Peter Butt

During the nuclear-charged 1960s, the KGB was active in sleepy Australian suburbia. For two years, the country’s security service, ASIO, secretly filmed meetings between a senior KGB officer, Ivan Skripov, and his British-born agent. Unknown to Skripov, she was a double agent - code name "Sylvia".​ Sylvia’s final rendezvous with an unknown "KGB illegal" operative held the promise of exposing a network of Soviet spies that had infiltrated the British atomic and rocketry facilities in South Australia.

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With Australia at war in Vietnam in 1967, suddenly Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared without a trace—an event unparalleled in the history of western democracy. Four decades later, a coronial inquiry confirmed that Harold Holt had accidentally drowned. Some people may still believe that Holt was a spy and fled to China in a submarine. But most suspect there was more to his disappearance than has ever been revealed. Reconstructed from eyewitness accounts, this dramatised documentary tells the story of the Prime Minister's secret world in the months before he disappeared — a world of betrayal, blackmail, political treachery, a poisonous feud, mounting physical and mental strain, and near-death experiences. Featuring Normie Rowe as Harold Holt, Nicholas Hope as William McMahon and Tony Llewellyn-Jones as John McEwen, this film reveals explosive new aspects of the case.

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Who Killed Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler? is an Australian documentary film about the mysterious deaths of Dr Gilbert Bogle and Mrs Margaret Chandler in Sydney, Australia in 1963. Although it was assumed the couple were murdered, police investigators could find or produce no evidence that it was actually murder. The documentary, directed and written by Australian documentary film maker Peter Butt, presents unique evidence to suggest the couple died from hydrogen sulphide poisoning emanating from a river.

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From 1957 to 1978, scientists secretly removed bone samples from over 21,000 dead Australians as they searched for evidence of the deadly poison, Strontium 90 - a by-product of nuclear testing. Silent Storm reveals the story behind this astonishing case of officially sanctioned "body-snatching". Set against a backdrop of the Cold War, the saga follows celebrated scientist, Hedley Marston, as he attempts to blow the whistle on radioactive contamination and challenge official claims that British atomic tests posed no threat to the Australian people. Marston's findings are not only disputed, he is targeted as "a scientist of counter-espionage interest". Now, questions are being raised about the health repercussions for generations of Australians.

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This documentary explores one of the most extraordinary chapters in Australia's history - the attempts by successive Australian governments to fortress the nation with atomic weapons.

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Since their development in the 1850s, ocean liners have been far more than simply passenger ships - they were also the conduit for enormous technological, social and global cultural change. This four-part series is an international story told from a uniquely Australian point of view about the most romantic ships ever built.

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Sydney, in the 50s. Rosaleen Norton is a painter specialised in occult themes, infernal sabbatical visions exuding wanton sexuality. In conservative Australia, the Witch of King's Cross was soon accused of obscenity, and of taking part in satanic rituals, orgies and whatnot...

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During the nuclear-charged 1960s, the KGB was active in sleepy Australian suburbia. For two years, the country’s security service, ASIO, secretly filmed meetings between a senior KGB officer, Ivan Skripov, and his British-born agent. Unknown to Skripov, she was a double agent - code name "Sylvia".​ Sylvia’s final rendezvous with an unknown "KGB illegal" operative held the promise of exposing a network of Soviet spies that had infiltrated the British atomic and rocketry facilities in South Australia.

Open details →

Crimes of passion, old-fashioned gangland homicides and mysteries that captivated the entire nation. Animated series, The Twist brings to life some of Australia's most intriguing and unexpected crime stories.

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With Australia at war in Vietnam in 1967, suddenly Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared without a trace—an event unparalleled in the history of western democracy. Four decades later, a coronial inquiry confirmed that Harold Holt had accidentally drowned. Some people may still believe that Holt was a spy and fled to China in a submarine. But most suspect there was more to his disappearance than has ever been revealed. Reconstructed from eyewitness accounts, this dramatised documentary tells the story of the Prime Minister's secret world in the months before he disappeared — a world of betrayal, blackmail, political treachery, a poisonous feud, mounting physical and mental strain, and near-death experiences. Featuring Normie Rowe as Harold Holt, Nicholas Hope as William McMahon and Tony Llewellyn-Jones as John McEwen, this film reveals explosive new aspects of the case.

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