2012-11-18

Sunday Night poster
Sunday Night
18th November 2012 1 hour Season 2012 Episode 32

A Cure in Sight The world applauded three months ago when it was revealed Australian scientists had won the race to produce the first implanted bionic eye. The prototype was implanted into Melbourne mum Dianne Ashworth. With her help, scientists are now fast tracking the next device, which could transform the lives of millions of people around the world. Among them is Rachael Leahcar, the blind teenager who captivated the nation as a contestant on The Voice and could be a prime candidate to receive a bionic eye. But incredibly, on the cusp of making medical history, the entire Bionic Eye project is under threat from a lack of cash. When the money former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pledged runs out at the end of the year, key scientists will be forced to leave the unfinished project. Rudd risks the wrath of Julia Gillard by telling Sunday Night guest reporter Peter FitzSimons why the government must continue to back the bionic eye. Living with Danger Imagine having a polar bear as a pet. What about a pride of lions in the backyard or a cuddly grizzly bear of your very own? The sale of dangerous and exotic pets is a booming industry, but it’s a practice with a dark side as the animals are a threat to their owners and can languish without proper specialised care. Rahni Sadler meets the expert who has to rescue and relocate dozens of these animals every year, and who blames the late Steve Irwin for fostering this interest in wild animal ownership. In this Sunday Night investigation, Sadler also discovers the sad fate of arguably the world’s most famous exotic pet – Michael Jackson’s former pet chimp Bubbles. Dustin Hoffman It’s been 35 years since a young Dustin Hoffman became an overnight star thanks to his on-screen seduction by the much older Mrs Robinson in The Graduate. Now, the two-time Oscar winner reminisces with Ross Coulthart about his incredible career. Hoffman is at his charming best when he re-enacts his Oscar-winning role as an autistic savant with extraordinary mathematic abilities in Rain Man. And while his 1982 cross-dressing caper Tootsie is one of the best comedies of all time, even funnier is his story about walking into a bar dressed as Tootsie and trying to pick up a male friend. But Hoffman isn’t all about the Hollywood high life. In this deeply personal interview he also opens up about his difficult relationship with his father and the self-doubt that made him beg to drop out of Rain Man.

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Season 2012 · Episode 33

2012-11-25

Bath Salt Tragedy One dose of this legal powder is turning ordinary people into zombies with possessed minds and bodies. It’s an intense synthetic drug that’s marketed as a safe alternative to illegal substances – but it’s sending users into states of psychotic delirium, consumed with rage and superhuman strength. One man ate the family dog while under the influence of the substance that goes by the misleading name ‘bath salts’. In this special Sunday Night investigation, Ross Coulthart reports on the heartbreaking story of an Australian mum of two who lost her partner just weeks ago when the pair took the drug, believing it was safe. Rachael tells of the horrifying ordeal the pair suffered before her partner Glenn died when doctors had to switch off his life support. Easily purchased over the counter at stores across Australia, how is this legal and how do police counter the threat? Willesee & Quentin – 30 Years On It won him his first logie and is the story Mike Willesee is always asked about by members of the public. He first interviewed Quentin Kenihan 30 years ago when Australia fell in love with the cheeky seven-year-old who was confined to a wheelchair, suffering from a rare genetic bone condition. The boy who became a household name is now a 37-year-old man, and his reunion with the veteran journo will warm your heart. While he still battles health problems, having suffered pneumonia for the past 12 months, Quentin’s thirst for life is intact. Back then, Mike Willesee openly bribed him with toys to get the answers he was after, but now Quentin turns the tables and gives the interviewing legend a run for his money. See what happens when he returns a gift Mike gave him when they first. Proof Of Heaven? It’s the age-old question – is there an afterlife, and what is it like? Sunday Night meets a world-renowned and Harvard-trained neurosurgeon – for years a non-believer in the afterlife, but now a convert. When Dr Eben Alexander collapsed with meningitis four years ago, he spent seven days in a coma. When he finally awoke he told an extraordinary tale of what he’d experienced while he was sleeping. Dr Alexander distinctly remembers butterflies and beautiful women. Thousands of people – among them Melbourne woman Carmel Bell – have reported similar near-death experiences: travelling towards a light, encounters with heavenly beings, a sense of being outside their bodies. But none have had the scientific credibility of Dr Alexander. Sunday Night’s Pete-Jane Madam takes you on a journey into the afterlife and examines the scientific basis of his claims. We meet the scientists studying whether consciousness can live on despite the apparent death of the brain. Those who have ‘been there’ swear it’s real, while those who haven’t are sceptical. You be the judge.

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