Changes ... Collectors hosts Adrian Franklin, Claudia Chan-Shaw and Gordon Brown. Host Andy Muirhead, adored for his gentle humour and boyish enthusiasm, was charged by the Australian Federal Police for allegedly using the internet to access child pornography. He has been granted bail to appear in Hobart Magistrates Court on August 2. The ABC was quick to act. Some say too quickly. Barrister Greg Barns used the ABC's analytical website, The Drum, to criticise the national broadcaster for immediately pulling the show, taking Muirhead off its Tasmanian local radio breakfast program and removing all trace of him from its content website. By making Muirhead "swiftly disappear", Barns wrote, the national broadcaster was denying its employee the presumption of innocence. The ABC's head of factual television, Jennifer Collins, who has just returned from the broadcaster's Hobart studios, where editors have been working around the clock to "rebuild" the show for its relaunch on July 9, insists the ABC simply obliged Muirhead's own requests in whisking him off air and internet. She has not spoken to Muirhead since she received the news.

Andy Muirhead. "All I can say is that Andy, through his manager, requested that he take personal leave [without pay] and, as a result, we accepted that and have moved on to reshape the show," Collins said. "As soon as we got that request we had to respond. We immediately had to start thinking about how we could deliver the series to our audience and that's what we've been concentrating on. The website mirrors the show and the website will go live the week that the show goes back." While the ABC's official statement, released on June 11, contains the words "pending the outcome of the legal proceedings", in reference to Muirhead's suspension, Collins says there is no plan to reinstate him as the show's host, should he be found not guilty. "There are a lot of legal issues. I really can't discuss Andy's case at the moment. I'm not going to speculate on what happens."

So far, Muirhead has not been replaced. Rather, the new incarnation of Collectors is a "three-hander", with existing panellists Gordon Brown, Claudia Chan-Shaw and Adrian Franklin sharing hosting duties. "It's very much a team effort and it was our best option, really," says Collins, who is not ruling out the possibility of a single host in the future. "I think it's going to evolve. At the moment it's working really well. Claudia does open the show every week and the boys jump in very quickly, as they do. The three of them have got so much to offer from their different areas of expertise, so actually, the new format has worked very smoothly for us." Any concerns that the success of Collectors, now in its sixth season, hinged on the affability of its host, were put to rest by the onslaught of phone calls and emails the ABC received from viewers desperate for its swift return. "The message from viewers is really clear, 'We just want to see it back … we want it back on a Friday night at 8pm,'" Collins said. "They are a very loyal audience and we're very happy with that, so we've done what we can to turn it around as quickly as possible."

The cutting and pasting of weeks' worth of pre-recorded episodes began just days after Muirhead's departure. Despite the tight deadline, Collins says no collector's story was entirely lost. Production has already begun on post-Muirhead episodes. The "look and feel" of the show, from the opening credits (obviously sans the cartoon image of Muirhead) to the familiar, garishly colourful set, will remain unchanged. Loading The return episode features a collection of gas masks, some contemporary Chinese art, 18th-century glass and some of the world's rarest Volkswagens. "We've been able to reshape a lot of our stories," Collins said. "We've managed to pull it all together and we've mixed it up a bit. We've had to rebuild the format but the heart of the show is the same. And for me, the heart of the show is the collectors. They might have a collection that, initially, I might not be that interested in. Then they start talking about it and sharing that passion and why they're compelled to collect, about the thrill of the chase and what it means to them to have the collection, and then all of a sudden I'm really interested in this collection. It's most often the stories behind the objects that draw you in. That's what the show is about." Collectors returns tomorrow at 8pm on ABC1.