Veteran television journalist, presenter and producer Mike Willesee is profiled in next Monday’s edition of Australian Story.

In the first of a two-part episode titled Behind The Mask, Australian Story looks back at the 50 year career of the first of a generation of Willesees to grace our screens as he faces his greatest challenge — a diagnosis of throat cancer

Willesee’s television career began at ABC as a reporter for This Day Tonight and then Four Corners.

In 1971 he made the move to commercial television to launch the original A Current Affair for the Nine Network.

He went on to work for all three commercial networks in the decades that followed, with credits including This Is Your Life and current affairs and interview shows all bearing his name plus numerous documentaries.  He twice hosted the TV Week Logie Awards and was inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards Hall of Fame in 2002.

The second instalment looks at Willesee’s later broadening of his business interests, the near-death experience that led him back to the Catholic faith, his return to television and his recent battle with cancer.

Australian Story. Monday 6 November, 8.00pm. ABC

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