I just finished watching it, really interesting. I didn’t see last week’s episode or the previous seasons but I might take a look at them now.
First time i’ve watched a non-sport program on FTA in a long time.
The first two seasons are available on YouTube (search “15 billion pound railway” which is the originally BBC title) as I don’t believe it is still on SBS on Demand.
Disappointed to see that SBS is running their latest season of the UK version of Who Do You Think You Are? On a Saturday afternoon now. This comes after dropping some eps last year and only screening them in an early afternoon slot.
I know BBC First screens it ahead of SBS these days but still disappointing for FTA viewers.
Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle
From Sunday 7 April at 7.30pm (3 episodes)
Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle explores the truth about one of the world’s most well known mysteries, an area in the Atlantic Ocean known as the Bermuda Triangle, where ships and aeroplanes have vanished without a trace. In this episode our presenters Rick Edwards and Ortis Deley explore disappearances at sea in the Triangle.
Ortis visits Miami to trace the fate of the USS Cyclops which was lost without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle in 1918 with more than 300 souls on board. He also follows the story of the Bermuda Triangle and how it became a global phenomenon after the publication of a bestselling book by author Charles Berlitz. Rick goes to the University of Southampton to recreate one of the ocean’s most deadly events - a rogue wave - and hears from a young fisherman in the Bahamas who spent sixteen terrifying days lost in the Bermuda Triangle and lived to tell the tale.
Queen Victoria and Her Nine Children
From Monday 8 April at 7.35pm (3 episodes)
This is the story of Queen Victoria – a widow in mourning who had to raise her nine children on a very public stage. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were an unusually devoted couple with strong ideas about the role of the Royal Family.
But when Albert died, Queen Victoria was left a single (career) mother. Queen Victoria and Her Nine Children explores Victoria’s struggle to mourn her husband’s death, carry out her Royal duties and keep both her family and public in check. It’s a fascinating glimpse at the private tensions that rumbled behind Queen Victoria’s impressive public façade.
Victoria and Albert: The Wedding
Thursday 11 and 18 of April at 7.30pm
Lucy Worsley re-stages the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Each detail is brought back to life in a spectacular ceremony as Lucy reveals how this event saved the monarchy and invented modern marriage. Aided by a team of experts, Lucy recreates the most important elements of the ceremony and the celebrations; scouring history books, archives, newspapers and Queen Victoria’s diaries for the details. She reveals how every moment was brilliantly stage-managed for maximum effect.
SBS has acquired Israeli drama Harem, whose second season is currently in production.
24 Hours In Emergency - Season 14
From Wednesday 3 April at 9.35pm
The RTS award-winning documentary series returns, following patients treated in the same 24 hour period at St George’s in south west London. The hospital has one of the busiest A&E departments in Britain - under more pressure than ever. It’s a place where stories of life, love, and loss unfold every day.
Coast New Zealand - Season 2
From Friday 5 April at 7.35pm
The enthusiastic team of presenter Neil Oliver and six New Zealand experts in marine biology, history, and social history explore the panoramic beauty of the coastline while investigating the formation and evolution of the nation - its history, its people, and its culture.
The Case Against Adnan Syed
Sunday 7 April at 8.30pm
THE CASE AGAINST ADNAN SYED is a four part documentary series directed by Academy Award® nominee Amy Berg (“Deliver Us from Evil,” “West of Memphis”). The series explores the 1999 disappearance and murder of 18-year-old Baltimore County high school student Hae Min Lee, and the subsequent conviction of her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, a case brought to global attention by the hugely popular Serial podcast.
In production since 2015, THE CASE AGAINST ADNAN SYED closely re-examines the events leading up to Hae Min Lee’s disappearance, from high school romance, forbidden love and cultural conflict, to the aftermath of her disappearance, the original police investigation and the present day, when Syed awaits a new trial. Presenting new discoveries, as well as groundbreaking revelations that challenge the state’s case, and featuring exclusive access to Syed, the defense team, the Syed family, friends and teachers of Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed, and members of Baltimore City law enforcement, the series traces how the rush to justice and Syed’s conviction in 2000 raised more questions than answers about what happened to Hae Min Lee, underscoring the instability of memory and conflicting eyewitnesses.
In June 2016, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Martin P. Welch vacated Adnan Syed’s conviction and granted him a new trial after new evidence challenged the reliability of cell phone data linking Syed to the crime scene, and a long-awaited alibi witness finally had her day in court.
The State of Maryland appealed the lower court judge’s ruling, but on March 29, 2018, the Court of Special Appeals also ruled to vacate Syed’s conviction and granted him the retrial he has been waiting for. The State appealed again, and we now await the ruling by Maryland’s highest court as to whether the decision to retry the case will stand, 20 years after Syed’s initial conviction.
Mediterranean From Above
From Saturday 13 April at 7.30pm
The Mediterranean is not a sea. It is a world, surrounded by deserts, made of high mountains bordered by narrow plains and estuaries. In the middle of these lands, is the ‘Mediterranean’.
This part of the world has been the cradle of a human civilisation that today has a global influence. It is also the birthplace of three major religions. The scene of the planet’s most notable social, cultural and human fracture, while being the world’s most densely populated region. The series is not concerned with a mere inventory of human battles and strife, but takes us on an aerial journey to understand the role of the natural world.
This series takes a look at the geographical, natural, and human fresco of the Mediterranean to understand how the natural environment has shaped civilisations, and how this same environment continues to determine its destiny.
The Good Fight - Season 3
From Wednesday April 17 at 8:30pm
The Good Fight Season 3 will be available on SBS and SBS On Demand. The double-episode season premiere will air at 8.30pm AEDT Wednesday 17 April. From Wednesday 24 April, the remaining episodes will air weekly at 9.30pm AEDT. The Good Fight episodes will be available to stream on SBS On Demand each week after broadcast.
The world went crazy in the second season of The Good Fight, and now, in season three, the resistance does. Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) tries to figure out whether you can resist an unstable administration without becoming unstable yourself, while Adrian Boseman (Delroy Lindo) and Liz Reddick-Lawrence (Audra McDonald) struggle with a new post-factual world where the best story triumphs over the facts.
Meanwhile, Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) balances a new baby with a new love, and Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie) finds a new antagonist in Roland Blum (Michael Sheen), a lawyer who is corruption incarnate.
New series regular Michael Sheen ( Underworld, Twilight: New Moon ), joins the cast of The Good Fight in season three, alongside Christine Baranski ( Cruel Intentions , The Big Bang Theory ), Cush Jumbo ( The Good Wife ) , Rose Leslie ( Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey ) , Audra McDonald ( Private Practice ) , Sarah Steele ( The Good Wife ), Michael Boatman ( Gossip Girl ) , Nyambi Nyambi ( Mike & Molly )and Delroy Lindo ( Gone in 60 Seconds , Point Break ).
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US spy drama Berlin Station has been axed after three seasons. The show airs here on SBS.
SS-GB
New Series Premiere Thursday 18 April at 10.35pm
A British homicide detective investigates a murder in German-occupied England in a parallel universe where the Nazis won World War II. BAFTA nominee Sam Riley plays Detective Douglas Archer, caught between his brutal new SS bosses and a ruthless British resistance movement as he investigates what looks like a black market-related murder. Starring alongside him, famed actress Kate Bosworth plays American journalist Barbara Barga, who becomes inextricably linked with the murder case that Archer is investigating.
SS-GB is adapted from Len Deighton’s intriguing, alternate history novel of the same name by BAFTA Award winners Neal Purvis and Robert Wade ( Spectre, Skyfall, and Casino Royale ).
Extreme Railway Journeys
From Saturday 20 April at 7.30pm
In four new episodes, Chris will be visiting countries where the development of railways has played a vital role in their history.
In his inimitable style he’ll be taking on more epic journeys across vast swathes of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and giving us his own unique take on that part of the world. Mishaps and misadventures abound as he finds himself stuck in the desert, locked up in prison and too close to comfort to a cold war nuclear reactor. As always stunning scenery, great railway footage, unexpected twists and turns make for an irresistible watch, on the rails with Chris.
C21 reports SBS has bought from UK distributor Orange Smarty three 44-minute specials from the Stacey Dooley Investigates series on the BBC: Gypsy Kids in Crisis, Sex in Strange Places and The Young & Homeless.
SBS has also picked up from Viacom International Studios the latest seasons of Channel 5 travel show Cruising with Jane McDonald.
SBS and Foxtel have both bought 4-part UK documentary World’s Busiest Train Stations which premieres on Channel 5 tonight. The show will include an episode on Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station. Not sure if SBS will air the doco first.
While Flinders Street Station will gain worldwide exposure through the documentary, I wonder why Australian networks didn’t think of making its own documentary on transport, which would include the station?
SBS has also bought Russian drama An Ordinary Woman (9x60’).
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SBS seems to love trains for some reason.
Native America
From Sunday 28 April at 10.45pm (double episode).
Native America explores the world created by America’s First Peoples. The four part series reaches back 15,000 years to reveal massive cities aligned to the stars, unique systems of science and spirituality, and 100 million people connected by social networks spanning two continents.
David Baddiel On The Silk Road
From Sunday 28 April at 7.35pm
David Baddiel explores the mysteries along the most famous trade route in history - the two thousand year old Silk Road. This ancient highway changed the world, carrying not just trade but knowledge, religion, disease and dissent between the Far East and Europe. Today the Silk Road remains relatively un-trodden and massively under researched. 3 episodes.
C21 reports SBS has bought True Story of King Tut’s Treasure from Franco-German cultural TV network Arte. The documentary comes ahead of Sydney’s Australian Museum hosting Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh exhibition in 2021. Sydney is the one of 10 cities in the world - and the only Australian city - to host the exhibits before they are permanently housed in Egypt.