Ground Up

Micallef Tonight was a short-lived Aria Award–winning Australian variety show that aired on the Nine Network in 2003. It was hosted by comedian Shaun Micallef and also featured the talents of Francis Greenslade, Jason Geary, Livinia Nixon and Pete Smith.

The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) is an Australian sketch comedy TV series hosted by Shaun Micallef, and written by Micallef and Gary McCaffrie, that ran from 1998 to 2001 on ABC TV. It was known as The Micallef Program in its first series, The Micallef Programme in its second series and The Micallef Pogram in its third series. The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) is an umbrella title used for the DVD releases.

Follow the stories of two families living at opposite ends of the freeway. Bess Denyar is a doctor with a posh mother, Margaret, an architect husband, Danny Bright, and twin 13-year-olds at a private school, Oscar and Edwina. When Bess finds out that she is adopted, she is stunned, but even more so when she meets her birth parents, Wayne and Julie Wheeler. She also discovers that she has three siblings: Amber, Kayne and Brianna. The bogan Wheelers head up a drag racing team in the outer suburbs and are thrilled to discover the daughter they thought they had lost.

Ten years ago, a baby was killed in a house arson fire after a violent home invasion. The parents used the tragedy as a motivation to help build an evangelical community church but now the mother has comes to Jack for help. Jack agrees to look into the still unsolved crime but in looking for the truth Jack will have to fight the system and his own conscience to uncover a tangled web of lies and deception. In the end, Jack must decide if the truth should prevail over the interests of the innocent.

Don Angel is a small businessman – the backbone of this great country’s economy. But if that's true, it's no thanks to him. After numerous unsuccessful ventures, Don's Worldwide Business Group is now hurtling towards liquidation. His debts are mounting, his stomach's killing him, his wife has left him and he's just hired Ray Leonard as his sole employee. It's a marriage made in heaven – at least until the Tax Office gets there.

Don Angel, a trumped-up small businessman seeks validation through his small business kingdom, but finds unexpected solace from his odd squad of employees.

Jack investigates a gangland execution at a children’s football game twelve years ago.

Jack discovers that a man jailed for matricide could be innocent and the killer could still be close to home. Did Jack's own father-in-law have some part to play in the mystery?

Nearly 20 years ago a young mother was shot during an apparent kidnapping and subsequent police chase. Now after all that time, the man in jail for the murder is about to be paroled. Jack has two missions - to bring the father and his daughter back together and to find out if any justice has been done by the conviction.

After wearing a wire to catch a dirty colleague selling confiscated drugs, detective Jack Kempson is hated by his colleagues. He also gets 'promoted away' to the basement, where old files get transferred to the national computer database. Thus he comes across fingerprints, now identifiable, in the 30 year old case of Ashley, the kidnapped son of lottery winners. Although he's too late to help him now, he tracks the perpetrators down behind his boss's back.

A young woman goes missing when her car breaks down one rainy night. Her body is later discovered in a national park and for Detective Jack Kempson's offsider Sam, details of the crime mirror the disappearance of her friend Hannah, who vanished without trace some years ago. In Kempson's pursuit of the truth Sam is forced to face the sordid secrets of her past.

Jack Kempson started out as an idealistic cop. Thirty years on, he remains relentless in tracking down villains, but has lost confidence in his moral barometer. He turns a blind eye to the dubious methods employed by some of his contemporaries — prepared to let dodgy means be justified by the noble end.