Extra (Australian TV series)

Extra
Final Extra and Weekend Extra Logo before axing
Also known as	'Brisbane Extra'
Genre	Public Affairs
Presented by	Heather Foord (2009)
Country of origin	English
Original language(s)	Australia
No. of seasons	18
No. of episodes	4540 (approx)
Production
Location(s)	QTQ, Brisbane, Australia
Running time	23 minutes
Release
Original network	Nine Network
Picture format	576i (SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	9 February 1991 – 26 June 2009
Chronology
Related shows	A Current Affair

Extra (originally Brisbane Extra) was a nightly tabloid local current affairs programme, broadcast on Nine Network Queensland. Heather Foord was the last host of the program. A weekend version also aired on a Saturday afternoon named Weekend Extra hosted by Melissa Downes.

Presenter Jillian Whiting returned from maternity leave. However, during her time away, various television, radio, and media celebrities from around Queensland and Australia had been asked to step into the hosting role for a week each. After this trial was finished, both Melissa Downes and Miranda Deakin, presented the remaining few weeks and over the summer break. The official word from the Nine Network was that Jillian Whiting would return to Extra and her former role as presenter of the Gold Coast's National Nine News, from the very first program in 2008, however this was delayed by two weeks.

On 9 February 1991, Brisbane Extra launched alongside other sister productions in capital cities around the country. A Current Affair reporter, Rick Burnett, made his debut as host, with ex-ABC personality Doug Murray and a team of young reporters. One year later, the sister programs were axed, but the Brisbane program proved so popular with its local audience, it continued, changing its name to simply Extra.

Since then, Extra has been an important part of south-east Queensland airing both informative and entertaining stories, covering community issues, consumer affairs and telling viewers about interesting people and things happening in their town. During its history, Extra’s turned plenty of ordinary people’s ideas and hobbies into successful businesses.

In 2000, Extra celebrated its 2000th episode with a free family fun day at South Bank including a special performance by Hi-5. And celebrated its 3000th episode in 2004 by giving viewers 3000 presents every day for a week.