Returning: You Can’t Ask That

Hold onto your hats….. ABC’s You Can’t Ask That is back for a seventh season with answers to all the questions you’d never ask a stranger.

Eight new episodes featuring misunderstood, judged, or marginalised Australians, includes questions posed to Bogans, Models, Porn Stars and Gay Men -including a rare interview with infamous Sydney gay veteran Barry “Troughman” Charles (pictured, left).

Kicking off with the season on ABC TV is Juvenile Detention. With children as young as ten able to be sent to juvenile detention in Australia, this episode questions how we deal with some of the most damaged kids in society. What happens when a child is told they are bad, and can there be rehabilitation in detention? 25-year-old Dylan Voller, who first went into custody at eleven, talks about life after his infamous time in juvenile justice.

Other topics this season include Bogans, where we meet 61-year-old Lynne who has proudly sported a mullet since she was ten, and Frida, a Muslim woman and self-described ’wogan‘, “a wog and a bogan, that’s what I am”. Much like the mullet hairstyle ‘business at the front, party in the back’ this is an episode that will have you laughing.

In an emotional episode on Postnatal Depression, eight parents explore the shame, public and family pressure, plus the personal guilt that surrounds this often misunderstood and taboo topic.

The episode on Gay Men features a rare interview with 78’er Barry Charles. 71-year-old Barry shares the interview space with Liam, a 23-year-old ‘country boy’. Liam almost falls off his chair when he finds out the charming man beside him is famous for laying down in urinals at Sydney gay parties in the late 70’s to early 2000’s. ‘Troughman,’ as Barry is known, is often rumored to have passed away, or be a mere urban legend. “I can’t believe you’re real!” Liam says with wide eyes.

From the very first question “Can you read this card?’ the Models in this episode realise this isn’t going to be an easy red-carpet interview. Elaine Estreich (formerly known as Elaine George) the first Aboriginal model to grace the cover of Vogue bites back with a turn of phrase that instantly makes you love her “We’re not ditzy bitches, just because we’re good lookin.” While Chloe Maxwell, who found fame in the untamed 90’s, said of her catwalk experiences “Champagne, that was a must at every fashion parade, I can’t remember ever doing one sober.”

‘Is your prescription pill addiction a dirty little secret?’ In Prescription Drug Dependency & Addiction, Leah had no idea that a fall in the mum’s race at her son’s school would trigger chronic pain and a relationship with prescription opioids that would last more than a decade. In this episode, the eight interviewees talk openly about their addiction, doctor shopping, rehab and who is to blame for prescription drug dependency.

Game for anything, our Porn Stars answer the questions ‘Do your mum and dad watch your porno’s?’ and ‘Was this your childhood dream?’ In the episode we meet trans porn star Marissa Minx, librarian Nikki Stern (known in the 80’s as ‘the Horny Housewife’), Arianny Koda, Robbie Oz, Rubie Valentine, and gay porn star Woody Fox, as they take us on the journey of what it’s like to be involved in porn, and the ethics of the industry.

And finally, Dementia, where our participants answer some pretty brutal questions, such as ‘Do you want to kill yourself before dementia turns you into a vegetable?’ Theresa, who was diagnosed with dementia around the same time as her mother-in-law, says that caring for her was the rawest, most painful thing she’s had to do. “I was looking into my own future”.

Production Credits: You Can’t Ask That is an ABC Production. Series Director and Producer: Kirk Docker, Series Producer: Josh Schmidt, Executive Producer: Frances O’Riordan and Head of Entertainment: Nick Hayden.

9pm Wednesday nights from 25 May on ABC (all eps available to binge on ABC iview).

Language.