Returning: You Can’t Ask That

Language

You Can’t Ask That is back for a fifth season on ABC in mid-March.

The new 8 part series, now expanded to 30 minutes features the first-person voices of Firefighters, people who are HIV Positive, Kids, people who are on the Autism Spectrum, Nudists, people who have Killed Someone, people who live in Public Housing and Olympic and Paralympic Gold Medallists.

Guests in season five include:

18-year old firefighter Harriet Foard, who was sent in ahead of the Navy to fight the recent catastrophic bushfires in Mallacoota; Nudist mother and son Shazz and Nathan, and nude yoga instructor Jessa; Veteran HIV campaigner and survivor David Polson, who underwent 28 drug trials to help medical science find a way to treat the disease; Marine biologist, jellyfish expert and woman with autism, Lisa Gershwin; Fashion designer Lena Kasparian who stabbed and killed her former partner in self defence; Public housing resident, pensioner and “Bird Man”, Pierre Gawronski; Olympic gold medallists Anna Meares (cycling), Shane Gould (swimming), Lydia Lassila (skiing), Scott McGrory (cycling), Nat Cook (beach volleyball) and Ralph Doubell (athletics), and Paralympic gold medallist Nick Morris (wheelchair basketball); plus a collection of smart, funny and insightful 10-12 year-olds from around the country.

You Can’t Ask That asks misunderstood, misjudged, or marginalised Australians the awkward, inappropriate, or uncomfortable questions you’ve always wanted to know the answers to but have always been afraid to ask.

The 2019 winner of the Walkley Media Diversity Australia Award, the Walkley Foundation judges called You Can’t Ask That; “A program that confronts both prejudice and discrimination in an honest, open, tender and sometimes funny manner. The program is groundbreaking and tackles issues humanely in a way that has never been done on mainstream television outside of news and current affairs. You Can’t Ask That — with its large audience — has the capacity to confront us, challenge us and educate us about what it is to be a member of a minority group or simply just different.”

You Can’t Ask That is a multi-award-winning series. In 2019, it won an AACTA Award for Best Factual Entertainment Program; a Walkley Award for Media Diversity; and Best Film, TV or Web Series of the Year at the Australian LGBTI Awards. It was awarded the European Broadcast Union’s prestigious Rose d’Or Award for Best Reality and Factual Entertainment Program in 2017. In Australia it has been awarded three United Nations Association of Australia Media Awards and been nominated for two further AACTA Awards, a Logie Award and an Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights Award.

One of the most successful ABC formats ever, with local versions of You Can’t Ask That having been produced in Spain, Israel, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Canada.

You Can’t Ask That is an ABC Production, which proudly demonstrates the ABC’s commitment to bringing diverse stories to screen. The series is produced and directed by Kirk Docker. Series Producer, Ali Russell. ABC Executive Producer, Frances O’Riordan. ABC Head of Factual and Entertainment, Josie Mason-Campbell.

9pm Wednesday March 18 on ABC.