Shhh. I have a secret.

But in the interests of sharing the Couch Potato lurve, I feel compelled to share.

Don't tell anyone, but I've stumbled across the best timeslot in Australian television. And I’ve got dear old Aunty to thank.

Every night of the week, our beloved national broadcaster ensures television magic happens at precisely 6.30pm.

Let us peruse the evidence.

MONDAY: Talking Heads with Peter Thompson. Sure Andrew Denton, Kerry O’Brien and Tony Jones may be the ABC’s triumviratic powerhouses of the interview, but this man Thompson shouldn’t be forgotten.

Every week, in 30 revelatory minutes, he de-layers his onion guests, the likes of which have included Jimmy Barnes, Collette Dinnigan, Geraldine Cox and Scott Hicks.

TUESDAY: Time Team. This archaelogical dig series is worth watching, if only to marvel at how normal Tony Robinson is out of the shabby get-up he wore as Baldrick in the hilarious Black Adder series.

It’s almost as bubble-burstingly freaky as seeing Andrew Sachs, who played that nong of a Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers, as himself and realising he’s just a regular old Pom. Che?

But Time Team is fascinating, especially when whole cities, royal palaces and roads are reconstructed from the centuries-old earth below.

WEDNESDAY: The Cook and the Chef. To an ex-South Aussie like myself, Maggie Beer is as revered and worshipped as a cold stubbie of Cooper’s Pale Ale, a Balfour’s frog cake, a Vili’s pie or a Hindley Street kebab.

Yes, she is pure, heritage-listed, South Australian royalty and here she is in her very own show, filmed in her delightful Barossa home.

So what if she smothers everything in lard? So what if she triple-fries green beans in double cream, relegating their nutritional value to minus figures?

And so what if she takes perfectly lean cuts of meat and stews them, confit-style, in litres of duck fat? She’s an icon.

And her offsider – the chef of the title, Simon Bryant – is an intense and amusing little elf, the sour balancing Maggie’s sweet in the kitchen.

THURSDAY: Grand Designs Abroad. This gem – honestly one of the best shows on television right now – flits quietly on and off the schedule every now and then with none of the fanfare ABC marketing should be heaping upon it.

Hosted by arguably one of Britain’s sexiest men, Kevin McCloud, Grand Designs tells the story of a couple building a house. Sounds boring, right?

Well, these people are a fabulously rich and diverse bunch; the spectacular houses are breath-taking and the building process is almost always a budget-blowing disaster.

What a journey you go on with these people as they deal with temperamental weather, tradespeople, planning authorities, locals and each other. And what a sense of achievement, and of relief, when you witness the finished product, remembering the blood and tears spilt on this cornice or that chimney tile.

FRIDAY: Can We Help. Low-budget, quirky and interesting, here we see Kath & Kim's Bretty being very courteous indeed.

Peter Rowsthorn, as his normal self here just like Baldrick and Manuel, hosts this show that is driven by audience queries ranging from lost family members, to word meanings or how a desalination plant works.

It’s a bizarre little show with, I’m sure, a loyal following of about 26 people. But if you’re looking to test that old saying that you learn something new every day, tune in.

SATURDAY: Gardening Australia. Sick of seeing the same “funniest” home videos on a Saturday evening, switch channels ABC-wards – laughs are guaranteed as soon as you hear host Peter Cundall speak (or, for some of you, as soon as you hear his surname).

I’m no gardening guru, but I feel like one after watching this show: fertiliser for the green section of your brain.

SUNDAY: The Einstein Factor. Like Can We Help, The Einstein Factor is all quirk, especially when it comes to the contestants’ utterly random, special areas of knowledge (as an example – and these are serious: the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ghostbusters movies, Batman comics, Austin 7 cars, Melbourne metro trains network 1972 – present, human immunology and figure skating in the 1990s).

Host Peter Berner is likeable and The Brains Trust panel of experts normally features someone interesting and/or funny.

All proof that the ABC is A Bloody Champion at churning out television gold for 30 glorious minutes every night of the week. Bravo!

- REBECCA MARSHALL