Australian Families of Crime

9:30pm – Tuesday, June 29 on Channel Nine

John Travers and Mick Murdoch were only boys when they cut their wrists and mingled their blood in a pact of loyalty that would lead them to terrible destiny, as two of the nation’s most despised killers.

Travers is a vicious psychopath who grew up in a severely dysfunctional family in Sydney’s outer- western suburbs. He descended into a life of appalling depravity before leading his gang in the savage rape and murder of Sydney nurse and beauty queen, Anita Cobby. His accomplices were his “blood- brother” Mick Murdoch and the three “Murphy boys”, Les, Michael and Gary. All the Murphy brothers had violent tempers and extensive criminal records. The eldest, Michael, at the time of the murder, was a jail escapee and had spent most of his thirty years in juvenile detention or adult prison. His brother Gary Murphy was five years younger and had a hearing defect and speech impairment. Leslie Joseph Murphy was the youngest of the Murphy children, and said to be greatly attractive to women, but he was known as having the worst temper of all.

The story their families and the chain of events that led to the terrible crime and their jailing for life are told in fascinating detail.

Nine makes yet another programming change to their worst weeknight of the week – Tuesdays – effective immediately. This is actually the third version of programming for Tuesday June 29, and supersedes all other amendments and posts in relation to the matter.

Having already planned changes for the night that Packed to the Rafters returns to Seven, Nine have made another – somewhat major – change to Tuesday June 29, which, of course, will be too late for the changes to appear in printed TV guides.

Now that Australia’s Got Talent is over, and Minute to Win It most likely will not rate anywhere near as well, Nine have moved Top Gear back to the more competitive time of 8.30pm to go against packed to the Rafters on Seven and NCIS repeats on Ten – which rate very well.

That means that Who Do You Think You Are (UK) with Jeremy Clarkson will now air at 10pm June 29, after Top Gear. The finale of Australian Families of Crime now moves back to Tuesday July 6, and on Tuesday July 13, the time slot after Top Gear – indicated as being 10.30pm – is “to be advised”. That might mean a two hour Top Gear special or they just haven’t figures out the times yet.

At 7.30pm Tuesdays, with Top Gear moved to 8.30, another Two and a Half Men repeat will play at that time. That will be followed by a new series called Under Surveillance: Australian Druglords – while we have no details on this show, it sounds like a half hour crime factual probably based on the series Australian Druglords which is no longer being shown. Could even be that show repackaged.

Channel Nine Tuesdays in summary*:
7.30 Two and a Half Men repeat
8.00 Under Surveillance: Australian Druglords – NEW
8.30 Top Gear
10.00 June 29: Who do You Think You Are (UK): Jeremy Clarkson
10.00 July 6: Australian Families of Crime Finale
11.00 June 29: Wimbledon
11.00 July 6: Kitchen Nightmares USA.

* Note – AFL States have the EJ Whitten Legends AFL game on July 6. 7.30 Melbourne, later in Adelaide and Perth.

As always, programming subject to last minute changes.

9:30pm – Tuesday, June 22 on Channel Nine

On November the 10th, 1986.a girl named Kate rushed naked into a suburban Perth shop screaming she had been abducted and repeatedly raped in a nearby house .Police were called and Kate related the horrific details of her ordeal, how she had believed she was going to be killed and had only survived by winning a desperate battle of wits with her captors and making a miraculous escape.

She led police back to the house of her captors, David and Catherine Birnie, in Moorhouse Street, Willagee, just east of Fremantle. There detectives quickly discovered Kate was only the latest in a string of young females who’ve been grabbed off Perth streets. They uncovered a terrible scene of multiple rape and murder in what will soon become known throughout Australia as “The House of Horrors.” David and Catherine Birnie were without doubt the most violent couple in Australia’s history — deadly predators who abducted, raped, tortured and brutally murdered four women to satisfy their perverse sexual needs. Both were sentenced to life in prison. David killed himself in his prison cell and Catherine has so far had her applications for parole rejected. This episode includes exclusive comments from David Birnie’s first wife, Kerrie who, along with others who knew the Birnies from their childhood days, sheds some light on what led to the couple’s terrible killing spree.

UPDATED

More programming changes at Nine next week, with an episode of Who Do You Think You Are featuring Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson slotted in to 10pm Tuesday, after another “supersized” Top Gear from 8.30pm.

That means that Adults Only Two and a Half Men is off for the week (was only on once) and the season finale of Australian Families of Crime moves to 10pm Tuesday JULY 6 and its 4^th timeslot in its short run on TV.

Next week (June 27 – July 3) on Nine sees the finale of Underbelly: The Golden Mile at 8.30pm Sunday, the finale on the current run of Customs at 6.30pm Sunday, the last new episodes of the Big Bang Theory at Monday 8pm, the return of Rescue Special Ops at 8.30pm Monday and the premiere of new factual RBT (how many of these sorts of shows can Seven and Nine keep throwing at us?) 7pm Sunday night.

Meanwhile, Hey Hey continues on Wednesday June 30 for its 10^th episode, followed by the AFL Footy Show in AFL markets and 20 to 1 “Caught on Tape” for NRL markets.

Saturday July 3 features the Women’s Singles final of Wimbledon from 11pm, with the Men’s on Sunday night July 4, from 10.30pm.

9:40pm – Tuesday, June 15 on Channel Nine

Tuesday, June 15 at 9.40pm Lennie McPherson, a Balmain boy, is believed to have controlled most of Sydney’s organised crime activity for several decades, with associate, George Freeman. Universally feared, McPherson built up an extensive network of criminal activities from racketeering to prostitution and drug dealing.

The Big Bang Theory season finale is on Monday June 28 at 8pm. The Big Bang Theory – repeated on both Nine and GO! – has proven a success in ratings. There are also no more new episodes of Two and a Half Men. Given how well the repeats rate, the two sitcoms should remain in repeats on Monday nights for the short term.

[updated] The Mentalist season finale airs June 21. It’s timeslot of 8.30pm Monday will be replaced with the new season of Rescue Special Ops from June 28.

Australian Families of Crime continues at 9.30pm Tuesdays, with Australian Druglords no longer in Nine’s schedule for now. It may return once the Families of Crime episodes are exhausted. Meanwhile Adults Only Two and a Half Men fills the 9pm gap between Top Gear and Australian Families of Crime.

Sport will dominate late night programming on Nine as Wimbledon gets under way from Monday June 21. Most nights will see live coverage from 10.30pm, with the Women’s final live from 10.30pm Saturday July 3, and the Men’s Sunday July 4.

Nine will also be showing the one day cricket series between Australian and England, with the first game at 10.30pm Sunday June 27, another game from 7.30pm Saturday July 3. The cricket clashes with Wimbledon in part – if only the two events could be shown in full on GO or 9HD while Nine itself showed other the other event or its normal programming – which some nights eat into the times these sporting events run.

With AFL playing on Ten on Thursday July 1, the AFL Footy Show will move to Wednesday night for that week, following Hey Hey from about 9.30pm. Those not in AFL states will see 20-1 at that time. Wimbledon will follow both shows, and will also mean no AFL Footy Show late replay for the NRL states. Again – use of digital channels could overcome this problem, but seems that won’t be happening any time soon.

Meanwhile, the NRL Footy Show is on Thursday night as per usual in Sydney and Brisbane, while the AFL states will see an episode of Cold Case at 9.30 Thursday July 1. Again Wimbledon will follow, with the Women’s semi finals.

9:40pm – Tuesday, June 8 on Channel Nine

Painter and docker, Les Kane was described by his widow as “the most violent man in Australia”. Les’ older brother,Brian was once Melbourne’s top standover man, before he was gunned down.

Mourners at his funeral included the entire Moran clan. Judi Kane speaks of how she fell for a man who had a hidden psychopathic streak.

So what is on Nine after the Survivor finale airing May 25?

Well – another show that puts their Underbelly research to good use – Australian Drug Lords – which premieres on Nine at 8.40pm Tuesday June 1, after Top Gear.

Hosted by Gary Sweet, Australian Drug Lords is a true crime series utilising unprecedented access to confidential police files taking the viewer inside the secret world of the NSW police Drug Squad. The first episode looks at Richard Buttrose, who was the undisputed cocaine king of Sydney’s A list. Arrested in 2007, he pleaded guilty to selling cocaine and was sentenced to 12 years jail March 10, 2010.

At 9.40pm on Tuesday June 1, a one off special called “Air France Flight 447” will be seen. This show investigates the disappearance of an Airbus A330 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris over the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009 causing the loss of lives of all 228 onboard.

At 9.40pm on Tuesday June 8, unless changed prior, Australian Families of Crime continues in its new timeslot, having been last seen on Sunday May 23 at 9.30pm.

Kitchen Nightmares USA is most likely to remain occupying the 10.40pm timeslot on Tuesdays for now.

Some more programming instability at Nine with the network making changes to Sunday night after Underbelly: The Golden Mile.

After the recent death of Carl Williams, Nine rushed to air that night the first episode of the new series “Australian Families of Crime” where each episode looks at the life and family of notorious Australian crime figures. They then chose to put Australian Families of Crime at 9.30pm, after Underbelly: The Golden Mile, pushing V back to 10.30pm.

After just one week at that time slot, the show was off for two weeks with the Logies on May 2 and a double episode of Underbelly on May 9 taking over its time slot.

Now, due to the fact the show does not maintain enough of Underbelly’s ratings, Nine have chosen to move Australian Families of Crime away from 9.30 Sunday, replacing it with new episodes of CSI. This change takes effect from May 30. Given that the show has only aired twice on the Sunday night timeslot so far, there has been no time for viewers to get used to it being there.

Australian Families of Crime will then move to 9.40pm Tuesday from June 8.

Advertising on Nine reveals there is a somewhat similar series coming soon called Australian Drug Lords. Looks like Nine are putting all of their Underbelly research to good use, getting as many show

s out of it they can!

Honestly, no matter what Nine put after Underbelly, no show – other than a second episode of Underbelly – is going to maintain the ratings that Underbelly achieves. The ratings Australian Families of Crime have scored so far is not that bad for its timeslot, and comes second after Castle on Seven, and way ahead of House on Ten.

One could argue that Ten have the same problem with shows following Master chef – if they followed Nine’s programming logic, The Good Wife would have been gone by now as it too sees a huge drop in viewers after Masterchef. Thankfully Ten are more prone to let shows grow and build in their timeslots rather than reacting to ratings all the time (although – it happens on Ten sometime as well). Good Wife fans would agree that where the show is at now, is the best it has been so far for the whole season.

Programming information: TV Tonight.

In the wake of the Carl Williams murder comes the new series AUSTRALIAN FAMILIES OF CRIME, premiering with Backpacker Bloodshed, the story of the Milat family, this Sunday at 9.30pm on Channel Nine.

Australian Families of Crime unveils the most violent and terrifying crime families in Australia, including the Milats, Saffrons, Pettingills, Kanes, McPhersons, Freemans and Birnies. Presented by Vince Colosimo, this gripping, seven-part documentary-drama series from the producers of Crime Investigations Australia explores the lives and crimes of some of the most evil and fearsome criminals in our nation’s history.

Backpacker Bloodshed, the first instalment, is an unforgettable account of the gruesome Backpacker Murders that shocked Australia and reverberated around the world. It’s the story of serial killer Ivan Milat, who butchered seven young backpackers in the Belanglo state forest south of Sydney.

Backpacker Bloodshed chronicles Milat’s murderous rise to infamy through archival footage, exclusive interviews, startling re-enactments and family photographs.

Interviews with four of Milat’s brothers – Boris, Richard, George and David – take viewers inside the Milat home where viewers will find a close-knit family that stuck together, bonded by loyalty, a culture of lawlessness and an obsession with guns.

Family secrets are disclosed, along with startling revelations of adultery, jealousy and hatred, plus allegations of incest, and an insight into the shocking brutality experienced by the 14 Milat children at the hands of their father. The family code – “If you can’t think of anything to say, come up with a good lie” – is broken as stories of Ivan Milat’s cruel and violent nature unfold from the people who knew him best – his own family.

“Ivan was deceitful, super deceitful. He didn’t have a burning light in his soul. It had gone out,” says Boris Milat.

Backpacker Bloodshed also features interviews with forensic psychiatrist Dr Rod Milton; retired NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Clive Small; the late John Marsden, Ivan Milat’s defence lawyer; and the victim who got away, Paul Onions, a hitch-hiker from the United Kingdom, who sealed Milat’s fate by identifying him as the man who had tried to abduct him two years before the killings came to light.

These interviews paint a frightening picture of the Milat family, examine the police theory that Ivan Milat was abetted by a second killer, and detail the horrific crimes that put Milat behind bars for life.

Australian Families of Crime – Milat: Backpacker Bloodshed, this Sunday, April 25, at 9.30pm on Nine