02x04 - The Hungry Truth

[bunniefuu]

1998. Huh?

The year Australia is gonna chuck

itself a year-long birthday party.

What about the Aboriginal perspective?

Come on. Helen, honestly?

We've got the team here

to cover all the bases.

EVELYN: She's lying to our faces.

I don't know what more I can do.

Call an ambulance!

Kay. Kay. Kay, it's

Daddy. Come on, darling.

My daughter. I think

she might have overdosed.

That trollop from the Sun,

Donna Gillies, the gossip woman.

She's got something going to

print. She wants a response.

DONNA: Is it true

that you were committed

to the Larundel psychiatric facility?

A couple of years ago, someone was keen

to sell a story to her about me.

My advice

have something to offer her.

DALE: What if we offer

her an engagement?

Dale, there are some things that

I just would never want to trade.

WOMAN: Make it natural.

Feel your groove, yeah?

- Feel each other. Yes!

- MAN: Not literally.

DALE: I think I need you

to go over the moves again.

- Yeah.

- Just start with your feet.

Let's put aside an hour

for that later today.

ROB: Dani, do you start

with your right or your left?

- Right.

- Right. Always the right.

So, we begin with landscape images.

We're flying over beaches,

ranges, over ranges.

Whirls of red dust in the outback.

Now we're fading up on each

of you, turning to the camera,

stars of the network.

And then when the tempo changes,

that's when we cut to all

of you moving together.

If you just want to watch Danielle, OK?

So, we're just swaying side to side.

Keeping it simple, loose.

Mmm. And singing as well.

Boys on the male vocal,

Helen female.

No, I'm not I'm not gonna

pretend that that's my actual voice.

It's a group singalong, so it

won't read as your voice per se.

If she's not singing, I'm not singing.

Well, I don't think this reflects

on us as journalists. It's a promo.

It's important that the

news team's foregrounded.

Foregrounded? What does that even mean?

OK, let's bring it back into the room.

Let's get some smiles on those faces

and get those feet

moving vaguely together.

- Alright. Thank you.

- If we just get

You were just getting

it. It is looking

- Beautiful teamwork.

- You three look fantastic as well.

OK, stand by!

Playback!

SONG: with a cheer ♪

- And action!

- For a birthday like no other ♪

Right, more energy! National pride!

- Two hundred years ♪

- Alright, here we go!

Big energy now!

- In '88, the party's here ♪

- That's it!

- Tune in to Australia's year ♪

- More energy! Come on!

Here we go! Take it up!

- Let's raise the flag ♪

- Yes!

And sing the song ♪

- We'll celebrate all year long ♪

- Oh, celebrate!

We'll celebrate all year long ♪

- Here we go. Now, feel the love.

- Feel it getting closer ♪

- Feel the growing sense of pride. ♪

- Yes. Yes, yes.

Hold that feeling. Hold it.

(SILENCE)

Keep holding it.

Cutting there.

Fantastic. Well done.

- Well done, everyone. Thank you.

- I have to go again.

Can we have one one more go, maybe?

WOMAN: She's done so well

with the physical recovery.

We just we now

need to understand why.

Why Kay had those moments of refraction

into addiction and overdose.

KAY: Mum.

She's talking to you.

Oh.

I was just saying, we understand

it's not always possible, but

we find it's much better

to involve the whole family.

Oh, of course.

And Geoff would absolutely be here,

but he was called interstate for work.

Might it be possible to

conduct these sessions

a little later in the evening?

She wants the cover of darkness.

She doesn't want anyone to see him here.

Mrs Walters, I can assure you we

take confidentiality very seriously.

We've had several high-profile

people on these grounds.

Really?

- Well, who?

- It's confidential, Mum.

Oh. Yeah, of course. Sorry.

Uh well, thank you.

I'll put that to Geoff.

She's lying.

She'll never tell him.

Darling.

I might have made a lot of

mistakes, but I've never lied to you.

Not once.

(PAN SIZZLES)

Hello to viewers across the

nation. I'm Geoff Walters.

Welcome to our live coverage

from Western Australia

as this historic re-enactment

of the First Fleet

- Can we change the channel?

- Well, no-one else is going live.

Now, this journey

began seven months ago,

when these majestic ships departed

Portsmouth in the United Kingdom,

tracing our 18th-century ancestors.

And finally, today, our

helicopter's in the sky.

- You can hear it now above you.

- (HELICOPTER WHIRRS)

Let's see the fleet as it

draws close to Australia.

- What a glorious sight indeed.

- ('GOD SAVE THE QUEEN' PLAYS)

One can only imagine the sheer spectacle

as this re-enactment finally

reaches Sydney Harbour

on our 200th birthday,

watched by all of Australia

and welcomed by Their Royal Highnesses

Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

We are a young nation. A humble one.

A nation that typically shies

away from grand gestures.

But as we reflect on the

journey from 1788 to today,

it's hard not to feel a sense of

pride, a sense of sincere glory

- PAUL: Oi!

- Excuse me. How dare you?

Helen.

I am Lynus Elroy Preston of the

Wanggumara, Yorta Yorta ancestry.

This is an unlawful trespass.

You have no legal claim over

any of our lands or waters.

This is ill*gal occupat

You cannot scribe your lies into truth!

(SHOUTING) Australia is not a nation!

It's a crime scene!

- There is an ugly truth in this country!

- Back off, OK? Back off.

Your hands are soaked in blood!

Well, are they ever gonna cut back?

GEOFF: "Rowdy protesters briefly

interrupted a live telecast."

That's it? One line?

There's a bit more in this one.

Ah.

"A small group of protesters

disrupted live broadcasts."

That wasn't a disruption,

it was a bloody as*ault!

Honestly, darling, it

didn't seem that dramatic

because you handled it

with such professionalism.

Also no mention of that.

Darling, I'm worried that

Kay's starting to think

that I'm keeping you from her.

- I've visited her several times.

- I know.

But now they want to conduct

these counselling sessions.

They're of the belief that

the family should play a role

in someone's recovery.

Well, I know, I know.

But we did insist on her

committing to this facility.

We can't very well refuse

- Nothing at all in the Australian.

- the prescribed program.

It's like it never happened.

(DOOR CLOSES)

(NEWS THEME MUSIC)

Good evening.

Well, I was hoping

tonight I'd be recounting

a weekend of glorious

national celebration.

Instead, we learned

there are those among us

determined to interrupt our

bicentennial commemorations,

convinced that Australians

should feel shame

over the actions of our distant

ancestors some two centuries ago.

Saturday's protest was led by

a half-Irish radio disc jockey

who claims he's the voice

of Aboriginal Australia.

Well, I have many strong links

to genuine Aboriginal leaders,

and they agree with me.

It's time to move forward as a nation.

History is history,

and dragging us back to the past

does nothing to help the

Aborigines of Australia.

At least, not the real ones.

- (TAPE PLAYS)

- LYNUS: I am Lynus Elroy Preston

of the Wanggumara, Yorta Yorta ancestry.

This is an unlawful trespass.

You have no legal claim over

any of our lands or waters

So, his name's Lynus Preston.

He's not so much a DJ but

a community radio announcer.

He's an academic and an activist.

It looks like a whole lot of

thrashing and yelling. To me.

Well, the yelling is actually

quite a detailed speech.

She read a transcript

of it on the radio.

"You cannot celebrate away

the acts of genocide and w*r

inflicted upon the

true owners of this land

over 200 years of ill*gal"

DENNIS: Yeah, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Look, Helen, I don't know

where you're going with this,

so I'm gonna give you

the benefit of the doubt

and assume that you're

not gonna be so stupid

as to suggest an interview.

Oh, really? Oh

Geoff Walters spent four

minutes on national television

calling him a sham.

I want to see how he responds.

Bringing this guy in for an interview

is like asking Gaddafi to come

in and have a chat about weapons!

Our promo says we are gonna cover

every angle of the bicentennial.

Not EVERY angle, Dale!

Not EVERY angle, OK?

We're going to do the the

pretty ships. We'll do Princess Di.

We'll do concerts! We'll do Princess Di.

Oh, and if you want

some variety Charles.

And Geoff has a point.

It's been 200 years.

At some stage gotta get over it, hey?

I think Lynus would probably have

a few things to say

about that statement.

- That statement?

- Mm-hm.

What are you saying? I'm a r*cist?

(SCOFFS) I'm the least

r*cist person in this place.

Half my footy team are blackfellas.

- Blackfellas.

- Yeah.

Look, we all know what

he's gonna say, OK?

So, what's the

follow-up with the fleet?

- When are they leaving Fremantle?

- Why don't we say to Lindsay,

"We'll give you four minutes of Di

for a minute and a half of Lynus"?

- I'd like two.

- This is what he's going to say, right?

He's gonna yell at YOU,

he's gonna turf YOU,

and he's gonna find a way to blame me.

- Let me give it a go.

- Oh. Oh, wow!

The moment has finally come

when Dale Jennings has

overestimated himself!

- I never thought this would happen.

- LINDSAY: Yep?!

I am so excited to see this.

Dale! What do you want?

By '74, there were three

of them on the team.

Actually, four. Barry Kayton.

He was unreal. Full-back.

They were just like the rest of us.

We ate together, showered together,

went to the pub together

after every game.

- Rob, stop.

- St?

Lindsay would like four

minutes of, uh, Princess Diana.

Four minutes? What about Lynus?

(DENNIS LAUGHS)

Dale! Congratulations, mate!

Like, what a great outcome.

I did not see that coming.

LINDSAY: Dennis! In here!

Realistically, is there

four minutes of story?

There hasn't been much Diana

footage coming through lately.

You know what? She is just

clearly a really depressed woman

who hates every choice that

she's ever made in her life.

Maybe that's your story.

LINDSAY: Just do

pregnancy speculation!

This is the last full

story we ran on Di.

Prince Harry's first day at school,

all the way back in September.

I couldn't figure out why

there'd been such a drought,

so I started combing

through the print clippings,

and basically, Charles went to

Balmoral Castle for the summer

and Diana stayed in London.

- Which is not unusual.

- Mm-hm.

But now it's December

and Charles is still there

and she's still in London.

They've been living apart for months.

MURRAY: Maybe they prefer

getting saucy on the phone.

Well, some couples are into that.

- Their body language is dire.

- Mm-hm.

Have any other outlets

verified where they are?

No. And they've cancelled their

last five official engagements.

I think if you put it all together,

there's only one

conclusion you can draw.

The royal couple have separated.

They just haven't announced it yet.

(LAUGHS) They haven't separated!

You should see ME dropping the kids

off at school. I'm barely human.

Forget the four minutes.

We're gonna need six.

Because I have an exclusive

that reveals a fracture

in the royal family

that's gonna threaten the

whole bicentennial tour.

Oh, what have you got?

Well, that's what the whole

country will be wondering

why you promote the hell

out of it for 24 hours.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but

you have got something?

Yeah. Yeah. And we're gonna

cover it in in detail.

If

If you give us two

minutes with Lynus Preston.

Oh, f*ck me, Dale! You too?

What is it with you people?

Two minutes with Lynus

for six minutes of Di.

Mate, do you want me

to show you the ratings

for the night Helen

made us do land rights?

It's filed under N for

'never f*cking again'!

Lindsay, you know if you promote

the hell out of this story,

you'll get the biggest

numbers of the year.

Alright.

HELEN: Hey, Dale, do you want

to go and grab some lunch or

I just got you two minutes with Lynus.

- Beg your pardon?

- Two minutes with Lynus.

- Does Lindsay know?

- Yeah.

Yes, he does. And he hates it.

But I've got a k*ller Diana story.

- Do I have to cover Diana?

- No, that's just me and Noelene.

Oh, my God. Thank you so much.

Oh! Can we do the lunch thing later?

Yeah. I'll give you as

much lead time as I can.

OK. Thank you!

It didn't matter who was black and

who was white. We were a footy team.

You know, we'd hang out together.

(LAUGHS) Some of those

boys were just Oh!

My mate, um Deano, he

was like a brother to me.

I'd even go to the

mish every now and then.

Just special occasion things,

you know, like funerals and whatnot.

Rob, you don't have a

r*cist bone in your body.

Oh, thank you, Jen. Thank you.

I mean, I would have thought

it was it was pretty obvious.

I've never known you to

catch up with a Deano.

What?

You catch up with all your old

footy mates, but never Deano.

Well, we all shot off in

different directions after footy,

but we were close.

I've never known you to catch

up with any Aboriginal player.

Sorry, is this 'cause

of what Helen said?

Deano was my mate, but

he lives out in Gunbower.

- He works on a farm.

- A farm?

Yeah. What's wrong with that?

He works on a farm?

And you're on television every night?

He's a labourer. He's a country

boy. He's good with his hands.

- He didn't want to work on the telly.

- Neither did you.

(CHUCKLES) Noelene, I just don't

think you're understanding me.

You know Diana?

I mean, she was 19 she was only 19

when she actually met Charles.

- Really?

- Yeah.

I mean, far out. I made some

horrible choices when I was 19.

- (SNORTS)

- (CHUCKLES) I did.

And he was in his 30s,

too. Like, it's a big gap.

Do you remember when

she collapsed last year?

- That footage?

- No. No.

She collapsed, and then she's

being led off by these

by these two bodyguards,

and and Charles is just

he's just walking behind her,

like he, um like he was

annoyed by her or something.

- Sounds awful.

- Yeah. I don't like him.

I don't think she likes

him either! (LAUGHS)

I think she's f*cked. I

think she needed a Dale.

Oh, that's my royal commentary,

anyway. I'm gonna have a shower.

(PHONE RINGS)

Hello. Jennings residence.

DALE: Oh, hi. It's me.

- Hello, me.

- Hi.

Do you know where Gran's

engagement ring is?

I know exactly where it

is, darling. Are you?

Would you be able to bring it to me?

- I could drive down tomorrow.

- Uh, when?

I can come first thing. You

tell me when's too early.

Yeah, the morning's good.

OK, I've got to go. Thanks, Mum. Bye.

In the evening, we'd

stroll down by the river ♪

And as the golden moon

shines brightly up above ♪

WOMAN: You right there, bub?

Hello. Um, I'm Helen

Norville from News At Six.

I called several times yesterday

hoping to speak with Lynus Preston.

He's on air at the moment.

I'm his Auntie Tiny. Come

on, I'll introduce you.

Oh, I don't want to

intrude if he's on air.

He'll be fine.

LYNUS: That was the black Elvis himself,

Uncle Roger Knox, singing Koori Roads.

And that takes us to our last

half-hour of love song dedication,

so, all you mob out

there, you know what to do.

Dial on in if you're a sister

that wants to let that fine

brother know how neat he is,

or if you're a brother that's too shy

to approach that beautiful black queen.

Just give me a call, my bred, and

I'll help you unlock that groove.

Speaking of groove, how about

a splash of bright lights

for the beautiful disco queen herself?

Beautiful black queen Marcia Hines

with Your Love Still

Brings Me To My Knees.

Here we go, you mob.

Don't hurt yourself, now.

(SONG FADES IN)

Speaking of divas, Miss Helen Norville.

I believe I've been dodging your calls.

Uh, yes, you have indeed.

I don't want to take up

too much of your time,

but I wanted to speak with

you about an opportunity

- Miss Norville. Miss Norville.

- to potentially

We have a rule here.

Never interrupt Marcia.

Whoo! Ooh!

- It's a good song. You know the song?

- I do. Mm-hm.

Here. I'll turn it up for you.

Come on, Miss Norville.

I know you can move it.

- Um, I'm

- Come on.

First, it's in the shoulders.

The shoulders, and then move them hips.

That's it. That's it! That's it!

- This flame that burns within ♪

- Whoo!

My heart will never die ♪

Whoo!

(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS)

(KNOCK AT DOOR)

- Hey.

- Is she here?

No. OK.

You might need to get it resized.

Your gran was well, you

know quite an ample woman.

Yeah, we can do that after.

Do you have a plan?

Yeah. I'm gonna do it here.

I've got the chef at Mietta's

to prepare us a special meal

and I've got four

bouquets of flowers coming.

So, Helen will just she'll come home,

she'll think it's an ordinary night,

and then she'll walk into a

sea of flowers and fairy lights.

Tonight?

Yeah.

And you're sure?

Yeah.

Yeah, of course.

Sorry. I just

I just wasn't sure

this was gonna happen.

(CHUCKLES) Mum.

(CHUCKLES)

So, I I'm assuming you know that

Geoff Walters railed against you

for an entire segment on Monday night?

He completely misrepresented

what you were trying to say.

He even questioned your

heritage, your Aboriginality.

What happens when you add milk to tea?

- Sorry?

- It's still tea, isn't it?

Listen, I read what you were

going to say on that broadcast,

and it was passionate and forthright

and urgent, and you were cut off.

Yeah.

I'd like to give you

a dedicated interview.

With me, tonight, on News At Six.

We have a huge audience.

It's mainly middle Australian.

You'd have the opportunity

to respond to Geoff.

And you'd also be able to get

your message out to the viewers,

challenging them to

to meet you halfway.

Why halfway?

We could record it here. In your studio.

I could have a crew here in 40 minutes.

Just got to go to another

meeting. Now, actually.

You can come if you want.

The protest in Fremantle

when the fleet arrived?

Nah, that was just the beginning.

There's a march being organised

for Invasion Day up in Sydney.

Now, that that's

gonna be a proper blackout.

Biggest corroboree we've

ever seen in our lifetime.

Oh, I should have told you.

You're not the only one

here that finds me, uh

urgent, was it?

There's this French fella here

sh**ting a documentary about me.

Says he's "award-winning". (LAUGHS)

Gabriel. This is Miss Norville.

Uh, Julian and Tim.

Hi. Helen.

- You two know each other?

- Uh, Tim

- We both worked

- used to work at News At Six.

Right. Well,

Helen here is trying to convince me

that prime-time news is ready

for a troublemaker like me.

Well, if you'll excuse me,

my beautiful Caucasian people.

Let's get set up, s'il vous plait.

You ain't going to hear anything

from back here. Come on, bub.

We're gonna go to Hyde Park, ain't we?

Well, a few of the mob are still talking

about stopping at Hyde Park, Uncle,

but we all still hold the view

that we think it's important

to carry on the march all the way

to Lady Macquarie's Chair, yeah?

- What? Chair?

- The harbour.

Yeah, they've set up

a tent embassy there.

They'll be waiting for us.

You know? That's what we spoke

about in our last meeting.

Yeah, well, I wasn't

at the last meeting.

But I'm here now.

And I think it's important that

we all stick together in Hyde Park.

All the clan groups united. One mob.

Yeah, but there's no historical

relevance in Hyde Park, Uncle.

Look, the point of invasion

happened at the harbour, yeah?

- That's where the battle lines are.

- "Battle lines"?

You need to play the white

man at the white man's game.

You know, if we're there screaming

and shouting and carrying on,

they ain't gonna see us.

They ain't gonna hear us.

The world's just gonna see

a mob of angry blackfellas.

With all due respect, Uncle, I

want the world to see our anger.

I want them to see our

pain, you know? Our humanity.

You know, in fact, I demand it.

I'm done waiting for a chair

at the table of democracy.

You know, how many times have we died

waiting for that to happen, Uncle?

(OTHERS AGREE)

HELEN: Thank you. Thank you so

much for letting me see that.

And and it's it's that passion

that I'd really kind of like to capture.

And I'm just wondering if maybe

maybe I could call the crew

and we could we could

even start sh**ting here now.

Uh, I've got to go to

lunch with my cousins.

- Lunch with your cousins?

- Mmm. It's a fortnightly thing we do.

I can't be the one to break tradition.

Hey, you like yum cha, though?

Lynus, our bulletin's at six o'clock.

If I want to sh**t that story,

edit it and get it on today

- Yum cha, cha-cha-cha! ♪

- Hey!

- It's the yum cha dance.

- Seriously, I'm not gonna be

- Proper ceremonial dance, this one.

- There's not enough time to do

Yum cha Come on, Helen.

They've got the deadliest

spring rolls. Come on.

Yum cha, cha-cha-cha. ♪

Here, wait up, Auntie! I'm hungry!

Yep, he did the same thing to us.

It's a test. You probably got that.

Oh, and as for Gabriel,

they think he's the

next big thing in docos.

Not that you're not great.

I just Look, if I'm honest, I just

I don't see Lynus agreeing

to the News At Six.

DALE: Hmm.

This one mentions a reconciliation

meeting set up by the Queen.

I've read that a few times, and I can't

- find any actual evidence to support it.

- (PHONE RINGS)

- Dale Jennings.

- Hey, Dale, um, listen, can you make sure

that Dennis holds the

slot for the Lynus story?

- Where are you?

- Uh, I'm at a yum cha restaurant.

- But have you shot it yet?

- No, I haven't.

Listen

Dale, Tim is here. Tim Ahern.

He's he's working for some French

guy doing a documentary on Lynus.

Huh.

Did you know that he'd moved into doco?

No.

OK, can you just make sure

that they hold the story?

- OK.

- Thanks.

Kay, how are you feeling now?

I just

I feel like a failure.

I felt like everything that

I do is insignificant

and you're both ashamed of me.

Since when?

Since school.

Are there more specific moments

or feelings you could mention?

Um

Parent-teacher nights.

And can you describe why

those nights were difficult?

Well, Dad, you, um

- you never showed. Ever.

- Of course not.

Well, your father was

a nightly newsreader.

He was working to support us.

And, Mum, you would go on for days after

about how embarrassing it was

if the teachers mentioned

a single problem.

I mean, you'd have to concede,

it was rarely a single problem.

I mean, the things I

heard in those meetings.

Truancy. Language.

Congratulations were hardly in order.

Huh! Parent-teacher night!

I hardly saw my father at all.

He worked so hard,

he was too tired to hold his

morning coffee to drink it.

But I knew that he did

that for my benefit.

I think what Kay might be describing

is a sense of expectation,

disappointment

I was never disappointed in Kay.

How could I be?

Every time we spoke, she went on and on

about how wonderful everything was.

Work. Boyfriends.

Of course, I now know it was all lies.

Well, I learned to lie.

I knew you both had no

interest in hearing the truth.

Honestly!

It's a disease of the modern world,

people casting themselves as victims.

The fact is, we gave you the childhood

most people could never dream of.

And for you to sit here and attempt

to blame your mother and I

- I'm sorry. I can't do this.

- for your own drug addiction

(CLEARS THROAT)

- (ALL CHATTER)

- LYNUS: Here, how much?

Here. Please, let me let me.

No, no, no, no, it's

fine. We got it. It's fine.

You come to my country, my land,

I'll show you traditional custom.

- Yum cha!

- (LAUGHTER)

Lynus, if you want to be on the news

(SILENCE)

If you want to be on the news tonight,

we're gonna have to sh**t

within the next hour.

- What about tomorrow arvo?

- No, I'm sorry.

It's it's got to be today.

Thing is, I've got to drop

these takeaways to my nephews.

(LAUGHTER)

Alright. (CLEARS THROAT)

Thank you.

Helen! Don't, Auntie.

(LAUGHTER)

Helen?

Helen.

- Hey, just wait.

- (SCOFFS) You know what?

I HAVE waited.

I have waited for hours.

I am trying to give you an opportunity

to get your message

out to a huge audience,

and all you have done is wasted my time.

- Well, why does it have to be on your time?

- How many

do you actually think

are gonna watch that documentary?

A thousand, maybe, if you're lucky?

I'm sure you've never watched

News At Six, but it's

Oh, no, actually, I have.

Let me tell you something.

No-one else cares.

No magazines. No other networks.

I don't see anyone else standing

here offering you this opportunity.

And frankly, Lynus, now I can see why.

- Great. That went well.

- Yeah.

- Good script, Noelene.

- Thanks.

I think we could put in some

more colloquial terms, you know?

Like, more Aussie, blokey terms, like

- I'll ask Rob.

- Hi.

GERRY: Oh, you've heard

I'm joining you tonight?

Well, just at the end, to

introduce the promo, but yeah.

Oh, don't diminish it, Dale.

I've told everyone it's

my newsreading debut.

Did you draft this script?

I did.

Oh. Well, you've done an admirable job.

But I might adlib a little.

Uh, what?

Dale, it's not adlibbing if I tell you.

Er, n-no, what?

I don't know, maybe something like

"Some people have issues

with birthdays, but not me.

A year-long national birthday

is right up my alley."

You've been looking for an excuse

to drink champagne 365 days straight.

(NOELENE LAUGHS)

That's actually pretty good, Dale.

Don't write it down!

Write that down.

It's funny, Dale.

LINDSAY: Dale! Dale Jennings!

I have just spent half an hour

getting my ears bent sideways

by a cretin called Harold somebody

who used to be a royal

correspondent we used in the '70s.

He's seen our Charles and Diana promo.

He's guaranteeing me

they're gonna get News At Six

barred from the royal tour.

- Is that possible?

- I gotta tell you,

if Charles and Diana are doling

out Australian television interviews

and we're blacklisted,

we are royally f*cked!

They rarely do interviews and don't

have any planned for this trip.

I don't mean to be rude here,

Noelene, but are you sure?!

Well, I say let's get him

on the desk, argue it out live.

Right, mate, just watch yourself.

This bloke's beyond camp.

He's like Liberace

in a Christmas cake.

He acted like I just

shat on his religion.

- Do we have his number?

- Yes, yes. Ask Jean.

Great. Great.

ANNOUNCER: Tonight at six,

the royal marriage in turmoil.

Beyond the gossip, beyond the rumours -

tonight, Dale Jennings

presents exclusive evidence

of the fractured union

of Charles and Diana.

A royal marriage in crisis,

a bicentennial tour in question,

and a princess adrift.

- Tonight, only on News At Six.

- (PHONE RINGS)

Helen Norville.

CHARLIE: Now, that's

what I call a promo.

What's this "exclusive

evidence" you have?

Nothing. I mean, it's just that.

Charles and Diana have been

living separately for a bit.

Just more Lindsay faff. God, I

can't believe he's still in the job.

Sorry to say, tonight's ratings

are going to be huge, Helen.

- Could buy Lindsay another year.

- Hmm.

Helen, if it's royal

stories that bother you,

maybe it's not Lindsay

who needs to move on.

Well, I would, I mean, I f*cking would

if any other network would have me.

What? They'd snap you

up. Why wouldn't they?

You are immensely valuable.

News At Six is lucky to have

you and they got you for a song.

You'd get double at any other network.

Look, I probably shouldn't

be telling you this,

but, um I was on the brink

of giving Lindsay the arse

before I got the arse.

Really?

And you're not the only News At

Six staff member who wants him gone.

- Well, who?

- Oh, that's not the point. Helen

- Rob?

- Helen, I can't talk about it, alright?

Dennis?

- (SIGHS)

- (KNOCK AT DOOR)

There's a Lynus Preston here to see you.

I gotta go.

Audience of millions, you reckon?

Lynus, you've left it so late

that there's probably not

even enough time to edit it.

No cuts sound good to me.

After you, Miss Norville.

You have to mix a few shades

together to get my complexion.

- Oh

- I'm just joking.

Oh. (LAUGHS AWKWARDLY)

Um, yep. Yeah.

- You good?

- Mmm.

OK.

Lynus Preston,

last weekend, you interrupted

a national broadcast

during the re-enactment

of the First Fleet.

You were arrested and may face court.

What were you trying to say?

Australia was invaded, not colonised.

You know, this is an ill*gal occupation.

You broke your own law

and your precious King

George III stated very clearly

that in order to claim

land (CHUCKLES)

it has to be unowned.

And Captain Cook knew

that there were owners

that had a recognised law.

I don't think that very many

people would deny that history.

But it was 200 years ago.

Yeah, but that ill*gal act

is being upheld to this day.

And not just upheld,

but is being celebrated by you.

You know, you present these

pretty ships as a celebration,

but really, they're just a re-enactment

of r*pe, m*rder and brutal savagery

OK. Can you just pause for a second?

Um

You're just delivering a diatribe.

People are just gonna switch off.

What, you'd rather I

put on a little show?

I've watched you, Lynus, and you

do know how to connect to people.

So, maybe just try putting a

little bit more of yourself into it.

(SIGHS)

Talk about

how you feel.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

OK. You good?

- Good?

- Mm-hm.

Lynus, it's been argued

that you have both Aboriginal

heritage and Anglo-Saxon.

So

why claim only the Aboriginal side?

Well, but I don't.

You know, let me tell

you, I may be part Irish,

but I haven't been a guest of

honour at any St Paddy's Day,

and I love myself a Guinness.

(CHUCKLES)

When people look at you, they they

they see a confident DJ.

So, some might wonder

how can you really be feeling

the pain of two centuries ago?

You know, my eldest brother

passed away two months ago.

He was 55 years old. And

that's young, you know?

And my brother before

that, he died at 49.

And now I'm the only brother

left, and I'm 33 years old.

You know, when people were talking about

the life expectancy of our mob,

my eldest brother would

say, these whitefellas,

they think we die because of

disease and chronic illness,

alcoholism, drugs, violence,

suicide, you name it,

but none of that, none of that matters.

It's all bullshit.

Because our mob dies

from a broken heart.

And every time we bury one of our

loved ones way before their time,

we are constantly reminded

about everything our

people have gone through.

And until we're ready to tell that story

and speak that truth in this country,

our mob will continue to

die way before their time.

And I'm tired of burying my family.

NADIA: Recovery's never a straight line.

It's rare that residents don't

have at least one relapse.

You suspect she's actually relapsed?

No. Not necessarily.

We didn't get any explanation.

They just found her room empty.

Oh, the amount of money we've paid!

I know. It's very upsetting.

Addiction is a terrible illness.

Oh, for goodness' sake. Is it

an illness? Or is it a choice?

You could at least be consistent!

Er, Mrs Walters, I've

been here many times,

and there's one thing

that gives me confidence

for a resident and their family,

and that's if someone

continues to show up for them.

(GROANS) Goodbye.

(LAUGHS)

Now, Gerry, you famously enjoy

enjoy Huh mmmm-urrrr

So, Gerry, you famously

enjoy a birthday Arrgh!

Uh Uh-huh

So, Gerry (LAUGHS)

Huh! Hoo! Hoo!

Any excuse to drink

champagne 365 days a y

Huuuuh!

Any excuse to drink

cham Any excuse. Excuse.

Uhh-uhh! (CLEARS THROAT)

Any excuse to drink champagne

365 days a year. (LAUGHS)

CHERYL: Dale.

There you are. Come on.

Oh.

- Need anything? OK.

- Uh, nope.

Tonight, the fractured royal

marriage an expl*sive report

on the troubled union of Prince

Charles and Princess Diana.

We speak to one of the

bicentennial protest leaders

who tells us why he

refuses to celebrate.

And we're joined by a special guest

for the world premiere

of our 1988 network promo.

- I'm Dale Jennings.

- And I'm Helen Norville.

Welcome to News At Six.

As Prince Charles and Princess Diana's

bicentennial tour approaches

- How'd it go?

- evidence is emerging

She knows what she's doing.

suggesting the royal

marriage is in grave trouble.

A string of cancellations and absences

has royal-watchers speculating

that the couple may

have already separated.

Dale Jennings filed this report.

For most of this decade, the

Prince and Princess of Wales

have appeared to be

living a fairytale

- Howard Page.

- Royal correspondent.

I'm sorry, but if I am expected

to respond to this, I

90 seconds!

Hello. I'm Helen.

Hi. Nice to meet you. Welcome.

In November, Diana was

conspicuously absent

from the wedding of

Lady Amanda Knatchbull,

an event attended by

Noelene! Go down to

Murray's with Dennis now!

European footage just landed. Follow me.

Uh, of what?

Of Charles and Di in Berlin

looking like happy families.

Now, Lindsay wants two

minutes after the break.

- Has something being dropped?

- Yes.

When you write the intro,

make sure you give it to Dale

not Helen, Dale at the last minute!

Go, go, go, go, go!

30 seconds.

And also, there's gonna be

a change after the break.

- What?

- Hmm? What do you mean?

I don't know. Er, breaking news?

Noelene's going to bring new

scripts down to the studio.

- What are you doing?

- Can you find out what the story is?

I'm calling Lindsay.

I want to know what it is.

(PHONE RINGS)

No, Jean. No.

10 seconds!

Do you know what the story

is? Like, what's the

And in five. Four.

Can you tell us what the

story is? You could find out.

Well, long-time

royal-watcher Harold Page

has tracked Charles and

Diana's union for years,

from courtship to marriage,

through the births of the two princes.

Harold, is the royal marriage over?

Absolutely not.

That is absurd and offensive

and there's not one whit of truth in it.

Well, how do you explain the months

the royal couple have spent apart?

Princess Diana is, as

we all know, a city girl.

Charles recognises that in

his wife and respects it.

And that is the key to the absolute

strength of the royal marriage.

Now that the two children are at school,

the princess is enjoying

discos, musicals, parties.

The prince, of course, has (CHUCKLES)

- been there, done that

- Oh, so you admit there is incompatibility?

Not at all.

Well, many people can see the rift.

It's obvious in their body language.

Well, they must be seeing something

very different to what I'm seeing.

- You need a typist?

- No, it's faster if I do it.

When we first met Diana six years ago,

she was, to be blunt,

rather frumpy and shy.

Now, thanks to the love of the prince,

she has blossomed before our eyes.

What you in the media forget

is that behind the titles

of prince and princess

are two human beings

building a successful marriage

under enormous pressure,

and they do that not just for themselves

but for all of us, their subjects,

because they are

raising our future king.

Running this sort of

baseless gutter journalism,

I consider to be nothing less

than an attack on the monarchy,

and by extension, an

attack on all of us,

the loyal citizens of the Commonwealth.

Well, Mr Page, that's all

we have time for, I'm afraid.

We'll be back right after the break.

And we're out.

It's just more Charles and Di

stuff that appeared in Germany.

Well, then what have they cut?

I haven't heard they're

dropping anything.

- (PHONE RINGS)

- No!

They're asking for

you down on the floor.

No, I'm gonna knock off early.

HELEN: Why isn't anyone answering?

- Jean isn't, Noelene isn't.

- FRANK: I'm not sure.

Are they taking calls

from the control booth?

- That's all the information I've got.

- Well, you can't add two minutes of footage

Helen, I don't know. What

are they dropping, Noelene?

- Charles and Diana are in Germany.

- No.

There's lots of footage of them

looking devoted to each other.

- What have they cut?!

- I don't know.

- Not what are they adding!

- I've just been writing the intro!

Are they dropping Lynus?!

- I don't know.

- And we are back!

Great!

In five! Four!

In news just to hand, after

weeks of cancelled appearances,

it appears the Prince and Princess

of Wales have finally re-emerged

- Goodnight, Jean.

- commencing a world tour of Germany.

- Goodnight.

- Their Royal Highnesses appeared warm,

affectionate and relaxed,

raising hopes that their bicentennial

tour will proceed as planned.

Our European correspondent has more.

How much longer?

Uh, there's still, like,

sport and weather and

They're done 6:30.

REPORTER: .., for a

week-long tour of the country.

FRANK: 20 seconds!

(WHISPERS) Hi. How are you?

Helen.

You've got the interview. We

will find another spot for it.

Dale, we both know that

that is absolute bullshit.

And in five!

- I'm sorry.

- Four!

I'm gonna get a drink.

- Well, returning once again

- Hang on.

to our nation's

bicentennial celebration,

the News At Six team have recently

joined the entire network family

to participate in a very special promo.

Australia's Year is a

specially composed 1988 anthem,

and joining the chorus is our

favourite adopted Australian,

Mr Gerry Carroll.

Now, Gerry, you love

a birthday, don't you?

Well, Dale, I'm the kind of person

who likes to celebrate a

birth MONTH, not a birthday.

So the prospect of a

year-long national birthday,

it's music to my ears.

Any excuse to drink champagne

365 days straight. (LAUGHS)

Well, I'm already celebrating, so

I'm aiming for, I don't know, 400?

Too good.

We'll be back with sport.

But right now, let's enjoy the

world premiere of Australia's Year.

MAN: Can you feel it getting closer? ♪

Feel the growing sense of pride? ♪

From the outback to the cities ♪

And through the countryside ♪

WOMAN: Can you hear

it, the excitement? ♪

Hear the music and the cheer ♪

For a birthday like no other ♪

Two hundred years ♪

- In '88 ♪

- The party's here ♪

- Tune into ♪

- Australia's year ♪

- Let's raise the flag ♪

- And sing the song ♪

We'll celebrate all year long ♪

We'll celebrate all year long ♪

Can you feel it getting closer? ♪

Feel the growing sense of pride. ♪

It's pretty catchy!

FRANK: And we're out!

(PHONE RINGS)

- Hello?

- Lynus, it's Helen Norville.

Did you watch?

Oh, I enjoyed it.

You know, the first half telling

me that the royal marriage is over,

and then right at the last

minute, everything's fine.

I'm sorry.

Miss Norville, we've been

fighting for 200 years.

And lucky for your mob,

we're a very patient people.

Now, if you'll excuse me,

I've got a march to organise.

DALE: Uh

(CLEARS THROAT)

Wait. Helen, I just want

you to wait just a second

You know, Dale, when you

struck that deal with Lindsay,

did he just say, "Tell her whatever

you like, but just shut her up,

and then we can do whatever

we want in the end anyway"?

- No, no. It didn't

- You know,

you did not seem

even remotely surprised.

- When?

- When he pulled it.

I was on air. I was trying

to get through the bulletin.

- Could you just wait? Wait!

- What?

Please, just give me a second to just

- Surprise.

- God.

So, this is my second attempt at this,

and I didn't think it

could go any worse,

- but

- OK, Dale, so, your second attempt at what?

- Let me just let me just

- Can I just

- No, no, no.

- I feel like I want

Let me just get through this,

'cause I've had the

words in my head for days.

(SIGHS)

Helen OK.

We've been in each other's

lives for two years.

Now um

(SIGHS) No-one knows me like you.

No-one challenges me like you.

No-one knows every part of me like you.

And I hope you feel

the same way, 'cause

I love you.

(SIGHS)

Helen Norville

will you do me the

honour of being my wife?

Dale, I love you so much.

So, so much.

But I I can't.

(HELEN SIGHS)

I c I-I can't.

Ooh! (SNIFFS)

- Hey, it's fine.

- OK.

- Um

- I-it's fine.

- OK.

- I'm

I'm so, so sorry. I'm just

(CAR DOOR CLOSES, ENGINE STARTS)

Oh

NOELENE: We had a phone call

from Geoff Walters's daughter

wanting to speak to you.

GEOFF: Reporting on

our own families now?

That's a line we've never crossed.

I want to be compensated for the story.

You're paying her?

She has a drug addiction, Lindsay!

(ANSWERING MACHINE BEEPS)

CHARLIE: An opportunity's come up,

and with the Christmas

break starting tomorrow,

I just thought it'd be

good to follow up soon.

DALE: Obnoxious Charlie Tate!

Please don't leave messages

like that for me at work.

Messages like what?

That wasn't THE cameraman, was it?

The one you told me about?

Look at us! The Russell Street

g*ng! We're back together again!