SBS’s weekly programmer picks – 4/6

This week’s a good one with a couple of favourite series returning. More on that later:

MONDAY

Something a bit serious to start off with as the two-part doco The Future of Food (SBS TWO 7:30pm) carries on the discussion of food security that David Attenborough began last week. Then in Inside Nature’s Giants (SBS TWO 8:30pm) we take a peek inside the crocodile.

TUESDAY

Enjoy Dino Gangs on Sunday? We’ve got a month of dino docos on Tuesdays at 7:30pm on SBS TWO starting with The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs.

WEDNESDAY

In the nature slot on SBS ONE we set off on an expedition into an extraordinary unexplored wilderness in an inaccessible region of Madagascar (Makay: Discovering the Last Eden 7:30pm). Then at 8:30pm SBS favourite Simon Reeve (Tropic of Capricorn, Tropic of Cancer) returns in his new series Indian Ocean, casting his journalist’s eye over life on the ocean’s vast rim. He begins this week in South Africa and over the next six weeks he will journey on to the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and down through South East Asia before ending his journey in Australia.

THURSDAY

The vivid blue Hope Diamond is said to be the most famous diamond in the world and has been attributed with a mythic curse. It has a curious lineage and this is explored in the doco The Mystery of the Hope Diamond (SBS TWO 7:30pm).

Later at 9:35pm on SBS ONE do not miss the return of One Born Every Minute – with the maternity ward drama this time taking place within the Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, USA. Does the experience of birth differ in the US compared to the UK and here in Australia? Watch and find out.




FRIDAY

You may know the WWII story of the Enigma codes used by the Germans and the cracking of the code at Bletchley Park which had a major impact on the outcome of the war. The lead codebreaker was English mathematician Alan Turing and his life after the war is less well known. Drawing on his sessions with a psychiatrist near the end of his life Codebreaker (SBS ONE 9:35pm) tells his tragic story which resulted in an official apology from the British government in 2009.

SATURDAY

A couple of good arts docos today in the Masterpiece slot: Lang Lang: The Art of Being a Virtuoso (SBS ONE 1pm) following the current piano superstar on a world tour and William S Burroughs: A Man Within (SBS ONE 2:20pm) about the iconic Beat Generation author.

SUNDAY

It’s the last Prophets of Science Fiction this week – oh no! – featuring the visionary author H G Wells. Aside from hosting this series Ridley Scott has also managed to put out a little film called Prometheus this week – did you catch it?

Next week: All new Inside Nature’s Giants on SBS ONE.

Probably futile but I’m going to give this a go – if you’re tweeting about docos on SBS use the #sbsdoco hashtag so that everyone can follow the conversation. Got it? Phew.