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The Project's stars leave Ten as program is axed, replacement announced

The Project's stars leave Ten as program is axed, replacement announced

It has won 11 TV Week Logie Awards, including viewer-voted gold Logies for host Aly and former presenter Carrie Bickmore, as well as a Walkley Award for Macdonald and a Yooralla Media Award of Distinction.
But the series has not been immune to the broader challenges facing Australia's free-to-air networks, including competition from streaming services such as Netflix, a 24-hour news cycle fuelled by social media, and the fragmentation of free-to-air audiences across a growing array of multi-channels.
Last week, The Project attracted between 238,000 and 357,000 viewers nationally – numbers that one senior industry figure, who was not authorised to speak publicly, described as unsustainable.
'The Project has delivered enormous value to 10 over the years,' the television veteran said. 'It was very 'on brand' for the network, it punched above its weight with younger demographics, and it was a terrific vehicle for cross-promoting Ten's other shows. But one of the most important jobs of early evening programming is to deliver decent lead-in audiences to the next show. If there aren't enough viewers in the early evening, it makes it that much harder for those 7.30pm programs to succeed.'
Like all Australian networks, Ten faces intense competition for advertising dollars from tech giants such as Meta and Google.
'The less revenue you have, the smaller your budgets become, which makes it difficult to keep doing what you've always done,' said one TV executive.
'Every show has a natural life cycle, though, and now is the right time for Ten to try something new. They've thrown everything they had at The Project, but we're living in a very different world compared to 2009 [when it debuted].'
Aly told this masthead that The Project 'kicked down the door of how news could be done'.
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'In some ways it looks more conventional now than it used to because it led the way,' he said. 'It showed you could bring dry stories to life for an audience that might otherwise have ignored them. I've spoken to so many people who said it was the way they could do news as a family, the way they could engage their kids and get them thinking. And by and large, it took its audience to a more compassionate place. That's a pretty mighty contribution.'
The Project's executive producer, Chris Bendall, said the show had given a voice to the disenfranchised and championed important stories and causes, including protecting Australian wildlife, helping farmers rebuild after floods and fires, fighting to end violence against women, and providing more than $3.5 million to families burdened by extreme medical hardship.
'Campaigns on marriage equality, a nationwide ban on single-use plastic bags, and returning a fair price to dairy farmers from supermarkets are just a few of the issues we have put on the national agenda,' Bendall said.
' The Project has always been a show that's unafraid to tackle the serious issues, but one that's never taken itself too seriously.'
Among The Project's high-profile former hosts are Bickmore, Dave Hughes, Peter Helliar, Tommy Little and Lisa Wilkinson.
Harris told this masthead that when she started working in television, she was about the same age as The Project is now.
'There aren't many jobs where you get to tell very human stories, and interview politicians and celebrities all while having a laugh – or ugly crying – in front of a live studio audience every night,' Harris said.
'I've had a blast [but] it's time for me to take a breath and spend some time with my boys,' she added, while joking, 'keep an eye out for my OnlyFans page!'
Roving Enterprises creative director Craig Campbell, who created The Project, noted the series had hosted 'countless Australian actors and musicians', helping showcase the local entertainment industry.
McGarvey, Bendall, Aly, Harris and Campbell each thanked the hundreds of staff who have worked on the show over the years.
McGarvey praised Bendall for being 'unafraid to push hard discussions important to the nation and to everyday Australians', while commending Harris' 'warmth and wit … and dogged commitment to do justice to every story'.
She described Aly as committed and compassionate, bringing 'weight and depth as a co-host and always providing intellectual rigour and eloquence … several of Waleed's groundbreaking interviews and commentaries on complex issues have changed the way many Australians understand the world around them'.
McGarvey said that Campbell 'ensured that The Project supported and created public debate, educated and entertained and helped lead many important conversations which encouraged profound and necessary change'.

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Good cop or bad cop? In Netflix's new Dept. Q, actor Matthew Goode plays both
Good cop or bad cop? In Netflix's new Dept. Q, actor Matthew Goode plays both

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Good cop or bad cop? In Netflix's new Dept. Q, actor Matthew Goode plays both

Being a leading man? Matthew Goode quite likes it. He's the star of Dept. Q, based on the books by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and set in the cold case division of the Edinburgh police. From The Queen's Gambit showrunner Scott Frank, the nine-part Netflix miniseries stars Goode as a one-man combination of good cop/bad cop. While Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck is a brilliant investigator, he is equally successful at annoying people - even begrudging respect for his talent quickly turns into intense dislike. Goode has been No. 1 on the call sheet before, but he didn't enjoy it: "It's something I shied away from after the beginning of my career where I was there for a bit and then I had some sort of bad things ... things weren't necessarily positive at that point, after that. And I just went, I just want to be, you know, not the lead any more". Goode acknowledges that actors don't get to choose if a main part is "bestowed" on them and notes that Frank fought to cast him in Dept. Q. The pair first worked together on The Lookout (2007). The English actor portrayed an American thief, a long way from the period dramas he's recently been known for, playing suave Brits in The Crown, Downton Abbey and Freud's Last Session. Goode and Frank talked and teased each other in a recent interview about working together and breaking Goode out of his period drama groove. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity. Question: Describe your relationship. GOODE: Father and son. FRANK: Taxing, toxic, troubling. GOODE: Well, he's the genius and I just do what he says, basically. FRANK: I wish. We go way back. We made a film together, the first film I ever directed, in fact. And I was lucky that I had Matthew because he was outstanding and made it easier for me at that point. And I think we both just really know one another and I love this man. I would work with him in everything I ever did, but he's a pain in the ass. GOODE: Well, you know. There has to be some cost! FRANK: He is Carl Morck, in many ways. To know him is to want to strangle him. Does that sum it up? GOODE: OK, so now you see what I'm working with. This is the second time he's given me a character that I genuinely don't think that many other people would have taken that chance, because I don't really scream Kansas City bank robber (in The Lookout). And I think this is a part that some people would have kind of gone, it's a bit more sort of Tom Hardy-ish, perhaps. But that's what we are, we're actors, but you don't necessarily get to be versatile a lot of the time, so I feel very indebted to you. Q: Did you write with Matthew in mind? FRANK: I had always thought he would be terrific for this, and I didn't know if we would end up doing it together, but from the minute I started thinking about it, doing it here, I really ... I knew he would love it. I think a lot of times people only see actors in one way or a particular way ... they just see the roles they've already played, they're not really paying attention to what else is happening. Q: Dept. Q is not a period drama. GOODE: There you go, that's a prime example, yeah. Q: So is that part of the appeal? GOODE: I mean a career is, for want of a better way of explaining it, is a bit like a river where essentially you can go, there's the main channel in it, but there's eddies and you get caught in certain things and you get cast in certain ways. So you're not really ever particularly in control of it. Certainly unless you have your own production company or you become a massive star where you actually sort of have the keys to Hollywood and then you have a bit more of a sphere of influence and you can dip your toes in different waters. And he had to fight for me a little bit for this one. He had to go bat for me to actually do the part. Q: Have you played a detective before? GOODE: No, this is my first time, I think. I've got a memory like a sieve now; I've got three kids, that's the only thing I really think about. But no, I think this is my first time. FRANK: I don't think you have. GOODE: Only with my wife with some dress up, but that's about it. Q: Carl is not a posh character. GOODE: No because (Frank) transposed it from the original Danish setting, Copenhagen, and it works brilliantly, obviously, in Edinburgh, and it becomes this amazing character. But he made the character English. But we haven't given too much detail yet as to as to his past, which I love the fact, because we're aiming to be able to keep doing this because there's 10 books. AP/AAP Being a leading man? Matthew Goode quite likes it. He's the star of Dept. Q, based on the books by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and set in the cold case division of the Edinburgh police. From The Queen's Gambit showrunner Scott Frank, the nine-part Netflix miniseries stars Goode as a one-man combination of good cop/bad cop. While Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck is a brilliant investigator, he is equally successful at annoying people - even begrudging respect for his talent quickly turns into intense dislike. Goode has been No. 1 on the call sheet before, but he didn't enjoy it: "It's something I shied away from after the beginning of my career where I was there for a bit and then I had some sort of bad things ... things weren't necessarily positive at that point, after that. And I just went, I just want to be, you know, not the lead any more". Goode acknowledges that actors don't get to choose if a main part is "bestowed" on them and notes that Frank fought to cast him in Dept. Q. The pair first worked together on The Lookout (2007). The English actor portrayed an American thief, a long way from the period dramas he's recently been known for, playing suave Brits in The Crown, Downton Abbey and Freud's Last Session. Goode and Frank talked and teased each other in a recent interview about working together and breaking Goode out of his period drama groove. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity. Question: Describe your relationship. GOODE: Father and son. FRANK: Taxing, toxic, troubling. GOODE: Well, he's the genius and I just do what he says, basically. FRANK: I wish. We go way back. We made a film together, the first film I ever directed, in fact. And I was lucky that I had Matthew because he was outstanding and made it easier for me at that point. And I think we both just really know one another and I love this man. I would work with him in everything I ever did, but he's a pain in the ass. GOODE: Well, you know. There has to be some cost! FRANK: He is Carl Morck, in many ways. To know him is to want to strangle him. Does that sum it up? GOODE: OK, so now you see what I'm working with. This is the second time he's given me a character that I genuinely don't think that many other people would have taken that chance, because I don't really scream Kansas City bank robber (in The Lookout). And I think this is a part that some people would have kind of gone, it's a bit more sort of Tom Hardy-ish, perhaps. But that's what we are, we're actors, but you don't necessarily get to be versatile a lot of the time, so I feel very indebted to you. Q: Did you write with Matthew in mind? FRANK: I had always thought he would be terrific for this, and I didn't know if we would end up doing it together, but from the minute I started thinking about it, doing it here, I really ... I knew he would love it. I think a lot of times people only see actors in one way or a particular way ... they just see the roles they've already played, they're not really paying attention to what else is happening. Q: Dept. Q is not a period drama. GOODE: There you go, that's a prime example, yeah. Q: So is that part of the appeal? GOODE: I mean a career is, for want of a better way of explaining it, is a bit like a river where essentially you can go, there's the main channel in it, but there's eddies and you get caught in certain things and you get cast in certain ways. So you're not really ever particularly in control of it. Certainly unless you have your own production company or you become a massive star where you actually sort of have the keys to Hollywood and then you have a bit more of a sphere of influence and you can dip your toes in different waters. And he had to fight for me a little bit for this one. He had to go bat for me to actually do the part. Q: Have you played a detective before? GOODE: No, this is my first time, I think. I've got a memory like a sieve now; I've got three kids, that's the only thing I really think about. But no, I think this is my first time. FRANK: I don't think you have. GOODE: Only with my wife with some dress up, but that's about it. Q: Carl is not a posh character. GOODE: No because (Frank) transposed it from the original Danish setting, Copenhagen, and it works brilliantly, obviously, in Edinburgh, and it becomes this amazing character. But he made the character English. But we haven't given too much detail yet as to as to his past, which I love the fact, because we're aiming to be able to keep doing this because there's 10 books. AP/AAP Being a leading man? Matthew Goode quite likes it. He's the star of Dept. Q, based on the books by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and set in the cold case division of the Edinburgh police. From The Queen's Gambit showrunner Scott Frank, the nine-part Netflix miniseries stars Goode as a one-man combination of good cop/bad cop. While Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck is a brilliant investigator, he is equally successful at annoying people - even begrudging respect for his talent quickly turns into intense dislike. Goode has been No. 1 on the call sheet before, but he didn't enjoy it: "It's something I shied away from after the beginning of my career where I was there for a bit and then I had some sort of bad things ... things weren't necessarily positive at that point, after that. And I just went, I just want to be, you know, not the lead any more". Goode acknowledges that actors don't get to choose if a main part is "bestowed" on them and notes that Frank fought to cast him in Dept. Q. The pair first worked together on The Lookout (2007). The English actor portrayed an American thief, a long way from the period dramas he's recently been known for, playing suave Brits in The Crown, Downton Abbey and Freud's Last Session. Goode and Frank talked and teased each other in a recent interview about working together and breaking Goode out of his period drama groove. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity. Question: Describe your relationship. GOODE: Father and son. FRANK: Taxing, toxic, troubling. GOODE: Well, he's the genius and I just do what he says, basically. FRANK: I wish. We go way back. We made a film together, the first film I ever directed, in fact. And I was lucky that I had Matthew because he was outstanding and made it easier for me at that point. And I think we both just really know one another and I love this man. I would work with him in everything I ever did, but he's a pain in the ass. GOODE: Well, you know. There has to be some cost! FRANK: He is Carl Morck, in many ways. To know him is to want to strangle him. Does that sum it up? GOODE: OK, so now you see what I'm working with. This is the second time he's given me a character that I genuinely don't think that many other people would have taken that chance, because I don't really scream Kansas City bank robber (in The Lookout). And I think this is a part that some people would have kind of gone, it's a bit more sort of Tom Hardy-ish, perhaps. But that's what we are, we're actors, but you don't necessarily get to be versatile a lot of the time, so I feel very indebted to you. Q: Did you write with Matthew in mind? FRANK: I had always thought he would be terrific for this, and I didn't know if we would end up doing it together, but from the minute I started thinking about it, doing it here, I really ... I knew he would love it. I think a lot of times people only see actors in one way or a particular way ... they just see the roles they've already played, they're not really paying attention to what else is happening. Q: Dept. Q is not a period drama. GOODE: There you go, that's a prime example, yeah. Q: So is that part of the appeal? GOODE: I mean a career is, for want of a better way of explaining it, is a bit like a river where essentially you can go, there's the main channel in it, but there's eddies and you get caught in certain things and you get cast in certain ways. So you're not really ever particularly in control of it. Certainly unless you have your own production company or you become a massive star where you actually sort of have the keys to Hollywood and then you have a bit more of a sphere of influence and you can dip your toes in different waters. And he had to fight for me a little bit for this one. He had to go bat for me to actually do the part. Q: Have you played a detective before? GOODE: No, this is my first time, I think. I've got a memory like a sieve now; I've got three kids, that's the only thing I really think about. But no, I think this is my first time. FRANK: I don't think you have. GOODE: Only with my wife with some dress up, but that's about it. Q: Carl is not a posh character. GOODE: No because (Frank) transposed it from the original Danish setting, Copenhagen, and it works brilliantly, obviously, in Edinburgh, and it becomes this amazing character. But he made the character English. But we haven't given too much detail yet as to as to his past, which I love the fact, because we're aiming to be able to keep doing this because there's 10 books. AP/AAP Being a leading man? Matthew Goode quite likes it. He's the star of Dept. Q, based on the books by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and set in the cold case division of the Edinburgh police. From The Queen's Gambit showrunner Scott Frank, the nine-part Netflix miniseries stars Goode as a one-man combination of good cop/bad cop. While Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck is a brilliant investigator, he is equally successful at annoying people - even begrudging respect for his talent quickly turns into intense dislike. Goode has been No. 1 on the call sheet before, but he didn't enjoy it: "It's something I shied away from after the beginning of my career where I was there for a bit and then I had some sort of bad things ... things weren't necessarily positive at that point, after that. And I just went, I just want to be, you know, not the lead any more". Goode acknowledges that actors don't get to choose if a main part is "bestowed" on them and notes that Frank fought to cast him in Dept. Q. The pair first worked together on The Lookout (2007). The English actor portrayed an American thief, a long way from the period dramas he's recently been known for, playing suave Brits in The Crown, Downton Abbey and Freud's Last Session. Goode and Frank talked and teased each other in a recent interview about working together and breaking Goode out of his period drama groove. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity. Question: Describe your relationship. GOODE: Father and son. FRANK: Taxing, toxic, troubling. GOODE: Well, he's the genius and I just do what he says, basically. FRANK: I wish. We go way back. We made a film together, the first film I ever directed, in fact. And I was lucky that I had Matthew because he was outstanding and made it easier for me at that point. And I think we both just really know one another and I love this man. I would work with him in everything I ever did, but he's a pain in the ass. GOODE: Well, you know. There has to be some cost! FRANK: He is Carl Morck, in many ways. To know him is to want to strangle him. Does that sum it up? GOODE: OK, so now you see what I'm working with. This is the second time he's given me a character that I genuinely don't think that many other people would have taken that chance, because I don't really scream Kansas City bank robber (in The Lookout). And I think this is a part that some people would have kind of gone, it's a bit more sort of Tom Hardy-ish, perhaps. But that's what we are, we're actors, but you don't necessarily get to be versatile a lot of the time, so I feel very indebted to you. Q: Did you write with Matthew in mind? FRANK: I had always thought he would be terrific for this, and I didn't know if we would end up doing it together, but from the minute I started thinking about it, doing it here, I really ... I knew he would love it. I think a lot of times people only see actors in one way or a particular way ... they just see the roles they've already played, they're not really paying attention to what else is happening. Q: Dept. Q is not a period drama. GOODE: There you go, that's a prime example, yeah. Q: So is that part of the appeal? GOODE: I mean a career is, for want of a better way of explaining it, is a bit like a river where essentially you can go, there's the main channel in it, but there's eddies and you get caught in certain things and you get cast in certain ways. So you're not really ever particularly in control of it. Certainly unless you have your own production company or you become a massive star where you actually sort of have the keys to Hollywood and then you have a bit more of a sphere of influence and you can dip your toes in different waters. And he had to fight for me a little bit for this one. He had to go bat for me to actually do the part. Q: Have you played a detective before? GOODE: No, this is my first time, I think. I've got a memory like a sieve now; I've got three kids, that's the only thing I really think about. But no, I think this is my first time. FRANK: I don't think you have. GOODE: Only with my wife with some dress up, but that's about it. Q: Carl is not a posh character. GOODE: No because (Frank) transposed it from the original Danish setting, Copenhagen, and it works brilliantly, obviously, in Edinburgh, and it becomes this amazing character. But he made the character English. But we haven't given too much detail yet as to as to his past, which I love the fact, because we're aiming to be able to keep doing this because there's 10 books. AP/AAP

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