What to watch on Showmax in April 2024

From the Showmax Roast of Minnie Dlamini to brand-new hit international series including the latest True Detective instalment and Tokyo Vice, and must-see movies including A Thousand and One, there’s something for everyone coming to Showmax this month!

Showmax Originals South Africa

Laugh Africa Presents: The Showmax Roast of Minnie Dlamini | Showmax Original | Stream from Friday, 26 April

The Savanna and Showmax Laugh Africa Comedy Festival is set to get tongues wagging with The Showmax Roast of Minnie Dlamini. Live recorded on Friday, 5 April at the Sandton Convention Centre, this event marks Minnie Dlamini’s debut in the world of comedy roasts. Anticipated to be a night of humour and jeering, Dlamini looks forward to a lighthearted take on her illustrious career and personal anecdotes.

Roast masters Tumi Morake and Jason Goliath oversee a panel that includes comedy bigwigs Celeste Ntuli and Trevor Gumbi, celebrated TV broadcasters Penny Lebyane and Robert Marawa, cut-throat journalist Shahan Ramkissoon, award-winning YouTuber Lasizwe, rapper Da L.E.S, and actor Siv Ngesi.

The Winning Ticket | Showmax Original | Stream from Friday, 12 April

The Winning Ticket is a Showmax Original film about a family who win the lotto jackpot – and then nearly lose themselves.

Lerato Makhetha (A Safe Bet) and Simphiwe Ngema (Muvhango) co-star as the happily married couple, with Amina Jack (Thokozani Zungu in Isibaya) and Quinton Madlala (Ba Strata) as their kids. Also look out for Tinah Mnumzama (The River, Saints and Sinners) as their guardian angel.

Written by Caroline Kganyago (The River, Abomkhulu, Goodbye Gogo), The Winning Ticket is produced by Kerry Media Productions with Star Mphahlele (Mkhize to Masemola, AboMkhulu) directing. Mphahlele won the African Rising Star award at the 2023 Joburg Film Festival.

International series

True Detective: Night Country | Binge from 22 April

When the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the eight men who operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace.

To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers (two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.

Night Country is the most watched season of True Detective, as well as the best-reviewed, with a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics’ consensus there says, “Frighteningly atmospheric and anchored by Jodie Foster and Kali Reis’ superb performances, Night Country is a fresh and frosty variation on True Detective’s existential themes,” while The Guardian’s 5/5-star review says, “a blazing Jodie Foster makes this show better than ever before.” Similarly, The Ringer declared True Detective: Night Country the “first can’t-miss show of 2024.”

Having topped IMDb’s Most Popular TV charts globally, it’s no surprise HBO has already ordered another season.

Fellow Travelers | First On Showmax | Stream from 26 April, with new eps on Fridays

Created by Oscar nominee Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia, Homeland), based on the novel by Thomas Mallon, Fellow Travelers is an epic love story and political thriller that chronicles the volatile romance of two very different men who meet in McCarthy-era Washington.

Emmy nominee Matt Bomer (David Oppenheim in Maestro, Donald in The Boys in the Band) was nominated for Golden Globe, Critics Choice, Screen Actors Guild and People’s Choice awards as the handsome, charismatic Hawkins Fuller, who has a rewarding behind-the scenes career in politics. Hawkins avoids emotional entanglements – until he falls in love with Tim Laughlin (Jonathan Bailey from Bridgerton and Broadchurch in a Critics Choice Award-winning performance), a young man brimming with idealism and religious faith.

The story follows its central characters over the course of four decades, from the height of the Lavender Scare through the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the ‘70s, and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.

Fellow Travelers holds an 8.2/10 score on IMDb and 91% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with
AV Club saying it’s “as heart-wrenching as it is heartwarming,” and Variety praising Bomer and Bailey’s “electric chemistry,” saying, “Hawk and Tim’s relationship shifts over the decades, but their erotic intimacy and attraction reverberate off the screen.”

Black Ops | First On Showmax | Mondays from 29 April

Who said infiltrating a criminal gang was going to be easy?

The BBC series Black Ops is set in East London and follows two inept community support officers, Dom and Kay, who join the Met Police in the hope of cleaning up their community but are unwittingly thrust into the murky world of deep cover infiltration as they become part of a powerful criminal enterprise.

The six-part comedy crime-thriller is co-created, written and exec produced by Nigerian-British BAFTA winners Gbemisola Ikumelo (Famalam, Brain In Gear) and Akemnji Ndifornyen (Famalam, The Queen’s Gambit), who star alongside award winner Hammed Animashaun (The Wheel of Time, Cunk & Other Humans on 2019, Pls Like).

Already renewed for a second season, Black Ops was nominated for Best Comedy Performance (for Ikumelo) at the 2023 Talk Telly Awards, as well as the 2023 Royal Television Society, UK award for Original Score – Scripted.

Tokyo Vice S1 | Binge from 12 April

Loosely inspired by Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction, first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat, Tokyo Vice captures the American journalist’s daily descent into the neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo in the late 90s, where nothing and no one was truly what or who they seemed.

Golden Globe nominee Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver) stars as Adelstein, opposite Oscar nominees Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai) and Rinko Kikuchi (Babel, Pacific Rim), and the likes of Rachel Keller (A Man Called Otto, Fargo).

Four-time Oscar nominee Michael Mann (Heat) directs the pilot and is an executive producer, while Tony Award-winning playwright J.T. Rogers is the show creator.

Tokyo Vice has an 88% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, hailed as “beautifully shot and elegantly acted” by Variety and “addictive and brilliant” by Collider.

Power Book II: Ghost S3 | Binge from 9 April

The first spin-off series in the award-winning Power crime drama franchise, Ghost stars BET Award nominee Michael Rainey Jr. as Tariq St. Patrick, the son of drug dealer James “Ghost” St. Patrick.

Grammy winners Cliff “Method Man” Smith and Mary J. Blige are both back this season, while new faces include Black Reel nominee Keesha Sharp (American Crime Story, Lethal Weapon, Girlfriends), British-Nigerian Caroline Chikezie (Æon Flux, The Passage), and American-Nigerian Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire, The Deuce) as billionaire Ron Samuel Jenkins.

Created by Emmy nominee Courtney A. Kemp (The Good Wife), Ghost has already been renewed for a fourth season.

Chicago Med S8 | Binge from 1 April

Following a fiery Season 7 finale, Chicago’s most highly skilled medical team is back at Gaffney Chicago Medical Centre.

Brace yourself for several major cast shakeups this season that’ll mean saying goodbye to beloved characters – both at the start and end of the season.

Sasha Roiz (9-1-1) joins the cast as ambitious shareholder Jack Dayton, whose arrival could spell trouble for the trauma unit.

Also look out for the welcome return of April Sexton (Teen Choice nominee Yaya DaCosta), who we last saw in Season 6.

Ten Pound Poms | Binge from 1 April

Ten Pound Poms follows a group of Brits as they leave post-war Britain in 1956 to embark on a life-altering adventure on the other side of the world. For only a tenner, they have been promised a better house, better job prospects and a better quality of life by the sea in sun-soaked Australia. But life down under isn’t exactly the idyllic dream the new arrivals have been promised.

As Terry Roberts, Warren Brown (The Responder, Luther) won Best Actor at the 2023 Monte-Carlo TV Festival, where Ten Pound Poms was nominated for Best TV Series.

Created by BAFTA nominee Danny Brocklehurst (Brassic, Accused), the six-part historical drama also stars award-winner Michelle Keegan (Our Girl) and Screen Actors Guild nominee Faye Marsay (Andor).

Everything I Know About Love | Binge from 22 April

In Everything I Know About Love, Maggie and Birdy, besties since school, finally land in London to live it large when the unexpected happens – dependable Birdy gets a steady boyfriend.

Adapted by award-winning journalist Dolly Alderton from her own wildly funny, occasionally heart-breaking, and bestselling memoir, the series is led by Emma Appleton as Maggie and BAFTA and Critics Choice Award nominee Bel Powley (A Small Light, The Morning Show, The King of Staten Island) as as Birdy.

The seven-part comedy-drama has an 96% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus calls it “an absolute blast.” Time Magazine adds, “Appleton and Powley are irresistible as mutually adoring friends, and the escapist pleasures of 20-something life a mere decade ago make for an ideal vacation.”

Moonshine S2 | Binge from 10 April

A raucous tale of lust, legacy and lobster, Moonshine tells the story of the Finley-Cullens, a dysfunctional family of adult half-siblings battling to take control of the ailing family business, a rundown summer resort in Nova Scotia.

The show has already earned 24 nominations in its native Canada, winning Best TV Series at the Screen Nova Scotia Awards, and earning nominations at the Leo Awards for Tom Stevens (Wayward Pines, Deadly Class) and at the Canadian Screen Awards for Jennifer Finnigan, Emma Hunter, and Peter MacNeill (Good Witch, Nightmare Alley, A History of Violence).

Decider calls it “a fun show with a dreamy, summer vibe.”

Gordita Chronicles | First On Showmax | Stream from 22 April, with new eps on Mondays

The year is 1985 and Cucu “Gordita” Castelli (Olivia Goncalves) has just said goodbye to all of her friends and family in Santo Domingo and moved to Miami with her marketing executive father Víctor (Juan Javier Cardenas), bold and vivacious mother Adela (Diana Maria Riva), and suddenly status-obsessed older sister Emilia (Savannah Nicole Ruiz). While life in America is far from what they imagined, the Castellis are determined to take charge of their strange new world.

Executive produced by multi-award-winners Zoe Saldaña and Eva Longoria, Gordita Chronicles has a 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Hollywood Reporter calling it “a big-hearted charmer.”

At the 2023 Image Foundation Awards, Gordita Chronicles was nominated for Best Primetime Comedy.

International movies

The Flash | Stream from 22 April

Nominated for Best Superhero Series, Limited Series Or Made-For-TV Movie at the 2024 Critics Choice Super Awards, DC’s The Flash sees worlds collide when Barry Allen uses his super speed to change the past. But his attempt to save his family creates a world without superheroes, forcing him to race for his life in order to save the future.

The #20 biggest movie of 2023, The Flash is directed by multi-award winner Andy Muschietti (the It films), with Ezra Miller reprising their Justice League role as Barry Allen. The stacked support cast includes Oscar nominees Michael Keaton and Michael Shannon as well as cameos from the likes of Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Jeremy Irons, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, and more.

CNN.com says The Flash “wears its love for the comics that inspired it on its crimson-streaked sleeve. Funny, action-packed and effectively touching…” while Rotten Tomatoes calls it, “one of the best DC movies in recent years.”

The Fabelmans | Stream from 25 April

Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical masterwork The Fabelmans was nominated for seven Oscars last year and won 30 awards, including Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director.

The film follows young Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle from The Predator and American Gigolo, in a Critics Choice Award-winning role) as he grows up in post-World War II-era Arizona and falls in love with filmmaking.

Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea, My Week with Marilyn) and Judd Hirsch (Ordinary People, Independence Day) were up for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor Oscars for their roles as Sammy’s artistic mother, Mitzi, and her uncle Boris respectively. The cast also includes the likes of Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and even four-time Oscar-nominated director David Lynch as four-time Oscar-winning director John Ford.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem | Stream from 28 April

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, after years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.

Among other accolades, Mutant Mayhem has been nominated as Best Animated Film at the 2024 Annie and Critics Choice Awards, as well as Best Superhero Movie at the 2024 Critics Choice Super Awards, where Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) is up for Best Actress in the category. Also listen out for the likes of Paul Rudd, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Post Malone, Ice Cube, Emmy winner Maya Rudolph, Emmy nominees Seth Rogen, Giancarlo Esposito and Rose Byrne, and YouTube phenomenon Mr. Beast.

Mutant Mayhem is the best reviewed film (or series) in the franchise yet, with a 95% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus says, “With its unique visual style and a story that captures the essence of the franchise’s appeal, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is an animated treat for the whole family.”

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken | Stream from 14 April

Sometimes the hero you are meant to be lies just beneath the surface.

In Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken, DreamWorks Animation dives into the turbulent waters of high school with a hilarious, heartfelt action comedy about a shy teenager who discovers that she’s part of a legendary royal lineage of mythical sea krakens and that her destiny, in the depths of the oceans, is bigger than she ever dreamed.

Listen out for Teen Choice nominee Lana Condor (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) as Ruby, as well as the likes of Oscar nominees Toni Collette (Knives Out) and Colman Domingo (Rustin), Oscar winner Jane Fonda, and Emmy winner Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek).

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 | Stream from 1 April

Our favourite Big Fat Greek Family is back in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. Join the Portokalos family on a new adventure as they travel to a family reunion in Greece for a heartwarming and hilarious trip full of love, twists and turns. Opa!

Franchise writer and star Nia Vardalos was nominated for an Oscar, a Critics Choice award, and a Golden Globe for the original My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the sleeper hit indie that went on to become the highest-grossing romcom of 2002.

Vardalos steps in to direct this time round as well, and reprises her role as Fotoula “Toula” Portokalos alongside the likes of Emmy winner Andrea Martin (Only Murders in the Building, Evil), Emmy nominee John Corbett (Sex and the City/And Just Like That’s Aidan Shaw) and NSYNC band member and TV personality Joey Fatone.

Mafia Mamma | Stream from 29 April

Oscar nominee Toni Collette (Knives Out) stars in Mafia Mamma, an action-packed comedy about a suburban American mom who inherits her grandfather’s Mafia empire and, guided by the Firm’s trusted consigliere, defies everyone’s expectations, including her own, as the new head of the family business.

IndieWire says, “Collette is in her comedic prime… and it’s easy to enjoy when she is having so much fun herself.”

Directed by Sundance winner Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Twilight), Mafia Mamma’s cast includes Golden Globe Italy winner Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Revolutions) and Sophia Nomvete (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), the niece of Lockdown star Pamela Nomvete.

Justice League: Warworld | Stream from 29 April

Until now, the Justice League has been a loose association of superpowered individuals. But when they are swept away to War World, a place of unending brutal gladiatorial combat, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the others must somehow unite to form an unbeatable resistance able to lead an entire planet to freedom.

Listen out for People’s Choice winners Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) and Stana Katic (Castle) as Batman and Wonder Woman respectively, as well as Emmy winner Darren Criss (The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Glee) as Superman.

As Decider says, “This is an excellent DC movie that travels off the beaten path when it comes to animated superhero movies. It’s mature, exciting, inventive, and a lot of fun… Anyone who loves Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman should certainly make some time to hungrily devour this movie.”

Reality

Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show | Wednesdays from 10 April

Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show is a darkly funny documentary series about the Emmy-winning comedian’s tumultuous quest for love, sex, and truth.

The HBO Original had its world premiere at SXSW in March 2024 and currently has a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Time says, “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show makes reality TV – hilariously, painfully – real again,” while The Hollywood Reporter says, “I laughed and covered my eyes in mortification in equal measure — and since I finished my screeners, I haven’t stopped thinking about it.”

Nigerian Idol S9 | Mondays from 22 April

Season 9 of the popular reality TV singing competition Nigerian Idol will be available to stream on Showmax from Monday, 22 April 2024, a day after it premieres on Africa Magic channels.

The excitement continues on Nigerian Idol Extra, special bonus content featuring a compilation of the most memorable and entertaining moments from the auditions, which will also be available to stream daily.

With the theme “Let your dreams take flight”, Season 9 is set to take audiences on a musical journey with three new judges: Omawumi, Ric Hassani and 9ice. Award-winning media personality IK Osakioduwo, returns as host for this season.

Die Brug | Binge from 25 April

In Die Brug [The Bridge], twelve strangers must work together to build a bridge in a remote, rugged and pristine location, with one hoping to walk away with prize money of R1 million. 

Neil Sandilands (Sweet Tooth, DAM) narrates the acclaimed kykNET adventure reality series, which is produced by multi-award-winners Red Pepper Pictures (Big Brother South Africa). 

Documentaries

Hougaard: Liefling van Loftus S1 | Stream 24 April 2024 

A Currie Cup winner at 19. A Springbok kicking legend from 20. Google’s sixth most-searched person in South Africa in 2023, at 40…

Derick Hougaard has been a household name in South Africa for years, and people have always had a lot to say about him. In Hougaard: Liefling van Loftus, he finally tells his side of the story, opening up about his injuries, the breakup of his marriage, and his coma last year.  

The six-part series is produced by Rian van Heerden’s production company, Provoco (SAFTA winner Sex in Afrikaans).

Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off | Stream from 13 April

Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off is a wide-ranging definitive look at one of the most influential skateboarders of all time, who is still pushing his limits in his 50s.

Named Best Sports Documentary at last year’s Producers Guild Awards, the HBO documentary features unprecedented access, never-before-seen footage, and interviews with Hawk and prominent figures in the sport including Stacy Peralta and Rodney Mullen.

Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off has a 96% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As The LA Times says, “ What makes this such an engaging and enlightening documentary is Hawk himself — so frank and reflective in his interviews.”

When We Were Bullies | Stream from 6 April

In When We Were Bullies, a mind-boggling coincidence leads filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt to track down his fifth-grade class and fifth-grade teacher to examine their memory of and complicity in a bullying incident 50 years ago.

The HBO short documentary premiered at Sundance and was nominated for an Oscar.

The Daily Beast calls the “35-minute gem” “a candid confrontation of an old wound that’s never quite healed.”

Comedy

Bill Maher: #Adulting | Stream from 24 April

Bill Maher: #Adulting returns the Emmy-winning satirist, comedian and host of the long-running HBO political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher to our screens with a hilariously fresh and scathing stand-up comedy special, treating us to his signature commentary on the latest hot-button issues.

What else is coming to Showmax in April 2024?

1 April

Arranged Love, The Best Man, Flushed Away, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, No Excuse Pay Papgeld, You Promised To Marry Me S3, Young Mums S1, X-Repo S3

3 April

CAUGH*T, Lenyaloha Se Papadi S1

4 April

Bakugan: Armored Alliance S1, Jaws 1-3, Jaws: The Revenge, King Kong, Lui Maar Op Belinda S3, Shamed, The Snow Queen and the Princess

5 April

365 Days S1, Shine

8 April

A Killer Romance, Crazy About You, Happy Gilmore, The Great Wall, The Independent

11 April

47 Ronin, The Adjustment Bureau, The Barkers Team, The Change-Up

14 April

Valentynssokkie

15 April

Alien Sniperress, Battle of Los Angeles, Casino, Dloz’Lami S5, Fear The Night, Heart of Dragon, S’Khipha Amafiles S2, Skinny Tiger & Fatty Dragon, The Manny, The Snowman, Umndeni S4, Wanderlus S2

18 April

Back to the Dinosaurs, Jurassic Park 1 and 3, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Three Day Millionaire

19 April

Stars S2

22 April

Deadly DILF, Five Feet Apart, Full Alert, Killer Profile, Kungfu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction, Mamazala S13,

25 April

Afrikaans Is Groot, Balboa BLVD, Ex Machina, Lucy, The Chronicles of Riddick

26 April

Splash S1

27 April

Grown Woman S1

29 April

Twister Housesitter 1 and 2