Pop Goes the Vet with Dr. Joya
Channel: Nat Geo Wild (DStv 182 / StarSat 221)
TX Time: 18h00
Genre: Reality, Wildlife
Pus, gunk and goo.
Dermatologist Dr. Joya & her protégé Dr. Jeff see it all — and the grosser the better.
From impacted earwax to oozing cysts to massive hair loss, there's no case too mysterious or bizarre for this Kentucky-based team.
They put on their detective hats and investigate the largest organ in an animal's body — the skin — to get our four-legged friends back to living their best lives.
In the series premiere, "Tiny Tim's Pop Quiz": Bobo the Pit Bull mix reveals a booboo during a competitive allergy test.
Also, Tiny Tim the adorable hot dog provides some satisfying pops.
Meanwhile, sweet Snuggles the elderly Maltipoo has a mysterious lump on his face that requires closer inspection.
Plus, some stinky surprises gross out most of the team.
The Elon Musk Show
Channel: M-Net (DStv 101)
TX Time: 21h00
Genre: Documentary Series
The Elon Musk Show gets to the heart of who Elon Musk really is, by interviewing the people that know him best.
Family members, employees, close friends and enemies tell the intimate story of Musk's incredible journey to become the world's richest man.
Using extensive archive footage taken throughout his life, from South Africa to Silicon Valley, the series analyses the key moments in Elon's career, from his first tech start-ups through to Tesla and SpaceX.
In 1995, at the start of the Silicon Valley tech boom, Elon Musk is a geeky young South African battling to make his fortune, while sleeping on the floor of his office and washing at the local YMCA.
In San Francisco Elon begins his ascendency, using his genius to build and sell a major new internet technology business.
He becomes a multi-millionaire at the age of just 28.
Then he falls in love with glamorous up-and-coming British actress, Talulah Riley.
But just as he's enjoying newfound success, Elon faces his first major challenge...
Laxmi
Channel: Star Life (DStv 167 / Openview 110)
TX Time: 18h00
Genre: Telenovela
Simple and sweet Laxmi is in love with the rich Arjun Agnihotri and dreams of marrying him.
Only problem, she has never met him. Will her dream come true?
In the series premiere: Laxmi is considered to be a lucky charm ever since she was born.
She grows up wishing to marry Arjun and live in his mansion.
However, Arjun returns to India with his English wife.
The original Hindi title of the show is Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki.
MORE:
Laxmi Teasers - December 2022
The Virus Within Us
Channel: Curiosity Channel (DStv 185)
TX Time: 19h00
Genre: Documentary, Science, Nature
They are the most common creatures on Earth.
They have been around forever and are considered dangerous and deadly - but they are much more than that.
Around 50 percent of our DNA comes from viruses.
They help to form the immune system, give us long-term memory and make themselves useful in our digestive tract.
But they can become dangerous when humans alter the natural habitats of animals and destroy biodiversity.
This is what the history of epidemics teaches us, from the measles to AIDS to Ebola and now COVID-19.
The film takes us into the fascinating world of virus research: was the virus at the beginning of all life?
Why can viruses be used to heal? Why do viruses suddenly become pathogens?
How can pandemics like COVID-19 be prevented or at least effectively contained?
The tiny protein particles in which hereditary information is packaged are much less a threat than indispensable architects of all life.
13 Weeks to Find Mr Right
Channel: S3
TX Time: 19h00
Genre: Comedy-Drama, Comedy
Comedy-drama television series which revolves around a journalist at a beauty magazine who joins a dating site and documents her experiences to try get ahead at the magazine.
The story is set in the world of print media and online dating and offers a perspective on personal growth, dating, friendship and family.
Nkuli (Kea Zawadi) is overworked, undervalued and underpaid as a junior journalist for Dazzle, a beauty and lifestyle magazine.
She's determined to become a powerhouse like her brilliant yet ruthless editor-in-chief Elaine Thabethe (Lerato Mvelase).
But this is all threatened when Elaine breaks the news that Dazzle is going digital and that staff will be retrenched.
However, there is the potential for a promotion to junior editor of the magazine. A position that both Nkuli and her rival Lerato (Didintle Khunou) both have their eye on.
In addition to this, Nkuli's long term boyfriend Lesiba (Lebo Msiza) - the perfect man on paper - proposes marriage to her.
Unsure of whether he is her Mr. Right and wanting to explore the world of dating more, Nkuli turns down the proposal.
She rather opts to try a dating site – Flirt – which promises love in just three months.
Nkuli takes on this challenge, not only to gain dating experience but also as a dating column for Dazzle in the hopes that its success will prove her indispensability to the magazine.
Elaine likes Nkuli's enterprising spirit and gives her the go ahead to start the dating column under a false identity on Dazzle's social media.
The series stars Kea Zawadi as Nkuli, Bonko Khoza as Zakhele, Mohau Cele as Olwethu, Monnye Kunupi as Phumla, Didintle Khunou as Lerato and Lerato Mvelase as Elaine.
13 Weeks to Find Mr Right is produced by Penguin Films.
TVSA Show Page: 13 Weeks to Find Mr Right
Treason
Channel: Netflix South Africa
TX Time: 10h00 (all episodes)
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Miniseries
An MI6 deputy's bright future takes a sharp turn after a reunion with a Russian spy forces him to question his entire life.
Trained and groomed by MI6, Adam Lawrence's career seems set.
But when the past catches up with him in the form of Kara, a Russian spy with whom he shares a complicated past, he is forced to question everything and everyone in his life.
A triangular relationship forms between Kara, Adam and his wife, Maddy; three people who are trying to expose each other's secrets, navigate political and diplomatic relationships, whilst hanging onto their personal lives, and those they love most.
Ross Kemp: Extreme World 6
Channel: eReality (Openview 108)
TX Time: 23h10
Genre: Documentary Series
Following the success of his award-winning documentaries on Gangs, Afghanistan, the Middle East and the Amazon, Ross shows how international organised crime, terrorists and local criminal networks have created alliances that are destroying the lives of millions around the world.
Ross returns for another season documenting six important stories from those living dangerous and extreme lives in some of the most violent and volatile places in the world.
Ross travels to Texas, where racial tension is running high, to explore the rise of armed hate groups like the KKK and the Nazis in Trump's America.
In the wake of violent protests against police killings, the murder of five police officers by a black militant, and an election charged with racial rhetoric, many fear that America is closer to a race war today than it has been for a generation.
Ross also travels to Manila in the Philippines to find out more about the new president's ruthless anti-drugs campaign that has seen 3000 people murdered.
But despite the body count, President Rodrigo "The Punisher" Duterte's approval rating is the highest of any Filipino president for decades.
Other topics Ross explores include the feuding gangs of Naples, the bandits of Madagascar, the drug epidemic sweeping through Palestine and the plight of migrants attempting the arduous journey through war-torn Libya.
Death in Paradise: Christmas Special 22
Channel: BBC Brit (DStv 120)
TX Time: 20h00
Genre: Drama, Special
As Death in Paradise continues into its twelfth year, the award-winning murder mystery will see Saint Marie's crack squad of crime solving stars investigating even more baffling and brainteasing cases.
The end of last series saw Selwyn hit with a bombshell from the blue, leaving us eager to see how the Commissioner will come to terms with the knowledge that he has a daughter...
Christmas in Saint Marie takes a spooky turn this year when an old case of Selwyn's comes back to haunt him following the murder of a true crime podcaster on the hunt for a missing child.
Marlon is forced to spend the night in a haunted house and Darlene takes a hard look at her life choices.
And after a chance encounter in an airport car park, could love finally be in the air for Neville Parker?
The new series kicks off with the mysterious death of a celebrity astronomer and a change of job for Darlene.
We also meet a bunch of Preppers digging in for the apocalypse on a Saint Marie hillside, when the end comes dramatically early for one of them.
An impossible killing on a boat takes the team to a beautiful beach under threat, and an apparently straightforward domestic murder twists into what could be Neville's greatest ever challenge...
Surviving the Teenage Brain
Channel: Curiosity Channel (DStv 185)
TX Time: 20h00
Genre: Documentary
Throw away all of your preconceived ideas about the behaviour and nature of teenagers.
New research suggests that without our turbulent teen years the human race would be, as Dr. David Bainbridge puts it, short lived and stupid.
In the past, when we put the words selfish, reckless, irrational, irritable and impossible together we could only be describing one thing: the teenager, that odd creature that invades our homes for what seems like an eternity and tests the limits of our reasoning skills and patience.
But what if teenagers are doing exactly as nature intended? Surviving.
The Teenage Brain looks at this critical developmental stage from a scientific and evolutionary point of view.
The film combines cutting edge scientific research with YouTube clips of outrageous teen behaviour and a graphic novel approach to challenge conventional thinking about the adolescent years.
It illustrates that our teens are doing precisely what they should be doing to finesse the development of their brains and ensure the survival of the human species.
Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly 4
Channel: CBS Reality (DStv 132)
TX Time: 07h30
Genre: Reality
Britain is a nation of dog lovers, but what happens when you love your dogs too much and domestic bliss turns to chaos?
Luckily, there's someone you can call – Master Dog Trainer.
Graeme Hall is on a quest to restore harmony, and with over 10 years of experience has built his reputation on finding quick but long-lasting fixes to almost any behaviour problem.
His mantra is clear: "Any Dog, Any Age, Any Problem".
In each episode, Graeme travels the country helping some of the UK's most desperate owners regain control of their naughty dogs, giving them his no-nonsense appraisals, easy to follow training techniques, and long-lasting fixes.
More often than not, he needs to work harder on the owners than he does on their dogs.
In the Season 4 premiere: Two Newfoundlands, who should be at the heart of a family, are instead scaring them away.
Grandparents Dawn and Gordon wanted to do the right thing by rescue dogs Simon and Panda.
Homicide for the Holidays 3
Channel: eReality (Openview 108)
TX Time: 22h15
Genre: True Crime, Documentary Series, Docu-Drama
Homicide for the Holidays delves into the terrifying twists, turns and tell-alls that reveal how tumultuous the holiday season can be.
For most, the winter holidays mean bringing family and friends together to eat, drink, and create joyous memories to last a lifetime.
For others, it's a time where emotions run high, anger and animosity set in and can spark an explosive combination of simmering resentments and volatile secrets.
Sometimes, this emotional powder keg makes for some truly horrific holiday crime stories that viewers are sure to never forget.
The holiday season is usually the busiest and happiest time of the year and spent with family and friends, but unfortunately can leave a painful surprise when it begins with a shocking murder.
Each hour-long episode examines a devastating case as police investigate and go to incredible lengths to unveil secrets about the true motive of the killer, giving families justice about their loved ones' death.
With firsthand accounts from those close to the victim, the limited series delves into the alarming cases that prove the holidays can turn the happiest time of the year upside down in a split second.
In the Season 3 premiere, "Thanksgiving Terror": A mother is brutally shot to death while driving her sons home from a Thanksgiving celebration.
When the hunt for her killer leads to an unlikely suspect, investigators soon realise her murder is not as random as it once seemed.