Days Like These - podcast cover

Days Like These

ABC listenwww.abc.net.au
The best story you'll hear all week, told by the people who lived it. This podcast is no longer in production.

Episodes

You Can’t Argue with a Dead Man

At the beginning of 2019, country singer Felicity Urquhart was preparing for a huge year of performing and publicity. She was about to release Frozen Rabbit, her first solo album in a decade. Creating the record had been an extended labour of love for her and her husband, Glen Hannah, also a musician and producer. But the year would unfold in ways that no one saw coming, and the album would mark a turning point in Felicity’s career and her life. ***Warning: this episode contains content to do wi...

Aug 31, 202132 min

The Drugs Don't Work

When Jane Rowe tries her first hit of heroin, the relief it offers is undeniable. Rebelling against her privileged upbringing, she throws herself into the punk scene of 1970s London, rubbing shoulders with rock stars and moguls. But when the party's over and Jane's rattled by the aftershocks of addiction, she sets out to rescue the forgotten victims of drug abuse.

Aug 24, 202126 min

Sergei The Spy

A cold-war thriller, set on the streets of Sydney. Our hero, a man only recently promoted from the ASIO mail room to spy-catcher, finds that chasing a KGB operative doesn’t always follow a James Bond-type script.

Aug 17, 202125 min

Athena and the mountain

Two friends set off on a one-way ticket overseas intending to have the time of their lives. It’s their big adventure before settling down to start “real life’. But, in a small village in Nepal, amongst hikers from all over the world, it all goes terribly wrong... and it’s all they can do just to survive. To take a look at Athena’s photos and to find out more, head to www.athenazelandonii.com/

Aug 10, 202125 min

The Long Way Home

A brother and sister duo face a life-changing diagnosis, a family secret and flooding rains as they race across state borders to make it home. This is a story about the frustrations and fractures of addiction, the loneliness of life in a pandemic and the wonders of long-distance love. Mostly, it’s about the ties that bind, and the people who are always there for us, even when you don’t expect it.

Aug 03, 202130 min

Shark-tag-aggedon

One evening, a team of scientists realise that a tracking device they'd attached to a bull shark off the coast of NSW has come ashore and is now leaving a GPS trail all over Wollongong and surrounds. This tag, once attached to a bull shark's dorsal fin, contains valuable scientific data that could help unlock the secrets of the deep, and of the apex predators who call it home. But will a team of researchers, citizen scientists and a social media frenzy be enough to track down a lost shark tag be...

Jul 26, 202132 min

Live at the Zoo

Cut Copy. Evermore. Bliss n Esso. British India. Tame Impala! You've got your tickets. Your favourite band is headlining and your mates are by your side. A music festival in amongst the wild animals at a South Australian Zoo ... it could have been so right. So how did everything go so, so wrong?

Jun 29, 202123 min

The Gospel According to Shellie Morris

Singer-songwriter Shellie Morris still remembers the first time she heard Yothu Yindi's Treaty. She had left her adopted white family in Sydney when "Treaty yeah, Treaty now" blared through her car radio, and changed her forever. The song would become part of the soundtrack of her incredible journey to find her Aboriginal birth family in the Northern Territory and to work out where, and what, home really is.

Jun 22, 202139 min

Ziffy and the Monarchs

Tai Snaith has always loved animals, especially horses. After growing up on a farm, she thought she was used to the practical cycles of life and death that Australian country life can throw at you. But when her beloved horse Ziffy dies, she shares an unbelievable moment with him… it’s on the very boundary of the known and the unknown. She knows this bond will last forever.

Jun 15, 202127 min

Letters to Elton

How do you orchestrate a meeting with your hero? For Tate Sheridan it was simple: a clandestine operation involving a long and heartfelt letter, a demo CD, some wrapping paper and sneaky dash backstage at a big Elton John gig. Two years later, Tate was to join his now mentor on tour, performing in front of 38,000 Elton John fans playing the actual piano of a real life rock and roll god. Thanks to Tate Sheridan for scoring this episode and for allowing us to use his music. Tracks in the episode a...

Jun 08, 202129 min

The Pirate of Stanage Bay

Jason grows up with saltwater in his veins and adventure in his bones. In a little seaside Queensland town with the Coral Sea as their playground, Jason and the locals tie up mud crabs for sport ... with their toes. When opportunity calls him to a seafaring job in Thailand, he leaves home behind — the crabs, the family, the quiet fishing life he knows. He couldn’t imagine the mayhem ahead and what it would cost him. Jason’s journey home to Stanage Bay is long and difficult ... but ultimately tri...

Jun 01, 202128 min

The Search for T5

Narelle Grech was a teenager when she first discovered that she'd been conceived using donor sperm. As her shock turned to deep curiosity, Narelle decided — she had to meet this man. All she has to go on is his donor code, T5. It leads her on a search that spans two decades, take her across continents and results in a landmark law that allows donor-conceived people to learn the identity of their donor — and vice versa. Thanks to the ABC's Damien Carrick and Sarah Dingle for the use of archival i...

May 25, 202134 min

The Big Break That Broke Kate

An actor's life can be punishing. It's competitive, unpredictable and, no matter how hard you work, success is often down to dumb luck. There are no guarantees, and maintaining a thick skin is essential. When actor Kate McNamara wins an award that could potentially transform her career, her life does change. Just not in the way she expected. From a miserable night in Sydney to an energy healer in Bali, how will she make peace with what could have been?

May 18, 202130 min

All the Jennifer Millses

A decade ago, Jennifer Mills found out there was a watercolour painting of her on the wall of a major gallery. The thing is, she’d never sat for one, and she’d never spoken to an artist about being in a portrait. So, what was the picture? How did it come to be there? How would it connect her to more than three hundred other women, all called Jennifer Mills? Follow our Jenni as she enters a portal to a global adventure, where a stranger with the same name has the power to revive her deepest and m...

May 11, 202130 min

Taylah Fires Up Newcastle

A police officer with his knee on a man's neck in Minneapolis. Guards rushing a cell in Sydney's Long Bay jail to stop a man from eating biscuits. George Floyd and David Dungay Junior are dead and the world is catching fire around law student Taylah Gray. It sets her own smouldering sense of justice aflame. She's not a lawyer yet, but Taylah spearheads the legal case to hold a Black Lives Matter protest in Newcastle during the first heightened days of the pandemic. It makes her a lightning rod f...

May 04, 202130 min

The Quiz Master's Retirement Plan

Russell Cheek spent his thirties touring Australia in the beloved performance group, The Castanet Club. He poured himself into the art and the lifestyle. For him, the band was his life, there was no Plan B. So, when The Castanets breaks up, he finds himself middle aged, broke and at a creative loose end. His solution: he writes away to Sale of the Century. But does he have what it takes to win eight nights in a row — and take home the jackpot? A big thanks to NBN Newcastle and Fremantle Australi...

Apr 27, 202135 min

INTRODUCING — Days Like These

Guts. Justice. Surprise families. Playing Elton John’s piano. Deep disappointment. Risking it all on a gameshow. Danger on the high seas and low roads. Perseverance. Hope for the future. Days Like These is BACK and things are wilder than ever before. Russell is staking everything on winning Sale of the Century. Taylah has a fire in her belly that only justice can quench. And Jennifer? She’s just trying to find out why someone would paint a portrait of her without asking and stick it on a gallery...

Apr 13, 20214 min

We'll Be Back

The Days Like These team is off whipping up more wild and wonderful true stories for your listening pleasure.

Mar 30, 20212 min

Tim Gets Stoned

A boyhood visit to the dentist turns Tim Rogers into a lifelong fan of The Rolling Stones. But when the Aussie musician's dream comes true and his band is picked to support the bad boys of rock'n'roll, an inside joke aimed at his idols threatens to tip the whole relationship off the rails.

Mar 16, 202128 min

I Hear My Own Blood

If someone told you they could hear their own eyeballs moving, their blood pumping through their veins and their voice echoing inside their own head would you believe them? Get ready to go inside the minds of two young women struggling with all those symptoms and one of the world's most disturbing medical conditions. Prepare for a sonic trip of swerves you never saw coming as we take you inside the operating theatre for a world-first procedure to try and fix the syndrome.

Mar 09, 202121 min

The Grommet and Her Idol Catch a Break

In the rough-as-guts Bondi breaks of the 1980s, rising surf star Pauline Menczer was one of the only women in the water. And, boy, did she pay for it. Hot on the heels of her idol Jodie Cooper, both women discover it's not only big waves that can wipe you out. When they finally face each other in the water, they also take on the conservative, sexist world of professional surfing… and change it forever.

Mar 02, 202132 min

James and The Gruffalo

When Marisa and Peter Skillen set off with their kids for their first family camping trip, they're expecting a peaceful couple of days among the gum trees. But when one of their young twins slips away with only his bumblebee backpack, their dream weekend turns into a living nightmare as they desperately scour the bush to find him before it's too late.

Feb 23, 202123 min

I Want Jenna To Meet Oprah

When a young Jenna Holmes discovers the magic of The Oprah Winfrey Show while channel surfing one afternoon, it cracks open a whole new way of thinking for the Toowoomba schoolkid. The undisputed master of daytime TV becomes Jenna’s guide for life. Chutzpah, visualisation, Celin Dion’s legs... the education Jenna’s getting is a little different to the other nine-year-olds. Can Jenna use what she’s learned to realise her dream of meeting Oprah in person?

Feb 16, 202123 min

Dog Tag Days

During a renovation in Canberra, a World War II dog tag is found in a pile of rubble. This discovery sets off a remarkable chain of coincidence, synchronicity and luck, bringing together families whose long-dead loved ones shared a journey of survival through some of the war's most notorious chapters.

Feb 09, 202127 min

Havi's Ritual Impurity

Havi watches from the car as the Rabbi holds a cloth up to the sunlight, peering at it for answers. It's a moment that will change her life forever... and set her on a new path beyond the stringent framework of the Orthodox Judaism she grew up in... where a complex system of rules shapes every aspect of life, from cradle to grave.

Feb 02, 202127 min

Good Things Come In Trees

Grainne goes to school in 1980s Dublin when it's all nuns and compulsory Irish Gaelic. Not a good place to be dyslexic, especially if you've never heard the word "dyslexia" let alone understand its meaning. Grainne's dream is to be zoologist and to get there she uproots to Australia. Her challenges follow her here, but a developing love of magpies and other native birds helps Grainne find her own voice and, eventually, the people who appreciate her unique read on the world.

Jan 26, 202130 min

The Bicycle Thief's Worst Enemy

Rupert's beloved bike is stolen from his work garage. Stricken and desperate to see it returned, he's put in touch with an obsessive ex-cop who's made it his personal mission to fight bike crime. Working with a motley crew of bike lovers and justice seekers, they'll stop at nothing to get it back.

Jan 19, 202127 min

Secrets Of The Dead

Bill Edgar is a private investigator from Australia's Gold Coast who's become know internationally as "The Coffin Confessor". His popularity soared when his very strange side hustle hit headlines all over the world. Bill says the deceased pay him (before they die) to rock up at their funerals and deliver previously-unsaid "truth bombs" to loved ones. But, what the media blitz about Bill Edgar didn't uncover was the secret he's been keeping all of his life — until now.

Jan 12, 202127 min

The Runner

Carefree and dancing on the podium at a Perth nightclub, aspiring actress/comedian Nikki Britton spies a strapping man with a prominent tongue ring. It's lust at first sight, quickly morphing into a whirlwind romance... then a long-distance relationship. But when her dashing courtier invites her to uproot her life to be with him, Nikki's hit by a curveball that will change her... and provide a lifetime of standup material.

Dec 15, 202029 min

Blood In

Mesmerised by the hard-headed glamour of bikie culture, the son of Afghan refugees finds brotherhood in an outlaw motorcycle club. But when death strikes twice close to Mahmood Fazal, he’s forced to confront his own mortality. Will he be allowed to cut the ties that bind him to Melbourne’s underworld?

Dec 08, 202017 min
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