ABC2's blog

7:30pm – Wednesday, June 8 on ABC2

After a fight to reign supreme driving the Romanian battle tank, Will and Kirsten are staying much closer to home – Essex in fact, where they’ll be faced with driving the multi-storey mother-of-all vehicles. Standing at 15m, it’s the powerhouse of the docking industry – the Straddle Carrier.

Desperate to level the scores 1-1, Will is going all out to beat rival Kirsten, and he’s going to use every trick in the book to achieve it, even if it means putting their friendship under strain.

Over three days they’ll learn three key skills, each will equip them with the know-how to drive the Straddle Carrier and prepare them to go head-to-head at the end of the week, where only one of them can win outright. But before they get to drive the Straddle, they must first overcome their fears and come to terms with driving 15m in the air.

9:00pm – Tuesday, June 7 on ABC2

There was something that everyone else seemed to know about Josh that Josh didn’t know about Josh … that was until he got a boyfriend. And Josh seems to be the only one who’s surprised.

After winning the national Raw Comedy final at the age of 17, then making the finals of Edinburgh’s So You Think You’re Funny and being nominated for a TV Week Logie Award, Josh became the youngest comedian ever nominated for the prestigious Barry Award for Most Outstanding Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with this show, Surprise.

Josh is the Generation Y team captain on Talkin’ ’bout Your Generation and he’s appeared on Good News Week, The 7PM Project and Rove.

‘The comedy festival’s most junior player is also one of its best… fiercely funny.’ – The Age

8:15am – Tuesday, June 7 on ABC2

dirtgirlworld is a celebration of life outside. The music-centric series is a distinctive blend of animation, photomontage and illustration that takes children to a world where the real and unreal collide. dirtgirl grows awesome tomatoes, knows the names of clouds, drives a big orange tractor and has a backyard full of friends.

In today’s episode, it’s apple picking season so dirtgirl and Scrapboy try to think of 101 different ways to use an apple including celebrating Grubby’s birthday!

10:20pm – Monday, June 6 on ABC2

Monday,6 June 2011 At the Justice Department, Bobby decides to put additional indictments of Sam Giancana on hold, compromising his principles. In the South, civil rights demonstrators are protesting. JFK calls a meeting with the Southern Caucus of the Senate, who state their opposition to desegregation.

Then, Joe Snr. suffers a stroke from which he may never fully recover. When Joe is sent home, Rose tries to care for him, but he only responds to Michelle, his secretary (and former lover).

Rose is losing her patience with Michelle’s presence. Flashback to 1936 – after a violent episode, Joe insists on sending their daughter Rosemary, who has a mental disability to a convent where she can be adequately cared for. But the out of control Rosemary continually escapes.

During a classical concert in the East Room, Jack tells Jackie he’s needed in the Oval Office. Instead, he heads to the White House theater for a tryst with Mary Meyer, his on again, off again lover. Jackie finds out. Furious and humiliated, Jackie leaves with the children. With his marriage in shambles, Jack has to also deal with an impending crisis in the Caribbean. The Soviet Union has placed nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba. Tensions are high, and Jack is being pressured to attack Cuba with the purpose of removing the missiles.

Meanwhile, Bobby’s wife Ethel convinces Jackie to return and support her husband during this crucial time.

Tension regarding the Missile Crisis escalates further when the Soviets shoot down an American U 2 surveillance plane over Cuba, killing the pilot, but Jack resists the temptation to retaliate. And he decides to respond to Khrushchev’s initial, conciliatory message. As the world waits…

Jack tells Jackie to take the children to the safety of a bomb shelter in the Maryland Mountains in case the Soviets attack. But Jackie refuses to leave. If the end is coming, she says, she wants to share it with him.

9:30pm – Monday, June 6 on ABC2

A new day is dawning in the Black Hills outlaw camp of Deadwood.

Governmental and legal interests, as well as those of powerful commercial entities, begin to enter the town as Deadwood prepares itself for entry into Dakota Territory.

The series charts Deadwood’s growth from camp to town, incorporating themes ranging from the formation of communities to Western capitalism.

The show features a large ensemble cast, and many historical figures appear as characters such as Seth Bullock, Al Swearengen, Wild Bill Hickok, Sol Star, Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp, E. B. Farnum, Charlie Utter and George Hearst.

The plot lines involving these characters include historical truths as well as substantial fictional elements. Some of the characters are fully fictional, although they may have been based on actual persons.

Tonight, Swearengen spends a sleepless night, as a drunk wanders the deserted streets.

“I am not the fine man you take me for,” shouts the man as he climbs the hustings and proclaims his sorry lot – then topples to his death.

Preparing for the day, Martha and Bullock discuss whether the speeches will take place that night.

Doc warns Alma that she needs surgery if she wants to avoid a miscarriage.

8:00pm – Sunday, June 5 on ABC2

Sunday,5 June 2011 Our 12 design hopefuls are now down to 10. After the elimination of Lachlan and David the desire to stay in the competition and potentially work for Philippe Starck is high.

For the next challenge, Philippe Starck gives the designers an open brief…they can design anything they like, so long as the design or idea has a benefit to the wider community. Most of the designers are at a loss as to what they are going to do. Like the others, Polly in particular is more comfortable working from detailed briefs and struggles with the challenge.

But 22-year-old Nebil is as confident as ever. Having impressed Philippe in the last challenge he feels he knows exactly what is required. While the others work through the night, Nebil is relaxed and confident Philippe will embrace his design.

Overall the presentations don’t go well, with the majority of designs failing to impress Philippe at all. Not knowing how many people will be going home, tension around the table builds as Philippe singles out people for elimination.

8:30pm – Saturday, June 4 on ABC2

Set in 1968, Francis Coppola’s Gardens Of Stone takes place at Fort Myer, Virginia, where young Army recruit, Jackie Willow (D.B. Sweeney) is assigned to the Old Guard, who provide the pomp and ceremony for burials at Arlington National Cemetery. His commanding officer, Sgt. Clell Hazard (James Caan), a decorated combat veteran, tries to look out for the young soldier. Reporter and activist Samantha Davis (Anjelica Huston) becomes Clell’s lover; Sgt. Goody Nelson (James Earl Jones) is his best friend.

After Jackie and Clell establish a close bond, Jackie is accepted into officer training, marries his long-time sweetheart (Mary Stuart Masterson) and is headed for Vietnam. But Clell knows that this war is unlike any other, and once Jackie leaves the safety of the States, anything can happen.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Gardens Of Stone stars Angelica Huston and James Caan.

7:30pm – Saturday, June 4 on ABC2

In the final episode of the series, the five ambassadors are staying with their last family on their journey, Staff Sergeant Steve and Sergeant Tara, on the huge army base of Fort Stewart in Georgia.

They are hoping to learn more about the American soldier who stopped the infighting on their island called Tom Navy, and complete their mission of returning his message and ensuring that his words of peace are alive in America today. They experience different aspects of life on the military base: from the scary warfare simulator to the happy welcoming of troops back from Iraq.

To take Tom’s message to these Chiefs they go to Washington DC. Then they receive a letter from General Colin Powell, inviting them to his office. At the meeting with Powell they receive his reassurances that he will enforce Tom’s message of peace, and that Tom’s spirit lives in Barack Obama. Jubilant at having completed their mission, they return to Tanna and after a spectacular welcome, report back to the Supreme Chief.

The series closes with the community watching what their ambassadors discovered in America on a big screen under the banyan trees, while the five offer their final thoughts on their epic adventure.

9:30pm – Friday, June 3 on ABC2

As King Henry (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) marries Jane Seymour (Annabelle Wallis), Thomas Cromwell’s (James Frain) ruthless dissolution of the Catholic Church continues. Deeply disturbed and angered by the desecration, John Constable (Kevin Doyle) suggests to a local attorney, Robert Aske (Gerard McSorley), that the common people are only in need of a leader to rise up, but Aske is unmoved.

Meanwhile, Henry declares that Princess Mary (Sarah Bolger) will only be taken back to court if she signs the Oath of Allegiance. She reluctantly concedes.

Because of his efforts in abolishing the monasteries, Cromwell is rewarded with a knighthood and a barony and made Lord Privy Seal. His power is now second only to the King’s.

Meantime, Aske has given up his earlier loyalty to lead the rebels, and news arrives that peasants in the north have risen against the King. Henry orders their dispersal, but the rebels, having taken the city of Lincoln, are moving towards York. Cromwell is chastised; his career, so recently made, is on the line.

Charles Brandon (Henry Cavill) is appointed by the King to be Commander of the Royal Army, and ordered to spare no force in suppressing the uprising.

Having been recently so content, Henry is now pained on many fronts: vexed by the threat and ungratefulness of his subjects; troubled that his wife has not yet conceived; and in great suffering from a bleeding leg from an old jousting accident. His Tudor dynasty is under threat as it has never been before.

9:15pm – Friday, June 3 on ABC2

Disturbed by the Sect’s nightmarish practice of harvesting babies, Riese decides to stay in Helmkin to uncover the mystery and put an end to the practice, even though the town is a veritable death trap for her now that the doctor knows she’s of royal blood.

The doctor has a surprise visit from Herrick, who has the scent of Riese on his tongue and won’t let go the trail. Appearing from the shadows, Herrick interrogates the doctor about Riese – what she knows, what she saw and out of self-preservation, the doctor tries to limit the information he gives Herrick.

Herrick is too powerful, however, and learns that not only did Riese see the Sect mark on the doctor’s arm, but also that she saw the fields of babies they were harvesting.

The outlawed princess, meanwhile, is seeking out Hannah, the distraught mother from earlier that day. Hannah begs Riese to help, and Riese, though feeling daunted, promises to do all she can. Riese slips into the night and finds the warehouse where the babies – rows upon rows of them stacked in crates – are being kept. Outraged, she’s at a loss as to how to put a stop to this madness.

And on the other side of the kingdom, Rand and his resistance are battling Amara and her forces with all their might. But, with no connection to Riese – his people’s rightful leader and one true hope – and dwindling resources, Rand knows his chances of winning the war are getting slimmer. He has to win this fight soon, or not at all.