Australian actor Ben Lawson has been cast in the television remake of the Bill Murray film What About Bob? The updated series, titled What About Barb?, follows a female doctor Dr Suzanne Marvin (Leah Remini) who is trying to cut off her most difficult patient, Barb (Jessica Gunning). In the original film Murray played Bob, the patient, who followed his doctor (played by Richard Dreyfuss) on holiday. Lawson, whose credits include Secrets & Lies, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 and guest shots in Modern Family and the US remake of Rake, will play Suzanne's fiance, a footballer-turned-house husband. The project is being produced by ABC Studios for the US network NBC.

Macdonald stays

Geoff Paine returns to Neighbours. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

Award-winning television journalist Hamish Macdonald, whose report on the booming Amazon ayahuasca plant industry aired on Foreign Correspondent last week will remain with the ABC current affairs program for the remainder of the year. The ABC has confirmed Macdonald will report for the series for its 2017 season. Macdonald was formerly the international affairs correspondent for the US network ABC. He previously served as a foreign correspondent for Ten, host of Ten's Late News and host of the current affairs program The Truth Is. In 2008 Macdonald, while reporting for Al-Jazeera, won the British Royal Television Society's young journalist of the year award.

Casting twist