Vulindlela
Channel: SABC1
TX Time: 20h00
Genre: Documentary, Music, Docu-Drama, Biopic
Vulindlela is a four-part docu-series that charts Brenda Fassie's rise from obscurity to South African music royalty.
After hitting rock bottom, Brenda was written off by the industry but defied expectations and reinvented herself through the iconic album Vulindlela.
Through rare interviews, re-enactments and electrifying performances, the series uncovers her fearless spirit, the creative partnership that shaped her sound, and the empowerment of a generation during one of the country's darkest days.
In Vulindlela, Brenda tells her story through unforgettable music and rare candid interviews that captured her unfiltered essence.
The series features those close to her — family, friends, collaborators and biographers — offering an intimate, firsthand perspective.
The series includes dramatisations featuring a cast led by Brenda Ngxoli as Brenda Fassie and Sphamandla Dhludlu as Chicco Thwala.
In the series premiere, "The Rise of Brenda Fassie": We meet Brenda, a 16-year-old girl with a dream and a voice that would soon capture the heart of a nation.
Her journey begins in Langa, Cape Town, where she first took to the stage at the age of four, performing with a children's group called Tiny Tots.
Family members recall that by the time she turned six, she was already performing for mayors and community audiences, a child who seemed certain she was born to be a star.
Discovered by Koloi Lebona, Brenda's star began to rise with the recording of Weekend Special, a song that catapulted her to fame despite early rejection.
Blondie Makhene recalls how a record label initially refused to record her.
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The Secret Life of Trees
Channel: BBC Earth (DStv 184)
TX Time: 18h00
Genre: Nature, Documentary Series
Trees are remarkable. Some are so old they were growing when the pyramids were still being built.
Some trees can tell the time, while others pass on memories to young saplings.
This fascinating nature documentary examines the mysteries of trees, including how they communicate and care for each other; and how they survive from seedling to mature giant.
What can humans learn from trees?
Filmed over the course of a year, the series travels throughout the UK and Europe exploring the hidden world of Earth's incredible tree population.
In the series premiere, "The Scots Pine": The story of the Scots Pine, and a look at plans to reintroduce it to Ireland from Caledonian forests in Scotland.
Even though it is called the Scots Pine it is native to Ireland and is commonly seen in County Donegal and County Wicklow.
Europe: One Continent – Five Worlds
Channel: Nat Geo Wild (DStv 182 / StarSat 221)
TX Time: 18h00
Genre: Wildlife, Nature, Documentary Series
From the icy desert of Svalbard to the sun-kissed Mediterranean, this six-part wildlife series explores Europe's most important and fascinating habitats, and meets their most remarkable wild inhabitants.
Blue whales, polar bears, wolverines and soaring golden eagles star alongside rarely-seen marvels such as genets, Iberian wolves, Eurasian lynx and rare Persian leopards.
Packed with spectacular imagery and new-to-science behaviour, Europe is one of the most ambitious wildlife series ever made.
Requiring more than 1,000 days of filming on 50 different locations in almost 30 countries, Europe is the first blue-chip landmark series ever to be made about this remarkable continent and is one of the most ambitious wildlife series ever produced.
Helmed by renowned director of photography Christian Baumeister – who also produced and directed the series – Europe employed 30 of the continent's best camera operators, from ten different countries.
Between them, they faced marauding brown bears that destroyed their camp in Romania, headbutting humpback whales that almost swallowed a freediver in the Azores, and temperatures of -10 degrees as they shivered in their tents filming musk oxen in the freezing north of Norway.
The result was a total of 625 hours of raw footage which required a whole year of editing before being scripted by Patrick Makin, one of the UK's foremost writers of natural-history TV.
The result is a glorious homage to the incredible natural history of Europe, and a timely reminder that a world of stunning wildlife is often closer than we realise.
Ghosts 4
Channel: M-Net (DStv 101)
TX Time: 19h00
Genre: Comedy
American adaptation of the British series.
Samantha and Jay throw caution to the wind when they convert their recently inherited country estate into a bed-and-breakfast.
Call it mislaid plans.
Not only is the place falling apart, but it's also inhabited by spirits of previous residents – whom only Samantha can see and hear.
Ghosts spins the funny, heartfelt story about a newfound dream that reveals connection and self-discovery aren't just for the living.
In the Season 4 premiere, "Patience": While Sam and the ghosts race to find him, Isaac comes face to face with Puritan ghost Patience for the first time since she was lost in the dirt.
In the second episode of the weekly double bill, "Sam's Dad": When Sam's dad comes to Woodstone for a visit, Patience puts their father-daughter relationship to the test.
Also, Isaac must deal with the fallout from his breakup with Nigel and Thor and Flower handle an awkward situation with Nancy.
History's Greatest Mysteries 6
Channel: HISTORY (DStv 186)
TX Time: 20h15
Genre: Documentary Series, History
A series of investigative specials that take the world's most well-known mysteries, and challenges everything we know about them.
Narrated and hosted by Laurence Fishburne, the franchise delves into a wide array of some of the most historically important mysteries of recent times.
From unsolved crimes to lost and buried treasures, and the deaths and disappearances of famous figures, History's Greatest Mysteries will explore possible explanations to some of the world's most confounding events.
In the Season 6 premiere, "Roswell": It's one of America's most mythic UFO incidents – a 200-yard swath of debris that landed near Roswell, New Mexico.
Some believe it was an alien craft, others that it was a secret government experiment.
The deeper researchers dig, the more perplexing the story gets. It's a mystery that's endured for nearly 80 years.
So what really crashed in Roswell in 1947?