SBS's weekly programmer picks - 21/5

Mon 21 May 2012, 12:00am

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Here at SBS something we hear a lot is that people find it difficult to navigate their way through our TV schedule to find what they’re interested in. I thought that the best thing I could do to help would be to start up a regular weekly blog pointing out my own personal highlights and tidbits that you may have otherwise missed. My intention is to post every Monday and give SBS doco fans a guide to what’s on that week. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this format and on what you would like to know more about.

This week is really all about Eurovision. The glittering songfest displaces regular programming on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week but there are still plenty of gems to be found – including Julia Zemiro’s two-parter The Road to Eurovision on Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm SBS ONE where she traces the contestants route to the big stage in Azerbaijan. Here’s what to look out for on the rest of the week:

MONDAY

Inside Nature’s Giants (SBS TWO 8:30pm): The ground breaking science series where a recently deceased animal is dissected before our very eyes returns – in this case it’s a replay of the first series before new episodes commence on SBS ONE in June. If you’ve never seen this series before you’ll be astonished – it’s remarkable how much you don't know about the anatomy of an elephant or a whale until you’ve seen inside one. Atheist warrior Richard Dawkins goes back to his roots here in interludes about each animal’s evolutionary history.

TUESDAY

The Destiny of Rome (SBS TWO 7:30pm): If you missed this last year on SBS ONE it’s worth a look – the wars and power struggles to claim Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar are rendered in a glossy mix of live action and CGI in a similar style to 300. To add to the level of difficulty the actors in these sequences actually do speak in Latin. I can’t confirm or deny whether their pronunciation is any good.

WEDNESDAY

One of my favourite recent series Wildest India (SBS ONE 7:30pm) comes to an end this week with an episode on Nagaland in far North-Eastern India - India’s “lost world”. Next week in the nature slot we look at predators being reintroduced to the natural environment. Also, Charley Boorman continues his road trip in Extreme Frontiers: Canada (SBS ONE 8:35pm) and the magnificent history series East to West looks at the birth of the belief in one universal god (SBS ONE 9:30pm).

THURSDAY

Asia’s Monarchies and Sharia Money (SBS TWO 7:30pm & 8:30pm) both continue but forgive me if I admit that Thursdays are all about The Family UK for me (SBS ONE 9:30pm). The Grewals have developed a nice little following here in Oz over the series and in this second last episode the heavily pregnant Kaki is rushed to hospital while husband Jeet is still in India. If these names mean nothing to you I feel sorry for you, I really do.

SATURDAY

As I said earlier, this week (and especially weekend) is really all about Eurovision but I will take the chance to point out the arts docos we air every Saturday. This Saturday arvo in the Masterpiece strand catch In Mondrian’s Studio (SBS ONE 2:55pm) about the pioneering abstract painter and later on What is Beauty (SBS TWO 8:30pm) with art critic Matthew Collings examining the concept of beauty in art. And if Eurovision is really not for you the rip-roaring history series, Voyages of Discovery is on SBS TWO as well – this week featuring a certain Captain James Cook (SBS TWO 730pm).

Tune in next week as we find ways to work Eurovision back out of our system and don’t forget to follow on Twitter: @SBSDocumentary