old Avebury Manor in Wiltshire, UK, putting the country house into a national and historic perspective.

From the age of Elizabeth I through to the eve of the Second World War – and taking inspiration from other houses across the country – the series and project reflects the story of Britain across five centuries, exploring a wide range of craft and furniture-making skills. The house will be restored as an immersive experience – it will be one of few National Trust properties open for the public where they can touch, sit on and enjoy all aspects of the house. Designer Russell Sage, with architectural writer Dan Cruickshank and historian Anna Whitelock, have just six months to transform the manor: will the National Trust embrace some of the less traditional ideas.

This opening episode sees the pitch to the National Trust from designer Russell Sage and the experts, architectural writer Dan Cruickshank and historian Anna Whitelock. The team want to reflect the people who lived in the house, through the decor rather than by restoring the rooms to their original state.

Steeped in tradition and history, can the National Trust accept the idea of ‘interpretation’ for this 500- year-old manor house? Royal gardener, David Howard, starts on the Victorian kitchen garden.

6:00pm – Sunday, December 9 on ABC1

Host Gordon Brown is at Australia’s most prestigious car event of the year: Motorclassica at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.

Showcasing the world’s finest veteran, vintage and classic motor cars, it’s heaven for rev heads, design junkies and the seriously wealthy.

A 1908 Mercedes, a 1937 Bugatti, and a 1963 Aston Martin are just a few of the high class cars on parade. Here Gordon finds over 100 million dollars’ worth of the world’s most rare and collectable vehicles in one place. People come along to see some of the most desirable cars on the planet and 30 of them are for sale.

Twiggy’s 1969 Lamborghini Miura S is on the market for the first time in 34 years! With a reserve above a million dollars, will there be someone with a purse deep enough to buy this impressive pedigree.

The event also attracts Bill Hemming, who started racing historic cars in the 1980s. Bill wanted to keep the history of these cars alive and eventually opened the Elfin Heritage Museum where he has 24 cars on display. But you can’t keep collecting without running out of space, and his Elfin 300 has to go.

Miro Josevski is the owner of a perfectly proportioned and beautifully designed 1955 Porsche Speedster named Raquel. Now a devoted family man, Miro is at a crossroad in his life. His priorities have changed and the decision to sell this vehicle is a difficult one. Will parting with Raquel tug at his heart strings?

8:00pm – Thursday, December 6 on ABC1

A half-hour entertainment series that serves up a delectable combination of political discussion and good food. Each week one of Australia’s most respected political commentators – Annabel Crabb – takes a plate and leads us into the homes and hearts of some of our most notable and engaging politicians. Annabel sits down and talks food, recipes and carbon tax with MPs from both sides of the fence. Food and politics are never separated for long. The best plots are hatched over lunch. The best stories are told over dinner. In Canberra, dinner bookings are an anthropological study in themselves. And the best way to get to know a politician is to break bread with one.

Kitchen Cabinet will deliver a refreshing human touch, as we watch our politicians drop their guard and go about their daily life at home. Minister for Finance Penny Wong has one of the most famous poker faces in the Gillard government. In this episode, though, as she cooks a dish of particular personal significance, Senator Wong talks about some of life’s complications; her unsuccessful attempt to save the world with Kevin Rudd at Copenhagen, for example, and her quest to preserve her own privacy despite having a private life that might as well, given current political circumstances, have neon lights all over it. Why did she have herself baptised at a youthful age? How strange was it to be the only Asian kid at her Aussie primary school.

What makes her lose her temper? What is Belachan? All will be revealed…

8:20pm – Saturday, December 8 on ABC1

The student adventures of the real James Herriot, Yorkshire vet Alf Wright, continue.

James Herriot (Iain de Caestecker – The Fades) is called to a farm that is threatened by a deadly and mysterious epidemic. When he misdiagnoses the disease, he realises that he may have wrongly pulled apart the family that owns the farm. Can he put aside his prejudices to make it right.

Meanwhile, McAloon (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) discovers a lucrative opportunity with the wealthy owners of an ailing sheep.

Whirly (Amy Manson) has another run-in with the formidable Professor Gunnell (Gary Lewis) who gets a shock.

8:30pm – Friday, December 7 on ABC1

Strickland (Anthony Calf) sends McAndrew (Denis Lawson) and Standing (Dennis Waterman) to Scotland for a week to help Glasgow Police establish a new UCOS section led by DCI Fiona MacDougall (Kate Dickie).

While there, they find themselves caught up in a cold case from 1993, the murder of bookie James Soutar.

When McAndrew learns that the case was originally investigated by Frank McNair (Hilton McRae) – a corrupt cop who once slept with McAndrew’s wife – he’s eager to take it on and Standing reluctantly agrees. Soutar was brought up in care but then became a wealthy man owning a string of betting shops. On his death he left fifteen thousand pounds to a 16-year-old girl in care, Cathy Sinclair (Neve McIntosh), who claims to have no idea who he is or why he left her the money.

When Standing and McAndrew start to ask questions, they find themselves the victims of a campaign of intimidation. However, a revelation from McAndrew’s girlfriend Charley (Kathleen McDermott) helps Standing and McAndrew uncover a scandal that has lain dormant for twenty years.

8:00pm – Friday, December 7 on ABC1

A comedy series set in late 1980s Ireland starring Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids) as the imaginary friend of 11-year-old Martin, the youngest child of the large and loud Moone family.

In this episode, Martin decides to become an altar boy and is indoctrinated into a group of very cool and very corrupt young Catholics.

As he rises through the ranks he discovers that the leader of them all is the earnest, keyboard-playing Dessie. When his sister Fidelma falls for this corrupt young don, Martin must face a decision.

8:30pm – Thursday, December 6 on ABC1

Aaron Davis (Wayne Blair) is a proud Indigenous policeman: proud of the community in which he works, and very proud of his daughter Robyn (Rarriwuy Hick) and his three-year-old granddaughter Donna.

It’s early morning, and Aaron does his usual boxing training with local kids, and the only thing to mar the day is that he is being taunted by young troublemaker Lenny (Luke Carroll).

Late that day as Aaron is finishing up at the station Lenny is brought in yelling abuse. Lenny’s been in a bad fight and Aaron is about to call for a doctor. But he stops when Lenny’s taunting pushes him too far, and so when Lenny calls out from the cell in pain, Aaron ignores him.

But Lenny’s cries suddenly stop and Aaron realises that something is terribly wrong. He rushes to help, but it’s too late – Lenny is dead. And so Aaron’s nightmare begins.

As word of the death spreads, Lenny’s brother tries to cause trouble but he and his young friends are held back, talked around by family and community. Lenny’s mother, Aunty Mona (Trisha Morton Thomas), asks Aaron whether her boy suffered. Aaron lies and tells her no.

But when Lenny’s family is shown the cell surveillance tapes, Aaron has to find the courage to go and tell Aunty Mona the truth.