ABC

•

Channel • 8 Shows

History

History

Updated weekly
History

History

Updated 27/12/2025
History

History

Weekly series
Documentary

Documentary

Updated weekly
True Crime

True Crime

Series
Personal Journals

Personal Journals

Series
Science

Science

Updated twice weekly

4 days ago

A teenager’s party created Hip-Hop

It started with two turntables and a microphone and became a worldwide movement. Today, Hip hop is one of the biggest music genres in the world - and it all started at a teenager’s back to school party in the Bronx. Jeff Chang (hip hop journalist and author) tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the story of how one girl’s party to raise money for new clothes led to a musical and cultural revolution. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au

4 days ago

•

26 min
12 Apr

Ancient Greek built a steam engine for dinner parties

Long before steam trains, before factories, before the Industrial Revolution, someone figured out how to turn steam into motion. And he did it almost two thousand years ago in Ancient Alexandria, and the device he built wasn’t meant to power anything. It was a toy. A party trick. Dr Tatiana Bur, Lecturer in Classics at the Australian National University, tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the story of how one man’s spinning little gadget went on to power the modern world. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au

12 Apr

•

26 min
26 Apr

The telegram that caught a killer

When he got on the train to London, he thought he got away with it. He thought he got away with murder. But little did he know that something was racing alongside the train, pulsing deep underground, that would change his life forever. Writer and cultural historian Kassia St Clair tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) how a horrific crime changed the way people living in the 1800s viewed the telegraph machine. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au

26 Apr

•

26 min
3 May

The Met Gala began in a dead woman’s closet

The Met Gala’s 2026 theme is Costume Art. But rewind almost 100 years ago, and the fight was to get costumes to be called art at all. And if a handful of very determined women hadn’t pushed to change that, the Met Gala probably doesn’t exist. Dr. Elizabeth Lundén is a Kluge Research Fellow at the Library of Congress and she sits down with host Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) to unpack the sliding doors story behind the biggest night in fashion. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au

3 May

•

26 min
19 Apr

Clogged sink doomed a space mission

It’s 1926 and two men are working in a lab trying to create antifreeze. Instead, they make a thick, black goo that stinks out the lab and blocks the sink. ABC Science reporter Fiona Pepper tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) about how this black gunk would go on to be used in cars, rockets and spaceships. And ultimately, would be responsible for one of the deadliest space missions in history. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au

19 Apr

•

26 min
10 May

Beware gifts from Soviet spies

After the Second World War, relations between America, Britain and the Soviets were frosty and as the Cold War rivalry intensified, they were watching each other with intense side-eye. And it turns out, listening as well. Matt Bevan (If You’re Listening) tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the story of how a gift from the Soviets to the Americans was used as a trojan horse to listen in on conversations, and it was made by a man whose name is now famous but for a very different reason. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au

10 May

•
5 Apr

She gave her son smallpox. Her bet paid off.

It was one of the deadliest diseases known to humankind. And just 50 years ago it was officially eradicated. But there’s someone missing from the story of smallpox. A woman whose work was mocked. Who was branded a bad mother. And who helped bring inoculation to the West. Author Jo Willett tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) about how an 18th-century noblewoman ignited a moral panic, split the scientific establishment and helped spark a medical revolution. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au

5 Apr

•

26 min
01/08/2023

The Girl Called Pocahontas

How do you uncover the true life of a woman whose existence is wrapped in myth, propaganda and a famous animated children’s movie? This is the true story of Matoaka - a young Powhatan girl who you probably know as Pocahontas. This is the mystery of a child, a hidden history and a stolen story. Audio courtesy of Missing Matoaka. This podcast is a co-production of ABC Australia and CBC Podcasts

01/08/2023

•

34 min
15/12/2024

INTRODUCING — The Weather That Changed Us

Australia is a wild continent with some of the most intense weather on the planet. From massive bushfires to severe cyclones and devastating flooding; extreme weather is becoming part of our everyday lives. How do we take what we’ve learned from our past to better prepare and adapt for our future?

15/12/2024

•

4 min
22 Feb

The mafia bar riot that sparked gay pride

28 June 1969 was a regular Saturday night at the Stonewall Inn. Until it wasn’t. “The bar lights blinked on and off. I'd never seen that happen before so I asked my friend what's going on, and my friend said, oh, just another raid. Well, it turned out not to be just the kind of raid that they were used to.” While Mark Segal had spent many nights at the unlicensed gay bar, none were like the one that started the Stonewall Riots. The veteran activist and journalist, one of the last living eyewitnesses to the Stonewall uprising, tells host Marc Fennell (Stuff the British Stole) about what really happened that night and how it sparked the first Pride march and launched the gay rights movement not just in America but around the world. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au This episode was first published in September 2025

22 Feb

•

26 min

The ABC's most bingeworthy podcasts.