Top new series in October 2022

With new and returning dramas and fresh Australian documentaries, plus a new season of a favourite quiz show, October is packed with entertainment.

(L–R) ‘Lost For Words’ season 2, ‘Agent Hamilton’ season 2, ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’, ‘Celebrity Letters And Numbers’ season 3. Source: Distributors

Celebrity Letters and Numbers – season 3

The ‘Celebrity Letters and Numbers’ team: Michael Hing, David Astle and Lily Serna. Source: SBS

Popular SBS quiz show, Letters and Numbers once again puts celebrities in the hot seat. Hosted by Michael Hing and featuring wordsmith David Astle and numbers expert Lily Serna, participants pit their linguistic and numerical skills against each other and the clock, with often hilarious results. We love the fun of this show, and testing out our own skills.

Season 3 of Celebrity Letters and Numbers premieres exclusively in Australia at 7.30pm, Monday 3 October on SBS and SBS On Demand. Dive in here:

 

Nine Perfect Strangers

Nicole Kidman as Masha in ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’. Source: Distributor

From the novel by Liane Moriarty, Nicole Kidman as a wellness retreat facilitator heads up this David E. Kelley creation. The nine retreat participants include such stars as Asher Keddie, Michael Shannon, Melvin Gregg and Melissa McCarthy, all suffering in some way and all eager to overcome their particular trauma. The setting is as idyllic as the retreat promises to be (the series was filmed in Byron Bay), till a big little secret is revealed, affecting each individual, as well as the dynamics of the entire group.

Nine Perfect Strangers premieres with a double episode at 8.35pm on SBS and SBS On Demand, Wednesday 5 October. Episodes continue weekly at 9.25pm. Catch up at SBS On Demand for a limited time only. 

Special Event – Land Wars

John Paul Janke hosts ‘Land Wars’. Source: SBS

As a follow-up to Rachel Perkins’ documentary series The Australian Wars, John Paul Janke hosts this one-hour special event. Janke speaks to leading Indigenous experts including artist and author Dr Fiona Foley, social commentator Boe Spearim, Palawa Elder Rodney Dillon as well as filmmaker Rachel Perkins, about this violent period in our history and the subsequent impacts it continues to have on today’s generation.

Land Wars premieres exclusively in Australia at 8.35pm on NITV, Wednesday 5 October. It also airs on SBS later that night at 11pm. Catch up anytime at SBS On Demand.

Special Event – The Australian Wars: Evidence From Queensland

Also following on from Rachel Perkins’ The Australian Wars, host Kerry O’Brien leads this panel discussion about frontier violence from a Queensland perspective. Drawing on records found in the Queensland state archives, this discussion will premiere at SBS On Demand after the final episode of The Australian Wars. Panellists include Perkins, artist Judy Watson, academic Rose Barrowcliffe and historian Dr Jonathan Richards.

The Australian Wars: Evidence From Queensland premieres at 9.30pm at SBS On Demand, Wednesday 5 October. Catch up at SBS On Demand.

Agent Hamilton – season 2

Season 2 of ‘Agent Hamilton’. Source: Johannes Andersson/Beta Film

In this heart-racing Swedish drama with a strong international bent, Norwegian actor Jakob Oftebro plays Carl Hamilton, a Swedish secret service operative with US Navy Seals training. The gripping first season left us wondering how many lives Hamilton has, between diffusing bombs, dodging bullets and thwarting terrorist plots. Season 2 promises to be even more exciting: four separate stories are offered, each one taking up two episodes. Favourites including Birger and Kristin return, and with the French Riviera the backdrop for story 1, about an overthrow of the government, and a new love interest for Hamilton, there is plenty to keep the thrills coming. We can’t wait.

Season 2 of Agent Hamilton premieres exclusively in Australia and is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

Bangla

‘Bangla’. Source: Distributor

From the 2019 film of the same name, which marked the directorial debut of star Phaim Bhuiyan, Bangla is the TV series version. Bhuiyan also stars here as Phaim, a young Bangladeshi–Italian man who’s fallen for Asia (Carlotta Antonelli). Their relationship effects the meeting of two cultures in a Rome neighbourhood that Bhuiyan describes as being home to “three tribes of people: elder Italians, migrants and hipsters”. Phaim straddles two worlds while Asia’s parents must navigate a nation that’s no longer monocultural. This is a sweet funny look at the real Rome through the eyes of millennials, and it looks good. In Bengali and Italian languages.

Bangla premieres exclusively in Australia and is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

Hoarders – season 11

This series goes behind the façade of an everyday family home to find people struggling to let go of possessions and not yet ready to face the real reason they’re holding onto them. There is sadly no shortage of people suffering with a hoarding issue that threatens to take over their lives. And there doesn’t seem to be any common denominator; hoarding affects people from all walks of life. Can the supportive team help our participants turn a new leaf?

Season 11 of Hoarders premieres at 8.30pm on SBS VICELAND, Friday 7 October. Seasons 1–11 are now streaming at SBS On Demand. Dive into season 11 now:

 

It’s Fine, I’m Fine

‘It’s Fine, I’m Fine’. Source: SBS

“I’ve had two double espressos and a Red Bull. I think I might die.” So says Betty in her first ever therapy session with psychologist Joanne Meyer. This fresh new drama peppered with humour is from Australian filmmaker Stef Smith. We sit in on sessions with a variety of Meyer’s clients, including traumatised young Felix and the resistant Eve, as she attempts to help them through their issues. What talent abounds in this country. Get onto this one.

It’s Fine, I’m Fine premieres exclusively in Australia at 9.30pm on NITV, Monday 10 October. Episodes continue weekly at 9pm. They are available weekly at SBS On Demand. 

Lost For Words – season 2

Season 2 of ‘Lost For Words’. Source: SBS

Imagine not being able to read a text message, navigate public transport or write a letter. For a staggering 7 million Australians, that’s their daily reality. A shocking 9 million Australians are also challenged by everyday numeracy, unable to read a timetable, count change or follow a recipe. SBS’s empowering and uplifting observational documentary series, Lost for Words, returns for a second series, to shine a light on adult literacy and numeracy challenges. A class of nine adult learners will participate in an intensive program of tailored classes, and Lost For Words host, literacy advocate Jay Laga’aia, follows them every step of the way.

Season 2 of Lost For Words premieres exclusively in Australia at 7.30pm on SBS and at SBS On Demand on Wednesday 12 October. Episodes air weekly. (Stream season 1 here.)

Partisan – season 2

Season 2 of ‘Partisan’. Source: Distributor

Set in a rural idyll, Sweden’s Partisan won best series at CANNESERIES 2020. When Johnny (Fares Fares) accepts a job at an organic farm, he begins to realise operations are more than dodgy behind the pure façade. Are youngsters being trafficked? Is money being laundered? Why is he asked to dig a grave? And about Johnny – what exactly is his agenda? Season 1 delivered abundant layers of creepiness with its neo-Nazi undercurrent. We’re keen to see what season 2 has in store.

Season 2 of Partisan premieres exclusively in Australia and is now streaming at SBS On Demand. (Catch up with season 1 here.)

North Sea Connection

‘North Sea Connection’. Source: Distributor

The spectacular west coast of Ireland contrasts with the dark deeds being done from one of its isolated, sleepy little fishing communities. Aidan (Kerr Logan) is transporting drugs at sea, but it’s his sister Ciara (Lydia McGuinness) who’s forced to face the dramatic consequences of his nefarious actions. This sparkling drama also stars Dónall Ó Héalai, Claes Ljungmark and Natalie Simpson.

North Sea Connection premieres exclusively in Australia and is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

Bonnie & Clyde

‘Bonnie & Clyde’. Source: Distributor

From Holland comes this exciting four-part drama inspired by a real-life couple who were dubbed the Dutch Bonnie and Clyde in the press at the time. Here, Dilan (Esra Kaplan), on release to visit her family in Turkey, goes on the run instead of returning to custody in the Netherlands. Her lover Greg (Yannick Jozefzoon, who in 2018 was nominated for a Gouden Kalf award (a Dutch Oscar) for his performance in Gonzalo Fernandez’s Tom Adelaar) joins her. But will their newfound freedom be overtaken by their criminal past and present before they get a chance to truly escape?

Bonnie & Clyde premieres exclusively in Australia and is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

Australia Uncovered Documentaries

‘Kids Raising Kids’. Source: SBS

After our first range of eye-opening documentaries under the banner of Australia Uncovered, which included Strong Female Lead and Incarceration Nation, SBS is proud to introduce four new documentaries from some of our nation’s top filmmakers. Airing on four consecutive Tuesday nights, the docos will screen in this order: Me And My Tourette’s, Inconceivable: The Secret Business of Breeding Humans, The Cleaning Company and Kids Raising Kids.

The new documentaries Australia Uncovered premiere exclusively in Australia on SBS and at SBS On Demand at 8.30pm, airing over four consecutive weeks from Tuesday 25 October to Tuesday 15 November. Catch up at SBS On Demand.

Unbroken

‘Unbroken’. Source: Distributor

In this harrowing German series, a detective is kidnapped just before she’s due to give birth. When she comes to, she can’t remember a thing and her newborn is missing. From creators Marc O. Seng (Dark, The Red Band Society) and Andreas Linke, and starring Aylin Tezel as our detective, Alexandra Enders (7500, Tatort), Unbroken is a cracking drama not for the faint of heart.

Unbroken premieres exclusively in Australia and is now streaming at SBS On Demand.