Network 10 to air The Project replacement, 10News+ on Monday night

The hard-hitting new show replacing Channel 10’s The Project after almost sixteen years is about air for the first time.

Channel 10’s replacement for The Project will air for the first time on Monday evening as part of the Network’s latest bid for a ratings win.

The Project aired its last episode on Friday and is being replaced by 10News+ which will be the first commercial free-to air news program to also be available as a video podcast via global streaming service Spotify.

Television journalist Denham Hitchcock will co-anchor the show with his former Seven Network colleague Amelia Brace, with the pair insisting in promos for the show that they will “put the truth first”.

10News+ is replacing The Project on Channel 10. Picture: 10

10News+ is replacing The Project on Channel 10. Picture: 10

Hitchcock has also promised a banger of a first episode too.

He told Stellar Magazine that he was excited to have been “let out of the gate” on stories and revealed he had one up his sleeve for months.

“It’s an absolute blockbuster,” he teased. “It’s a story 60 Minutes, Four Corners and Spotlight would kill for.”

“It’s a story on a Melbourne mother of five called Debbie Voulgaris. She was in the news cycle not too long ago. She got caught going into Taiwan with seven kilos of heroin and cocaine in her suitcase. She said that she was not guilty. In February this year, the day before her trial, she pled guilty. She was sentenced to 16 years prison in Taiwan, and since then, she’s disappeared from the news cycle.

Channel 10 are hoping for a ratings win. Picture: 10

“The real truth behind that story is something quite different. At the heart of it is a scam, and she was asked to go by someone that she knows very well, to go and deliver a suitcase. She did not know the contents of that suitcase. Now this investigation that you will see, will have all of the messages, the scam, how it started, who the person is, who sent her there who asked her to go and what is currently happening with her in Taiwan. In fact, you’ll hear from her from a Taiwanese prison cell.”

Starting off his career straight out of high school in 1995, Hitchcock answered phones and filled the biscuit barrel for Today Tonight on Seven.

“To truly try and make a difference and enrich the lives of the people you come across is what I’m most proud of,” Hitchcock said of his 30 years on the road.

“I’ve managed to do that in a lot of cases, and that gives me the most amount of hope. There’s still beauty among the rubble and devastation. You just have to look for it.”

Meanwhile, it was an emotional final episode of The Project on Channel 10 after over 16 years on-screen with surprise appearances from Carrie Bickmore and Lisa Wilkinson.

Regular hosts Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Sam Taunton and Georgie Tunny bid farewell to viewers during an emotional final episode.

Georgie Dunny was in tears on Friday as she bid farewell to viewers and her co-stars. Picture: 10

In the end, it all came down to heartbreaking final speeches from Georgie Tunny and Waleed Aly, both of whom fought back tears but in the end relented to their emotions as they clocked out of the studio one final time.

“I can’t actually look at you all, I’m so sorry, because you’ve just been an absolute dream to work with,” said Tunny as she broke down. “There can be a lot said about the media industry and it’s cat fights and all of this, but this has been a family from the beginning and I know that you’ll still in my life.”

“Thanks to the people who built this from nothing,” began Aly. “The people who made this show 4,504 times, on camera and off. People long gone and here today. Every one of you is indispensable. Thank you to our guests over the years. To those who came to play, or persuade. To those who came on to be challenged, to meet us in the great public square of our lives, who disagreed with us in good faith over the years: thank you so much. You made us better. And thank you to you at home. Thanks for letting us into your hearts. Cliche thing to say is to let us in your living rooms but that is inadequate. Instead, thank you for letting us into your hearts.”

Originally published as Network 10 to air The Project replacement, 10News+ on Monday night