ABC2's blog

7:30pm – Saturday, February 2 on ABC2

True Grit uncovers a world that is violent and unforgiving, one that you don’t see in traditional Hollywood Westerns.

The True Story reveals the real people who inspired the film’s characters and demonstrates which guns won the West. In the real Wild West there were no rules, so to survive you needed ‘true grit’.

http://abc.net.au/iview/

9:30pm – Friday, February 1 on ABC2

This week find out exactly what it takes to make a man into a woman.

From the pills they have to pop, to what happens when they undergo a sex change. Sixty-two-year-old retiree Brenda Baker used to be known as Ray. She was a burly American soldier in the Vietnam War, but has now made the decision to take the final step in her transition from male to female. Brenda has travelled to Thailand, where 1,500 sex change operations are carried out every year – ten times that of the UK, and at least half the cost. Brenda’s wife was the only person who knew and accepted her secret. But after her wife’s death from cancer, Brenda vowed she would live a lie no longer – whatever the cost.

But will her best friend and family accept her when she returns home as the woman she’s always longed to be? Brenda’s surgeon, Dr Saran Wannachamras operates at the top end of Thailand’s scale, charging approx $AUD8,000 for a full sex change operation, around half of the cost in the UK. He believes surgery is not a decision to be taken lightly: “They cannot turn back to be male again. I’m standing in front of this door. I’m not the one who judges them. I’m going to show them the way, but they are the one who must walk.”

8:30pm – Friday, February 1 on ABC2

A new series that follows six teenagers from around the UK as they struggle to face the reality of newfound fatherhood.

While their mates are having fun, these baby daddies are coping with sleepless nights, changing nappies and money worries – as well as facing the usual teen angst of arguments with girlfriends, angry parents and stressful exams.

Will they put down the X-Box to play with the baby, and budget for milk bottles instead of beers? Or will the tears and teething be too much to handle.

Filmed over a period of three months, this series captures the highs and lows of their newfound responsibilities and gives an insight into what life is really like for a teenage parent.

In the first episode, new father Reece is in trouble with the police. Can he turn his life around for the sake of his family?

9:55pm – Thursday, January 31 on ABC2

An unfortunate contestant in Sporall’s (Chris Bran) weekly meat quiz dies during the popular island game. As is Jinsy custom, her nameworm must be removed, and the worm itself passed on to the most recent newborn.

For Arbiter Maven (Justin Chubb), this spells bad news for many reasons.

Firstly, it’s snowing; second, the infant is on the far side of the island; and third, the procedure has to be carried out by Maven’s old teacher, Ernest P. Threcker (Simon Callow) who has nothing but contempt for Maven, and isn’t shy about showing it.

8:30pm – Thursday, January 31 on ABC2

Laura (Scarlett Alice Johnson – EastEnders, Adulthood) is settling in well at Jamie’s (Sean Michael Verey – Skins, Casualty, The Bill) place – a bit too well. Although an en-suite or a family bathroom door lock would be nice.

Keith (Ben Crompton) is sick of her being there, Jamie’s tired of sleeping on the sofa, and Mike (Dylan Edwards) and Beth (Yasmin Paige) have had enough of not being able to see their mate.

They catch up with Jamie at work. Something’s got to give but the eventual confrontation kicks off a much bigger crisis.

9:30pm – Thursday, January 31 on ABC2

The multi award-winning and critically acclaimed hit comedy comes to ABC2. Peep Show follows the private worlds of Mark (David Mitchell) and Jeremy (Robert Webb), two twenty something flat-mates living in south London.

Simon, Dobby’s ex- boyfriend, invites Mark, Jeremy, Super Hans and Dobby to join him and his friends for a paint balling weekend. Jeremy gets talking to Neil, one of Simon’s colleagues, and after reassuring Neil that he’s a qualified life coach, advises him to leave his wife. Neil, guided by Jeremy, ends his five year marriage. But when Neil realises that he’s made a terrible mistake, Simon’s friends hold Jeremy responsible.

Meanwhile, Mark becomes worried that Simon is using the weekend as a cover, and that his real intention is to get back with Dobby. However, Mark spends so long obsessing over Simon that he fails to notice that it’s Jeremy who’s starting to fall for Dobby.

So when the paint balling game begins, emotions are already running high, at which point Super Hans decides to take a huge amount of recreational drugs.

9:30pm – Wednesday, January 30 on ABC2

When fake tans, hair extensions, pumping iron and lunchtime Botox have become the norm, have people’s looks actually become more important than who they are? Is vanity necessarily a negative thing? Or can it be harnessed and used to change lives.

In episode three, Cherry meets a cast of characters, from those who obsess about their looks to those who absolutely refuse to do so, in a bid to find out whether one’s looks can really change one’s life for the better. Along the way, she must decide whether or not to stop shaving her body hair, and if she has the guts to get a tattoo.

8:40pm – Wednesday, January 30 on ABC2

It is estimated that obesity and obesity-related illnesses could cost the British National Health Service �45 billion (approx 70 AUD billion) a year by 2050 unless the trend is arrested. Obesity in the UK is an epidemic spiralling out of control. The UK is the fattest country in Europe and with over a third of the nation categorised as clinically obese, bulging Britain is now the third fattest nation on earth. Bariatric surgery offers a radical cost-saving and life-changing solution to this problem. In this new documentary series, cameras follow the lives of 12 obesity sufferers from fat to thin as they undergo radical bariatric surgery.

In episode four we meet Sharon (42) who at her heaviest weighed 114kg. Like many women, Sharon’s weight spiralled during pregnancy. Sharon has recently lost weight and is now down to 100kg. Sharon’s BMI is over forty and for her height she is still in the morbidly obese range. The best option for Sharon is gastric band surgery to drastically reduce the size of her stomach. Sharon will feel fuller much more quickly which will help her to control her weight.

Also featured is Frank (58) who at his heaviest was 143 kg. He is now 133kg. Frank’s weight gain was the consequence of medical malpractice 30 years ago that changed his life forever. His doctor pierced his sciatic nerve during a pain injection and his weight increased by 70kgs. Frank’s morbid obesity was confirmed by doctors who advised that he had few years left to live. He is taking the step to have surgery for health reasons with the hope of a much longer life.

9:30pm – Tuesday, January 29 on ABC2

When Curtis’s new girlfriend Lola disappears, Curtis discovers that she was never the person she pretended to be. As he investigates further, Curtis is forced to use his power to bring someone back from the dead, with predictably disastrous results… Meanwhile Rudy and Finn have fallen out over their shared living arrangements at the community centre, and Jess finally gets closer to mysterious barman Alex…

Cast includes: Joseph Gilgun (Rudy), Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Curtis), Matthew McNulty (Seth), Karla Crome (Jess), Nathan McMullen (Finn), Matt Stokoe (Alex), Shaun Dooley (Greg) Lucy Gaskell (Lola) and Natasha O’Keeffe (Abby).

8:40pm – Tuesday, January 29 on ABC2

SAS legend Chris Ryan and undercover reporter Donal MacIntyre take on the vast and impenetrable rainforest of Guyana. They’ll have to hunt and forage for their own food or they’ll go hungry. They spend just 24 hours together, during which Chris helps Donal set up camp. But the heaviest rains in living memory make everything difficult; any firewood is sodden, flooded rivers make fishing impossible and prey animals head for higher ground.

On day two, Chris leaves Donal and sets up his own camp deeper in the jungle. Without food or company, Donal’s mental and physical condition deteriorates. Chris’s new location is even harsher than the first – there aren’t even palm trees from which to gather palm heart and maggots. Instead Chris resolves to get a fire going and keep it burning through four days and nights of torrential rain. But gathering wood from further and further away takes its toll and by day five Chris is forced to eat some of his emergency rations.

Aware that his motivation is waning, Donal forces himself to focus and after days of foraging manages to get some palm heart. The small calorie intake boosts him and gets him back on track to battle the jungle.

But a deadly treefall on the final night brings the most terrifying moments of Donal’s jungle journey.