Australian Story: Sami Shah & Kylie Moore-Gilbert (ABC TV Monday 23 October 2023)

Australian Story: Sami Shah & Kylie Moore-Gilbert airs Monday 23 October 2023 on ABC TV

What can we expect from this episode

Sami Shah, a broadcaster and comedian, met Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an academic he met through a dating app, and his joke about her being a spy fell flat.

A week later, he saw her picture in the paper and realised she was the Australian professor who had just been released from an Iranian prison after serving 804 days there. ​

Both Shah and Moore-Gilbert were putting the pieces of their lives back together when they crossed paths. He had recently been through the breakdown of his second marriage, which occurred only a few months after the wedding, and the loss of his job as an ABC Melbourne radio host. She had just gotten out of prison and was still processing the news that her husband had left her for a coworker. ​

The long Covid lockdown in Melbourne brought Shah and Moore-Gilbert together after only a few dates.

“I had spent so much time alone in prison I didn’t want to be alone again,” Moore-Gilbert tells Australian Story. “And in a way we healed each other.” ​

Shah’s 14-year-old daughter, Anya, had lost faith in her father’s ability to judge women and both had to regain her trust. ​

However, romance developed, and the happy couple recently welcomed a baby girl. Shah, who has been divorced twice before, finally has the chance to have a second child. And this is the child Moore-Gilbert had given up hope of having after being locked up for ten years. ​

“For a long time, Kylie Moore-Gilbert was this academic who goes to Iran, ends up in jail for two years, comes back and then ends up lonely, which is a tragic story,” Shah tells Australian Story. “Except I know the other story, which is that she and I went on a date and she’s my Kylie. And that’s a very different experience.” ​

These are the stories of who we are. Australian Story presents unique tales that provide an insight into Australian life with all its complexities and challenges.

Season 28 Episode 27

When can we see the episode

Australian Story: Sami Shah & Kylie Moore-Gilbert airs Monday 23 October 2023 at 20:00 on ABC TV

Featured image credit: ABC TV