The Newsreader Season 3 review: a winning finale

It’s a sign of how confident The Newsreader has become that the first episode in its third and final season is focused almost entirely on its characters.

The show’s big hook – which it returns to in later episodes – is weaving news coverage of topical (for the 80s) events in with the personal struggles of its cast of reporters and producers. It’s been a winning balance of nostalgia and drama since the series became a breakout hit back in 2021; for now at least, drama has won out.

The year is 1989, and since we last saw them the journalistic careers of Helen Norville (Anna Torv) and Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) have taken them in very different directions. Helen is now a globe-trotting investigative journalist, skipping from one hotspot to another (the opening has her on the scene at the Lockerbie plane disaster). Dale is now the top news reader in the country, dominating the ratings and enjoying all the perks that come with it.

So everyone’s got what they always wanted and the next six episodes are just them living happily ever after? Well, if Dale’s booming newsreader voice isn’t a sign that he’s living a lie, him sitting alone in an empty studio pretty much seals the deal.

At the end of last season he managed to squash a rumour (well, more than a rumour) about his sexuality, and it’s clear that staying in the closet is hollowing him out.

Watch The Newsreader Season 3 trailer.

An awkward pre-Logies dinner between Helen and Dale (she’s presenting the Gold Logie, he’s a lock to win it despite a strong showing by Kylie Minogue) reminds them – and us – that there’s still something between them, despite their marriage now being firmly in the rear-view mirror. They’re both single, she’s moving back to Melbourne to front a late-night news show … let’s keep that flame flickering just a little longer.

As for the rest of the News at 6 team, the big news – which is not a reference to expansive executive producer Lindsay Cunningham (William McInnes) – is that producer Noelene (Michelle Lim Davidson), who’s now married to the knockabout face of network sport Rob (Stephen Peacocke), is very obviously pregnant. Television in 1989 is a warm and welcoming place for a woman who wants to balance motherhood and a career, right?

The sexism and racism and big money arrogance of commercial television in its prime is hammered home repeatedly yet again, but now there’s a bit of a twist. Our cast of characters have moved up in the world, and – for Helen and Dale at least – it’s time to reap the rewards. Can you keep on railing against the system when it’s offering you everything you’ve ever wanted?

They’ve also moved forward in time, and the late 80s provides less opportunity for crass outfits and garish décor than previous seasons. Presumably part of the reason why this is the final season is that otherwise they’d move into the 90s and everything would just look a bit shabby, but there’s still a few big shouldered outfits and bubble skirts around the place.

A large slice of the first episode is set during the Logies, which gives The Newsreader a prime opportunity to do what it does best: mix archive footage and nostalgia with character-based drama. While Bert Newton is on screen introducing Dave Allen and Bryan Brown is accepting an award, Lindsay is fending off icon Geoff Walter’s widow Evelyn (Marg Downey), who’s furious at the news that News at 6 refused to release any footage of her husband for the memorial reel.

Meanwhile Helen’s just been tipped off (by an entertainment reporter on the red carpet, no less) that her new show isn’t really a little late night effort, but a full frontal prime time attack on News at 6 and Dale Jennings. Which is going to make her presenting an award to Dale more than a little awkward.

Can their friendship survive going head-to-head in the cutthroat world of commercial news? And when one of them inevitably loses, how will they handle their fall from the top?

The Newsreader has always been an ensemble show (new cast members this season include Andrew McFarlane and Daniel Henshall), but Torv and Reid are the focus. As their characters have moved more firmly into the public eye and have become more guarded as a result, their performances have become more subdued; Torv at least gets a few moments to look worried or frantic, while Reid gives a masterclass in doing a lot with a little as Dale becomes – in public at least – basically an automaton with really good hair.

Future highlights this season include increasing tension between Dale and Lindsay, increasing tension between Rob and Noelene, increasing romantic tension between Dale and Geoff Walter’s ex-junkie daughter Kay (Phillipa Northeast), and the return of cameraman Tim (Chai Hansen), now in a committed relationship (and with some prime Tiananmen Square footage).

It’d be nice to think everyone lives happily ever after, but this is commercial television we’re talking about. Even Daryl Somers missed out on a Gold Logie occasionally.

The Newsreader Season 3 premieres on ABC TV on 2 February 2025 at 8:30pm. All episodes available to stream on ABC iview.

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