Sigrid Thornton will reprise her role in drama favourite, SeaChange next year on Nine
CHANNEL Nine has revealed its programming slate for 2019, which will include a revival of the series SeaChange, starring Sigrid Thornton, as well as some surprises in the world of sport.
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RUGBY league great, Johnathon Thurston will swap his football boots for a microphone next year, joining Nine’s Wide World Of Sports commentary team.
The former North Queensland captain, as well as his one-time Queensland and Australian teammates, Billy Slater and Sam Thaiday are the new recruits to the network’s league coverage, which will see a game from next year’s State of Origin tri-series played in Perth.
Erin Molan is also expected to play a role in new post-match programming, after The NRL Footy Show she hosted was axed last month.
The popular presenter will also return as host of 20 to One and the network’s broad sports line-up — as part of a raft of new prime-time offerings revealed at Nine’s upfronts.
The network’s new six-year rights deal with Tennis Australia will see John McEnroe, Jim Courier and Lleyton Hewitt make the switch from Seven’s commentary team to Nine — with Courier at the upfronts event at Sydney’s Fox Studios.
Meanwhile, The AFL Footy Show was left off an early press release, with the error amended and a vague description without any hosting details adding to speculation the tired format will undergo a massive makeover when it returns next year.
Spearheading the drama slate announcements, Wentworth favourite Sigrid Thornton is set to reprise her leading lady role, along with co-star John Howard, in iconic dramedy, SeaChange.
Twenty years on, Thornton’s single mum magistrate, Laura will return to the fictional coastal town of Pearl Bay — with her ‘Diver’ Dan love interest yet to be revealed.
Thornton said while “time has passed and the world has changes, as we revisit this rich and strange place, I trust we’ll all delight in the chance to explore how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go … I can hardly wait.”
In a new drama commission, Love Child’s Mandy McElhinney, Strike Back star Dan Macpherson, Offspring’s Don Hany and his former Heartbeat co-star, Melissa George headline a new drama pitched as “five very modern women juggling the big issues of love, family, careers, infidelity … and murder.”
Hamish Blake and Andy Lee will also revise their road-trip format in Hamish and Andy’s Perfect Holiday; while Blake will also front Lego Masters — set to pit eight pairs of ‘brickheads’ against each other in a block-building and creativity contest.
Other returning programs include the top-rating Married At First Sight, The Block, The Voice, Australian Ninja Warrior, Family Food Fight, Love Island, Doctor Doctor and Talkin’ Bout Your Generation.
Sophie Monk’s Love Island gets an upgrade to the network’s primary channel, from digital channel Go! — with a change of location rumoured for the Big Brother-style dating show.
In other changes, Eddie McGuire’s Millionaire Hot Seat is poised for yet another makeover in the hope of reigniting the quiz show in the ratings; with the program to be extended to a one-hour program.
Australia’s appetite for true crime will be fed by new doco series, Murder, Lies And Alibis, where a team of experienced investigators re-examine cold cases in the hope of finding new clues; as well as Crime Story Investigation Australia, revisiting infamous criminal cases from here and around the world.