6 shows to stream while you’re doing other things

Showmax is packed full of shows that are perfect as background noise – and you can binge them in bucketloads while you’re busy on another screen or completing a mindless task.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Detective Jake Peralta is the hottest cop in Brooklyn. He’s also the defacto leader of his motley precinct of over-the-top characters who somehow always get their man. From the stickler for details Captain Holt (Andre Braugher), to the clueless, eat-everything-in-sight Scully and Hitchcock (Joel McKinnon Miller and Dirk Blocker), the team turn the most routine of investigations on its head as they bumble their way thought cases.

Perfect for background because… the cases are utterly ridiculous and you don’t need to worry about the finer details because they’re too wild to be real.

AP Bio

What’s the worst thing that could happen to a philosophy professor? Being chucked out of his varsity job and forced to return to his hometown to wallow in jealousy and self-pity. Except it gets worse for Jack Griffin (Glenn Howerton) – the only job he can find is teaching AP Biology at his old high school. But it’s also the perfect opportunity for him to mould his eager young minds and use them to get back at the people who’ve treated him badly over the years.

Perfect for background because… Jack and his kids are ridiculously cute when they plan their attack, but the plans are pretty basic and don’t require too much focus.

Temptation Island South Africa

It’s a dating reality show with a difference – the contestant couples are tempted by hot young singles of the opposite sex who’re grooving and bumping their booties to the tune of love. The problem for the main people in the game is that they’re trying to stay true to their true loves while being tempted to sin, and sometimes that sin tastes far sweeter than the romance they entered the mansion with.

Perfect for background because… it’s a mindless reality dating show. The only thing that could steal your attention is looking at the tempting hot singles: they’re easy on the eyes!

Survivor, Survivor SA & Survivor Immunity Island

Twelve seasons of reality TV’s granddaddy show is loads to binge. Internationally it’s hosted by Jeff Probst, while Nico Panagio rules the roost on the local versions. A bunch of people (usually 18 castaways) are dumped on an island or remote getaway with nothing but the shirts on their back as they’re told to outwit, outplay and outlast everyone else to be crowned Ultimate Survivor. And that’s when the strategising, scheming and backstabbing begins…

Perfect for background because… there are so many episodes and you don’t need to focus on people running across obstacle courses to win a burger meal or individual immunity. Sure, you might miss someone bailing off a pole or face-planting on the beach, but that’s not important.

My Kitchen Rules SA

A bunch of local amateur chefs get their dream: to prepare a three-course meal to show off their skills, talents and culinary flair as they’re rated by the other four pairs and the judges – professional chef David Higgs and musician J’Something. The votes don’t lie and those who score highest end up competing for the title of My Kitchen Rules.

Perfect for background because… the editing is amazing, so you see very little of what goes wrong and only what goes right, more or less. If episodes were two hours and showed everything that happens in the kitchen, it would be a very different story using this as a background filler.

The Single Wives SA

Reality dating show at its best… and easiest to watch. Six 30+ single moms are looking for love in Mzansi and they’re getting professional help from a dating guru and a relationship coach who’re helping the divorcees to find love again by getting back into the dating world, which they’ve put aside to focus on their children and work.

Perfect as background because… it’s cheesy and you don’t need to see what’s going on on the screen to hear the wives blushing and giggling like schoolgirls who’re getting close to their crushes. It’s also just 12 episodes and they fly past.