As promotion for the feature film Oddball ramps up ahead of its premier on September 13, The Seven Network’s Sunday Night will feature a story about the Middle Island project which was a catalyst for the movie. 

A five-part documentary series will also begin on Foxtel’s National Geographic channel from Sunday. 

Sunday Night reporter Denham Hitchcock said he found the story fascinating and hoped it would capture the imagination of the country. 

“It’s a story that Warrnambool people have known for a long time, but for me who had never heard it before it was incredible,” Hitchcock said. 

“You’ve got this hidden island, with its penguin colony decimated from 1000 to just four by foxes, despite the best efforts of everyone.

“Then there is this ingenious idea to put nature’s bouncers in the Maremmas out there and now the population is rebounding, it’s an unbelievable story.”

Hitchcock said he got the full experience while working on the story, spending time with farmer Swampy Marsh who is credited with helping to develop the guard dog project. 

“It’s not a surprise this story has been made into a feature film, it has everything, characters like Swampy, the villain in the foxes and the heroes in the Maremmas,” he said. 

The Sunday Night story also features aerial footage shot using drones by company Aerial Vision Services, headed by Warrnambool man Larry Lawson. 

The five-part National Geographic Channel series, Oddball: The Nature of a Movie begins on Sunday and run nightly until Thursday.

The hour-long episodes also tell the story of the Middle Island project and feature interviews with people from across the city involved in the project. 

Oddball will premier at Warrnambool’s Capitol Cinema on September 13 with a general release on September 17.

Sunday Night airs on Prime7 from 7pm Sunday and Oddball:The Nature of a Movie begins on Sunday on Foxtel’s National Geographic from 7.30pm.