NEW AUSTRALIAN COMMISSIONED DOCUMENTARIES
Life On the Outside
TX: 16 March 2022 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 3 x 1hr
With more than 40,000 people currently incarcerated in Australia and half of them ending up back inside within two years of release, this ground-breaking series looks at whether that outcome can be changed if you place prisoners into ordinary households for the first 100 days of their release. Life On the Outside is an ITV Studios Australia production for SBS.
The Australian Wars
TX: Mid 2022 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 3 x 1hr
This landmark documentary series reveals the extraordinary story of Australia’s First Wars. It reveals how more than 100 years of conflict between Colonial Settlers and Indigenous Australians have often been buried, whitewashed or ignored. By challenging our past, it asks Australians who we are today, and who we want to become as a nation. Major production investment from SBS in association with Screen Australia . Australian Wars is a Blackfella Films production for SBS.
Alone Australia
TX: 2023 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 10 x 1hr
Alone is a smash hit around the world. On SBS On Demand it has over 18-million-chapter-views second only to The Handmaid’s Tale . Now it is coming to SBS, for a new Australian series. In this unique survival series, participants compete against others but more profoundly they compete against themselves. There are no crew, no producers, just survival. 10 individuals with expert survival skills are dropped off, alone into separate parts of a remote wilderness location. Each confronts the merciless forces of nature, hunger, and the toughest challenge of all: Loneliness. The goal is to survive alone for as long as possible with a limited amount of survival equipment but can leave or ‘tap out’ at any time they wish. The survivalist who lasts the longest wins a life changing prize. Alone Australia is an ITV Studios Australia production for SBS.
Yes, No, Maybe
TX: 2023 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 3 x 1hr
In 2021 investigative journalist Jess Hill and the team from Northern Pictures journeyed into Australian homes to explore a national crisis, domestic abuse, with See What You Made Me Do . In the bold, new, thesis driven series, Yes, No, Maybe, Jess will use first-person testimony to explore the status of consent in Australia, following an explosive year of this issue in the headlines. Yes, No, Maybe is a Northern Pictures production for SBS. Principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with SBS.
RETURNING AUSTRALIAN COMMISSIONED DOCUMENTARIES
Every Family Has a Secret S3
TX: March 2022 on SBS* Number of Episodes: 4 x 1hr**
Presented by Australian actor Noni Hazlehurst , Every Family Has a Secret follows everyday Australians on life changing journeys as they seek out the hidden secrets within their families. Do I have Royal blood? Was my father a war criminal? Who abandoned me on a doorstep as a baby? Did my father, a Roman Catholic priest, have other children? These are among the family secrets to be unravelled in Season 3, exploring compelling and dynamic social and political histories of Australians. Major production investment from SBS in association with Screen Australia . Financed with support from Screenwest .
Who Do You Think You Are? S13
TX: Mid 2022 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 8 x 1hr
Well-known Australians including Matt Moran , Paula Duncan and Myf Warhurst play detective as they go in search of their family history, revealing secrets from the past. Who Do You Think You Are? is a Warner Bros. production for SBS.
Australia Uncovered TX: Late 2022 on SBS 4 x Documentaries
SBS’s returning strand of prime-time single documentaries exploring diversity and equality in contemporary Australia:
Australia Uncovered (S2): The Cleaning Company
TX: Late 2022 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 1 x 90 mins
The Cleaning Company is a fly-on-the-wall insight into the world of trauma cleaning through the journey of charming transgendered business owner Sandra Pankhurst and the lives of a motley crew of workers at Frankston’s Specialised Trauma Cleaning Services (STC). The Cleaning Company is a Walking Fish Productions and Good Things Productions production for SBS. Principal production funding from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria .
Australia Uncovered (S2): Kids Raising Kids
TX: Late 2022 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 1 x 1hr
Kids Raising Kids takes audiences inside Canberra College (CC) - a unique school for teen parents- but our characters’ lessons are not confined to the classroom. We are with them at home, the women’s refuge, the birthing clinic, support groups, or wherever their journeys take us. Many of the students are single parents, some are overcoming family trauma and drug dependency, and all are navigating a complex system. What unites them is a will to transform their lives - to get an education, stay on the right side of the law, and be the best parents they can be. Kids Raising Kids is an Only Human production for SBS. Principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with SBS. Financed with support from Screen NSW and Screen Canberra .
Australia Uncovered (S2): Inconceivable
TX: Late 2022 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 1 x 1hr
This one-hour documentary is based on a journalist’s discovery at the age of 27 that the man who brought her up and loved dearly - was not her biological father. Her mother was impregnated with anonymous donor sperm. The intensely personal film is the story of award-winning investigative journalist Sarah Dingle and her fight to uncover the truth about who made her and how. At the same time, she uses her skills to investigate the secretive fertility industry and family secrets along the way. Inconceivable is a Sam Content production for SBS. Principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with SBS. Financed with support from Screen NSW .
Australia Uncovered (S2): Me and My Tourette’s
TX: Late 2022 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 1 x 1hr
Around one in every hundred Australians are diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome (TS), a condition that has no cure and is so little understood, even by medical science. With repetitive, sudden movements and sometimes obscene vocals, the involuntary physical effects can leave people with Tourette’s feeling on the outskirts of Australian society. The one-hour documentary will follow three people as they experience one of Australia’s biggest Tourette’s camps. From a young man diagnosed for the first time in recent weeks to a teenager with a Greek father struggling to understand his child’s condition. Through their personal stories we learn the difficulties faced by them and their families as well as the spectrum of this disorder. Me and My Tourette’s is a Joined Up Films production for SBS. Principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with SBS. Financed with support from Screenwest .
NEW INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARIES
Tony Robinson: Britain’s Greatest River
TX: March 2022 on SBS Number of Episodes: 8 x 1hr
Audience favourite Tony Robinson takes us the full length of the Thames, from the Cotswolds in the west to the estuary in the east, taking in the stunning scenery and delving into the river’s vast history. He’ll meet the people who live and work along the river and explore the incredible infrastructure it supports, go behind the scenes at some of its most iconic monuments and discover some real hidden gems.
Robson Green’s Icelandic Adventure
TX: March 2022 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 3 x 1hr
Amongst the huge fish, offbeat banter and jaw dropping scenery, actors Robson Green and James Murray lay bare their darkest ever moments in a bid to share just how powerful a therapy fly fishing has been for them both. It has played a vital role in restoring their mental well-being after Robson’s addiction issues at the height of his fame, and the grief Jim suffered after the tragic loss of his daughter. But an indulgent, navel gazing exposé this is not. The joyful and life affirming humour these two cast over you when joining them on their trip of a lifetime is highly contagious, and with the lyrical and evocative backdrop only Iceland can offer. This is a truly original adventure you will definitely want a ticket for!
Michael Mosley’s Health Intervention
TX: March 2022 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 3 x 1hr
Doctor Michael Mosley devises a lifestyle intervention and eating plan to help five volunteers get their health back on track, post-lockdown. In the first episode, Michael runs a series of tests to see just how badly lockdown has affected his volunteers’ health, before creating a bespoke diet for the 21 days. Come on their journey towards better health and learn something along the way!
World’s Most Scenic River Journeys
TX: April 2022 on SBS Number of Episodes: 6 x 1hr
There is no better perspective than from a boat on a river, as it gently winds its way through gorgeous landscapes and natural beauty. Bill Nighy narrates this visually stunning six-part documentary series, telling the stories of six epic river journeys through the characters who live and work on them. Winding through rivers in the UK, Europe, Canada and the USA, each episode showcases beautiful and distinctive landscapes, from emerald green hills, ancient forests, and biodiverse river deltas, to fairy tale castles, chocolate box villages and iconic cities. We meet the people who live and work on the rivers, hitch rides on fishing boats and yachts, even canoes and replica Viking Ships, hopping on and off to explore the wealth of hidden stories along the riverbanks of the world’s most beautiful rivers.
Jack The Ripper
TX: 2022 on SBS
Number of Episodes: 3 x 1hr
In 1888 London witnessed the most notorious unsolved crime in British history. It saw the birth of the modern serial killer and launched the legend of ‘Jack the Ripper’, meanwhile his victims have been forgotten. Now three experts in forensic psychology, policing and history reinvestigate the case and question the version of the story we think is true. The team’s mission is to separate fact from fiction and ask how much of what we know about this celebrated killer is a myth and why has the only truth, the story of the five brutally murdered women, been hidden by history?