ABC announces its 2024 line-up

ABC announces its 2024 line-up with a political docuseries featuring former Coalition prime ministers and a new project by Shaun Micallef.

Following the tradition of Labor in Power, The Howard Years and The Killing Season, journalist Mark Willacy interviews Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison and other key players for a new three-part ABC docuseries. Picture: ABC

A forthcoming ABC docuseries tells the dramatic story of power and ambition during nine years of Coalition government, and has been revealed as one of the public broadcaster’s new 2024 program offerings.

Marketed as something ­between Labor in Power, The Howard Years and The Killing Season, journalist Mark Willacy interviews Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison and other key players in this “tumultuous period of Australian political history” for a three-part series.

Shaun Micallef returns with a new entertainment show Shaun Micallef’s Unnamed Project, having told a recent Senate hearing that, while he couldn’t reveal much of what was in it, he could reveal some of what wasn’t. “It will not feature cooking, home renovations, marriage, singing, sport, RBT units, dogs wilderness survival, quiz questions, news clips, stock footage, wearing masks, border security, amazing races, lego, sitting on a panel or being marooned on an island in your underwear,” he said.

Shaun Micallef stars in a new series Shaun Micallef's Unnamed Project. Picture: ABC

Austin, a charming new eight-part comedy series about “neurodiversity and acceptance”, stars UK performers Ben Miller, from popular mystery series Death in Paradise, Sally Phillips, who featured in political comedy Veep, and the breakout star of the Love on the Spectrum, Michael Theo, performing in his acting debut role.

An Australian spin-off of Death in Paradise will be set against the fictional coastal ­landscape of Dolphin Cove, where Australian ex-pat Mackenzie Clark returns home from the London Metropolitan police force and finds herself in the middle of a murder case in her childhood suburb.

Beloved British-Australian comedian Miriam Margolyes is Impossibly Australian in a new adventure series where she visits three iconic Australian cities and suburbs she’s always wanted to see – Perth, Byron Bay and ­Broken Hill – and in the process faces her future.

An extended, 28-minute special episode of Bluey called The Sign to premiere on the ABC next year will keep the kids in front of the television for longer.

Beloved British-Australian comedian Miriam Margolyes is Impossibly Australian in a new adventure series. Picture: ABC

There are also a number of ­return favourites, including Kitty Flanagan’s Fisk Season 3, Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths’ award-winning series Total Control, Muster Dogs with a whole new cast of dogs, Troppo Season 2, and a new series of Spicks and Specks.