Australian Prime Time: Seven decades of the most iconic TV shows
Episode 7: 2020-2026 The Final episode on our journey.

Top 10 of this decade, plus BONUS LISTS

• Top 10 Iconic formats adapted for Australian TV
• Top 10 Iconic Children's TV over the last 70 years

A TV Gold/TV Tonight special joint venture. Seven podcasts, each listing 10 iconic shows from that decade.

By David Knox, Andrew Mercado and James Manning

As Australia celebrates seven decades of television in from 1956 to 2026, TV Tonight has joined forces with the TV Gold podcast for a list of the most iconic programs from the last 70 years.

TV Tonight’s David Knox and TV Gold’s Andrew Mercado and James Manning have trawled through their memories, their archives and a new TV guides and chosen 10 programs from each of the past seven decades.

TV Tonight is publishing the list of 10 programs for each decade weekly starting with 1956-1969.

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that the first list covers 13 years, that is so we could then keep the list simple with each subsequent decade starting on a round number.

The criteria for selection were programs we all thought were the most “iconic”. There was much debate over what was in and what was out. The first thing to say is there are many good shows that didn’t make the list. Each week we shall give an honourable mention to those in that particular decade.

This list is not aiming to be the definitive word on the best Australian TV programs, but merely a starter to the discussions to be had around what deserves to be called iconic.

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Dustfall (ABC iview, 6 episodes)
Dustfall is accurately being described as an atmospheric tropic noir that follows a detective, Antigone “Tig” Pollard (Anna Torv) whose sense of justice is challenged by a world where victims are doubted, predators hide in plain sight and the legal system often falls short.
After moving back home where she lives on acreage in a lovely old home that needs some TLC, Tig is called in to investigate a sexual assault case that becomes more complex after a key suspect turns up dead. As Tig hunts for the truth and the list of suspects grows, she confronts memories of her experiences she had growing up.

Gnomes (Stan, 8 episodes)
Stan notes Gnomes evokes the splatter-gore spirit of classic 80s monster mashups like Gremlins.
As the series starts we meet Senior Sergeant Arnold Kipps (Asa Butterfield) who is having a bad day in suburbia. His ex-partner and ex-flame Ellie McKay (Megan Smart) has just returned to Nompton to shut down his police station, right when an ancient, evil force is awakened by the bloodthirsty Gnome Queen. Unleashing a nightmare horde of killer ceramic gnomes upon the unsuspecting town, Nompton is plunged into chaos.

Carrie (Prime Video, 8 episodes)
Based on Stephen King’s successful debut novel, Carrie is a reinvention of a classic coming‑of‑age story, adapted for television for the first time by showrunner Mike Flanagan.
The series starts with media reports of a high school fire that spreads outside the school ground.
We then go back a few years to home‑schooled Carrie White (Summer H. Howell) has spent her life hidden away inside the walls of her home with her fiercely protective mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan). After her father’s sudden death thrusts her into the state ecosystem of public a high school, with Carrie is forced to navigate a bullying from her classmates. Something that is compounded in the social media age. The anger Carrie builds during these taunts triggers telekinetic powers.

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East of Eden (Netflix, 7 episodes)
An adaption of the John Steinbeck novel which details the lives of the Trask family and Cathy Ames in a sprawling American epic that starts during the aftermath of the Civil War and reaches to the start of World War I. In 1899, a barely alive Cathy Ames crawls to a farmhouse. Half-brothers Adam and Charles Trask rescue her. While Adam shows concern, Charles is skeptical. The brothers were raised by their abusive father, Cyrus, who trained them to be soldiers. The details of Cathy's backstory are revealed in flashback, and we see the impact she has on the family.

Kill Jackie (Stan, 8 episodes)
Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Jackie Price who has been living a wealthy, luxurious existence for the last twenty years – travelling the world, selling fine art using sophisticated tax loopholes and, above all, trying to stay anonymous after escaping a dangerous past as an international cocaine dealer. But just as her unlikely life starts to feel a little boring, it takes a sudden turn when she discovers The Seven Demons, a squad of the world’s most terrifying hitmen, have been hired to kill her.

War (HBO Max, 8 episodes)
A legal drama starring Dominic West and Sienna Miller, and set in the high-stakes world of two of London’s most prestigious rival law firms.
The eight-part series delves into the high-stakes lives of London’s most powerful lawyers as firms Cathcarts & Sons and Taylor & Byrne clash over a headline-grabbing legal battle, drawing ambitious young lawyer Jonathan “Johnny” Warren, played by Archie Renaux, into a ruthless world where ambition is currency, betrayal is strategy and winning is everything.
The series follows the explosive divorce of British tech entrepreneur Morgan Henderson (Dominic West) and international film star Carla Duval (Sienna Miller), as the law firms stop at nothing to secure victory for their clients.

Mobland (Paramount+, 10 episodes)
Season two of the original crime drama features Tom Hardy returning as loyal fixer Harry da Souza, alongside Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren as the unscrupulous heads of the Harrigan family, Conrad and Maeve.

Cop This (10 and Paramount+, movie)
Created, written, produced and co-directed by Ed Kavalee, Cop This brings together a line-up of Australia’s funniest people. Set across 24 hours on Grand Final Day, Cop This follows a suburban police station where the two remaining officers are about to be replaced by an AI-powered police “Terminal”. Filmed entirely on location in Melbourne, Cop This is a love letter to Australian comedy, featuring an ensemble cast that would perhaps only all come together at a very large comedy Christmas party.

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