Airdate: Matt Okine Is Going To Die

Mother & Son star Matt Okine next week features in a Catalyst special, Matt Okine Is Going To Die.

In the special he goes on a mission to demystify death. From adding ashes into fireworks and dying in a simulator to creating an immortal digital clone of himself, he reveals the power in confronting death.

Matt Okine may be best known for his work as a stand-up comedian and actor, but he’s also one of many Australians who’ve faced death from an early age. When he was just 12 years old he lost his mother to breast cancer. He learned that death can come for anyone at any time. Now as a parent himself, he wants to discover how preparing for his death can be helpful to him and the ones he leaves behind.

Matt’s journey will see him tackling all aspects of death, from how we define death, to how we plan for it, to the legacy that we leave after we’re gone. He will travel across Australia to meet the experts working the front lines of death. From discovering how advances in medical science have blurred the lines between life and death and meeting families of people who’ve legally ended their lives, to uncovering the game-changing power of donating your brain to research.

As technology advances, grief-stricken people are using artificial intelligence to bring loved ones back from the dead. Matt explores the ethical challenges around “grief-tech” by chatting to a digital clone of himself, and explores the ultimate meaning of life and death by experiencing a “death simulator”.

Throughout this episode Matt demystifies the taboos we’ve built around death. Thinking about it can be hard and painful, but it’s also going to happen to all of us. Ultimately, we’ve only got one death, so why not make it a good one?

Production credit: Producer and Director Christopher Baron. Associate Producer Adam Finney. Series Producer Elle Gibbons. Executive Producer Penny Palmer. Head of Factual and Culture Susie Jones.

8:30pm Tuesday on ABC.