Channel Nine has used today’s Upfronts to unveil its program line-up for 2018.
Nine has continued to roll out top-rating programs including The Voice, as well as a slew of brand new formats that have all performed exceptionally well, such as Travel Guides, True Story with Hamish & Andy and This Time Next Year.
But the breakout hit of 2017 was Australian Ninja Warrior, which broke ratings records and holds the title of the number one non-sports program of the year.
And still to come this year is Family Food Fight, Nine’s brand new cooking show, showcasing the very best in home cooking. Six food-loving Aussie families will go head-to- head in the kitchen in a battle to prove whose food is best, but only one can walk away with the title of Australia’s number one food family.
Our contestants will cook a range of family staples and all-time favourite feasts. They will all cook the food we love to eat at home. They’ll also be catering for special occasions, feeding an array of guests, and recreating tried and true recipes from some of Australia’s best chefs.
Acclaimed chef and restaurateur Matt Moran is Family Food Fight’s lead judge, assisted by high-energy, mohawked uber-pastry chef Anna Polyviou and popular foodie and cookbook author Hayden Quinn.
They will watch on from behind the scenes and comment on the families’ cooking styles and prowess before diving in to taste and judge each delicious dish.
Internationally-renowned food writer and critic Tom Parker Bowles – a member of the world’s most famous family – also joins the team as a judge, adding considerable clout with his finely tuned palate.
With a mix of fast-paced cooking fun, heaped helpings of good humour and healthy rivalries (plus a few fireworks) the competition will capture each family’s dynamic: mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, kids, husbands and wives, all cooking their hearts out as they strive to claim the coveted top spot and take home the $100,000 prize.
Take a look at Nines entertaiment programming line-up for 2018 in more detail below:
NEW SERIES
Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation
The blockbuster comedy for every generation that will have all Australian’s laughing out loud, Talkin’ ’Bout Your Generation, led by host Shaun Micallef, is an hour-long riotous
battle between three generations – Gen X lead by Robyn Butler, Gen Y lead by Andy Lee and Gen Z lead by Laurence Boxhall. Each week our three regular captains team up with three celebrity guests to answer questions and play fun and irreverent games that span the generations.
The show brings back to life everyone’s favourite memories and moments from the worlds of film and TV, music, news and current affairs, fads, advertising, sport and more. It’s a celebration of the generations and what defines them in a bid to find out which one really does rule (for a week at least).
Underbelly Files: Chopper
Destined to be one of the most compelling dramas in Australian television history, Underbelly Files: Chopper is coming to Nine in 2018.
Created by Screentime, producers of the trailblazing Underbelly franchise, this two-part mini-series explores the untold, uncut story of notorious gangster Mark ‘Chopper’ Read as he struggles to reconcile his two competing identities – Chopper, the colourful underworld figure, and Mark Brandon Read, the man who craved a quiet life far from the public arena.
Starring award-winning actor Aaron Jeffery (Wentworth, McLeod’s Daughters, Water Rats) as Chopper, an outstanding cast will feature alongside him, including two-time Logie Award winner Michael Caton (The Castle, Packed to the Rafters) as Chopper’s father Keith, Todd Lasance (The Vampire Diaries) as Chopper’s nemesis, gangster Syd Collins, and Ella Scott Lynch (Love Child) who will portray his second wife, Margaret with whom he shared a love that defied obstacles and lasted decades.
The stellar cast will also include Zoe Ventoura as Chopper’s first wife, Mary Ann, Jane Allsop, Reef Ireland, Alex Tsitsopoulos and Anna Bamford, with original Underbelly alumni Vince Colosimo and Kevin Harrington returning as Alphonse Gangitano and Lewis Moran, and Debra Byrne reprising her portrayal of Judy Moran.
Bite Club
Nine’s new crime thriller, Bite Club, boasts a killer star cast: Todd Lasance (Spartacus: War of the Damned, The Vampire Diaries, Underbelly Files: Chopper), Ash Ricardo (Offspring, Party Tricks), Robert Mammone (Underbelly, Fat Tony & Co, Janet King), Darcie Irwin-Simpson (Love Child), Damian Walshe-Howling (Underbelly, Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms, Janet King), Deborah Mailman (Redfern Now, Offspring), Pia Miller (Home and Away), Marny Kennedy (Janet King) and Dominic Monaghan (Lost, The Lord of The Rings, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Wild Things).
After surviving a shark attack two detectives join forces to hunt the ultimate predator, the serial killer who is also hunting them.
Buying Blind
In 2018, Nine will unveil what is claims to be the most ground-breaking property show on Australian television – Buying Blind.
Couples searching for their dream home will hand over their life savings to three experts, trusting them to take over the biggest decision of their lives.
Date Night
The brand-new future of dating has arrived. Date Night is a spontaneous, fun-filled dating show. Singles looking for love will use their family and friends to find their perfect match. Together, from their couches, they’ll play this online dating game, swiping through prospective suitors until they find ‘the one’.
They’ll laugh, cringe and squirm until they meet the person of their dreams – or not. Anyone lucky enough to swipe a match gets to go on a date for real.
Driving Test
Driving Test is a heartfelt factual show that goes behind the scenes of people learning how to drive. From their very first lesson to the test itself, we’ll witness the highs and lows and the hits and misses as the drivers and their larger-than-life instructors score them a pass or fail.
Set in Darwin, the only place in Australia where the driving test must be recorded, we meet people from all walks of life as they’re unleashed on the streets. They set off on the ride of their lives hoping to secure the ticket of their dreams – a driver’s licence.
Eat Well For Less
Spending too much at the checkout? Want to break bad shopping habits? Want to save money for the things that really matter?
Eat Well For Less is an inspiring new two-part series that offers entertaining and practical ways to east better and save money while you do it.
It will change the shopping, cooking and eating habits of a nation. The show’s hosts take families who are cash strapped and time poor, seize their shopping trolley, and then meal by meal, transform the way that family eats.
They will secretly film the families when they do their supermarket shopping to expose their problems and attempt to mend their ways. From tips and tricks to grand public experiments, it’s a show full of fascinating insights into exactly what we put into our fridges, cupboards and our bellies.
Eat Well For Less will show the average Australian family what to buy, how it’s made and where to buy it, so they can shop, cook and eat for less without scrimping on quality.
RETURNING SERIES
Australian Ninja Warrior
The Australian Ninja Warrior phenomenon that captivated the nation with record ratings in 2017 will return in 2018 – even bigger and better.
Hosts Ben Fordham and Rebecca Maddern will be joined again by Freddie Flintoff for the ultimate event television format of the year.
Ninjas will come from far and wide, with over 8,000 hopefuls being narrowed down to 300 of the most physically and mentally tough contestants who will have the chance to tame the toughest obstacle course in the world.
Get ready for every tantalising jump, swing, hang and run on ‘Ninja Island’ when ninjas zero in on the famed Mount Midoriyama. Will Australia’s first ultimate Ninja Warrior be crowned in 2018?
Married at First Sight
Married at First Sight, one of Australia’s most controversial and ground-breaking social experiments, returns for its fifth and most explosive series yet in 2018.
The three expert matchmakers – relationship psychologist John Aiken, neuropsychotherapist Trisha Stratford and dating expert and psychologist Mel Schilling – face the mammoth task of again pairing 20 brave singles, using a mix of neuroscience and psychology to try to create 10 perfect matches.
Nine invites viwers to 10 breathtaking weddings as Married at First Sight promises more drama than ever.
The experts put relationships to the ultimate pressure test to determine if science really can predict true love for the 10 couples who will be getting married at first sight in the new series produced by Endemol Shine Australia.
The Block
Australia’s longest-running reality program will return in 2018 for its 14th series. Fifteen years since the record-breaking first instalment in 2003, The Block has cemented itself as a television phenomenon that remains as popular as ever.
This year The Block has averaged 1.8 million viewers per episode – up by 20 per cent on the corresponding period last year.
In 2018, Scott Cam will unleash a block challenge like no other – the infamous Gatwick Hotel in beachside St Kilda in Melbourne.
With its grand sweeping staircase, high ceilings and historic architecture, it was purpose-built 80 years ago as a luxurious hotel. But for the past 50 years it has provided budget accommodation to the needy and vulnerable.
Next year’s contestants will be tasked with transforming the Gatwick to its former glory and potentially winning a life-changing sum of money.
The Block has distributed an astronomical cash total of $17,575,501.01 across 13 series to date.
The Voice
The Voice Australia will be back for a sensational seventh series as popular superstar coaches Kelly Rowland and Boy George return to the famous red chairs.
They will be joined by a fourth coach to be announced soon as they uncover the next wave of incredible talent across the nation.
This follows a highly successful sixth season which saw millions tuning in to hear the jaw-dropping tones of Judah Kelly as he took out the title of The Voice Australia, along with $100,000 in prize money and a recording contract with Universal Music.
True Story with Hamish & Andy
True Story with Hamish & Andy brings to life the best Australian tales you’ve never heard, told by the very people who experienced them and then humorously and cinematically realised through dramatic recreations.
In each half-hour episode, Hamish and Andy meet an everyday Australian storyteller who recounts an amazing, surprising, funny and above all true story, which is simultaneously recreated by a cast of Australia’s most renowned performers.
The first series was a smash hit, acclaimed by critics and viewers alike. Each episode was watched by more than two million people (including encore screenings and streaming on 9Now), making True Story one of the most successful new program launches in recent years.
This Time Next Year
Nine’s inspirational hit This Time Next Year will be back for a second series. In each heartwarming episode, people from across the country will pledge to change their lives by “This time next year…”.
As they walk off through the ‘this time’ door, host Karl Stefanovic and the viewers soon know the outcome of their journey in moments as they walk back in through the ‘next year’ door.
The program’s unique time travel-style format then unfolds to reveal what happened during the year-long journey through their ambitious pledge, whether successful or not. Many of the stories will take unexpected twists and turns, and some of the physical transformations will be truly incredible.
Doctor Doctor
Australia’s favourite bad boy medico, Dr Hugh Knight, is back for a third series of Nine’s hit drama series, Doctor Doctor.
With the second series currently on air, Dcotor Doctor has once again captured the hearts of Australia with more viewers tuning in every week.
Doctor Doctor showcases some of Australia’s finest actors with the outstanding cast of Rodger Corser (Hugh), Nicole da Silva (Charlie), Steve Bisley (Jim), Ryan Johnson (Matt), Tina Bursill (Meryl), Hayley McElhinney (Penny), Matt Castley (Ajax), Chloe Bayliss (Hayley), Charles Wu (Ken), Belinda Bromilow (Betty) and Brittany Clark (Mia).
Travel Guides
Nine’s hilarious and addictive Travel Guides will be taking off for an outrageous second series in 2018. The Fren family from Newcastle, holiday snobs Kevin and Janetta, and cowgirls Stack and Mel will return, plus you’ll meet some new faces to visit new places at home and abroad.
The travel guides will experience the same week-long holiday and review the same accommodation, cuisine and local sights. Their adventures and candid antics will entertain and surprise you as they deliver a no-holds-barred review and rate their stay out of five stars.
The show is narrated by Aussie comedian Denise Scott and produced by Nine.
20 to One
Hang on tight as Erin Molan and Dave Thornton return to take you on a white-knuckle ride through the weird and wild world of pop culture in the inimitable and outrageous style of 20 to One.
A star-studded line-up of international and homegrown celebrities will join the countdown commentary, adding their hilarious and often shocking take on everyone and everything.
Join Sharon Osbourne, Alan Carr, John Stamos, Sophie Monk, Scott Cam, Roxy Jacenko, Gina Liano, Lee Lin Chin, Christopher Pyne and Anthony Albanese. 20 to One is produced by Nine.
RBT
A new series of RBT will go behind the frontline in 2018 on Channel Nine. From major roadside drink-driving operations to high-speed pursuits, RBT will capture the drama and danger that police in Australia face every day in their relentless campaign against drink and drug driving.
Millionaire Hot Seat
In 2018, Australia’s richest quiz show, Millionaire Hot Seat, hosted by Eddie McGuire, will celebrate an historic 10th series.
This year, Hot Seat unveiled a series of dynamic new twists in a new one-hour format. The revamped, supercharged version of the long-running program now starts with contestants going head-to-head in a rapid-fire battle of ‘Fastest Finger First’. And ‘Lifelines’ were reintroduced, providing an added level of excitement for viewers.
Getaway
Australia’s longest-running and most popular holiday and travel television program will continue to take you around the globe in 2018, uncovering the most beautiful locations and tasting the most delicious food. And you won’t even need to leave your living room.
