I Was Actually There season three revisits six moments on ABC TV – The documentary series returns with eyewitness accounts of events Australians remember, from Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech to the Lismore floods.
The third season premieres at 8pm on Monday, 9 November on ABC TV and ABC iview. Six episodes focus on people who found themselves at the centre of history, recalling what they saw, heard and felt before the significance of those moments was fully understood.
For Australian viewers, the appeal is not a conventional historical recap. I Was Actually There keeps its perspective with the people present, allowing familiar national stories to be reconsidered through immediate, personal experience.
The six stories in season three
The opening episode revisits Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech, delivered on 9 October 2012. The second episode turns to the Thredbo landslide of 30 July 1997. The third examines the Cangai siege, which began on 30 March 1993.
The remaining episodes cover the disappearance of Prime Minister Harold Holt on 17 December 1967, the South Sydney Rabbitohs’ fight against extinction on 15 October 1999, and the Lismore floods of 28 February 2022.
These subjects range from politics and natural disaster to crime and sport. What links them is the series’ approach: the events are told by witnesses rather than framed only through archive headlines or retrospective commentary. That means the programme can capture uncertainty and emotion that were present before the outcome was known.
Who makes I Was Actually There?
The series is a Docker Media production for the ABC, financed by the broadcaster and Screen NSW. Kirk Docker directs. Loni Cooper and Josh Schmidt are series producers, with Lizzie Norman, Jess Cohen Cornelius and Tara Thomas producing.
Docker created the programme with Aaron Smith and Jon Casimir. Julie Hanna is the ABC commissioning editor, while Susie Jones is the broadcaster’s head of documentary and specialist. The production team also worked on the award-winning You Can’t Ask That.
The ABC has released a first look ahead of the new season. Its return gives the public broadcaster another locally made documentary series with a strong Australian focus and a clearly defined weekly subject.
Watch the first look
I Was Actually There season three premieres Monday, 9 November at 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
For more TV Central ABC news, explore our ABC coverage. The public ABC iview programme page has viewing information.
