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Inside Foxtel Group’s Most Ambitious Era of Unscripted Originals Yet
- tymyee9
- Sep 12
- 7 min read
Howard Myers-Rifai on bank robbers, Bake Off and surviving the end of the world
Howard Myers-Rifai has always chased stories with ambition. From directing music videos across the globe to bringing The Golden Girls format to Russia, launching his own production company, and now as Foxtel Group’s Head of Unscripted Originals, his career has been defined by reinvention, risk and a refusal to think small. Our 2026 Upfront unveiled our most ambitious upcoming slate of unscripted productions yet, with Apocalypse and The Postcard Bandit joining returning audience favourites.
“Apocalypse is the biggest original production across any genre we’ve ever done in the history of Foxtel Group, which I’m really proud of,” Howard explains. “We call it a reality show, but it’s really a social experiment, and ultimately, it’s a hopeful one: if this group of ordinary people can survive and work together, there’s hope for all of us.
“At the same time, The Postcard Bandit is a first for us, pairing a scripted drama with a companion documentary about the story of Brenden Abbott, Australia’s most notorious bank robber. Together they show the scale and ambition of what we’re doing in unscripted right now.”
A career defined by reinvention and ambition
Reinvention and ambition have been the hallmarks of Howard’s career. Born in the UK, Howard cut his teeth in the industry as an Editor, cutting together promos and trailers for movies – meticulous work that taught him how to hold an audience in just a few seconds of screen time – and then music videos, a passion of his.
“From there, I moved into directing music videos across the world for lots of bands and artists, many of whom most people have never heard of again,” Howard laughs. “But it was a really enlightening part of my career. I got to play with lots of high-end equipment and do some really crazy creative things.”
That drive to do something big led Howard towards working on longer form series for Disney, where he worked his way up to become Director of Production for the UK and Europe, and then to overseeing all ABC US formats internationally.
“Basically any format that was owned by ABC, both scripted and unscripted, I looked after outside North America. One day I’d be working on The Amazing Race in Australia, the next it could be Golden Girls in Russia or Extreme Makeover in Lebanon.
"It was a really creative environment to work in.”
After nearly nine years at Disney, Howard made his next pivot.
“I got an offer to start up my own production company based in London, with funding from the US.
"I ran that for six successful years – we made shows all over the world, often in multiple languages, such as Don’t Tell the Bride in Poland, and an adventure reality series in Jordan.”
A move to Australia found Howard working on a project with Donna Hay for Foxtel, which led to him being asked to join the company full-time – first as a Senior Executive Producer, then Commissioning Editor, and now as Head of Unscripted Originals where he describes himself as leading “a very broad church” of unscripted productions.
“In the last financial year we delivered 12 different shows. It’s everything from Real Housewives of Sydney to lifestyle shows like Selling Houses Australia and Love It or List It, to premium brand-funded titles like Luxury Escapes."
“We’re a lean team, with Jackie Saddington, who’s absolutely amazing, as our Executive Producer, we work closely with Foxtel Group’s production management department led by the brilliant Chris Hearn, as well. So we cover a lot of ground.”
An upcoming year of firsts for Foxtel Group
The biggest new project on Howard’s slate is Apocalypse. Apart from being Foxtel Group’s biggest original production of all time, it’s our first unscripted series that has been co-commissioned with an international network – Channel 4 in the UK.
“It’s inspired by post-apocalyptic dramas like The Last of Us and The Walking Dead, but without the zombies,” Howard explains. “The series asks: what would you do if disaster happened on an apocalyptic scale?”
“A mix of Australians and Brits are dropped into this very real, epic-scale, abandoned city with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Unlike Alone-style shows where everyone is trained in survival skills, most of our cast are simply ordinary people just like whoever might be around you right now, in your apartment block or the supermarket, when disaster hits.
“That’s what’s exciting – very different personalities and skills. I’m a pretty good handyman, so I might knock up a shelter, but my neighbour downstairs? Who knows?
“How do people get on, what hierarchies form? That’s part of the social experiment.
“The great thing is people’s skills emerge in this environment – soft skills that help when people are struggling, or hard skills like hot-wiring a car or finding ingenious ways to purify water,” he says.
The scale of Apocalypse is also one of the things that Howard is most excited about.
“It’s impossible to destroy a city and use it as a set, so the producers, who are amazing, have found a secret location that is used for all kinds of training purposes.
“I can’t tell you where it is in the world because we’re trying to keep it a secret from the people who are actually going to go in. All they know is they’re going to be dropped into a post-apocalyptic city environment.
"The location is very real, very rundown, and it’s the size of Centennial Park [approximately 189 hectares] – so you can imagine the playground that we have to work in.
“It’s as if this apocalyptic event happened right now. You need heat, light and shelter. Necessity is the mother of Invention, so everyone will need to scavenge, repurpose and ‘Macgyver’ what they find in the ruins.
"They’ll experience highs and lows in their success or failure – driving story and group dynamics. This will be real, relatable, entertaining and totally compelling.
“There’s no prize – just bragging rights.
“For viewers, the pull is watching the dynamics and projecting yourself into it: what would I do?”
Another first for Foxtel Group this year is The Postcard Bandit, a documentary companion to the scripted drama Run, which tells the story of Brenden Abbott, Australia’s most notorious bank robber.
“For the first time ever we’ve commissioned both scripted and unscripted series on the same subject at the same time,” Howard explains. “The drama follows a five-year period of his life, while the documentary tells the whole story, up to the present day.
A Ned Kelly like figure, Brenden Abbott’s story is absolutely gripping and both The Postcard Bandit and Run are set to tap into the world’s growing appetite for Australian true crime.
“He escaped maximum security prison twice. He’s somewhat of a criminal genius, hugely charming, and that’s how he got away with most of it,” Howard says.
“Brenden is currently in prison, going through appeals to be released – he’s the longest-serving prisoner in Australia not convicted of murder.
“But it’s not just his story – we’re following the lives of the people he’s impacted too.
"His loved ones, the police who chased him, the bank tellers he threatened. It’s a rounded story that gives depth and colour to the drama.”
Beloved returning audience favourites
Howard is equally focused on the shows audiences already love that are returning.
“Selling Houses Australia is in production and will return next year. We’re on air with The Great Australian Bake Off season eight, and we’re currently filming season nine. Luxury Escapes is on air with season three, and we’ve elevated the production into something truly premium this year. Love It or List It is in production for season six.
“Inside Selling Houses is coming back as well – we did a one-off earlier this year called New Beginnings, and it was hugely successful,” Howard explains. “We’ve commissioned another six episodes where Wendy, Dennis and Andrew revisit some of the most popular stories from the past few seasons.
“And we’ve got Last Year of Television with Mitch McTaggart returning at the end of the year. Mitch is funny, acerbic and very clever. It’s always a highlight.”
These formats succeed, Howard believes, because they strike the right balance of comfort and surprise.
“With shows like Love It or List It and Selling Houses we tweak the format slightly, but the real freshness comes from the contributors. The format is the warm hug; the surprise is the people, the houses, the dilemmas and how they’re solved.
“With Bake Off it’s the contestants and the bakes – the inspiration, the fails and triumphs, and who’s going to win.”
For him, The Great Australian Bake Off is a personal favourite.
“The Bake Off set is my happy place. I have to spend six months of the year dieting to go back into filming... there’s just so many sweet treats.”
What excites him most are those big, ambitious swings.
“I couldn’t be more passionate about Apocalypse. I did a much shorter elevator pitch – literally in all of our elevators - to anyone who’d listen, and had great support from Hilary Perchard, CEO of Foxtel, Kayo, and BINGE, and Wendy Moore, Executive Director of Entertainment Content and Channels, after they heard it.
“I’m planning to go to the location myself for a couple of weeks – not surviving as much as our contributors – but I want to experience it. It’s different, massive in scale, and exactly the kind of show I love to watch.”
Howard’s advice for others looking to build a career in unscripted entertainment is simple but powerful.
“Watch as much as you can, be passionate about what you love, and don’t be afraid to be different.”
Read more about our upcoming entertainment slate, Apocalypse, and The Postcard Bandit.
