Four Corners — Season 44
Australia's premiere current affairs programme, incisive investigative journalism.
About this season
Four Corners is Australia's longest-running investigative journalism/current affairs television program. Broadcast on ABC1 in Australia, it premiered on 19 August 1961 and celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2021. Founding producer Robert Raymond and his successor Allan Ashbolt did much to set the ongoing tone of the program. Based on the Panorama concept, the program addresses a single issue in depth each week, showing either a locally produced program or a relevant documentary from overseas. The program has won many awards for investigative journalism, and broken many high-profile stories. A notable early example of this was the show's epoch-making 1962 exposé on the appalling living conditions endured by many Aboriginal Australians living in rural New South Wales.
Episodes (42)
1. Willie Brigitte
Aired 9 February 2004 • 45 min
Allegations have swirled around Willie Brigitte ever since his discreet deportation from Australia and his much-publicised arrest in France in October 2003.
2. Lords Of The Forests
Aired 16 February 2004 • 45 min
Ticky Fullerton looks at the management of Tasmania's forests and how one timber company enjoys extraordinary political support for its operations.
3. In the Firing Line
Aired 23 February 2004 • 45 min
Fuelled by a cocktail of drugs, armed robberies are growing more violent and unpredictable.
4. Arafat Investigated
Aired 1 March 2004 • 45 min
Why has Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat - once feted at the White House but now holed up in his West Bank headquarters - become such an outcast?
5. The Speed Trap
Aired 8 March 2004 • 45 min
How police laid a trap to catch drug dealers but instead found themselves entangled in a web of corruption allegations.
6. Ethiopia: A Journey with Michael Buerk
Aired 15 March 2004 • 45 min
Michael Buerk returns to Ethiopia 20 years after first alerting the world to the Ethiopian famine.
7. Tarnished Gold
Aired 22 March 2004 • 45 min
Are Australia's sports bosses surrendering to the drug cheats?
8. Riot In Redfern
Aired 29 March 2004 • 45 min
What really happened that night in the tiny Redfern community .
9. A Crime of Insanity
Aired 5 April 2004 • 45 min
Troubling questions arise when the legal and psychiatric worlds collide.
10. Lost In Translation
Aired 12 April 2004 • 45 min
Are Australians hitching a ride on China's economic juggernaut?
11. Killers
Aired 19 April 2004 • 45 min
A report on the conditions that made the violence in Rwanda possible.
12. The Nuclear Bazaar
Aired 26 April 2004 • 45 min
A special report on the frightening trade in nuclear secrets.
13. Fair Game?
Aired 3 May 2004 • 45 min
Allegations of sexual violence have engulfed some of Australia's top AFL footballers and their clubs.
14. Rich Man, Poor Man
Aired 10 May 2004 • 45 min
The fight between Australia and East Timor over billion dollar oil and gas interests.
15. Al Qaeda Family
Aired 17 May 2004 • 45 min
The inside story of the family that lived and trained with Osama Bin Laden.
16. Till Debt Us Do Part
Aired 24 May 2004 • 45 min
Where will the credit binge end for the many thousands of Australians in debt?
17. The Taking of Logan Marr
Aired 31 May 2004 • 45 min
Under what circumstances should a child be taken from its birth parents?
18. Chain of Command
Aired 7 June 2004 • 45 min
The story behind what may endure as defining images of war in Iraq.
19. Corruption Inc.
Aired 14 June 2004 • 45 min
Corruption spreads from state police forces into the Australian Crime Commission.
20. A Blind Eye
Aired 21 June 2004 • 45 min
Is the RSPCA turning a blind eye to cruelty for the benefit of commercial interests?
21. The Clinton Interview
Aired 28 June 2004 • 45 min
Bill Clinton defends his record and tells how his public and private lives clashed.
22. A Case To Answer
Aired 5 July 2004 • 45 min
How the justice system failed star swim coach Scott Volkers and the women he was accused of sexually molesting.
23. A Dangerous Business
Aired 12 July 2004 • 45 min
How one company’s obsession with the bottom line left a trail of death and dismemberment among its workers.
24. Worst of the Worst?
Aired 19 July 2004 • 45 min
Four Corners investigates the story behind Mamdouh Habib's incarceration at the notorious prison Guantanamo Bay .
25. Training Day
Aired 26 July 2004 • 45 min
Chris Masters talks to bent cops and police chiefs around Australia about the painful costs of corruption, the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures and the need for constant vigilance.
26. A Bitter Pill?
Aired 2 August 2004 • 45 min
Jonathan Holmes investigates the cost to our subsidised pharmaceutical scheme since Australia signed the Free Trade Agreement.
27. The Secret Agent
Aired 9 August 2004 • 45 min
This expose reveals the truth behind what the BNP has been telling the public in recent years, as it has tried to shed its image of a far-right, racist party.
28. Losing the Children
Aired 16 August 2004 • 45 min
Four Corners tells the story of the Dalton family breakdown in the context of the Government's recent initiatives to reform the Family Court system, and the rising political influence of men's groups.
29. The Plea
Aired 23 August 2004 • 45 min
"The Plea" examines the cases a jury will never get to hear and asks the question, is the plea bargain undermining an entire legal system?
30. After Saddam
Aired 30 August 2004 • 45 min
What do Iraqis think about the war and its aftermath?
31. Doctoring the Figures
Aired 6 September 2004 • 45 min
From outright fraud to allegations of cover up … and those who simply bend the rules.
32. Beating the Black Dog
Aired 13 September 2004 • 45 min
Five Australians tell their story of beating depression; the 'black dog" affecting one in five Australians.
33. Run For Your Life
Aired 20 September 2004 • 45 min
Four Corners presents the incredible journey of four young men .
34. Island Raiders
Aired 27 September 2004 • 45 min
How can one island nation lose a two billion dollar fortune in the space of twenty years?
35. The Contenders
Aired 4 October 2004 • 45 min
Liz Jackson follows the leaders' trails during an election campaign that's gone from truth in government, to billion dollar give-aways and old fashioned fear tactics - as the parties battle to win over middle Australia.
36. Battleground State
Aired 8 October 2004 • 45 min
Reporter Jonathan Holmes takes us on a colourful journey through the battleground state of Ohio during the US Elections.
37. City Limits
Aired 18 October 2004 • 45 min
Once we had enough water to waste.
38. A Baby To Save Our Son
Aired 25 October 2004 • 45 min
Jamie Whitaker had been created to save the life of his brother Charlie, who suffers from Diamond-Blackfan anaemia, DBA, a form of bone marrow failure.
39. Trust and Betrayal
Aired 1 November 2004 • 45 min
A story of spies, counterspies, double agents and defections as Andrew Fowler reveals the betrayal inside one of Australia’s secret intelligence agencies.
40. Blood Brothers
Aired 8 November 2004 • 45 min
An exclusive story following a brave little boy’s fight to be cured.
41. What the Children Saw
Aired 15 November 2004 • 45 min
In a place where they should have felt safest, the children of Beslan were targeted in an act of barbarism.
42. 2004: In Review
Aired 24 November 2004 • 45 min
2004 will be remembered chiefly for international issues, primarily events in Iraq: including the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal; as well as the continued threat of terrorism. We also faced crucial elections both at home and in the United States.