Screen Australia and 9Network announce Missing Persons Investigation

One Australian goes missing every fifteen minutes.

For the first time on television, viewers will go behind-the-scenes to join police and investigators across Australia to find our missing loved ones and bring them home in Channel 9’s powerful new series Missing Persons Investigation, with major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screen Queensland.

Some of these cases will end in heartbreak, others in the joy of finding a missing loved one.

In a broadcast first, this documentary will also take viewers inside Australian Federal Police’s ambitious world-first forensics laboratory in Canberra, where the National DNA Program for Unidentified and Missing Persons is underway. It will feature investigators including world-renowned forensic specialist Dr Jodie Ward, who is now helping to solve cold cases that have remained mysteries, until now.

The result is powerful never-before-seen storytelling on Australian television. Missing Persons Investigation is a potent and timely reminder of how our loved ones can vanish in the blink of an eye.

Screen Australia’s Head of Documentary Alex West said, “This bold documentary will explore the complex and harrowing events surrounding missing persons, and the lives of those impacted. Screen Australia is proud to support the experienced team at Southern Pictures together with Orange Entertainment Co bring these important stories to audiences on the 9Network next year.”

Executive Producer Laurie Critchley said, “We’re excited to be working on this landmark production for the 9Network that will give audiences new insight and understanding of what it means to be Missing, and the important work of police around the country in helping families find their loved ones.”

Screen Queensland Chief Creative Officer Jo Dillon said, “Orange Entertainment Co is a Queensland screen business forging ahead with a slate of intriguing, diverse, Australian screen stories with strong audience appeal. Together with Screen Australia, Screen Queensland also supported their Network 10 commission Lindy Chamberlain: The True Story as well as Retrograde for the ABC, so it’s fantastic to be backing this exciting Brisbane-based company on their latest project for 9Network via our Screen Finance Program.”

Missing Persons Investigation is a Southern Pictures production in association with Orange Entertainment Co for the 9Network with major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screen Queensland.

/Public Release. View in full here.