What to watch on Showmax in September 2024

27 August 2024

What to watch on Showmax in September 2024

With new international series like Fantasmas, Elspeth and The Penguin, plus African Original series and blockbuster movies, from Bros to The Holdovers, Showmax is the place to be in September. Here’s what to look out for this month.

Showmax Premier League

MTN8 semi-finals and final

MTN8 semi-finals live on Showmax Premier League

For the first time on Showmax Premier League, football fans across the continent can catch South African soccer action when the MTN8 semi-finals and the final stream live on Showmax Premier League. The two legs of the semi-finals stream live on 28 August and 31 August-1 September 2024, while the highly anticipated final will stream live on a date still to be confirmed. In the first semi-final, Cape Town City go head to head with Orlando Pirates at Cape Town stadium, while the return leg sees the Cape outfit travelling to Soweto. The second semi-final will see Mamelodi Sundowns battle it out with Stellenbosch FC. Sundowns, the reigning Premier Soccer League champions, will face Stellenbosch FC at the Lucas Moripe stadium in the first leg, while the second leg will be played at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

Showmax Originals: South Africa

Law, Love and Betrayal | Thursdays from 5 September

Law, Love and Betrayal (LLB) follows a tough township lawyer who forces her way into a slick, family-owned firm in Sandton, where she finds that everyone has secrets, just like her.

Dineo Rasedile (The Estate, Scandal!), steps into her first lead role as Gugu Mabaso. Nimrod Nkosi (Isibaya, The Queen) and Pearl Modiadie (Rhythm City, Generations, Scandal!) co-star as the Gumedes in law firm Gumede & Associates, where a succession battle is brewing. 

The 13-episode legal drama moves between Thembisa and Sandton. Created by executive producer Thandi Ramathesele (a long-time producer on 7de Laan), LLB is produced by Izwi Multimedia and directed by Nthabiseng Tau (Youngins, Outlaws) and SAFTA winners Nthabiseng Mokoena (The Wife, Gomora, Fatal Seduction) and Christo Davids (Spoorloos, Legacy, Hartklop). 

Die Bloedhonde | Stream from Friday, 6 September

While camping with her family, Katrien starts to suspect that the beloved local dominee might be responsible for an apparent suicide at the resort. With a middle-aged drifter as her only ally, she throws everything into the battle to prove the church, the community and her own family wrong.

SAFTA nominees Elani Dekker (Toorbos) and Tobie Cronjé (Binnelanders) star as Katrien and dominee Lukas respectively, with Waldemar Schultz (Die Byl) as the drifter.

Die Bloedhonde is written and directed by Stiaan Smith, SAFTA-winning co-creator of Hotel, and produced by Nagvlug, the company behind the SA Oscar-entry Barakat and acclaimed series like Donkerbos and Nêrens, Noord-Kaap. 

Showmax Originals: Kenya

Subterranea | Thursdays from 26 September

Likarion Wainaina directed Supa Moda, Kenya’s most successful film ever, which won over 50 international awards, including Best European Film For Children from the European Children’s Film Association, a Children’s Jury Special Mention: Generation 14Plus at Berlin, and the Artistic Bravery Prize at Durban.

Now he’s back on Showmax with Kenya’s first sci-fi series, Subterranea, which follows eight participants of a psychological experiment who are placed in an underground bunker to test the effects of close-quarter secluded relationships on humans.

Assembling Kenya’s finest actors, Subterranea stars Kalasha winners Foi Wambui (Crime and Justice), Peter Kawa (County 49), and Nice Githinji (The Caller), as well as Kalasha nominees Melvin Alusa and Melissa Kiplagat (both from Country Queen). Also look out for Philippa Ndisi-Herrman (New Moon), Makena Kahuha (Kina), Biko Nyongesa (Sense8), Pauline Komu (Groove Theory), newcomer Chintu Chadusama, and the finest theatre kid on the block: Kenyan Theatre Awards winner Dadson Gakenga (Subira).

A Kibanda Pictures production, the eight-part series is written by Brian Munene (County 49), directed by Wainaina and produced by Millicent Ogutu.

Showmax Originals: Nigeria

Wura S3 | Stream from 23 September

The AMVCA-nominated drama is back for its third season as we dive into the gripping world of Wura, where power, betrayal, and dark secrets collide in its most thrilling series finale. Devastating truths and long-buried secrets will be revealed as we watch Wura’s carefully constructed empire begin to crumble. Alliances will be tested, as the battle for survival intensifies.

From explosive revelations about Tumi’s parentage to deadly confrontations with old enemies, the stakes have never been higher. With the Iperindo community on the brink of chaos and Wura facing the consequences of her ruthless actions, the fallout promises to be catastrophic.

Produced by Rogers Ofime, Wura S3 stars Scarlet Gomez (2023 Nominee AMVCA Best Actress in a Drama), Yomi Fash-Lanso, Martha Ehinome, Ray Adeka, Ego Ihenacho, Lanre Adediwura, Iremide Adeoye, Modesinuola Ogundiwin and Toluwani George. The title was up for Best Writing TV Series and Best Scripted Series at the 2024 AMVCAs.

International series

The Penguin S1 | Stream from 20 September, with subsequent episodes on Mondays from 30 September

The Penguin on Showmax

Continuing the epic crime saga that began with 2022’s Oscar-nominated blockbuster The Batman, The Penguin stars Oscar nominee Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb (aka The Penguin), who makes a play for the reins of Gotham’s crime world. 

The series comes hot from HBO’s streaming service Max, so prepare to watch it along with the rest of the world.

The Penguin is created and showrun by Lauren LeFranc (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), directed by Emmy nominee Craig Zobel (The Hunt, Mare of Easttown), and exec produced by Matt Reeves, who directed The Batman. 

Fantasmas S1 | First on Showmax | Date TBC

In Fantasmas, writer, director, and comedian Julio Torres spins a fantastical six-part tale that begins with the loss of a gold oyster earring. In his search for the precious object, he meets a series of offbeat characters in introspective, often eerie, and always comedic vignettes set against the backdrop of a dreamy, alternate version of New York City. A kaleidoscope of colour and surrealism, Fantasmas weaves together stories of people looking for meaning, purpose, and connection in an increasingly isolating world. 

The cast is led by Torres (already a multiple-Emmy nominee for his work on Saturday Night Live, and creator of Problemista and the Peabody Award-winning Los Espookys), and boasts an impressive guest cast including Natasha Lyonne, Paul Dano, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton, and Emma Stone, who also exec produced. 

Fantasmas is at #4 on Metacritic’s list of the Best TV Shows This Year and #9 on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the Best TV Shows of 2024 (so far), with a 93% critics’ rating. 

In a rare 5/5-star review, The Guardian called Fantasmas, “a fantastically creative and theatrical little diamond,“ and an “outstandingly whimsical new series [that] threatens to tear up television’s rules,” saying, “this wildly creative comedy is a beacon of hope for TV’s future.”

You can also binge both seasons of Los Espookys from Monday, 16 September. 

Elsbeth S1 | Binge from Friday, 20 September

At #16 on Rotten Tomatoes’ Best TV Shows Of 2024 (So Far) with a 94% critics rating, Elsbeth sees Carrie Preston reprising her Emmy-winning role from The Good Wife and The Good Fight as Elsbeth Tascioni, an unconventional attorney who ends up working as a de facto detective. 

“A gem of a series, Elsbeth embraces a bold blend of comedy and drama centring on a beautifully off-kilter protagonist, making it a breath of fresh air,” says Variety.

A Gentleman In Moscow | Stream from 20:30 on Mondays from 9 September

A Gentleman in Moscow on Showmax
L-R Ewan McGregor as Count Rostov and Alexa Goodall as Nina in A Gentleman in Moscow episode 1, streaming on Paramount+ 2024. Photo Credit: Ben Blackall/Paramount+ With Showtime

An adaptation of Amor Towles’ best-selling novel, A Gentleman In Moscow follows Count Alexander Rostov, played by Emmy and Critics Choice Award-winner Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars franchise, Fargo, Trainspotting), who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, finds that his gilded past has placed him on the wrong side of history. 

Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in a grand Moscow hotel and threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again. As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. As he builds a new life within the walls of the hotel, he discovers the true value of friendship, family and love. 

A Gentleman In Moscow is at #23 among the Best TV Shows of 2024 (so far) on Rotten Tomatoes, where it has a 92% critics’ rating. 

The Equalizer S4 | First on Showmax | Binge from Monday, 23 September

Season 4 of The Equalizer comes in hot (literally) with Robyn and her team facing the deadly inferno that left them trapped in last season’s cliffhanger finale. 

A reimagining of the 1980s series (which also inspired the Denzel Washington films of the same name), the hit show stars Oscar nominee Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, an average single mom who’s quietly raising her teenage daughter. But to a trusted few, she is “The Equalizer” – an anonymous guardian angel who helps those with nowhere else to turn.

Latifah has been nominated for Best Actress in an Action Series at the Critics Choice Super Awards for the past three years running, with four nominations at the People’s Choice Awards, where the show was up for Drama Show of the Year in 2021. It has already been renewed for a fifth season.

Fire Country S2 | Binge from Friday, 27 September

Nominated for this year’s Critics Choice Super Award for Best Action Series, Fire Country stars Max Thieriot (Bates Motel) as Bode Donovan, a young convict who joins an unconventional prison release programme in Northern California, where he and other inmates work with elite firefighters to extinguish massive, unpredictable wildfires. 

Season 1 was CBS’ most-watched new show of the year, so they’ve already ordered Season 3. 

Fire Country is exec-produced by Oscar nominee and multiple-Emmy-winner ​​Jerry Bruckheimer, who’s given us the hit CSI shows, Top Gun, Bad Boys, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more.

It’s a Sin | First on Showmax | Binge from 11 September

It's A Sin on Showmax

It’s a Sin charts the joy and heartbreak of a group of friends in 1980s London. As they come of age in the shadow of the Aids epidemic and a society that’s largely intolerant of their sexual orientation, they’re determined to live and love more fiercely than ever.

The five-part miniseries was Channel 4’s biggest-ever drama launch and became the most binged new series on the channel, racking up 18.9 million viewers. It also prompted a record-breaking three-fold rise in HIV tests in the UK following its broadcast during National HIV Testing Week.

Named the #1 Show of the year by the likes of The Guardian, Empire Magazine, and Radio Times, It’s a Sin holds a 97% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, an 8.6/10 score on IMDb, and 91% on Metacritic, where was the fourth best-reviewed show of the year overall. It was the most nominated show at the BAFTAs, and scooped several GLAAD and Critics’ Choice Awards.

BAFTA-winning, Emmy-nominated series creator and writer Russell T Davies (Queer as Folk, A Very English Scandal, Years and Years, Nolly) was named TV’s most influential person of the year by The Radio Times, with the show’s star, Years & Years lead singer Olly Alexander, taking second place on the TV Top 100 and co-star Lydia West at #7. Also look out for appearances from the likes of Stephen Fry, Keeley Hawes, and Neil Patrick Harris.  

Empire Magazine called It’s a Sin “a full-on cultural phenomenon”; Time Magazine described it as “deeply humane, richly observed, frequently funny and fully devastating”; while The Daily Beast declared it “the year’s best show” with “some of the best acting on TV,” saying, “Yes, it is the most devastating piece of television I watched this year… But [also] perhaps the most joyous.”

Random Acts of Flyness  S2 | Binge from Friday, 6 September

The Peabody Award-winning Random Acts of Flyness returns for its second season, subtitled The Parable of the Pirate and the King.  

Exploring the metaphysics of Black life through avant-garde storytelling, the second season follows Terence (Nance) and Najja (Alicia Pilgrim), a couple working towards healing generational wounds and reintroducing themselves to the ways of their ancestors. Each of the six episodes explores a different dimension while presenting a rich tapestry of audio and visuals to illustrate the spiritual practice of Black liberation.

Season 2 was up for three Black Reel Awards this year. Random Acts of Flyness boasts a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Slate describing Season 1 as “…something with roots in entertainment television, art house movies, and journalism – an experimental trip into blackness fly enough to post up in a modern-art museum.” 

Nance heads a directorial team that includes Grammy-winning Nigerian-British artist Jenn Nkiru and Berlin- and Sundance-winning Ghanaian filmmaker Nuotama Bodomo, with Tribeca-winning Ghanaian-American Nana Mensah (Queen of Glory) and Sundance winner Mariama Diallo (Hair Wolf) among the series’ writers.

COBRA: Cyberwar | Binge from Monday, 16  September

When a suspected Kremlin operation on British soil causes collateral casualties, Prime Minister Robert Sutherland (Robert Carlyle from The Full Monty) must once again convene the team of experts, crisis contingency planners and senior politicians known as COBRA. 

As COBRA grapples with simultaneous disasters, they begin to fear they may be witnessing the opening moves of a wider game for which none of them are prepared.

COBRA has already been renewed for a third season. 

The Girls on the Bus S1 | Stream from 20:30 every Wednesday from 4 September

The Girls on The Bus on Showmax

The Girls on the Bus puts us on the campaign trail with four female journalists, who follow every move of a parade of flawed presidential candidates. Along the way, they find friendship, love, and a scandal that could take down not just the presidency, but the entire US government. 

The Girls on the Bus is created by Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries) and New York Times political reporter Amy Chozick, whose memoir Chasing Hillary inspired the series. 

Movies

Bob Marley: One Love | Stream from Monday, 16 September

Bob Marley: One Love on Showmax

One man. One message. One revolution. One legend. Bob Marley: One Love celebrates the life and music of an icon who inspired generations through his message of love and unity. 

Nominated for Best Movie at the 2024 BET Awards, the film stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley, with Lashana Lynch (The Woman King) as Marley’s wife – and backing vocalist – Rita.

One Love is directed by Sundance winner Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard), who co-wrote the script with Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire) and Zach Baylin (King Richard), and Frank E Flowers. 

The film is produced in partnership with the Marley family, including Rita and Ziggy Marley, with Brad Pitt among its exec producers.

Laroy | First on Showmax | Stream from Thursday, 12 September

In third place on Rotten Tomatoes Best Movies of 2024 list, with a rare 100% critics’ rating, Laroy tells the story of Ray, who decides he’s going to kill himself after discovering that his wife is cheating on him. But his plans suddenly change when a stranger mistakes him for a low-rent hitman.

The crime comedy stars John Magaro (Past Lives) and Emmy nominees Steve Zahn (The White Lotus) and Dylan Baker (The Good Wife). 

Not released in South African cinemas, Laroy was nominated for Best New Narrative Director at Tribeca for Shane Atkinson. RogerEbert.com says, “Atkinson’s hilarious feature debut is a barn burner of a western-thriller” with “Coen Brothers-inspired nods.”

The Holdovers | Stream from Monday, 16 September

The Holdovers on Showmax

Nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti (Billions) as a cranky prep school history teacher who is ordered to remain on campus over the holidays with a grieving cook (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and a brainy student (newcomer Dominic Sessa) who has no place to go.

Randolph won the Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards, where Giamatti and Sessa also took home Best Actor and Best Young Actor respectively. 

From Oscar-winning director Alexander Payne (The Descendants), The Holdovers has a 97% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where it is their 36th best-reviewed film of all time. Mashable says, “The Holdovers is a terrific Payne film, bursting with sharp laughs and searing sweetness.”

Bros | Stream from Monday, 2 September

Bros on Showmax
(from top) Aaron (Luke Macfarlane) and Bobby (Billy Eichner) in Bros, directed by Nicholas Stoller.

Nominated for Best Comedy Movie at the 2023 Critics Choice Awards, Bros marks the first romantic comedy from a major studio about two gay men maybe, possibly, probably, stumbling towards love. Maybe. They’re both very busy. 

Bros won the 2023 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Wide Release Film, and was nominated for three Queerties and the GALECA Dorian Award for LGBTQ Film of the Year. It has an 89% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Newsday calling it, “A gay cinematic landmark that also happens to be a very smart and funny rom-com,” and Empire Magazine saying, “Hilarious from start to finish, with two excellent leading men and dollops of queer joy sprinkled throughout, Bros hits classic romcom beats while giving the genre a refreshing, much-needed update.”

Led by Billy Eichner (Billy on the Street) – the first openly gay man to co-write and star in his own major studio film – and Luke Macfarlane (Brothers & Sisters), the movie features an entirely LGBTQ+ principal cast.

Directed by BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), who co-wrote the script with Eichner, and produced by Emmy winner Judd Apatow, Bros is a smart, swoony and heartfelt comedy about how hard it is to find another tolerable human being to go through life with. 

Asteroid City | Stream from Monday, 23 September

Asteroid City on Showmax

Asteroid City: a fictional American desert town, circa 1955. Junior stargazers and space cadets from across the country assemble for the annual Asteroid Day celebration – but the scholarly competition is spectacularly upended by world-changing events. 

From Oscar winner Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Asteroid City is led by Jason Schwartzman (Moonrise Kingdom), Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Hanks. The star-packed ensemble also includes the likes of Adrien Brody, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Jeffrey Wright, Margot Robbie, Tilda Swinton, and many more. 

In their 4/5-star review, The Guardian says, “Wes Anderson’s 1950s sci-fi is an exhilarating triumph of pure style … terrifically entertaining and lightly sophisticated.” 

Thanksgiving | Stream from Monday, 2 September

Thanksgiving on Showmax
Director Eli Roth on the set of TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC THANKSGIVING

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a masked Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorises Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, the random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan. Will the town uncover the killer and survive the holidays …or become guests at his twisted holiday dinner table?

From multiple-award-winning Splat Pack director Eli Roth (Hostel), Thanksgiving has an 84% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus says: “Combining belly-busting humour with delightfully over-the-top gore, Thanksgiving is a feast for grindhouse fans.” 

The horror stars TikTok phenom Addison Rae and rising stars Milo Manheim (Zombies), Jalen Thomas Brooks (Walker), and Nell Verlaque (Big Shot), along with the likes of Rick Hoffman (Suits) and Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy).

Headspace (aka Inside Job) | Stream from Thursday, 19 September

In Headspace (aka Inside Job), a freak accident sees three nanosized aliens take up residence inside the brain of 14-year-old Norman. They need Norman’s help to save Earth from Zolthard, an intergalactic villain who is stuck in the school principal’s head. Norman, his friends, and the aliens have to conceal the presence of alien life at their high school while continuing the galactic struggle between good and evil. After all, Zolthard still has a school to run and Norman still has homework to hand in!

Headspace was the most-watched local film at South African cinemas last year and comes to Showmax after cinema runs in South Africa, Australia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates. The animation is the first feature film from Joburg studio Luma (Shaka Ilembe). 

Norman is voiced by SAFTA winner Bonko Khoza (The Wife, Red Ink) and Zolthard by Zak Hendrikz (Binnelanders). There are also dubbed versions in Afrikaans and Zulu. 

The Passenger | Stream from Thursday, 12 September

The Passenger on Showmax

Randy is perfectly content fading into the background. But when his coworker Benson goes on a sudden and violent rampage leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, Randy is forced to face his fears and confront his troubled past to survive in The Passenger. 

From production company Blumhouse (Get Out, The Invisible Man), The Passenger is directed by Sundance winner Carter Smith (Swallowed) and has an 81% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Dread Central praises Kyle Gallner (Smile) as Benson and calls The Passenger “perhaps one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking road movies I’ve ever seen… a violent yet tender look at male friendships and breaking cycles… one of the best and most beautiful films of 2023 so far.”

Monolith | Stream from Thursday, 19 September

Monolith centres on a disgraced journalist who holes up at her parents’ empty country mansion to try and salvage her career with a podcast debunking hoaxes. When the story of a mysterious black brick lands in her inbox, it seems the interviewer has struck gold, but as she starts to investigate this strange conspiracy theory, the trail leads uncomfortably close to home, leaving her to grapple with the lies at the heart of her own story. 

Lily Sullivan (Evil Dead Rise) won Best Actress at Total Film’s FrightFest Awards, where Monolith was up for Best Film. 

The Australian science fiction thriller has an 84% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Forbes hails Monolith as “a masterclass,” adding, “You’ll find yourself hanging on the edge of your seat.”

Strays | Stream from Thursday, 26 September

Strays on Showmax

Gather your pack for an R-rated comedy with bite. 

They say a dog is a man’s best friend, but what if the man is a total dirtbag? In that case, it might be time for some sweet revenge, doggy style… 

When Reggie (Will Ferrell) is abandoned on the mean city streets by his lowlife owner, Doug (Will Forte), the naïve Border Terrier is certain that his beloved owner would never leave him on purpose. But once Reggie falls in with a fast-talking, foul-mouthed Boston Terrier named Bug (Oscar winner Jamie Foxx), a stray who loves his freedom and believes that owners are for suckers, Reggie finally realises he was in a toxic relationship and begins to see Doug for the heartless sleazeball that he is. 

A subversion of the dog movies we know and love, Strays features a powerhouse comedic supporting cast, including Josh Gad (Frozen), Harvey Guillén (What We Do In The Shadows), Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), and Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers).  

Reality TV

The Real Housewives of New Jersey S14 | First on Showmax | Binge from 11 September

Coming first to Showmax, this season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey proves that friendships can change at the flip of a switch. With more division than ever before and dynamics changing within the circle of friends, the ladies of the Garden State will need to rely on their core family units for support and understanding. 

Now in its 15th year, RHONJ was up for Reality Show of the Year at this year’s People’s Choice Awards.

Season 14 promises to deliver all the drama you’ve been craving, with housewives Teresa Giudice – who’s been nominated for three MTV TV Awards, including Best Reality Star and two Best Fight awards – and fellow Best Fight nominees Margaret Josephs and Jackie Goldschneider, as well as Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Jennifer Aydin, Danielle Cabral, Rachel Fuda, and Jennifer Fessler.

Documentaries

Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes | Stream from 18 September

Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes on Showmax

Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes explores the full, unvarnished true story of what happened in one of the least understood tragedies of the twentieth century. 

Thirty-six years after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in Soviet Ukraine, newly uncovered archival footage and recorded interviews with those who were present paint an emotional and gripping portrait of the extent and gravity of the disaster and the lengths to which the Soviet government went to cover up the incident, including the soldiers sent in to “liquidate” the damage. 

The HBO documentary has a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and won the 2023 BAFTA TV Award for Editing, Factual, with nominations for Best Single Documentary and Best Director, Factual. 

“It’s a difficult watch, but Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes is one of the year’s best documentaries,” says Decider. 

Tell Them You Love Me | Stream from Wednesday, 4 September

Tell Them You Love Me explores the story of Anna Stubblefield, a university professor who became embroiled in a controversial affair with Derrick Johnson, a non-verbal man with cerebral palsy.

The relationship, and the trial that followed, would become one of the most complex and divisive criminal cases in recent times, challenging our perceptions of disability and the nature of consent. It would raise questions about Anna’s motivations and the validity of the relationship itself. Through exclusive footage and interviews with those on both sides of the case, this feature documentary weaves a riveting and nuanced story about communication, race, and sex.

Executive produced by award-winning documentarian Louis Theroux, Tell Them You Love Me holds a rare 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In their 4/5-star reviews, The Guardian said, “This chilling documentary is vital, challenging TV.”

Local Series

Uthando Nes’Thembu S7 | Binge from Monday, 2 September

Uthando NesThembu Season 6 is on Showmax

Uthando Nes’Thembu offers an intimate and captivating look into the life of Musa Mseleku, a prosperous businessman, who is looking to add a fifth wife to his polygamous family this season. 

The most-watched reality show on Mzansi Magic for the first four five months  of 2024, according to the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa, Uthando Nes’Thembu is up for Most Entertaining Reality Series at the 2024 Behind the Scenes Awards, where it’ll be competing against its spinoff, Izingane Zes’thembu, and Showmax faves like The Real Housewives of Durban, The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip – South Africa, MnaKwethu,  and Kwa Njomane. 

Marry Me Now S2 | Binge from Tuesday, 10 September

Marry Me Now on Showmax

Mzansi Magic’s Marry Me Now S2 showcases determined South African women who take charge of their relationships by orchestrating surprise proposals and weddings in just three days. 

Each week, a new woman plans an elaborate, spontaneous wedding. Will her partner accept the surprise? Will the wedding go off without a hitch? Or will she be left with unexpected results?

Hosted by Ntombee Mzolo, Marry Me Now examines how traditional values and modern romance intersect, providing a fascinating look at how love and tradition can harmoniously coexist.

But that’s not all, folks!

2 September

Tell Me Everything S2

4 September

Love Island US S4

5 September

Nightmare Pageant Moms | The Secret Kingdom

9 September

Isencane Lengane S4 | Manyonyoba S1 | No Excuse Pay Papgeld S4 | Poolman | Rea Tsotella S19 | She is Love | Single & Mingle S1 | The Wish of The Fairy Fish | Umphakathi S3 | X-Repo S6

12 September

Allegiance

13 September

Drift: Partners in Crime S2 | In Die Sop S1-3

18 September

Love Island UK S8

19 September

Panhandle | RMB Starlight Classics 2023 | Simulant

23 September

Knox Goes Away

25 September

Glastonbury 2023

26 September

Implanted

30 September

Borrego | The Kill Room

Original African stories by local talent

Spooksoeker S1 on Showmax

Spooksoeker S1

When Warno Alberts turns 15, he suddenly becomes aware of ghosts in his dorpie – and it’s now his job to banish them. Stream on Showmax from 5 December.

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4Play is on Showmax

4Play

4Play follows four men who, despite their chaotic personal lives, find friendship, love and perseverance in Nairobi’s concrete jungle. Stream now, with new episodes every Thursday.

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Tollie en Manila

Die Tollie & Manila Show

A bold talk show where SA celebs join drag queens Tollie Parton and Manila von Teez for an evening of conversation and games… in drag. Stream now, with new episodes every Monday.

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The Station Strangler on Showmax

The Station Strangler

The Station Strangler is a true-crime documentary investigating the serial killer who is believed to have killed 21 young boys and one adult from the late 80s to the mid-90s on the Cape Flats. Now available to stream.

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Black & Blue on Showmax

Black & Blue S1

Black & Blue, a Showmax Original police-based mockumentary series, now streaming, with new episode every Wednesday.

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Ubuthe Uzobuya on Showmax

Ubuthe Uzobuya

Ubuthe Uzobuya delves into the lives of couples torn apart when one partner abruptly disappears without explanation. Stream now, with new episodes every Tuesday.

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Princess on a Hill is on Showmax

Princess on a Hill

Princess on a Hill is a compelling drama series that explores themes of power, ambition, and the cost of success. Stream now, with new episodes every Thursday.

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Brasse Vannie Kaap on Showmax

Brasse Vannie Kaap

Brasse Vannie Kaap is a documentary about the iconic, game-changing 90s group who helped make hip hop South African. Stream now on Showmax.

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