History has always been one of the biggest letdown channels on DStv. For years the line-up has been characterised by a loud WTF!? because it refuses to be the niche channel it should be.
Instead of being a history channel, it's become a testosterone-biased reality channel with an overload of car and shipping series and tacky reality shows about whackjobs who live in a swamp.
You literally have to remote control your thumb off to find an actual historical show.
And when you do get a good historical series like Black Sails, they air it in the dark ages - over a year late! Season 4 has already ended in the US and we're still stuck on Season 3.
All this is about to change.
Hopefully.
The channel will be undergoing a facelift on Thursday, 11 May, with promises of fresh series. It's going to open to Compact for the occasion - but only for just over a month.
At first we thought the channel was being added to the Compact bouquet but no. It's only going to be available from 11 May to 23 June as a glorified advert for Compacters to go Premium.
These are some of the new series that premiere in May and June - The Warfighters started this week:
The Warfighters
Premiered: Monday, 1 May at 19h20
A series that chronicles recent U.S. Special Operations Forces missions in the global war on terror, as it gives viewers an inside and candid look at the realities of war. The series is largely made in part by veterans with over 90 of them participating in the production.
The King Who Tricked Hitler
Premiere date: Friday, 19 May at 19h20
A one-off documentary that tells the courageous story of a Romanian monarch, King Michael, who stood against Adolf Hitler and joined the Allies. His actions are thought to have shortened the war by up to 200 days. Russia and the US showered him with honours – but his freedom was short-lived and King Michael was forced into exile.
The truth was forgotten as both Russia and Communist Ro-mania competed to claim credit for the events of 1944. Now, HISTORY tells the story of what really happened as King Michael fought a battle of wits with both Hitler and Stalin to bring about a key turning point in WWII.
101 People Who Changed the 20th Century
On: Sundays at 20h15 (currently airing)
From industrialists to adventurers and from politicians to entertainers – the great iconic minds and big personalities that have impacted our world make it on the list.
The history of mankind is a never-ending story of change, revolution, evolution and no span of a hundred years can claim to have changed the world so dramatically, so rapidly and irreversibly as the Twentieth Century. This was the century where empires of the past crumbled to make way for new superpowers and a new age.
JFK Declassified: Tracking Oswald
Premiere date: Friday, 2 June at 20h15
Former CIA agent Bob Baer launches a global investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and tracks the movements of Lee Harvey Oswald. Baer, who also features in the HISTORY series Hunting Hitler, discovers a CIA document revealing that Oswald met with Soviet officials in Mexico City.
The Greeks
Premiere date: Wednesday, 14 June at 19h20
The Greeks showcases an extraordinary people born of white rock and blue sea. The Greeks invented democracy, distilled logic and reason, wrote plays to plumb the deepest recesses of the soul, and captured the perfection of the human form in athletics and art. Quite simply, the Greeks created our world.
The Greeks feature historians and archaeologists, actors and athletes, scientists and artists who launch a groundbreaking exploration into the ancient Greeks’ journey - not just to better understand their past, but to discover how their legacy illuminates our present, and will shape our future.
The Liberators of Dachau S1
Premiere date: Monday, 26 June at 19h15
The moving account of Holocaust survivors in a concentration camp near Munich and the Allied troops that saved their lives.
On April 29, 1945, the prisoners of Dachau were liberated and HISTORY allows viewers to be a first-hand witness of a survivor getting to meet the US soldiers who rescued him. This was an emotionally charged event for both the survivors and the often still very young US soldiers