Stuff -  Our Stuff

From the cradle to the grave, Stuff examines the abiding passion all of us have for stuff - the stuff we buy, the stuff we treasure, the stuff we desire and the stuff that's most important to us.

Wendy Harmer - a pioneer of Australian comedy and world-class accumulator - presents this four-part series that takes us from a baby shower to a retirement home; from a school yard to a prison. She asks everyone she meets: Why do you love your stuff so much? What does it mean to you? What's the best stuff of all?

Present day Australian society is one of the most asset-rich in human history. The modern mantra is that we now have 'too much stuff' and that 'stuff doesn't make us happy', and yet we all have objects which are precious to us. Objects can hold memories, inspire through the ages and, when offered as gifts, bind us to one another. Yet all too often the piles of 'stuff' we own seem beyond our control.

But how can we begin to give up our desire for stuff, unless we understand why we have it in the first place?

Stuff asks: Are we hard-wired to accumulate? At what age do we begin to identify stuff as our own? Why do we choose the stuff we do? How do we express our unique personalities through our stuff? And how does our attitude to stuff change on life's cluttered journey? The answers Wendy is given tell us that our relationship with our stuff is much more complex that we might realise... and that our conversations about over-consumption have only just begun.

In episode one, Our Stuff, Wendy talks to 'chuckers' and 'hoarders' and looks at what happens when our love of stuff gets in the way of love and stuff. Wendy also visits a prison and talks to inmates about what it's like to have your stuff taken from you.