Rise: The Siya Kolisi Story
Channel: M-Net (DStv 101) / 1Magic (DStv 103)
TX Time: 17h00
Genre: Documentary, Sport
Many believe that they know Siya Kolisi's story, but this film adds, and exposes, many fresh layers to his narrative.
The point of any real-life film such as this is to put it all on the line.
Kolisi's story is unvarnished and even unpleasant in parts.
There are deeply revealing cameos with his wife Rachel, who at one point mentions that she doesn't want to make him seem "like a monster" in her telling of their journey together.
So too the fractured, difficult relationship with his father, a flawed man with whom Siya has a tangled link.
The film affirms the staggering turnaround by the player, a man who admits to struggling with the demon drink and partying a little too hard in his early years.
Fundamentally, he started life on the backfoot in Zwide in the Eastern Cape and endured struggles every step of the way.
That he managed to make his way out to emerge as South Africa's number one sporting hero is a scarcely believable miracle.
What the film also shows is how he has managed to straddle both of his realities: the one as a man from the township, the other as a father now living contentedly in suburbia.
For all his new-found fame and affirmation, he keeps going back to the township, both because he loves doing so and because he feels most comfortable among the community he grew up in.
The filmmakers also managed to acquire old-time footage that demonstrates what a brilliant schoolboy prodigy he was - all power and fury and teenage cockiness.
More recent action intersperses the film, offering a potent reminder of his gifts as a player.
The wild breaks, the extravagant pick-ups, the brutal tackles... they're all there to remind us of Kolisi's majesty as a player.
NOTE: the film also airs on Grandstand, Rugby and Variety 1 at 20h00.
Tarzan van George
Channel: kykNET (DStv 144)
TX Time: 20h00
Genre: Documentary Series, Afrikaans
DeWet du Toit has nurtured a dream for the past 12 years: to play Tarzan on the big screen.
Most people would consider this to be a total moonshot, but DeWet never gave up and is still chasing his dream.
DeWet, from George in the Southern Cape, produces videos for his YouTube channel with its 207,000 subscribers.
He has racked up morethan 50-million views with his low-budget Tarzan short films, and he's doing it all with the hope that Hollywood will notice him and make him the next Tarzan.
Rian van Heerden - radio and TV presenter and producer of series such as Bolhuis, Die Siener and Liefde Sonder Grense - heard about DeWet for the first time in 2010 and had him as a guest on his programme Rian.
Rian asked if he could make a documentary series about him but it was hard work convincing DeWet, who is so focused on becoming Tarzan that he is afraid the project might divide his attention.
It was not only DeWet who needed convincing. The Edgar Rice Burroughs Foundation, custodians of the copyright and trademarks of the late writer of Tarzan, had to be persuaded that a team from South Africa should be allowed to tell this tale.
The five episodes will look at the history of Tarzan over the years, and we will get to meet DeWet's family.
There is an interview with the actor Neil Sandilands, who made a film with the DeWet and his brother, and we follow DeWet from George all the way to Los Angeles where he visits Hollywood Boulevard in his Tarzan costume.
House of Hammer
Channel: TLC Entertainment (DStv 135)
TX Time: 22h00
Genre: True Crime, Documentary Series
Docuseries chronicling the deeply troubling accusations leveled against critically-acclaimed actor Armie Hammer and the dark, twisted legacy of the Hammer dynasty.
Featuring exclusive access and shocking revelations, the series takes you inside the Hammer family's dark power plays over the course of three revealing hours.
Hammer's meteoric rise to fame came crashing down as victims came forward with disturbing stories of bondage, cannibalism fantasies, branding and that was just the beginning.
The rape and abuse allegations brought against Hammer in 2021 shocked Hollywood insiders and fans across the globe.
This docuseries begins in 2020 at the peak of Hammer's rise to fame.
Featuring exclusive revelations from Armie's aunt, Casey Hammer, and multiple survivors of Armie's alleged abuse, the docuseries brings to light the dark secrets - ranging from accusations of violence and abuse to political manipulation and financial fraud - hidden within one of America's most prominent families.
Each episode will shine a light on a depraved pattern of abuse that extends far beyond the accusations brought against the disgraced actor.
Coupled with a trove of archival footage, House of Hammer weaves together a chilling story of the dysfunction and wickedness that grow behind decades of power and money.
Pridelands: Wilderness Reborn
Channel: S3
TX Time: 17h00
Genre: Wildlife, Documentary
The inspirational story of family who left the Sydney suburbs to transform a derelict farm and former hunting ranch in South Africa into a sanctuary for the local wildlife.
The Hutchinson family leave their comfortable life in the Sydney, Australia suburbs and set out to rewild a South African private hunting ranch called Pridelands.
Mark and Sophie Hutchinson have a lifelong love of wild places and have forged careers in the great outdoors.
They are determined to bring Africa's Big Five back to Pridelands by tearing down the boundary fence with neighbouring Greater Kruger National Park.
Their goal is to restore the overgrown habitat, create an eco-tourism ranch and allow the natural wildlife to move in.
The family have just nine months to fulfil their African dream before their visas run out and they have their work cut out.
The 50-year-old ranch has been used for buffalo trophy hunting and during that time, the health of the habitat and its native wildlife has been completely neglected.
Before the Hutchinsons can join Pridelands to Great Kruger, they have to clear the dense scrub, remove the artificially-introduced herd of five dangerous buffalo and receive official approval from the park authorities and their Greater Kruger neighbours to remove the northern fence.
To stop poachers having direct access to Kruger's wildlife when they drop Prideland's northern fence, Mark and Sophie have to take action and reinforce their southern fence boundary.
Their first job is to conduct a biodiversity survey with to see what wildlife they have on the ranch and soon discover a leopard.
The Hutchinsons settle into Bush life, the animal-loving twins Ayla and Maia attend the local bush school but the family soon have a close encounter with the local wildlife when baboons break into their new home.
Over nine months, Mark and Sophie work against the clock to transform their new home from a place where animals once were hunted to a land where animals roam free.
Coastal Africa
Channel: S3
TX Time: 18h30
Genre: Wildlife, Nature, Documentary Series
The narrow coast that runs along the southern tip of Africa is home to an abundance of vibrant wildlife, thanks to the two ocean currents that wash up along its opposite shores.
The two dramatic coasts at the southern tip of Africa harbour a fringe of nearly 3,000 km between land and sea.
Unrivalled for its beautify this narrow band of coastline hosts some of the world's most vibrant and diverse marine life thanks to two very different ocean currents that wash along these contrasting shores.
Explore the vast ecosystems that make it a haven for biodiversity.
In the series premiere, "Sweeping Shores": On the rocky southern tip of Africa lies a narrow peninsula held hostage by the elements.
From pounding ice-cold waves to relentless sun, the extreme conditions demand toughness and adaptability from its resident wildlife.
Derry Girls
Channel: S3
TX Time: 21h00
Genre: Comedy
NOTE: we highlighted this show as starting in December, but it didn't. We then highlighted it on 6 February, but it didn't start then either.
The SABC board now consists of one person. It shows.
We hope this starts tonight - if not, see you back here soon.
Comedy set in the 1990s which follows the escapades of a group of teens as they grow up amongst the Troubles in early-1990s Northern Ireland.
It is based on Lisa McGee's own experience of growing up in Northern Ireland during The Troubles and follows Erin Quinn and her friends as they navigate the trials and tribulations of teenage life against a backdrop of bomb alerts, soldiers and British Army checkpoints.
It's the early 90s, and Erin and her friends are used to seeing their country on the nightly news and speaking in acronyms (The IRA, The UDA, The RUC).
It's a time of armed police in armoured Land Rovers and British Army check points.
But it's also the time of Murder She Wrote, The Cranberries, MJ and Lisa Marie, Doc Martens, bomber jackets, The X Files, Nirvana and Wayne's World.
And while The Troubles may hang over her home town, Erin has troubles of her own.
As the series begins: it's the early 90s, the first day of school and a terrible start for 16-year-old Erin as she wakes up to find her cousin Orla reading her diary.
And Granda Joe announces there's a bomb on the bridge.