World's Biggest Mako
Channel: Nat Geo Wild (DStv 182 / StarSat 221)
TX Time: 18h00
Genre: Wildlife, Documentary, SharkFest
World's Biggest Mako explores whether a once thought to be endangered giant mako may be staging a remarkable comeback.
A team of scientists and a cinematographer search the waters north of New Zealand to find giant mako.
With the help of a local fisherman who has worked this stretch of ocean for decades, they encounter a series of increasingly large mako sharks.
While endangered elsewhere on the planet, this team discovers a population of mako that might be making a comeback.
Elders 8: Viëtnam
Channel: kykNET (DStv 144)
TX Time: 20h00
Genre: Documentary Series, Afrikaans, Travel
Is Vietnam on your bucket list? If not, the eighth season of Elders might quickly make you reconsider.
In this season, hiker and writer Erns Grundling leaves his comfort zone for an epic journey from North to South Vietnam to share the country's natural beauty, rich history, friendly people and delicious food.
The action begins in Hanoi and moves to places like Sa Pa, near the border of China, followed by iconic destinations such as Ha Long Bay, Ninh Binh, Phong Nha's caves and Ho Chi Minh City.
The series was filmed over 40 days.
Although Erns missed his wife and twin baby boys terribly, he describes it as an enormous privilege to live out his passion for travel and stories together with a fantastic camera crew.
In the Season 8 premiere: Erns bids farewell to his loved ones in the new season of Elders and travels to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
He explores the colourful city's street food culture and rides an old army vehicle to several iconic landmarks.
Celebrity Race Across the World 3
Channel: BBC Earth (DStv 184)
TX Time: 19h00
Genre: Reality Competition
Famous faces team up with a loved one for a transformative experience that will push them to their limits, journeying to places they would not otherwise venture.
Leaving behind their creature comforts, the pairs will undertake an epic 5,900km race through the entirety of Central America.
They say goodbye to their VIP lifestyles, smartphones and bank cards.
Armed with just a map and a limited budget, they must race to reach the finish line.
Tested to the extremes, they need to rely on their ingenuity as well as the kindness of strangers on an unforgettable but at times punishing adventure.
Once again, joining the celebrities are their nearest and dearest, providing a unique insight into the people we think we know through the eyes of those who truly do.
Competing in this season are broadcaster Roman Kemp and his sister Harleymoon, Big Boys and Derry Girls actor Dylan Llewellyn with his mum, Jackie, broadcaster and writer Anita Rani with her dad, Bal, and actor and singer Molly Rainford along with her partner, presenter and DJ Tyler West.
The race begins on Isla Mujeres, the easternmost point of Mexico and a sacred island of the Maya.
The teams must pass through five checkpoints to reach the finish line on the Guajira Peninsula, the northernmost region of South America.
They will journey across varied landscapes, from the golden sand beaches of the Caribbean coastline, through indigenous highland regions, to Panama City, the cosmopolitan heart of Central America, bypassing one of the world's most dangerous migration routes, the Darien Gap, to end on the primitive desert headland of Colombia.
Roman (32) and Harleymoon (35) are first to arrive, hoping to evolve their relationship from strictly siblings to solid friends.
Roman, the self-confessed worrier of the pair, leans on his free-spirited older sister when race decisions get tough.
Next to arrive is Anita (47) who can't wait to take her dad, Bal (68), on the adventure of a lifetime.
Having worked so hard his entire life, they have never even holidayed together.
This will be the first time they have spent so much time in such proximity to each other since Anita left home.
Determined to prioritise their experiences along the way, they visit ancient Maya ruins in Belize.
Dylan (32) and his mum, Jackie (59), start off on a hesitant foot and are quick to assume the self-proclaimed title of 'Team Tortoise'.
Determined to do their own thing and avoid stress, they set their sights on having fun in cultural capital Merida, hoping to pick up speed using expensive train transport.
Young couple Molly Rainford (24) and Tyler West (28) are more accustomed to all-inclusive, resort-style holidays, but they’re ready to switch things up and embrace the backpacking experience they missed out on when they were younger, starting with a job at a habanero chilli farm off the grid in rural Mexico.
As the season unfolds, relationships will be tested, friendships formed and chance encounters will create experiences like no other in awe-inspiring locations.
With these famous faces being pushed like never before and just their loved ones for support, the race is well and truly on.
The Cult of the Real Housewife
Channel: Investigation Discovery (DStv 171 / StarSat 223)
TX Time: 21h00
Genre: True Crime, Documentary Series, Reality
A three-part docuseries that investigates The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Mary Cosby and the church she shares with her husband, Robert Cosby Sr., Faith Temple Pentecostal Church.
With claims of spiritual and financial and misconduct circling Cosby and the church, The Cult of the Real Housewife unpacks the allegations behind the headlines and reveals the darker and more unsettling truth.
Over three parts, the series traces the dramatic rise of Faith Temple from its founding by the beloved Rosemary 'Mama' Cosby, grandmother of Mary Crosby, to her passing, the controversial transfer of leadership, and her husband's marriage to Mary.
This hotly-contested bequeathment pushed Faith Temple into a controversial, new era.
In addition to exploring the church and the allegations against it, the docuseries will elevate the voices of ex-congregants speaking out for the first time, including long-standing pillars of Faith Temple, the Enoch family, and provide deeply personal and disturbing accounts from family members such as Mary's sister, Denise Jefferson Odinaka, and Mary's cousin, Dan Cosby, along with his wife, Kim.
The docuseries also features investigative journalists and bloggers who have been tracking this story from the beginning, as well as a leading cult expert who can offer insight around a playbook designed to enforce loyalty in mind-control cults.
Featuring access to recordings of controversial sermons delivered by Mary and Robert Cosby Sr., as well as extensive archival from the early days of Faith Temple, The Cult of the Real Housewife pulls back the salacious headlines and social media takes to dive deeper and unpack one of the most enduring mysteries at the core of the scandal: how have Mary and Robert Cosby Sr. managed to avoid accountability for so long?
Die Boere van Patagonië
Channel: kykNET (DStv 144)
TX Time: 20h30
Genre: Documentary, Afrikaans
NOTE: this show was erroneously promoted as starting in June.
A nearly forgotten chapter of Afrikaner history is being brought back to life in this documentary series.
With the series Voetspore, Johan Badenhorst has introduced us to remote parts of the world for decades.
Now he tells the remarkable story of the Afrikaners who built a new life in Argentina after the Anglo-Boer War.
The war left many Afrikaners devastated.
Farms were burnt down, crops destroyed, livestock wiped out and thousands of women and children died in concentration camps.
Many families felt there was only one option left: to leave South Africa in search of a new future elsewhere.
While some emigrated to places such as Tanzania and Madagascar, around 600 Afrikaners eventually undertook the long journey to Argentina, where they were invited to help develop the sparsely populated region of Patagonia.
There, in a landscape much like the Karoo, but with harsher winters, relentless winds and on isolated farms, the Boers tried to carve out a new life.
Today, their descendants still live there – with surnames such as Van der Merwe, Kruger, Botha and Pelser – and although many have become Spanish-speaking over the years, elements of Afrikaner culture still survive.
They play Boeremusiek, dance langarm and braai lamb ribs over open coals.
And sometimes, they still speak Afrikaans – a form of the language that has remained largely unchanged since their ancestors left South Africa more than a century ago.
While Afrikaans in South Africa continued to evolve and became standardised over the decades, old expressions and words still survive in Patagonia.
Die Boere van Patagonië not only explores the historical reasons behind the migration to Argentina, but also asks important questions about identity, language, culture and heritage.
The five-part series examines the devastation of the Anglo-Boer War and the reasons behind the emigration, the challenges the Boers faced in Patagonia, the discovery of oil and the role Afrikaners played in it, as well as the preservation of Afrikaans culture and language in Argentina.
The series also speculates about what the future of Afrikaans in Patagonia may hold.
The documentary was filmed over two months in both South Africa and Argentina.
In South Africa, the focus falls on the communities from which the emigrants originally came, while the Argentinian leg of the production centres on Buenos Aires, Comodoro Rivadavia, Sarmiento and surrounding areas where the Boers settled.
Die Boere van Patagonië capture a part of history and culture on the brink of oblivion, and it may be the last time that these stories were told firsthand in Afrikaans.
Parenthood
Channel: S3
TX Time: 18h00
Genre: Comedy-Drama
Comedy-drama series based on the 1989 film of the same title that revolves around the large, colourful and imperfect Braverman family, which has expanded to three generations.
Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham), a financially strapped single mother, is packing up her Fresno apartment and uprooting her two inconvenienced kids, Amber (Mae Whitman) and Drew (Miles Heizer), to make a big move back home to Berkeley to be closer to her family.
On the home front, Sarah is greeted by her larger-than-life, headstrong father, Zeek (Craig T. Nelson), and pillar-of-strength mother, Camille (Bonnie Bedelia), who are privately dealing with their own marital issues.
Meanwhile, Sarah's sister and complete antithesis, Julia (Erika Christensen) is a successful corporate attorney trying to juggle work and motherhood, alongside her stay-at-home husband, Joel (Sam Jaeger).
Commitment-phobe Crosby (Dax Shepard), Sarah's younger brother, must suddenly contend with accepting adult responsibility when an old flame Jasmine (Joy Bryant) shows up unexpectedly and he must re-evaluate his priorities.
However, it's Adam (Peter Krause), the oldest Braverman sibling, who must relinquish his preconceived expectations about what constitutes a "normal" family when he, his wife Kristina (Monica Potter) and teenage daughter, Haddie (Sarah Ramos), learn that their eccentric son and Haddie's little brother, Max (Max Burkholder), is diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.
Although each sibling and family has its own share of life to grapple with, perhaps this reunion is the push they need to help each other pick up the pieces and focus on the everyday challenges that families face while raising children and starting over.
TVSA Show Page: Parenthood