In Their Footsteps

In Their Footsteps, Nine, 6.30pm
In tonight’s final we join Steve as he discovers the deeply personal story about life’s lingering scars as he follows in the footsteps of his late father, Private Stanley Johns.

Dancing With the Stars Final, Seven, 6.30pm
In the grand final, the Manu Feildel, Damien Leith and Haley Bracken remaining celebrity contestants battle it out for the coveted mirror ball trophy. Joining the finalists will be the entire series 11 cast.

Compass – Marriage Right vs Rite, ABC,10.10pm
Part two and the final for this series, sees Geraldine Doogue invites six people to dinner to explore arguments for and against same-sex marriage in Australia.

Masterchef, Ten, 7.30pm
The lucky top 8 off to New York. See Billy, Sun, Hayden, Michael, Kate, Dani, Alana and Ellie enjot the food and sights of the city that never sleeps.

Black Eyed Peas: Live from Sydney to Vegas, ABC2, 11.39pm
Live concert footage taken from two spectacular shows in Sydney and Las Vegas on the Monkey Business tour.

This week’s gripping finale of In Their Foosteps at 6.30pm Sunday on Channel Nine is the story of Stanley “Stunna” Johns, a legend to his army mates in three wars.

“Stunna” was a bloke you could always rely on in a stoush – and through service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam he saw plenty. In Korea he helped to keep waves of Chinese forces at bay in the crucial Battle of Kapyong in 1951.

But whatever victories “Stunna” had on the battlefield mattered little to his son Steve, who now lives on the NSW mid-north coast. As a boy growing up in Bendigo he knew only a father who was “a monster of a tank of man” who drank too much and brutalised his wife and kids. Stanley might have been a legend to his mates but at home he made life a war zone.

Today Steve is 51 and he wants to know just what made his late father behave so badly towards the family. He believes the answer lies in the mountains and trenches of Korea – among the reminders of a war that Steve knows very little about. He’s not alone, because for most Australians Korea is the forgotten war.

This is a deeply personal story about life’s lingering scars; the way we are shaped by our earliest experiences; and how war leaves its mark long after the guns have been silenced.

In Their Footsteps: Sunday, July 10, at 6.30pm on Nine

6:30pm – Sunday, July 3 on Channel Nine

When the Japanese bombed Darwin on February 19, 1942, the damage was devastating – and the silence deafening. News of the attack was limited and most Australians were oblivious to the devastation on our own shores. Not that Les Semken needed a newsreel to know what happened; he saw it all unfold first hand.

As a civilian contractor working at Darwin aerodrome when the bombs fell, Les was so incensed he enlisted into the Army the very next day. This was a major turnaround for him. Until now, Les had no interest in joining up. The war had suddenly become very personal.

Nearly 70 years later, his granddaughter Kathryn is also on a very personal mission – to learn about the war that came to her grandfather and to Australia’s shores. Kathryn knows that at 90, Les won’t be around much longer to tell her the story himself – about that moment in time, which changed his life and shaped the fate of his family.

This is a tender tale about a 25-year-old woman, taking time out from her busy life to learn the lessons of an elder; to understand about the historic moments that shaped her grandfather at much the same age. It is a story about the wisdom of elders and the galvanising experiences of our youth.

Season finales coming to Nine over the next two weeks, and the premiere of Top Design sneaks in on a Wednesday night.

Although they probably won’t promote it, the last new episode of The Mentalist will air this Sunday July 3 at 8.30pm. The following week sees repeats sneak into the timeslot, in a similar fahion to how The Big Bang Theory continued with repeats on Monday nights without any promotion of the recent season four finale.

Sunday July 10, at 6.30pm is the season finale of In Their Footsteps, a series which has done quite well for Nine.

Moving to Tuesday July 12 and its the last EVER episode of Sea Patrol at 8.30pm. Then on Wednesday July 13, after an additional one hour episode of The Block, the incredibly heavily promoted Top Design premieres at 8pm, finishing at 9.15pm.

When the Japanese bombed Darwin on February 19, 1942, the damage was devastating – but the silence was deafening.

News of the shock attack was limited and most Australians were oblivious to the death and destruction on their own shores.

In this week’s episode of In Their Footsteps on Sunday, July 3, at 6.30pm on Nine we learn of Les Semken, a man who didn’t need a newsreel or radio to know what happened – he saw it all unfold first hand.

As a civilian contractor working at Darwin aerodrome when the bombs fell, Les was so incensed that he enlisted in the Army the next day. This was a major turnaround for Les, who until then had no interest in joining up. Now the war had suddenly become very personal.

Nearly 70 years later, Les’s granddaughter Kathryn is also on a very personal mission: to learn about the war that came right to her grandfather and to Australia. Kathryn knows that at 90, Les won’t be around much longer to tell her the story himself about the fateful moment that changed his life and shaped the destiny of his family.

This is a tender tale about a 25-year-old woman taking time out from her busy life to learn the lessons of an elder; to understand the history that moulded her grandfather at much the same age. It is a war story about the wisdom of elders and the galvanising experiences of our youth.

In Their Footsteps: Sunday, July 3, at 6.30pm on Nine

This week we see how serving as a runner on the Western Front during the First World War required courage, commitment and a lot of luck to survive.

In this week’s episode of In Their Footsteps at 6.30pm Sunday on Channel Nine we meet courageous George Hannaford. He was awarded the Military Medal for his extraordinary efforts running messages between the front line and the commanders during the battle of Polygon Wood in 1917.

Private Hannaford also had enough good luck to make it through the war that took the lives of 60,000 Australian men, come home, marry and establish a dairy farm that is still in the family.

Kristy Cooper grew up on George’s settlement farm and has spent her whole life in the district of Katandra in Victoria. Now the mother of three wants to know how her family came to be there, how the war shaped her great-grandfather’s life, and how it also shaped their destiny.

Kristy is motivated by love for her grandfather George Jr, George’s son. He is growing old and she wants to be able to tell him what his father endured and achieved on the battlefields of France and Belgium. George Jr remembers a few war stories but it’s hard to sort fact from myth. Like so many men who survived the Great War, George never really talked to his family about what he saw, what he did, and how the carnage left a mark on him.

Her great-grandfather’s war medals have been lost but Kristy wants to ensure that his war story is not. On her first major overseas trip, she wants to bring the missing pieces of the family history back to life and understand what it meant to serve in the mud and mayhem of the Western Front for George Hannaford, a remarkable survivor.

6:30pm – Sunday, June 19 on Channel Nine

Gathered around the television one afternoon, the Healey family was watching the classic Steve McQueen film, The Great Escape – in much the same way millions have enjoyed it. But this afternoon, in this family, it would be different. Tony Healey was trying to make out what his grandfather, Bill was muttering under his breath. Tony finally asked what was wrong. “It wasn’t anything like that,” Bill replied. “How do you know?” It was a fair enough question and his grandfather’s response would almost knock Tony off the couch. “I was on the Escape Committee!” And so began Toni’s journey of discovery into just exactly what his grandfather did during the war.

Aircrafts don’t come anymore iconic than the Lancaster Bomber, and the airmen who flew them were the celebrities of WWII. As a navigator in Bomber Command, Bill Healey and his crew were so highly skilled they were chosen for the elite Path Finder Force, guiding hundreds of Bomber Command aircraft over the night skies of Germany. It was crucial, dangerous work from which many never returned. After more than 30 successful operations, Bill’s Lancaster was shot down. The crew parachuted into the German countryside, and were soon captured and interned as prisoners of war.

Bill was sent to Stalag Luft III, a camp that would go down in the history books for the daring escapes that took place there. However, these escapes were rarely successful and often ended in tragedy. Tony Healey is an engineer who lives with his wife and three kids on the New South Wales south coast. He wants to know exactly what his grandfather went through. Tony will discover a world of daring flying missions, survival in the face of hardship and loneliness, and a love story struggling to survive the tyranny of time and distance.

This week’s episode of In Their Footsteps tells the real, Aussie version of the classic Steve McQueen war movie, The Great Escape.

Gathered around the TV set one afternoon, the Healey family were watching The Great Escape. Tony Healey was trying to make out what his grandfather Bill was muttering under his breath. When he finally asked what was wrong, Bill replied: “It was nothing like that.” So began Tony’s journey to discover just what his grandfather did – and went through – in World War II.

Bill Healey was a navigator in a Lancaster bomber for RAF Bomber Command. The brave aircrew who flew the famous Lancasters were like celebrities in wartime.

Bill and his crew were so highly skilled they were chosen for the elite Pathfinder Force that guided bombers on hundreds of missions over the night skies of Germany. It was dangerous work that took the lives of many Allied airmen.

After flying more than 30 missions Bill’s Lancaster was shot down. The crew parachuted into the German countryside and were captured and interned as prisoners of war.

Bill was sent to Stalag Luft III, the POW camp that would go down in history for daring tunnel escapes like the one portrayed in The Great Escape. But in reality, these escapes were rarely successful and often ended in tragedy.

Tony Healey is an engineer who lives with his wife and three children on the New South Wales south coast. Now he wants to know exactly what his grandfather went through in the war. He finds out when In Their Footsteps reveals a world of daring bombing runs, survival in the face of terrible hardship and loneliness, and a love story that struggled to survive the perils of war.

In Their Footsteps: Sunday, June 19, at 6.30pm on Nine

6:30pm – Sunday, June 12 on Channel Nine

Legend has it a Hippisley has served in every battle since Waterloo. They certainly served in World War I, World War II and Vietnam. To be a man in Mark Hippisley’s family, the 41-year-old has long believed, you must go to war.

And Mark certainly tried. An Air Force Cadet as a child, he went on to full-time RAAF service. However, a workplace injury cut short his military career and rubbed out a life-long ambition. Slowly, steadily, it widened the gap that already existed between him and his father.

Terrence ‘Hippo’ Hippisley, a boisterous, larger-than-life Vietnam veteran with a healthy dose of mischief, is the opposite of his quiet and reserved son. But beneath the tough, larrikin exterior are wounds of war that have never really healed and have fractured Hippo’s family.

Join Mark as he walks in his father’s footsteps; from the battlefields of a rubber plantation to the busy streets of Vung Tau. It is an extraordinary journey – from the heat of battle to a deeper understanding of the cost of war and, ultimately, of his father.

Family legend has it that a Hippisley has served in every battle since Waterloo. They certainly fought in the First World War, World War II and Vietnam.

This week on In Their Footsteps at 6.30pm Sunday on Channel Nine we meet the Hippisley who didn’t, when a devoted son retraces the steps of his larger-than-life father, a veteran of the Vietnam War.

Mark Hippisley, 41, grew up believing that to be a man in this family you had to go to war. And he certainly tried. An Air Force cadet, he went on to full-time service in the RAAF. But a workplace injury deprived him of a military career and cut him out of the family tradition. Slowly, steadily, it widened the gap that already existed between him and his rugged father, Terrence “Hippo” Hippisley.

A boisterous Vietnam veteran with a healthy streak of mischief, “Hippo” is the opposite of his quiet and reserved son. But beneath the tough, larrikin exterior are wounds of war that have fractured the Hippisley family and never really healed.

Now Mark is walking in his father’s legendary footsteps, from the battlefields of a Vietnam rubber plantation to the teeming streets of Vung Tau.

For Mark, this extraordinary journey goes beyond trying to comprehend the heat and horror of battle. It’s his personal pathway to a deeper understanding of the terrible costs of war – and the warrior father he could never emulate.

In Their Footsteps: Sunday, June 12, at 6.30pm on Nine