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Explore the latest developments concerning This ‘new’ SBS.

This ‘new’ SBS doco is great. But to one filmmaker, it’s oddly familiar

SBS’s series about conman John Friedrich is fascinating, but to Philippe Charluet, it looks a lot like a project he submitted to SBS years ago.

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The integrity of SBS’ commissioning process has been called into question by a veteran filmmaker who claims the documentary Australia’s Greatest Conman?, the first part of which airs on Tuesday, bears an uncanny resemblance to a project he submitted to the network on three separate occasions in the late 2000s.

Philippe Charluet, who has worked in the industry for more than 30 years, on Sunday went public with his assertion that the two-part program about John Friedrich, the former head of the National Safety Council of Australia, which went belly-up in 1989 owing around $300 million, bore striking similarities to a project his company repeatedly submitted to the broadcaster as it sought a pre-sale that would help secure finance to bring the project to fruition.

"It's pretty wild": Marc Fennell on the mystery of fraudster John Friedrich

SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands and waterways throughout Australia.

Marc Fennell investigates John Friedrich's possible motives in 'Australia’s Greatest Conman?' on SBS and SBS On Demand.

When Walkley Award-winning journalist and presenter Marc Fennell looks around for a head-spinning crime story, he’s usually focused on the bigger picture.

The Mission was hung on an art heist in which 26 works were stolen from a former orphanage. But the show was less about the crime, and more about the unimaginably dark history of that woe-begotten place.

His latest docuseries, the two-part Australia’s Greatest Conman, shares some of the bones of that story.

This ‘new’ SBS doco is great. But to one filmmaker, it’s oddly familiar

SBS’s series about conman John Friedrich is fascinating, but to Philippe Charluet, it looks a lot like a project he submitted to SBS years ago.

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.

The integrity of SBS’ commissioning process has been called into question by a veteran filmmaker who claims the documentary Australia’s Greatest Conman?, the first part of which airs on Tuesday, bears an uncanny resemblance to a project he submitted to the network on three separate occasions in the late 2000s.

Philippe Charluet, who has worked in the industry for more than 30 years, on Sunday went public with his assertion that the two-part program about John Friedrich, the former head of the National Safety Council of Australia, which went belly-up in 1989 owing around $300 million, bore striking similarities to a project his company repeatedly submitted to the broadcaster as it sought a pre-sale that would help secure finance to bring the project to fruition.

For more detailed information, explore updates concerning This ‘new’ SBS.

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