★★★★★ 0/5

Airdate: The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty

High-profile UK doco gets the Sunday slot on ABC in September.

4
Leave a comment

Much-discussed UK documentary series The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty will screen on ABC in late September.

The 3 part series is being given a prized slot of 7:40pm Sunday from September 20.

Over the last 50 years, one man has played an unparalleled part in transforming British society. That man is Australian born Rupert Murdoch. Feared and fêted by politicians, Murdoch has built the biggest media operation on the planet. His empire has given him extraordinary power and influence. This is its story. It’s an electrifying study of the Murdoch dynasty, charting the ups and downs of an empire. From the ambition that fuelled its success, to the criminality that led to the closure of the News of the World, and the Leveson Inquiry. Ultimately, the empire is broken up. But there’s a powerful new ally in the White House.

The BBC documentary ran in the UK in July, described by one critic as “Succession with phone hacking and foam pies.” There was speculation about an Australian broadcast, with Nine sources telling TV Tonight it would have swooped on it if ABC did not exercise its option.

At least viewers can decide for themselves next month….

7:40pm Sunday September 20 on ABC.

4 Responses

  2. There’s a great documentary series to be made about the Murdochs, but this isn’t it. It’s infuriatingly slow and surprisingly shallow. You’d get a better doco out of everything they left out. And the series lazily buys into a number of Murdoch-generated myths along the way, so one has to wonder just how thorough the research was. More importantly, is endless speculation about which Murdoch offspring will be Rupert’s successor really more important than shining a light on the questionable ethos of the Murdoch businesses, the devious political manoeuvrings, the social impact it has (promoting celebrity culture, spreading lies and misinformation about climate change, to mention just two things) or despicable practices like phone-hacking? I was seriously underwhelmed.

  3. I’m glad that this great documentary series is going to be shown in Australia and its not surprising that Foxtel didn’t take it. But boy oh boy is the ABC is going to get it from Sky News and News Ltd papers when this goes to air. Alan Jones, Andrew Bolt and Co will be clutching their pearls and fainting with exasperation at the left leaning, biased ABC. We should run a competition about the stories News Ltd and commentary of the “right at night” shows on Sky News will go with against the ABC!!!

Leave a Reply