C21 International Format Awards & SportsPro Media Awards nominations

Two big international awards announcements, first up from the C21 International Format Awards: Headliners and Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey have both been nominated for Best Factual Entertainment Format!

Regarded as the leading awards for the global format business, to be recognised across 10 categories and numerous territories is an incredible feat. A massive congratulations to all the brilliant and hardworking people behind these marvellous shows. 

Next up, in an ESA first, our brand-new sports documentary Shaking Down the Thunder has been nominated for Best Original Content in the 2025 SportsPro Media Awards!

These awards celebrate the trailblazers shaping the future of the sports media landscape, honouring those who push the boundaries of how sports content is produced. The ambition and dedication behind telling one of the greatest stories in the Swans' history is unparalleled – a huge congratulations to the talented team behind this nominated program. 

Winners for the C21 International Format Awards will be announced on Sunday October 12 ahead of MIPCOM, followed by the SportsPro Media Awards in Madrid on Tuesday November 18. 

Aussie drama RFDS hits new heights. RFDS Season 3 premieres Wednesday, 1 October on Seven

Beloved by fans and critics alike, RFDS soars into its third season from 7.30pm Wednesday, 1 October on Seven and 7plus. 

When a bus that Pete (Stephen Peacocke) is travelling on crashes on a remote desert highway, the team are suddenly reunited. Several harrowing medical emergencies compete for resources: a young woman trapped under the bus, the driver with a life-threatening chest injury, and a young man with a severe head trauma. The situation turns from bad to worse when one of the RFDS’ own finds themselves badly injured in the rescue attempt. With limited space, Eliza (Emma Hamilton) is forced to make the horrible decision of who to save and who to leave behind, the repercussions of which will leave lasting scars on the community and the team. 

Winner of the 2024 TV WEEK Logie Award for Best Drama Program, the new season of RFDS sees the return of ensemble cast members Emma Hamilton (Ten Pound Poms, Last Cab to Darwin), Stephen Peacocke (Home and Away, Five Bedrooms, The Newsreader), Rob Collins (Total Control, Limbo), Emma Harvie (Colin From Accounts, In Limbo), Justine Clarke (The Time of Our Lives, Fisk), Ash Ricardo (Offspring, Force of Nature: The Dry 2), Jack Scott (Hardball, Joe v Carole), Sofia Nolan (Home and Away, The Artful Dodger, The Last Days of Space Age), Rodney Afif (The Hunting, Ali’s Wedding, Lucky Miles) and Thomas Weatherall (The Long Narrow Road To The Deep North, Heartbreak High). 

This year also sees the exciting arrival of Rick Davies (Apple Cider Vinegar, Austin) as Fire and Rescue Officer Ryan.

Based on remarkable real-life stories, RFDS tells the stories of doctors, nurses, pilots, and support staff in the Royal Flying Doctor Service as they navigate emergency retrievals across some of the most inhospitable places in the country.

The upgrade of the Broken Hill airport and Royal Flying Doctor Service facilities mean this season was filmed in South Australia. The action unfolds across locations in Adelaide and the stunning Flinders Ranges, with the Port Augusta RFDS Base and regional surrounds doubling for Broken Hill.  

RFDS is executive produced by Endemol Shine Australia’s Director of Scripted Content Sara Richardson, RFDS creator, writer and director Ian Meadows and Julie McGauran for Seven. It is produced by Lisa Scott and directed by Adrian Russell Wills (The Newsreader, The Warriors), Shawn Seet (Storm Boy, NCIS: Sydney), Leticia Caceres (The House of Bernarda Alba) and Ian Watson (Heartbreak High).

RFDS is produced by Endemol Shine Australia (a Banijay Entertainment company) in association with the Seven Network. Major production investment from Screen Australia, Seven and the South Australian Film Corporation. Post, digital and visual effects supported by Screen NSW. Banijay Rights manages international distribution for RFDS outside of Australia.

RFDS

Premieres 7.30pm Wednesday, 1 October on Seven and 7plus

NCIS: Sydney Returns For A Star-Studded Third Season. A New Season Of The Paramount+ Original Series Streaming Exclusively From Tuesday, 14 October.

The NCIS: Sydney team is back for a bigger, bolder, and even more explosive third season, premiering exclusively on Paramount+ Australia on Tuesday, 14 October. After their croc-fuelled Top End adventure, the team are back in the glistening Harbour City, but something even more dangerous is coming back to bite them… their own pasts. 

Blue (Mavournee Hazel) is hunted down by her so-called “family” who harbour a shocking ulterior motive; while DeShawn (Sean Sagar) is forced to admit he concealed a crucial piece of evidence in a court-martial to protect someone very close.  

JD (Todd Lasance) must deal with the fallout from a Faustian pact to keep the team intact within the context of a crumbling relationship… while Evie (Tuuli Narkle) tentatively embarks on a new one; and Doc Roy (William McInnes) must decide if he’s ready to let go. 

Against a backdrop of adrenaline pumping cases, our beloved team are put to the test like never before, involving an outback alien abduction, a nano-tech assassin, a true crime podcast cold case, a journey to Antarctica, a swashbuckling treasure hunt, and an international conspiracy with links to… Mackey (Olivia Swann).  

Full of non-stop thrilling action, season three sees Claude Jabbour join as a recurring guest, and features special guest stars including Doris Younane, Simone Kessell, Fayssal Bazzi, Stephen Peacocke, Lincoln Lewis, Anthony Hayes and many more! 

NCIS: Sydney is produced by Endemol Shine Australia (a Banijay Entertainment company) for CBS Studios and Paramount Australia and distributed outside Australia by Paramount Global Content Distribution. 

About Paramount+ 

Paramount+ is a global digital subscription video streaming service from Paramount that features a mountain of premium entertainment for audiences of all ages. Internationally, the streaming service features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including SHOWTIME®, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel™, in addition to a robust offering of premier local content. The service is currently live in Australia, Austria, Canada, the Caribbean, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latin America, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S.  

About Endemol Shine Australia  

Endemol Shine Australia (ESA) (a Banijay Entertainment company) is a leader in world-class television creation and distribution, producing some of Australia’s most popular programs. With a unique creative approach in supercharging and supersizing formats into global hits, credits include: MasterChef Australia, Married at First Sight, Australian Survivor, The Summit, LEGO Masters, Gogglebox Australia, Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds and Love Triangle. Game shows: Tipping Point and Deal or No Deal, as well as acclaimed dramas including the 2024 TV Week Logie Award winning RFDS, NCIS: Sydney, Bali 2002, Offspring, Sisters, Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door and INXS: Never Tear Us Apart. A multi-award-winning production powerhouse, ESA has secured awards from the International Emmys, TV Week Logie Awards, AACTA Awards, New York Festivals TV & Film Awards, Content Innovation Awards, Realscreen Awards, Venice TV Awards, Asian Television Awards, and SPA Awards. 

About CBS Studios 

CBS Studios is one of the world’s leading producers of entertainment programming, with dozens of globally popular series for broadcast and streaming.  The Studio’s expansive portfolio includes a diverse slate of commercially successful and critically acclaimed programming which includes genre-defining franchises such as NCIS and the Star Trek universe, fan-favourite comedies such as The Neighborhood and Ghosts, the newly reimagined Matlock, and buzzy international co-productions such as Colin from Accounts and upcoming King & Conqueror.  

About Paramount Global Content Distribution

Paramount Global Content Distribution, a division of Paramount, a Skydance Corporation (Nasdaq: PSKY), is a leading distributor of premium content across multiple media platforms throughout the global marketplace. The division's portfolio is comprised of some of the world's most recognised brands, including feature films and television programs from Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television, CBS Studios, CBS Media Ventures, CBS News, SHOWTIME Studios, Nickelodeon, MTV Entertainment Studios, Republic Pictures, Miramax and third-party partners including MRC. The division also has the largest distributed library of series and film titles, including global franchises such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, Star Trek, the Yellowstone franchise, Top Gun and Transformers. In addition, the division licenses a diverse lineup of scripted and unscripted formats for local production and international co-productions.

Big Brother Is Back! Returning Home To 10 This November.

Australia, this is Big Brother. Standby for an important announcement. 

The show that made TV history is coming home. Big Brother is back on 10, back at Dreamworld, and back on your screens this November. 

Hosted by Mel Tracina, the reboot will feature everything you loved in the noughties: live nominations, live evictions, and all the action live from Dreamworld. 

Fans don’t just want to watch the OG show, they want to be in it. With 20,000 housemate applications already received, Australia has never been readier for a return of the original and the best. 

Big Brother is always watching, and this November, so can you.

Big Brother. Coming To 10 This November.

Greatest Of All Time - The Black Widow Reigns Supreme. Parvati Shallow Wins Survivor: Australia V The World. “I feel like I’m re-writing history in a way that feels so right.”

Parvati Shallow can now add Sole Survivor of the World to her already impressive mantle.

After an incredible season where 14 of the best Survivor players from across the globe came together to battle it out for the ultimate title, during Sunday night’s Grand Finale, Parvati went up against Australia’s Luke Toki and Janine Allis to win $250,000 and the title of Sole Survivor.

“This is my final time playing Survivor, so to have been awarded the win from the jury is like the sweetest moment,” Parvati said.

“I’m so grateful to have been a part of this incredible experience of Australia V The World... there is something about this game that just gets in my blood. I feel like I was born to play Survivor.”

Arriving on the beaches of Samoa for the first time since the US season of Heroes vs Villains, Parvati was hungry for redemption after feeling like she was ‘robbed’ of victory by a bitter jury back in 2009.

That hunger served her well as she dodged any attempts at voting her out, navigating botched blindsides and proving herself to be a beast in endurance challenges, including the vital final battle for individual immunity.

All the while, Parvati stood alongside her ‘Survivor Soulmate’ and fellow legend of the game Cirie Fields, who was there every step of the way, right up until the final tribal.

Playing for her fifth time, Parvati’s strategy and social game were on full display and, despite having one of the biggest targets on her back, she didn’t receive a single vote throughout the game - until it was time to vote for a winner where she received a total of six out of seven votes from the jury, cementing her place as the greatest of all time.

Parvati said, “I think this is the best game of Survivor I’ve played because I think I made some pretty great moves, I kept myself in a majority alliance, this feels like a full circle moment for me personally.

“I feel like I’m re-writing history in a way that feels so right.”

Australian Survivor.

Watch + Stream Free on 10.