Beyond 2000 (1985 - 1999)

Magazine program
Weekly x 60 minutes

Series synopsis:

A magazine-style television series for prime time television about the scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations affecting society. It included 397 hour-long episodes and 78 half-hour episodes.

Curator’s Notes:

In 1984, when the ABC decided to axe Towards 2000, reporters Iain Finlay, Carmel Travers and Chris Ardill-Guinness took the blueprint to Ted Thomas at Channel 7. Faced with having to start up their own company, they brought in company chartered accountants Phil Gerlach and Mikael Borglund as business partners. Borglund was Iain Finlay’s accountant and these days is the managing director of Beyond International, while the original three reporters over time sold their shares in the company. The last to leave was Iain Finlay, who retired from reporting and presenting for Beyond 2000 in 1995.

The program has a style to match its subject matter. The pace is relentless and the reporters are unfailingly upbeat, savvy and very attractive. They comb the world for the latest stories of technological innovation and, within the commercial hour of the program, they present around eight stories, often from as many countries. This required a large and very effective research team.

The program usually features a medical breakthrough story, a sleek and sexy car story, something about space exploration and perhaps a cute animal story. The fast and furious pace ensures no story goes much over five minutes. The whole program is bookended by one of the senior reporters, who also promotes upcoming items before and after each ad break as well as for the following week. The series always rated really well for Channel 7 in Australia and sold around the world, putting Beyond in a position to become one of Australia’s leading production and distribution companies. In 2005, Beyond revised the series for Channel 7 as Beyond Tomorrow which was broadcast for 3 seasons until it finished in September 2007.

Janet Bell

Titles in this series