Sunday Night: May 8

This weekend Sunday Night features stories on Type 2 Diabetes with Michael Mosley and Pete Evans, the almost-extinct Northern White Rhino of the Congo and more on the remarkable Blythe Star saga.

The Saving Australia Diet
Australians have eaten themselves into a deadly health crisis. Is it possible to eat our way out of it and save thousands of lives? Across the nation, the killer disease Type 2 diabetes is now claiming a victim every five minutes. Until recently, Type 2 was thought to be irreversible with sufferers consigned to uncertain drug therapy and developing cardio vascular complications that lead to amputated limbs, heat attack, stroke, blindness and even dementia. But there’s growing evidence that sufferers can turn around their Type 2 with a radically different approach to eating. In this special and vitally important Sunday Night experiment, three ordinary Australians set out to defeat this insidious disease with three different dietary regimes. Like so many confronting Type 2, Cass, Tony and Jack had no idea they were sufferers until their diagnosis. Each typifies the Type 2 candidate and so many at-risk Aussies, with their love of junk food, sugar, bread and pasta – and loads of it. The architect of the 5:2 diet Michael Mosley and MKR judge and Paleo devotee Pete Evans lead the effort to save our trio as each is assigned a dramatically new way of eating – calorie crunching, high protein-low carb and a conventional approach applied by many mainstream dieticians. They’re determined to defeat their Type 2 and lead longer and healthier lives, but it’s not going to be easy changing a lifetime of eating habits. Sunday Night’s PJ Madam is your guide as we follow Cass, Tony and Jack over eight weeks to see if they can set an example that will help turn around a national epidemic.

The Last Witness
Sunday Night’s telling of the remarkable Blythe Star saga stunned and enthralled Australia. It was truly one of the greatest tales of survival in Australian maritime history. But now we can reveal another remarkable chapter and one that could have prevented the loss of life and seen the hapless crew of the doomed ship rescued far sooner. It’s emerged that a young lighthouse keeper spotted the ship just hours before it sank. But Tony Parsey’s report was disregarded by authorities and 10 days after the ship went missing the search was called off and the crew presumed dead. Sunday Night’s Rahni Sadler has this latest remarkable twist in this amazing and epic tale as Tony Parsey tells his story for the very first time.

Rhino Warrior
They were once among the most magnificent animals roaming throughout central Africa. Half a century ago they numbered in their thousands but poaching and bloody wars in the Congo have decimated their numbers. Now there are just three Northern White Rhinos left – Najin, Fatu and the last remaining male, Sudan. No-one knows more about their plight than zoologist Kes Hillman Smith. For decades she’s been tracking their numbers, fighting to save them from extinction. On Sunday Night, Kes takes reporter Steve Pennells on a grand adventure through Kenya to meet Najin, Fatu and Sudan. And with time fast running out for the mighty Northern White Rhino, we discover hope in a small lab on the other side of the world where science is working hard to keep their species alive.

8.45pm Sunday on Seven.