The Suspects

It looks as though Seven will close out the ratings year with both the most number of viewers as well as the most number of local programming flops.

The network leads the list of new programming failures with a range of new Australian shows failing to take hold in the domestic market.

While Seven enjoyed success with the return of ratings powerhouse Packed to the Rafters, its list of pulled shows is vast.

AFL magazine show The Bounce barely got off the ground before being pulled along with The White Room, which lasted just two weeks.

Reality shows ICU, Beat The Star and Australia Versus were all pulled form Seven this year after poor showings, alongside The Suspects, Under The Hammer and Russell Crowe’s Damage Control documentary.

Channel Nine pulled new Kate Richie drama Cops LAC during the year while TEN managed to escape without any casualties.

Source: News.com.au

9:30pm – Wednesday, August 11 on Seven

Police probe a millionaire’s private world to find out if it’s murder or bondage gone wrong tonight on THE SUSPECTS: TRUE AUSTRALIAN THRILLERS. Also, Australia’s most wanted con woman hits a new low. Plus, two murdered woman and one bad explanation.

THE CASE OF THE DEATH OF A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE

For detectives a call to the wealthy end of Melbourne is unusual and then there’s the crime scene. It’s the strangest situation some of them had ever encountered; like something out of a movie set. Priceless antiques piled next to rubbish and a number of sheets and items with blood on them. And in amongst it all, there’s the body of an eccentric multi-millionaire. As police sift through the shocking crime scene, they are confronted by the bizarre secret world that was this man’s life – bondage equipment strewn over the place. Was it a S&M session gone wrong? Or was something more sinister at play?

THE CASE OF A CON WOMAN

A young woman has tripped and fallen in a Melbourne street. The injured woman is unaware the doctor who has come to her aide is a fake – and that she’s about to become a victim of the most brazen con woman Australia has ever known.

THE CASE OF THE BODIES IN THE BAGS

Homicide detectives are investigating the bizarre murder of a young woman dumped in a waterside reserve in Sydney’s north. Police say the victim, in her 20s, was stuffed in a plastic bag. While questioning the woman’s husband, they make a gruesome discovery – another woman’s dead body in a suitcase at his home. She’s been stabbed seven times and he says it was suicide. Is he the victim of bad luck or is he telling the truth?

THE SUSPECTS: TRUE AUSTRALIAN THRILLERS is hosted by ROY BILLING.

9:30pm – Wednesday, August 4 on Seven

A mother mysteriously murdered, tonight on THE SUSPECTS: TRUE AUSTRALIAN THRILLERS. Also how a law abiding citizen helps an escaped criminal stay on the run. And a world crime busting first heats up a cold case.

Real Australian crimes and criminals are put under the microscope in this exciting new factual series. Viewers have the chance to play detective as some of Australia’s most intriguing crimes are played out in suspenseful whodunit style. Can you pick the culprit as the clues unfold one by one?

This week’s cases:

THE CASE OF THE HIGH SOCIETY MURDER

A mother-of-three is found brutally murdered inside an elegant terrace in an affluent Sydney suburb. A port mortem reveals shed been severely bashed in a frenzied attack. Married to a prominent orthodontist, she seemed to have it all. Police have precious little in the way of leads. It will be a tough case to crack to find out who murdered her and why.

THE CASE OF THE MISSING MAN

A woman goes to police in search of her brother, whom she hasn’t seen in a year. The last time his family saw him he was heading off to Western Australia to start his new life a mysterious dream job in the outback. Finding him will lead detectives down a sinister path and uncover one of Australia’s most notorious crimes.

THE CASE WITH THE BLOODY CLUE

The peace on a 71-year-old woman’s chicken farm is shattered by a crime that puts Tasmanian police in the world spotlight. She’s been assaulted and badly shaken by a couple of armed intruders. Their faces were covered they left no fingerprints, even the neighbours heard nothing. All police know is the woman’s lost her life savings. Desperate for clues, police take one more sweep of the crime scene. They spot something on the carpet a bizarre clue that might just lead them to her attacker.

THE SUSPECTS: TRUE AUSTRALIAN THRILLERS is hosted by ROY BILLING.

9:30pm – Wednesday, July 28 on Seven

Is a man driven to kill the woman he loves tonight on THE SUSPECTS: TRUE AUSTRALIAN THRILLERS? Also an innocent mum shot on her doorstep and what once kept a man alive may now catch his killer.

Real Australian crimes and criminals are put under the microscope in this exciting new factual series. Viewers have the chance to play detective as some of Australia’s most intriguing crimes are played out in suspenseful whodunit style. Can you pick the culprit as the clues unfold one by one?

This week’s cases:

THE CASE OF THE MURDERED MUM

A young Melbourne mother is brutally gunned down in the driveway of her home. The 32-year-old factory worker had been ambushed by a gunman who’d been laying in wait as she returned home. The shooting has all the hallmarks of an underworld hit – if so, it’ll be the 24th in Melbourne in the past few years. The case deepens after detectives learn the victim had been having sexual relations with not one but two other men. Did her husband discover she was cheating? Did he plot her death as revenge? Or was it one of her lovers or a complete stranger? Detectives work tirelessly to unravel the tangled web.

THE CASE OF THE CROSSBOW ATTACK

A Sydney mother-of-three answers a mysterious knock on the door and is struck in the head in a barbaric attack. To find out exactly what happened, detectives grill her husband. But he seems confused about the evening’s events. He’s adamant he didn’t shoot his wife. He runs a smash repair business and claims this isn’t the first time they’ve been attacked. Is he telling the truth? Or is he trying to cover up his crime?

THE CASE OF THE DEAD MAN WALKING

The sleepy Tasmanian town of Lefroy is shocked when a senior citizen is found bashed to death at his home. There is no DNA or fingerprints at the murder scene leaving police little to go on. A possible breakthrough emerges when they learn the victim had a pacemaker, which will contain an exact log of when his heart stopped. It will provide a vital clue to proving the guilt or innocence of their prime suspect.

THE SUSPECTS: TRUE AUSTRALIAN THRILLERS is hosted by ROY BILLING.

Real Australian crimes and criminals will be put under the microscope in Channel Seven’s exciting new factual series THE SUSPECTS: TRUE AUSTRALIAN THRILLERS.

Viewers will have the chance to play detective as some of Australia’s most intriguing crimes are played out in suspenseful whodunit style. Can you pick the culprit as the clues unfold one by one?

Case files of some of this country’s most fascinating crimes are blown wide open, allowing you at home to see exactly how each investigation unfolded. Produced in-house, THE SUSPECTS: TRUE AUSTRALIAN THRILLERS will feature never before seen police interviews and surveillance tapes, dramatized re-enactments and news reports.

Each one-hour episode will profile three Australian cases. They will range from serious murder investigations, robberies and kidnappings to quirky and unusual cases never before featured on Australian television.

Acclaimed Australian actor ROY BILLING will narrate the series. “I love the whole idea of the show,” he says. “It’s real crime as opposed to fictional crime. A lot of crime shows and dramas focus on the criminals but this one highlights the cops and how they bring people to justice. You realise how dedicated, clever and hard working they are.”

Dan Meenan, Head of Factual Programming, calls it the most incredible crime show he’s ever seen. “These cases are just unbelievable,” he says. “There are so many twists and turns, potential suspects and motives, that it will keep you guessing right until the very end. It’s like an Alfred Hitchcock movie; non-stop suspense and intrigue.”

Executive Producer, Maxine Gray, agrees. “We used dramatized crime thrillers as our inspiration which means we lay out the police investigation in a way that will leave you constantly guessing who the baddie really is,” she says. “It’s a fresh way to present real police investigations and, because these crimes happened to real people, the stories are very powerful.”

THE SUSPECTS: TRUE AUSTRALIAN THRILLERS will premiere on Wednesday July 21 at 9.30pm after City Homicide.