ICYMI: 10 great series that landed on SBS On Demand over the new year

While the holiday season was in full swing, new and returning series continued to premiere at SBS On Demand. Here’s what you might have missed.

A composite image shows four people - two men and two women.

L-R: Three Star Bar, The Cinderella Murder, SurrealEstate, Start Over. Credit: SBS On Demand

Pagan Peak – season 3

There’s a new serial killer at work on the border between Germany and Austria, and detectives Ellie (Julia Jentsch) and Gedeon (Nicholas Ofczarek) from either side are back investigating, but that’s just about the only things that remain the same in the third and final season of this moody police series.

The duo are now at odds with each other even as they work the same case, the suspect list is a long one (including evil developers, possible Satanists and a Neo-Nazi) and the overall mood is a lot creepier than previous seasons. Haven’t discovered this popular cross-border crime series? Now there’s a box set of the entire series available so you can get caught up.

Pagan Peak premiered exclusively in Australia at SBS On Demand on Thursday December 28. and are also streaming.

Stream free On Demand

Thumbnail of Pagan Peak

Pagan Peak

series • 
thriller • 
German
MA15+
series • 
thriller • 
German
MA15+


The Cinderella Murder

In this eight-part series Anton Bergman (Koen De Graeve) and his daughter Julie (Louisa Peeters) are accused of killing Marianne Coens (Katrien De Ruysscher), Anton’s partner and Julie’s stepmother. Julie says she acted alone; her father claims his innocence. The prosecution thinks they worked together with Julie taking the fall. Now 12 members of the jury have to weigh the evidence and decide whether this was the act of a violent stepchild, or a family tearing itself apart.

Created in the tradition of 2019 Belgian series The Twelve with an all-new story line (much like the stand-alone nature of each season of Fargo), The Cinderella Murder once again presents a group of average people dealing with a sensational case, trying to find justice within the twists and turns of the evidence, even as their personal lives come under strain.

The Cinderella Murder premiered exclusively in Australia at SBS On Demand on Thursday December 28.

 

Something Undone

Farid (Michael Musi) and Jo (Madison Walsh) are a successful true crime podcast team. He goes out and covers the story; she stays behind and works on the production side of things creating the sounds that bring the stories to life. But as she prepares her deceased mother’s house for sale, the sounds she’s hearing start hitting a little too close to home. And in the small Canadian town where Farid is investigating a gruesome multiple murder from 30 years ago, the reception he’s facing has gone from cold to downright frosty.

Miles apart yet both being pushed to the edge, the couple find their relationship – and their mental health – fraying. Maybe don’t watch this one alone at night.

Something Undone premiered exclusively in Australia at SBS On Demand on Thursday December 28.

Stream free On Demand

Thumbnail of Something Undone

Something Undone

series • 
thriller
MA15+
series • 
thriller
MA15+



Start Over

After star surgeon Marc (Éric Caravaca) is murdered in a French hospital on New Year’s Eve, his ex-wife Anna (Claire Keim), best friend Cedric (Marc Riso), and police officer Juliette (Émilie Dequenne) find themselves together in an elevator. Nothing unusual there, only the elevator drops them off a year in the past.

You might think a year would be plenty of time to solve the case, but there’s no shortage of suspects. A number of Marc’s patients had recently died after medical errors; he was convinced someone was out to get him. Anna was having an affair with one of his co-workers. And one of those dead patients? Juliette’s husband. They’re going to have their work cut out making sure Marc’s history isn’t set in stone.

Start Over premiered exclusively in Australia at SBS On Demand on Sunday December 31.

Stream free On Demand

Thumbnail of Start Over

Start Over

series • 
Crime drama • 
French
M
series • 
Crime drama • 
French
M

 

Better Things – season 5

The final season of Better Things sees aspiring actress and struggling single mum Sam Fox (Pamela Adlon) shifting her focus to working behind the camera, while finding (once again) that she’s largely a passenger in a life that, for all the supposed glamour of her chosen career, still largely revolves around her three teenage daughters.

Frantic and funny, here the Hollywood setting takes second place to the chaos and warmth of family life. The always anxious Sam is endearingly real in this sharply observed comedy, whether she’s flailing putting together a family trip, learning how pronouns work, or just getting worked up over the way everyone says she’s constantly getting worked up.



Better Things season 5 arrived at SBS On Demand on Monday January 1. Seasons 1-4 are also streaming.

Stream free On Demand

Thumbnail of Better Things

Better Things

series • 
Comedy drama
MA15+
series • 
Comedy drama
MA15+


Scrubs S1-9 box set

The interns at Sacred Heart Hospital have been thrown in at the deep end of medical practice. Scorned by the doctors and snowed under with work, JD (Zach Braff), Turk (Donald Faison) and Elliot (Sarah Chalke) have a lot to deal with. And it probably doesn’t help that JD spends a lot of time in the often surreal space inside his own head.

Ground-breaking at the time and still hilarious today, Scrubs mixes the offbeat and wacky with occasional moments of surprising seriousness alongside a collection of brilliant sitcom supporting characters that have rarely been beaten. It’s the perfect sitcom to binge – good thing On Demand has all nine seasons available in a box set.

Scrubs seasons 1-9 arrived at SBS On Demand on Monday January 1.

Stream free On Demand

Thumbnail of Scrubs

Scrubs

series • 
medical
M
series • 
medical
M


SurrealEstate – season 2

Ever wondered how difficult it would be to sell a haunted house? For real estate agent Luke Roman (Tim Rozon), "metaphysically engaged properties" are his bread and butter. The Roman Agency doesn’t just advise clients to hold their auction during daylight hours; whether it’s spooky children, buyers demanding a house with that extra something, or demons following the staff home, they’re hands on when it comes to the kind of occupants other agencies can’t touch.

Season two sees the agency taking on some new members, dealing with some surprising houses, and tackling a few ghosts of their own. But when core member of the team Susan (Sarah Levy) goes missing, not even the Roman Agency’s crack team of ghost hunters are ready for what they’re going to uncover.

SurrealEstate season 2 premiered exclusively in Australia at SBS On Demand on Thursday January 4. is also streaming.

Stream free On Demand

Thumbnail of SurrealEstate

SurrealEstate

series • 
fantasy
MA15+
series • 
fantasy
MA15+

 

Three Star Bar

Satoru Nakauchi (Kisetsu Fujiwara), was once a chef at a top-class restaurant. Now jobless, his life is turned around when he stops by Mitsuboshi Youshudou bar. Owner Naoki Kobayashi (Win Morisaki), is a high school friend; another buddy, Ryoichiro Amamiya (Keita Machida) is the bartender. And what bar couldn’t use a top-class chef?

While each of the three has a mystery lurking in their past, this is just as much about how they handle their customers, creating a safe haven for the locals and helping them deal with their own issues. Especially if those issues can be solved with food and drink – it turns out Satoru can do amazing things with canned goods.

Three Star Bar premiered exclusively in Australia at SBS On Demand on Thursday January 4.

Stream free On Demand

Thumbnail of Three Star Bar

Three Star Bar

series • 
drama • 
Japanese
M
series • 
drama • 
Japanese
M

 

Two Weeks To Live

Kim (Masie Williams) has decided it’s time to leave her smothering doomsday prepper mum behind and see what lies beyond the isolated Scottish highlands she’s known all her life. What she finds turns out to be action, violence, a cast of bumbling and not so bumbling criminals, and the (possibly mistaken) news that the world is going to end in a fortnight.

Mixing a rip-roaring tale of revenge with a thick streak of fish-out-of-water comedy (just exactly how are you meant to get around in high heels?), this fast-paced thriller keeps the twists and laughs coming. Williams might have already played a character out for vengeance in Game of Thrones, but this version gets to beat up bad guys and go to the pub.

Two Weeks to Live premiered exclusively in Australia at SBS On Demand on Monday January 8.

Stream free On Demand

Thumbnail of Two Weeks To Live

Two Weeks To Live

series • 
Comedy drama
M
series • 
Comedy drama
M

 

The Silence

A young girl is found dead in a river in Croatia, and that’s just the first victim. A human trafficking ring crossing over the border into Ukraine is being run and protected by the rich and powerful, and those seeking justice on both sides will have to team up just to survive.

Based on a true story and filmed partly on location in Kiev before the war, this mixes a woman’s search for her missing niece, the police investigating a serial killer, and a multinational criminal organisation happy to kill anyone the instant they become inconvenient. But it’s one thing to uncover what’s going on, and another thing entirely to get those in charge to do anything about it – especially when they’re some of the people profiting from the crimes.

The Silence premieres exclusively in Australia at SBS On Demand on Thursday January 11.

Stream free On Demand

Thumbnail of The Silence

The Silence

series • 
crime • 
Croatian
MA15+
series • 
crime • 
Croatian
MA15+

Share
8 min read
Published 10 January 2024 10:46am
By Anthony Morris
Source: SBS

Share this with family and friends