As Australian As…

Monday, July 12 at 8.30pm on Bio.

As Australian As… is a series of self-contained personal television essays in which ten prominent Australians tell the story of the event, incident or experience that made them appreciate what it means to be as Australian as. Through the eyes of these characters we will learn that it’s not all Vegemite, Holden cars and Bondi Beach.

July 12 – Jon Stevens.

Monday, July 12 at 8.30pm on Bio.

As Australian As… is a series of self-contained personal television essays in which ten prominent Australians tell the story of the event, incident or experience that made them appreciate what it means to be as Australian as. Through the eyes of these characters we will learn that it’s not all Vegemite, Holden cars and Bondi Beach.

July 26 – Alex Perry. Dressing Jenny.

One of Australia’s most respected fashion designers, Alex Perry is the son of Greek parents whose place at the top of the couture tree was not an obvious destiny for someone who, at school, was in his own words a “fat wog”. Alex – along with some of the glamorous people he dresses, family members, those who remember him from school and design college – tells the story of how he found his path in life. And it all starts, when he was eight, in the garden of the home where his parents still live. We re-enact the visit of a particularly glamorous Athenian family friend named Jenny and the revelation, to the young Alex, of “style”. And his pursuit of that indefinable quality ever since.

Monday, June 28 at 9.30pm on Bio.

As Australian As … is a series of self contained personal television essays in which ten prominent Australians tell
the story of the event, incident or experience that made them appreciate what it means to be as Australian as.
Through the eyes of these characters we will learn that it’s not all Vegemite, Holden cars and Bondi Beach.
Tonight’s episode: George Negus – Life, Death & Football.
Politics has been the bulk of George’s professional life and hardly an Australian would be unaware of his
contribution to political journalism and commentary in this country – “but” he tells us in his episode of As Australian
As… “it’s not football”. George was born in Queensland and, because his neighbours were involved, started
playing football (“soccer” or “wogball” as it was then called) as a kid. He reached representative level, played for
his state and has remained passionate about the game ever since, as administrator and, in his words, “football
tragic”. In this program, with the help of friends, past and present Socceroos, he tells us why football matters so
much and why Australia’s performances at the World Cup have been amongst the highest – and the lowest -
points of his whole life.

Monday, June 7, at 9.30pm on Bio.

As Australian As… is a series of self contained personal television essays in which ten prominent Australians tell the story of the event, incident or experience that made them appreciate what it means to be as Australian as. Through the eyes of these characters we will learn that it’s not all Vegemite, Holden cars and Bondi Beach. Ep 6. Caroline O’Connor – One Woman’s Show. With song and dance, with clips from performances and with disarming honesty Caroline O’Connor, one of our greatest performers, takes us on a journey through her life. She started as a child prodigy…doing traditional Irish dancing. But, as she tells us, this was before Michael Flatley and despite being Australian champion there was no career to be made.

But it was with Irish dancing that one of Caroline’s great love affairs began – with the Sydney Opera House where, as a child, she danced at the gala opening. And in the brilliant career that she has carved out since then – in ballet, in music theatre in London and Australia, in such films as Moulin Rouge and in one woman shows in which Piaf and Judy Garland and Ethel Merman are amongst the stars she brings to mind – the Opera House has been a motif. She has played on all its stages, and even recorded a CD in its recording studio. And standing on its stages she gives us a real insight into what it means to be a performer who always gives her all.

Mondays at 9.30pm on Bio.

As Australian As… is a series of self contained personal television essays in which ten prominent Australians tell the story of the event, incident or experience that made them appreciate what it means to be as Australian as. Through the eyes of these characters we will learn that it’s not all Vegemite, Holden cars and Bondi Beach. Ep 5. Anne Summers. Anne Summers’ career has included key appointments in the public sector (she was First Assistant Secretary in the Office for the Status of Women), in journalism (she edited the Good Weekend supplement to The Sydney Morning Herald) and as an author. To consider what it means to be As Australian As…, Anne introduces us to the work of artists who have seen and responded to Australia in very different ways over the years. Australia through the eyes of artists from the first part of the Twentieth Century, artists of Anne’s own generation and those who have recently migrated to this country offer contrasting and provocative views of Australia and its people.

Many of the works that Anne shows us are in her own collection and, in this program, we have a chance to see them for the first time. They include a portrait of Anne’s own mother as a young girl – the subject of Anne Summers’ most recent book.

Monday, May 17, at 9.30pm on Bio.

As Australian As… is a series of self contained personal television essays in which ten prominent Australians tell the story of the event, incident or experience that made them appreciate what it means to be as Australian as. Through the eyes of these characters we will learn that it’s not all Vegemite, Holden cars and Bondi Beach.

Ep 3.

Bojana Novakovic – Identity Crisis

Bojana Novakovic is one of the brightest emerging stars in the new generation of Australian actors – she made her Hollywood debut (as Mel Gibson’s daughter) in the recently released Edge of Darkness. Bojana also works in the Australian and European film industries, particularly in Serbia where she was born in 1981, migrating with her family to Australia when she was seven. In Identity Crisis, Bojana looks at friends, family and colleagues in a highly original and frequently funny way. Who is Bojana? Identity, for a migrant, for a person who works around the world and for an actor always changing roles is not an easy thing to pin down!

FOXTEL’s Bio. channel continues its commitment to bringing Australian stories to Australian audiences with the premiere of the exclusive series As Australian As… in which eminent figures, such as Catherine Freeman, Alex Perry and Professor Fiona Stanley, share the experiences that shaped their sense of our national identity.

Premiering May 3, Mondays at 9.30pm (AEST) on Bio., the As Australian As… series features 10 Australians, from fields as diverse as entertainment, medicine, science, fashion and sport, each telling a story close to their heart, about what being Australian means to them.

Catherine Freeman takes us to Palm Island to share the story of the strong woman who has inspired an Australian champion – her mother.

Fashion designer Alex Perry, remembers a glamorous Athenian woman that revealed to him the importance of “style” and set him on a path to becoming one of Australia’s premier eveningwear designers.

Political journalist George Negus, a self-confessed “football tragic”, tells us why Australia’s performances at the World Cup have been amongst the highest – and lowest – points of his whole life.

John Wood, one of Australia’s best loved actors, remembers the importance of tradition in three stories that are related by their respect for the significance of the past – restoring veteran cars, naval vessel the Cerberus and the Roxy Picture Palace.

Former Australian of the year Professor Fiona Stanley, explains the experiences, in the practice of medicine, that have set the direction of her life. She discusses whether closing the gap between the health and welfare of Indigenous Australians and the rest of the population is merely a matter of giving people a “fair go” or something to put in the “too hard basket”.

Anne Summers’ career has included key appointments in the public sector, journalism and as an author. To consider what it means to be As Australian As…, Anne introduces us to the work of artists who have seen and responded to Australia in very different ways over the years. 

As Australian As… is produced by Bearcage exclusively for the Bio. channel and FOXTEL. The 10 episode series premieres with Catherine Freeman’s story on May 3, Mondays at 9.30pm AEST on Bio. with encore screenings Sundays at 7.00pm AEST.