| The Assembly | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary television |
| Based on | Les Rencontres du Papotin by Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache |
| Directed by | Melissa Maclean |
| Presented by | Leigh Sales |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Mark Fennessy |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company | Helium Pictures |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC TV |
| Release | 20 August 2024 – present |
The Assembly is an Australian television documentary series on ABC TV, which premiered on 20 August 2024.
Hosted and mentored by Leigh Sales, [1] the documentary series focuses on a group of 15 autistic journalism students and lecturers at Macquarie University [2] as they prepare for and eventually interview some of Australia's best-known personalities. [3] The students have been given paid internship at the ABC. [4] The series' format is based on French series Les Rencontres du Papotin , created by Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache. [1]
The seven-part series is produced by Mark Fennessy's Helium Pictures for the ABC, [5] with production beginning in May. Fennessy also executive produces the Australian version alongside director Melissa Maclean, Therese Hegarty, [1] Vanessa Oxlad and Julie Hanna. [6]
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | |||
| 1 | 7 | 20 August 2024 [6] | 30 September 2024 [7] | |
| 2 | 6 | 21 September 2025 [8] | ||
| No. overall | No. in season | Interviewee Title | Original release date | Aus. viewers (national) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sam Neill [9] | 20 August 2024 | 577,000 [10] |
| 2 | 2 | Hamish Blake [11] | 27 August 2024 | 486,000 [12] |
| 3 | 3 | Anthony Albanese [13] | 3 September 2024 | 435,000 [14] |
| 4 | 4 | Delta Goodrem [15] | 10 September 2024 | 415,000 [16] |
| 5 | 5 | Adam Goodes [17] | 17 September 2024 | 415,000 [18] |
| 6 | 6 | Amanda Keller [19] | 24 September 2024 | 381,000 [20] |
| 7 | 7 | Becoming the Assembly [7] | 30 September 2024 | 298,000 [21] |
| No. overall | No. in season | Interviewee Title | Original release date | Aus. viewers (national) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 1 | Richard Roxburgh | 21 September 2025 | 543,000 [22] |
| 9 | 2 | Guy Sebastian | 28 September 2025 | TBD |
This season’s interviews include Maggie Beer, Ray Martin, Julia Morris and Steve Waugh. [23]
The first episode of The Assembly received an overnight average audience of 577,000 viewers, [24] alongside a national audience reach of 859,000 viewers. [10]
David Knox of TV Tonight gave the series four out of five stars. [13] Debi Enker of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote about the series' tone, "The tone of The Assembly, like other ABC factual productions, is warm. ... So in addition to being a worthwhile and engaging undertaking, it represents a breath of fresh air in terms of TV interviews, particularly those featuring politicians, but not confined to them. [25] The show has also been criticised as being inspiration porn, with further criticism over the fact that the journalism students, initially, were not to be paid. [26] [ undue weight? – discuss ]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | TV Week Logies | Best Factual or Documentary Program | The Assembly | Nominated |