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Nice work if you can get it

With stories filed by Ben Fordham and Michael Usher, 60 Minutes has only one regular team member this Sunday.

Interesting to note that this Sunday’s edition of 60 Minutes has only one story by a regular member of the team, Peter Overton.

There are also stories by Michael User and Ben Fordham, one on Mexican drug barons and another on  surfers. Both reporters have previously filed for the show, but like Ray Martin, are occasional journos for 60 Minutes. As they say, nice work if you can get it!

Tara Brown of course is to take maternity leave.

60 Minutes continues to win its timeslot on Sunday Nights, despite the tough compeition from Idol and Dancing with the Stars. It airs 7:30pm Sunday on Nine.

Superbugs
We’ve all heard the horror stories. Hospitals crawling with super bugs, patients in for routine surgery who die from dreadful infections. That’s bad enough. But even tougher, more sophisticated, bacteria are at large in the community. They’re everywhere and the really frightening thing is just how swiftly they can strike. One day you’re quite healthy, the next you’re fighting for your life. Age is no barrier. The old, the young, the very young. There’s now solid research that suggests a quarter of all sudden infant deaths (SIDs) could be caused by these superbugs. And, in many cases, there’s nothing we can do to stop them.

Reporter: Peter Overton
Producer: Paul Steindl

The Drug War
You’re about to enter a war zone. It’s not Iraq, it’s not Afghanistan. It’s in Mexico, it’s a drug war and you’ve never seen anything like it. Quiet suburbs are battlegrounds, tourist towns no-go areas, as the drug traffickers fight for control of a $70 billion industry. And so far this year, they’ve killed more than three-and-a-half thousand people. But, as in the movies, a new lawman’s just ridden into town. He’s a real straight-shooter, determined to give the drug barons a run for their money, if he can survive. Michael Usher spent a few hair-raising days with the cop they call Mexico’s Rambo.

Reporter: Michael Usher
Producer: Stephen Rice

The Storm Riders
There’s a wild, mysterious place down south in the Roaring 40s. They call it Pedra Branca and it’s known only to a few fishermen, sailors and the sharks. A lone rock jutting out of the ocean, with huge, thundering waves. Waves that no-one has ever surfed before, a real surfers’ paradise. It’s the kind of challenge no red-blooded surfer could resist. Certainly not legends like Tom Carroll and Ross Clark Jones, surfing’s odd couple. Tom’s the former world champ, cool and calculating. Ross is the hell-raiser, anything for a bit of fun. And Ben Fordham joined their expedition, chasing the monster waves of Pedra Branca.

Reporter: Ben Fordham
Producer: Nick Greenaway

2 Responses

  1. This is not that unusual for the 60 minutes brand. In the US version, there is the core team and lots and lots of contributing reporters – and even reporters from different networks. CNN’s Anderson Cooper is a contributing reporter to CBS 60 minutes.

    It does allow for diversity of story telling and anyway when Tracey Grimshaw starts next year to replace Tara, things will settle down !!!

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