Some stories stay with Leigh Sales, with the journalist admitting a recent moment affected her so deeply, she had to step away. It was a particularly moving episode of the ABC‘s Australian Story about elderly Perth mother Deirdre Croft and her intellectually disabled 45-year-old son, Richard Rook. In the episode, Deidre wondered what will happen to her son when she dies.
“I had to go home from work because I was crying so hard at my desk and I just could not get it together,” Leigh, 52, tells TV WEEK.
Deidre had allowed a documentary maker to periodically film her life with Richard since he was quite young.
“Oh my God, she was just the most gorgeous woman and (the episode) was just so affecting,” she says. “Sometimes there’ll be something like (on Australian Story) that that’s just so touching.”
Another episode, this time from 2023, which sticks with Leigh featured actress Claudia Karvan talking about supportive relationship with brother, Rupert, who lives with schizophrenia.
“I found it deeply touching and affecting the way she interacts with him and her acceptance of him,” Leigh says.
Bump star Claudia is one of the guests on this week’s special episode, Australian Story Live: Celebrating 30 Years. Leigh, who has presented Australian Story since 2023, says the idea behind the special was to “connect” viewers with some of the inspiring people who have featured on the show.
The episode was filmed at the Sydney Opera House this month and includes Olympic champion Michael Klim, First Nations community leader Mechelle Turvey, maths teacher Eddie Woo, graziers Gayle and Mac Shann and Australian Story’s founding executive producer Deborah Fleming.
Ever-popular Tim Minchin and Alex ‘Amazing’ Lloyd perform, and singer and conductor Astrid Jorgensen leads a rousing Pub Choir singalong.
The genesis of the special was an episode last year where Leigh says they “tested the waters” with a live episode filmed in Melbourne featuring tennis commentator and former player Jelena Dokic, which discussed her traumatic upbringing.
Over its 30-year history, Australian Story has won eight TV WEEK Logie Awards and this year picked up its fourth consecutive trophy for Best Current Affairs Program.
Famous people who have appeared on the show over the years include Kerry Packer (who appeared with his helicopter pilot and kidney donor, Nick Ross), Wendy Harmer, Hazel Hawke and more recently, rocker Nick Cave, who Leigh interviewed in 2024.
And some episodes are “massively entertaining” for their own reasons. Like last year’s story about Valerie, the sausage dog, who went missing on Kangaroo Island.
“One of the producers went back to Kangaroo Island and interviewed everyone and tried to piece together what had actually occurred,” Leigh says. “She had Valerie and the owners and (the episode) just really made me laugh.”
The secret to the show’s success, Leigh believes, is its universal appeal. Whether or not the people on the show are famous or not, the show highlights that “we all have the same core struggles as humans”.
“There’s suffering, there’s grief, there’s joy, there’s renewal, there’s adaptation, and these are things that bond us together,” she says. “And so, I think overall that the show can feel quite encouraging if you can watch somebody’s life and you go, ‘Wow, that’s amazing what humans are able to actually cope with and do.’”
Away from Australian Story, Leigh guides autistic journalism students through interviews with stars on The Assembly. Recently, Leigh has been reflecting with students on the 2024 episode which featured actor Sam Neill, who sadly passed away this year.
“He was just really open and warm (with the students),” Leigh says of Sam. “Many people have come up to me in public to talk about Sam Neill since he died because of that. I think a lot of people went back to watch it just to spend a bit of time with Sam.”
Australian Story Live: Celebrating 30 Years airs Monday, 8pm on ABC and iview.
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