Banana Air
Channel: kykNET (DStv 144)
TX Time: 20h00
Genre: Comedy, Afrikaans
Sitcom which follows the personal and professional relationships of the flight attendants and pilots of a low cost airline.
The series revolves around a motley crew of eccentric flight attendants, two pilots, a nervous wreck of a manager and his personal assistant who always get themselves into crazy situations.
Each episode presents a new challenge for the crew, from dealing with passengers who drink too much and the adventures of a divorced man to the complex dynamics of love and jealousy among the staff.
We meet Brand (Kaz McFadden), a new pilot who joins the airline, and there is a lot of intrigue surrounding his relationship status.
Koekie (Lara Lourens), an energetic, spunky flight attendant and big flirt tries to impress Brand; while Hester (Liane Heyl), her more serious and competitive colleague, struggles with her relationship with Piston (Markus Muller), Banana Air's seasoned pilot.
When Hester discovers that Piston may not be as committed as she thought, there's major turbulence.
Flight attendant Barbie Benadie (Danielle Retief) is a party girl always on the lookout for a good time and a celebration destination.
Rodney Reddy (Jai'prakash Sewram), the stressed-out boss, struggles to maintain order as his employees become entangled in various scandals, including online gambling, secret love affairs and extremely unprofessional behaviour on flights.
Sakkie (Matt Stern) is a pilot who becomes a central character in the comedy after his divorce is settled, and he finds himself in a series of new romantic entanglements.
Sakkie is Rodney's inept personal assistant.
While the crew survives on a mix of humour, drama and life lessons, they often find themselves in the middle of unexpected and sometimes disastrous situations, resulting in a flood of videos and photos of their erratic behaviour on social media.
The show offers a glimpse into the world of low-cost airlines and the eccentric personalities who make it work.
Well, sometimes. More or less.
Banana Air was created and written by Willie Esterhuizen and is produced by Westel Productions.
TVSA Show Page: Banana Air
Space Invaders 2
Channel: The Home Channel (DStv 176)
TX Time: 15h00
Genre: Reality Makeover, Home Improvement
Peter Walsh, Cherie Barber and Lucas Callaghan help Australian families declutter and organise their homes, sorting the trash from the treasure and helping them live happier lives.
Authentic, emotion-charged and always good humoured, Space Invaders is a show that helps those in greatest need, and in the process inspires homeowners to improve their lives.
Across the globe people are battling a clutter crisis and desperately need an intervention, and with the help of declutter guru, Peter Walsh, families take ownership of their belongings turning chaos to calm.
Joining Peter is renovation queen Cherie Barber and treasure hunter Lucas Callaghan.
Cherie has just two days to renovate the homes, with her mantra 'minimum spend for maximum impact'.
Meanwhile, former Aussie Pickers star Lucas sorts through the trash to find hidden gems he can turn into fast cash.
In the Season 2 premiere, "Lisa and Jason": Four truckloads of boxes are transported to the sorting warehouse where Lisa and Jason face one of the biggest challenges ever: to reduce their clutter by at least 80 percent and confront their bad habits.
The Ultimate Braai Master 5
Channel: BBC Lifestyle (DStv 174)
TX Time: 19h00
Genre: Reality Competition, Food
The Ultimate Braai Master is an outdoor cooking show which features various teams of two, each made up of a Braai Buddy and the Braai Master.
They travel to different parts of the country and compete against each other by cooking different dishes on the open flame.
The teams are given different cooking challenges and each week, the weakest team faces elimination.
Hosted by Justin Bonello, the show promises a jam-packed and delicious season with prizes worth R2-million up for grabs.
This year's judges are Executive Chef and CEO of Kitchen Cowboy, Pete Goffe-Wood, and Tsogo Sun Executive Chef, Benny Masekwameng.
Teams hailing from KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Gauteng and the Western Cape will be competing for the winning title of Ultimate Braai Master.
The teams were selected from thousands of hopeful contestants that auditioned for the show.
They were expected to creatively come up with braai dishes to wow the judges and inspire viewers.
Contestants travelled to tourist attractions like the Drakensberg Mountains, Gamtoos River in the Eastern Cape, Letsatsi Game Lodge in the Free-State and Wavecrest Hotel & Spa in the Wild Coast of Eastern Cape, among others.
This season sees teams engage in different outdoor activities while braaing their hearts out.
The teams explore extraordinary methods of surviving and consuming food prepared entirely on the fire.
The show kicks off in Cape St Francis with a series of challenges at the Gamtoos River Mouth.
This year, 10 teams from all walks of life were handpicked from a pool of hundreds, interviewed and auditioned face to face by the executive team and the Braai Master himself, Justin Bonello.
Contestants with varied food skill sets competed against each other, all in order to win the title of this year's Ultimate Braai Master, R200,000 worth of vouchers from Game stores, a brand new Suzuki Grand Vitara valued at R400,000 and a further R400,000 in cash, amongst other prizes.
For more, with descriptions of the competing teams, go here:
TVSA Show Page: The Ultimate Braai Master 5
Tropika Island of Treasure 11
Channel: SABC1
TX Time: 21h00
Genre: Advertiser-Funded, Reality Competition, Reality
The sun-kissed shores of Tropika Island of Treasure are calling and this season the stakes are higher than ever.
Brace yourselves for an epic new chapter as intrepid contestants embark on a thrilling quest for buried treasure in the 11th season of the reality show.
Zanele Potelwa takes over from Anga Makubalo as the host of this season, which takes place in Zanzibar for the first time since Season 2 in 2009.
Tropika Island of Treasure has a blend of exotic challenges, captivating landscapes and fierce competition.
This year, the show is pushing the boundaries once again, introducing a fresh batch of castaways ready to face their fears and outwit their rivals for the ultimate prize of a shared R1-million.
The celebrity contestants for Season 11 are as follows:
Bobby van Jaarsveld (singer and actor)
Chad Jones (dancing influencer)
Hungani Ndlovu (actor)
Karl Kugelmann (model and influencer)
Ndavi Nokeri (Miss South Africa 2022)
Omuhle Gela (actress)
Roxy Burger (presenter)
The contestants who will join the celebrities in paradise are:
Buntu Matshaya
Dimakatso Calisa
Gloria Ngcobo
Ryan Cummings
Stacy Gossayn
Tazmin Mohamed
Tristen Naidoo
TVSA Show Page: Tropika Island of Treasure 11
Welcome to Plathville 6
Channel: TLC Entertainment (DStv 135)
TX Time: 20h00
Genre: Docu-Reality
The blonde and blue-eyed Plath family that was once the symbol of togetherness, now deals with the unpredictable aftermath of separations and relocations, while also leaping into the unknown and relying on faith in their new chapters on Welcome to Plathville.
Kim and Barry's divorce proceedings are still in limbo while each attempts to figure out what's next in their lives.
Kim makes a big move that leaves everyone wondering if she can stay afloat.
Moriah moves in with Barry in Cairo, Georgia after experiencing a difficult breakup in Tampa.
To everyone's surprise, Micah leaves his social single life in Los Angeles for south Florida to live with his mysterious new girlfriend.
Olivia is living in Los Angeles to try life as a single woman, while Ethan is still in Minnesota and reeling from their decision to divorce.
Ethan visits his family more often in Cairo now that Olivia is gone, and he realizes he can maintain and build his own relationships without any hesitation.
For the first time in over a year, Moriah reaches out to Olivia to talk in hopes of letting the past be the past, but Olivia isn't so sure she's ready to move on so easily.
Despite the family going through so much change, the Plaths strive to pull it together and return to the stage for the first time in years to create an unforgettable performance.
Luther 4
Channel: S3
TX Time: 21h00
Genre: Drama
Luther's back.
Pitted against his most chilling adversary yet, haunted by the ghosts of his past and hell-bent on retribution, he's drawn into a terrifyingly complex case that pushes him closer to the edge than he's ever been.
Idris Elba returns to his role as a self-destructive near-genius detective on the edge of law enforcement.
Detective Chief Inspector John Luther (Elba) will learn the hard way; he may never be able to walk away from capturing the tormented psychopaths that lurk the streets of London.
His attempt to leave the darker side of humanity behind for a chance at a "normal" life is quickly thwarted when he's drawn into a terrifyingly complex case.
A cannibalistic serial killer delivers a devastating blow that not only pulls him out of seclusion but pushes him closer to the edge than he's ever been.
Struggling to cope with his own demons after losing so much, it seemed normalcy would always elude the emotionally impulsive detective.
Teflon tough, even the strongest couldn't endure what Luther has seen and been through.
Hunting London's most depraved criminals forced him to tap into the dark recesses of his mind, revealing sides of himself that would horrify most.
The heartbreaking loss of his wife to a brutal murderer and his inner-circle of colleagues turning on him in a witch hunt weren't enough to keep him away from the job.
But watching his most trusted colleague and friend, Detective Sergeant Justin Ripley, die in his arms after getting caught in the crossfires of a case, finally pushed him over the slippery slope he's always towed.
A forbidden connection with serial-killer, Alice Morgan, offered him a somewhat skewed version of a happy ending and he took it.
This time we find Luther on a leave of absence from the police force, laying low in a rundown cottage.
A visit from colleagues, Detective Chief Inspector Theo Bloom (Darren Boyd) and Detective Sergeant Emma Lane (Rose Leslie) brings a shocking piece of news that draws him back to London in search of the truth.
At the same time, a gruesome cannibalistic serial killer has struck the city, eating body parts as he goes.
With a trail of clues leading from one crime scene to the next, Detective Superintendent Unit Martin Schenk (Dermot Crowley) and his team must work out the twisted logic that connects each victim.
But this murdering mastermind is more than a match for Schenk's police, outsmarting them at every step.
It's not long before Luther makes his triumphant return to the Bullpen, determined to capture the killer before another mutilated body joins the mounting pile.
But he's dogged at every turn by ghosts from his past.
Isolated and volatile, it will take every fiber of Luther's being to keep it together.
Season 4 also stars Laura Haddock as Megan Cantor, a mysterious woman from Luther's past; John Heffernan as the sadistic cannibal Steven Rose; Patrick Malahide as George Cornelius, an old school gangster; and Michael Smiley returning as computer whiz Benny Silver.
TVSA Show Page: Luther 4
The Green Planet
Channel: BBC UKTV (DStv 134)
TX Time: 21h00
Genre: Nature, Documentary Series
Plants live secret, unseen lives.
But they are as aggressive, competitive and dramatic as animals - locked in life-and-death struggles for food and light, taking part in fierce battles for territory, and desperately trying to reproduce and scatter their young.
Using pioneering new filmmaking technology and the very latest science, The Green Planet reveals this strange and wonderful world of plants like never before.
Made by BBC Studios' Natural History Unit, the series sees Sir David Attenborough travel across the globe, from the USA to Costa Rica, Croatia to northern Europe.
From deserts to water worlds, from tropical forests to the frozen north, David finds brand new stories and gains a fresh understanding of how plants live their lives.
He meets the largest living things that have ever existed; trees that care for each other; plants that hunt animals and a plant with most vicious defences in the world.
Twenty-six years after The Private Life of Plants aired on BBC One, we see how science and technologies have advanced, and how our understanding of the ways in which plants behave and interact has evolved.
The series is also a great passion project for David Attenborough - airing at a critical moment, just as our green world stands on the brink of collapse.
Pioneering motion-control robotics systems allow us to take a magical journey into the world of plants, in real time and in time-lapse, to watch their lives on their timescale and from their perspective.
Thermal cameras, macro frame-stacking to give incredible depth-of-field, ultra-high-speed cameras and the latest developments in microscopy all allow us to reveal a fresh view of the lives of plants and their incredible beauty.
Plants don't act alone - they forge intimate relationships, as friends and enemies, with other plants, animals and even with humans.
The more we understand them the more we realise that they do things we previously thought of as 'animal behaviour'.
They count, they hunt, they deceive, they communicate, they protect their relatives and they manipulate animals for their own ends.
Contrary to how it may appear, when plants and animals interact the plant is usually in charge.
Filmed around the world, The Green Planet is the first immersive portrayal of an unseen, interconnected world.
In the series premiere, "Tropical Worlds": More kinds of plants are crammed together in the tropical forests than anywhere else on Earth.
The result is beauty and intense competition - a plant battleground.
Most plants live high in the canopy. The upper branches of giant trees support magical sky gardens, where an almost infinite variety of flowers compete for the attention of hummingbirds and insects.
Plants need light but the forest floor is dark.
When an old tree falls, sunlight floods in, firing the starting gun on a race for the canopy.
Seedlings battle with lassoes, grappling hooks and giant leaves, which cast others into the shade.
In this episode Sir David visits South America to see the Balsa Tree, which grows several metres a year, sacrificing strength for fast growing, brittle wood.
Plants use leaves to capture light and carbon dioxide, which they turn into food. But leaves attract leaf-eaters.
The greatest is an underground fungus. It enlists an army of ants to march out, chop up leaves and bring them back, to create a mulch which it feeds off.
Plants retaliate by flooding their leaves with toxins.
When it comes to reproduction, the short-lived Balsa Tree outcompetes the rest, growing huge flowers brimming with super-strength nectar, irresistible to animal pollinators.
The parasitic Corpse Flower is irresistible too - but only to flies. It mimics a dead animal, down to its teeth, hair and foul stench.
Tropical forests even create their own weather.
Fungi release spores - tiny reproductive grains - a billion per square metre, which attract moisture as they float above the forest.
The result? Most raindrops in a tropical forest have a fungal spore at their heart.
Today tropical forests are being chopped into ever smaller fragments, each a fragile reservoir of diversity.
Yet there is hope. Left to its own devices tropical forest can recover.
Grazing land left to regrow in Costa Rica has, in 20 years, become forest again, rejoining many fragments.
Op Pad met My Potjie
Channel: kykNET (DStv 144)
TX Time: 21h30
Genre: Food, Travel, Afrikaans
A new series sees the host, Joalette de Villiers, travel through Namibia with her potjie and a head full of recipes.
She visits places like Swakopmund, where she makes a chicken pot with her mother; Oshaandja in northern Namibia, where she cooks with Tangi; the Duneveld, where Lonnie teaches her how to bake bread when water is scarce; and Windhoek, where Eduan cooks oxtail.
The Great Pottery Throw Down 7
Channel: BBC Lifestyle (DStv 174)
TX Time: 20h00
Genre: Reality Competition
This one-of-a-kind competition series sends a group of masterful artists to Stoke-on-Trent, the home of pottery, to showcase their skills in a quest to become the UK's Top Potter.
Now the battle of the clay returns, as 12 home potters compete to become champion of the pottery.
In the Season 7 premiere, "Roast Dinner Set": The battle of the clay returns, as 12 new potters are tasked with making a roast dinner set.
In a surprise second challenge, they take on identical side plates that must survive the bucket of doom.
Who will get roasted and who will get served?
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