Mzansi Ex-Offenders
Channel: SABC2
TX Time: 20h00
Genre: Docu-Reality
Hosted by TT Mbha, the show follows real people as they fight to reclaim their roles in the community and reconnect with their families after being released from prison.
It goes beyond entertainment and aims to spark a national conversation on redemption, family and second chances.
Each episode lays bare the psychological toll of estrangement, depression, low self-worth and displaced anger, while holding space for transformation, forgiveness and healing.
Set in South Africa's townships and correctional centres, the series offers a raw, human and redemptive journey.
Through intimate storytelling, the series challenges the notion that ex-offenders are unfit parents, unpacking the regrets, stigma and pain of lost time.
Episodes feature the ex-offender, their child (where appropriate), the child's mother, family and friends, providing a layered perspective on the journey to rebuild bonds.
The show presents a distinctive perspective on themes of family, societal reintegration and personal growth, inviting you to think, feel and reflect from a different perspective.
By highlighting the courage it takes to mend relationships, the series opens doors for meaningful dialogue and underscores that every human being has the potential to change and show up differently.
One of Us
Channel: S3
TX Time: 20h30
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Miniseries
A modern thriller set in the Highlands of Scotland and Edinburgh.
A horrific double murder rocks the lives of two families living side-by-side in isolated rural Scotland.
But instead of focusing on the investigation, One of Us explores the fallout for the grieving relatives, and the dark consequences that threaten to shatter their lives.
The series is an intense morality tale which will keep the audience guessing until its devastating climax.
Adam Elliot and Grace Douglas are childhood sweethearts, just back from their honeymoon when they are brutally murdered.
Their families, neighbours in the remote Scottish Highland village of Braeston, are devastated.
But their world is turned upside down when the murderer arrives on their doorstep the night after the killing.
A storm has been raging, and his car comes off the road.
When the two families find him, badly injured, they are faced with a terrible dilemma...
In the search for answers, skeletons are unearthed and old wounds reopened.
Everyone has secrets, but when the lines between right and wrong, good and bad, true and false, become blurred, how do you cope with the lasting and deadly consequences?
Unexpected 7
Channel: TLC Entertainment (DStv 135)
TX Time: 21h00
Genre: Reality
It's hard enough being a teenager, and even more so when you're pregnant.
This series takes an unflinching look at the highs and lows of three unplanned teenage pregnancies and the impact these new additions have on their families.
Adding to the already complex family relationships, each one of these young mothers was herself the child of a teen mum.
The new season follows eight teens who are navigating pregnancy, parenthood and the realities that come far sooner than expected.
The series captures the emotional highs and lows, financial pressures and evolving family dynamics, all while these young soon-to-be parents work to figure out their new normal amid the chaos unfolding around them.
This season brings together a mix of new teen couples, ages 13 to 18, offering an unfiltered look at the moments that shape their journeys.
From baby showers to births to unexpectedly difficult decisions, grandparents step in, opinions collide and tensions rise as everyone pushes for what they believe is best for the baby.
In the Season 7 premiere, "You're Pregnant, Now What?": Bella and Hunter enjoy a family golf day, but tension brews when it is revealed Hunter is failing school.
Isabella pressures Bryce to find a job and Amya goes into labor - after 23 hours and an epidural, she prepares to push with her mom and Jose by her side.
Inside the Factory 9
Channel: BBC Earth (DStv 184)
TX Time: 19h00
Genre: Technology, Science, Food
With exclusive access to some of the world's biggest and busiest factories – some opening their doors to TV cameras for the very first time – this behind-the-scenes documentary series reveals the secrets of consumer goods.
New host Paddy McGuinness and Cherry Healey visit factories that produce some of our favourite foods on a massive scale, from sliced bread to flapjacks and sausage rolls.
In the Season 9 premiere, "Chocolate Seashells": Paddy is fully immersing himself in the festive spirit as he explores a huge chocolate factory in Belgium.
With lots of taste tests to enjoy along the way, he embraces the fantastic processes and surprising science that enable the epic production lines to knock out four million individual chocolates every day.
And they're especially busy in the run-up to Christmas.
Paddy is at the Guylian chocolate factory, on the outskirts of the very Christmassy-sounding city of Saint Niklas in Belgium, to learn how they produce chocolate seashells ready for the Christmas rush.
He begins by meeting Kevin Stevens at the factory's intake bay to welcome in a bumper delivery of hazelnuts from Turkey.
Kevin tells Paddy that the hazelnuts are a key component in the praline filling inside each of the chocolate shells.
Once the sacks of nuts are safely inside the warehouse, Paddy is chuffed to learn that the size of the nuts is very important.
They must be between eight and 11 millimetres; any bigger and they'll be too fatty, any smaller and they'll be too dry.
Luckily, Paddy's nuts make the grade, and he follows 7,500 kilograms of them inside the factory.
Resplendent in his factory hairnet, Paddy's next stop is the intriguingly named Kettle Room.
As he enters, he is blown away by the delicious smell and intrigued by the traditional-looking machinery.
With the help of an automated shoot, a torrent of hazelnuts and refined white sugar cascades into one of six copper kettles.
The kettles are heated to around 140 degrees Celsius, which roasts the nuts to draw out their subtle flavours.
At the same time, the sugar caramelises.
The result is a beautifully sweet, nutty mixture. The problem is, it's too chunky to be anywhere near a smooth praline paste.
To solve this, the mixture is sent through a mincer, which produces a fine crumb with a melt-in-the-mouth texture.
Paddy is in heaven in his first of many taste tests.
Then things get even better, as milk chocolate is added to produce a velvety smooth hazelnut praline.
With the centre of his chocolates made, Paddy is guided to the enormous, automated seashell production line.
Two thousand six hundred moulds in the shape of different seashells continuously travel through the line.
As they make their way along, half receive a splash of white chocolate and half a splash of milk chocolate, then an additional layer of chocolate is added to create the marbled effect that the finished chocolates are known for.
In a surprising twist, each and every mould is flipped upside down, letting the chocolate pour out.
But Paddy needn't worry; it's all part of the plan to ensure the perfect amount of chocolate is left in the moulds to create the outer shell.
After travelling through a cooler, it's time for the hazelnut praline that Paddy helped to make earlier.
Eighty-eight taps gently release an average of 6.8 grams of the praline filling into each half of the chocolate shells.
Then, to complete the seashell shape, the two moulded halves are joined together.
Just three hours and five minutes after the start of production, Paddy delights in the sight of finished chocolate seashells streaming past him, and he can't help but get stuck into one - or two.
As the final act of this sweet Christmas drama draws to a close, the chocolates head to the packing area, where they're dropped into blister packs and then slid inside cardboard boxes and sent to the dispatch area.
And because the site is so large, there's only one way to get there – by bicycle.
The six-year-old Paddy couldn't have dreamt of a better Christmas present: riding a bike through a chocolate factory.
Four hours and 25 minutes after the start of production, Paddy waves off a lorry load of chocolate from one of the loading bays.
From the factory in Belgium, the seashells head off all over the world.
But it's the Brits who eat the most at Christmas, putting away a whopping 44.7-million chocolate shells over the festive period.
Elsewhere in the episode, Cherry is also in Belgium, at another massive chocolate factory, learning how they produce the white chocolate used in Paddy's chocolate seashells.
And she enlists the help of mathematician Bobby Seagull to explore the art, or rather the maths, of Christmas tree decoration.
And historian Ruth Goodman is in Belgian too, exploring how Belgian chocolate has become world-famous, and she delves into the European origins of Santa Claus.
Inside 3
Channel: Netflix South Africa
TX Time: 10h00 (all episodes)
Genre: Reality Competition, Reality
One house. One million pounds. A whole lot of influencers.
Content creators take on a series of jaw-dropping challenges for the potential to win a huge prize fund in this reality series from viral YouTubers, the Sidemen.