Can We Help


Can We Help
CAN WE HELP?

Friday, 12 October 2007 - 06:30PM

Thirty-eight years ago, Phyllis Roycroft, a young single Irish woman, took the bold step of immigrating to Australia on an assisted passage. Shortly after arriving she fell pregnant. From a strict Irish Catholic upbringing, with no job and no support, Phyllis made the heartbreaking decision to give up her son. She later returned to Ireland, often wondering about her little boy. When her parents passed away, Phyllis began her search for him, including listing on Oz Reunion on the web. Through the website, Phyllis was able to find her son. Now Can We Help? assists Phyllis with the final piece of the puzzle - flying her from Ireland to Australia for an emotional meeting with her son.

Robin Napper takes a look back at a moment in time when the people of Perth breathed a collective sigh of relief as notorious serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke was apprehended. Robin finds out how the police actually caught the "Nedlands Monster".

Allan Pease is an internationally recognised expert in the subtleties of body language, so the team put him to the test with such questions as - is folding your arms on your chest a sign that you are trying to hide something? What's the best way to express confidence in a job interview? And why do some people wave their arms around wildly when they talk?

Linguist Kate Burridge aims to make us word wise as she explains why we wash "up" and not "down", and clarifies the correct pronunciation of the word "mischievous".

Have you ever wondered which animal at the zoo would cost the most to feed? Pete Rowsthorn visits the Melbourne Zoo, where there are over 2500 mouths to feed, to find out.

Verity James, Robin Napper and Kate Burridge solve some of life's little mysteries including - is sweating a good way to get rid of toxins in the body? Is it true you can catch a criminal with their footprint? And what are some of the words created by Shakespeare for use in his plays?

PRODUCTION DETAILS:
Can We Help? is produced by ABC TV Perth. Supervising Executive Producer: Margot Phillipson. Executive Producer: Daniel Brown.

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