2012-07-15

Ping Pong Poms They come here in their thousands from wet and windy Britain – enticed by the “Home and Away” dream lifestyle down under. But every year several thousand poms who emigrate to Australia make the return journey home. And boy do they whinge about life here. Sunday Night’s Peter FitzSimons meets several families who have decided to go back – and they don’t pull any punches about what they think of Australia. Our roads are bad, our driving even worse, restaurants “crap”, our ocean full of deadly threats and “there is more culture in a yoghurt”. This story will make Aussies see red, but they will get really angry when they discover many Poms do one last thing here before getting the taxi to the airport – they take out Australian citizenship. It’s their insurance if it doesn’t work out back in Blighty. Xanax More addictive than cocaine, Xanax is the anti-anxiety drug in the medicine cabinet of millions of Australian homes. It was found in the bodies of Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Heath Ledger and Xanax is being prescribed here in greater and greater numbers by inexperienced doctors unaware of the drug’s dark side. After only a few weeks users are hooked – and if it doesn’t destroy their lives it can take a lifetime to be weaned off the drug. We meet two Australian Xanax users – their heart-breaking stories will shock. We also meet a mother on the east coast of America serving a prison sentence for killing a woman in her car while she was suffering Xanax withdrawal. Guest reporter on this powerful Sunday Night story is psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed, who continues to treat a number of patients with Xanax addiction and withdrawal. He is better known to millions of Aussies as the umpire from the “No Bingo!” game show. The Gambler “You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away, know when to run”. The lyrics you can’t help but sing out loud. A special treat on Sunday Night – the king of country music, Kenny Rogers, takes Alex Cullen on a tour of Nashville for his only Australian interview. At 74 years of age, he’s still packing in the crowds, and it’s made him a fortune – enough to pay a $60 million divorce settlement. But far from regretting the money lost, Kenny talks about happily handing over his riches to his ex-wife. And why, even after four failed marriages, he doesn’t believe in prenuptial agreements.