ABC2's blog

8:45pm – Friday, October 26 on ABC2

The biggest West End shows, the most famous pop acts, the world’s most successful dance teachers and the most incredible cast of characters TV will ever see all pass through London’s Pineapple Dance Studios.

Blurring the lines between reality, comedy and drama to create a new genre of ‘performance documentary’, this series gives exclusive access to the world-famous dance space, capturing every bit of drama – from auditions to dance-offs, spray-tans to pop meltdowns.

It features a host of unique and outrageous characters; from millionaire founder Debbie Moore to the hilarious artistic director Louie Spence, a truly groundbreaking, must-see television phenomenon that has taken the UK by storm.

This week Mark Battershall choreographs a new dance routine.

7:30pm – Friday, October 26 on ABC2

The two remaining food truck teams arrive at their final destination: Miami, Florida. As part of their final challenge, each team must reach a takings target of $15,000 and then race to the finish line at South Beach where the winner will collect a $100,000 grand prize. Of course, the finale is filled with twists and turns aplenty.

In addition to two speed bump challenges, it’s the timing of the truck stop challenge that surprises the teams most. On this occasion, the teams must create an impressive seafood dish for a renowned local chef but there’s just one catch: they must head out on fishing boats in the Atlantic Ocean to reel in some fresh fish.

7:30pm – Thursday, October 25 on ABC2

This six-part series follows some of Britain’s worst fully licensed drivers as they seek professional help to sort out their problem driving.

We meet 23-year-old Lee, who lives near Newcastle. He’s been driving for just a few weeks but seems to be getting worse not better! His starts are a nightmare, he can’t park, and his road awareness is terrible.

Next it’s Leeds IT administrator, Tracy. She’s had her licence since 1987 but hasn’t driven for thirteen years due to her fear of traffic. Tracy is terrified of other cars and can’t remember where the indicator is.

Fortunately Tracy’s husband, Carl, has been happy to drive her, but now he thinks it’s time for her to try and conquer her fear. Will Tracy control her nerves, or will the busy Leeds traffic get the better of her.

Finally, there’s Lynn from West London. Lynn’s happy enough to potter around her local area, but further afield things get difficult. Especially when faced with… flyovers. Lynn’s already given up one job because she couldn’t cross a bridge.

In just a two-hour session with an instructor, can these problem drivers be turned into model motorists?

9:30pm – Wednesday, October 24 on ABC2

After cooking up a storm with some of Australia’s most surprising politicians in the first series of Kitchen Cabinet, Annabel Crabb is coming back to ABC2 with a second helping.

Food and politics are never separated for long. The best plots are hatched over lunch, the best stories told over dinner.

Each week our veteran political journalist invites herself over to the home of a sitting member, offering dessert in exchange for dinner.

“When you ask someone how they learnt to cook, it’s like asking them their life story,” Annabel says.

Watch our most influential yet inscrutable politicians tell you theirs.

In episode three, Annabel has dinner with Peter Garrett, undoubtedly the most famous Australian to ever enter Federal Parliament. He’s also its only actual rock star. But is he much of a cook? Garrett opens his Stephanie Alexander cookbook to offer up a simple but impressive pumpkin soup entree followed by pesto pasta – a significant step up from the burgers and kebabs he endured on the road. Garrett shares some rock ‘n’ roll stories and sets the record straight on his bumpy transition from centre stage to side of stage where, after a few years dabbling in minority politics, he threw his lot in with the ALP.

8:30pm – Wednesday, October 24 on ABC2

Essex hairdresser Ed treats his two little pugs like royalty. He feeds them the finest human food, dresses them in the latest fashions and lets them have the run of the house. The dogs’ behaviour is becoming a growing issue for Ed’s partner, who is fed up.

Single, stay-at-home mum Bexy is trapped in her house, spending more time looking after her unruly labrador than her three-year-old son. Ed and Bexy both leave their dogs behind and travel to Canada to spend a week working with a special operations group and their army dogs.

Seasoned military dog trainer Mike, is ready to teach Ed and Bexy what it takes to train the army’s dogs.

Mike believes that any badly behaved dog is simply a reflection of the owner.

The army training pushes Ed and Bexy to the limit, and when Bexy needs to leave the program to attend to her sick son back in the UK, she is replaced by stroppy teacher Georgia, who is as defiant as her dog.

Assigned an army dog each, Georgia and Ed learn to use their voice to control the dogs, abseil off tall buildings with their dogs attached and take their dogs stealthily through water obstacles. Will the experience help them re-evaluate their own lives and become better pet owners?

9:30pm – Tuesday, October 23 on ABC2

When Coolum’s local radio host is found dead on the beach after wreaking havoc with a ride-on mower, Coolum’s Tidy Town entry is in jeopardy.

Banks (Toby Truslove) suspects drugs but Sergeant Lloyd (Patrick Brammall) refuses to believe there are any drugs in Coolum. Banks and Gregor (Barry Crocker) are tasked with the clean-up but it gets strange when Tom, who also works at the radio station, causes chaos with a mower.

Banks becomes convinced that drugs are involved while Gregor suspects an evil radio jingle from his childhood that possesses anyone who listens to it. The duo track down a crazed Tom and keep him at the police caravan while the ‘drugs’ wear off.

But Gregor has a better idea: an exorcism. Gregor implores Banks to sing the jingle with soul to save his life, sending our heroes into a major musical exorcism.

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

7:30pm – Monday, October 22 on ABC2

It’s the ultimate engineering challenge: rescue the magnificent city of Venice in Italy, before it is drowned by the Adriatic Sea.

A fantastic $5.5 billion plan is taking shape. It is called the ‘Mose’ project, after the biblical saviour Moses. The teams working on this project are constructing 78 massive floodgates, up to 29 metres tall that will lie on the seabed. Whenever a dangerous high tide threatens the city, the gates will rise from water and hold back the sea.

The dynamic woman at the helm of this huge project is Chief Engineer Dr Maria Theresa Brotto. Without the ‘Mose’, Venice could be lost. But no one can predict when a colossal high tide will swamp the city so it is a race against time for the teams of engineers and construction workers of the Mose project to save one of the world’s great historic cities.

10:00am – Monday, October 22 on ABC2

Let’s Go Pocoyo, a new 52 x 7 minute animated series, is an entertaining and dynamic way for preschoolers to learn as they follow the amusing adventures of Pocoyo and his inseparable friends.

Join Pocoyo and his friends, Pato the duck and Elly the elephant, on new adventures as they learn valuable lessons like friendship, respect and companionship. The episodes also include segments emphasising the words that have appeared throughout the story and items from the story such as colours, animals and shapes.

A musical clip also reviews the most important words from that episode. These fun songs will serve as musical journeys as they highlight different genres like rock, opera, country, electronica, funk and everything in between.

Episode 2: Picnic – Monday, October 22 at 10.00am on ABC4KIDS Pocoyo, Pato and Elly go on a picnic. Soon the sandwiches they have in their basket begin to move all by themselves and escape. The three friends pursue the sandwiches until they are finally able to trap them.

Using a magnifying glass, Pocoyo discovers what has been making the sandwiches move.

Episode 3: Pato’s Shower – Tuesday, October 23 at 10.00am on ABC4KIDS Pato has his towel, soap and brush ready for a shower when the phone rings. After answering the phone he discovers all of his things have disappeared! Pato starts searching and finds that his friends are playing with them which makes Pato angry.

8:30pm – Sunday, October 21 on ABC2

An intense and beautifully shot documentary exploring the legacy of violence handed down through generations of gypsy fathers to their sons.

Award-winning photographer Leo Maguire spent four years earning the trust of the notoriously closed gypsy and traveller communities, immersing himself in a world where male honour codes remain deeply ingrained.

He gained unprecedented and intimate access to men who live among the wider community yet are driven by different values. Fathers and sons, raised to prove themselves in bare-knuckle fights, explain their lives in their own words, with the brutal realities portrayed through stunning footage and still photographs.

This penetrating film provides a very different perspective on gypsy life from the ‘big fat weddings’ and flash caravans. It follows the story of two families, showing how they fight for respect and revealing the price they pay – the cycles of revenge that erupt into sudden and terrifying violence.

The Dohertys are Irish traveller royalty. Hughie Doherty, 29, is the son of Francie ‘The Punk’ Doherty, once one of the most feared bare-knuckle boxers in the land. Hughie is determined to bring up his seven-yearold son, also called Francie, to be as tough and uncompromising as the grandfather he’s named after.

Fred Butcher is Romany and father to nine-year-old Freddy Cole. He’s a career fighter but, unlike Hughie Doherty, he’s worried about the future of his son in the violent world of gypsy men. Fred is torn between the gypsy code of honour and his love as a father.

Tracing these stories, Gypsy Blood becomes a haunting study of masculinity and violence, and the uneasy, equivocal relationship gypsy men have with their epic, bare-knuckle traditions. As Hughie Doherty says: “It is like a disease, a disease that gets into your blood. And sometimes you close your eyes and for that moment I wish I wasn’t like it, but you can’t help it.”

8:30pm – Saturday, October 20 on ABC2

Thomas Babington Levy (Dustin Hoffman), also known as ‘Babe’ is a Columbia graduate student and an avid runner. Babe’s brother, Henry (Roy Scheider), better known as ‘Doc’, poses as an oil company executive but in fact is a U.S. government agent working for a secret agency headed up by Director Peter Janeway (William Devane). Babe doesn’t know of his brother’s true occupation.

Doc suspects that a Nazi war criminal, Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) will be arriving in New York to retrieve an extremely valuable diamond collection, so Doc goes to New York under the guise of a visit to Babe.

Babe enters into a relationship with a young woman named Elsa Opel, who claims to be from Switzerland.

Doc takes the couple to lunch where he tricks Elsa into revealing that she has been lying to Babe about her background. Doc suspects she may have some connection to Szell, but he doesn’t tell Babe.

Will Babe be able to work out the mysterious plot involving his secretive brother, his girlfriend and a Nazi war criminal.

Directed by John Schlesinger, Marathon Man stars Dustin Hoffman.