Australian fans of Shortland Street can rejoice - New Zealand's most successful long-running television soap is coming to free-to-air television in 2021, at its new home, SBS VICELAND.
The hugely popular Kiwi soap is set around the goings-on at a fictional Auckland hospital, and has a reputation for dealing with complex social issues in an inclusive and engrossing way. Shortland Street will premiere on Monday 11 January, with fast-tracked episodes of season 29 airing weeknights at 5:40pm. In advance of the FTA TV premiere episodes, the final 40 episodes of season 28 will drop at SBS On Demand on 1 January.
Shortland Street joins a range of investigative documentaries, movies, and news and current affairs programs, in a 2021 slate of programs celebrating diversity and exposing people to new cultures and ideas.
Here's what else Australians can expect on SBS VICELAND next year:
The cast of 'Shortland Street' Source: SBS
New SBS VICELAND programs premiering in 2021 will explore contemporary global issues including: Wet Markets Exposed which looks at the dark underbelly of wet markets and wildlife trafficking around the globe and While the Rest of Us Die which unmasks the inherent unfairness of disproportionate responses to catastrophe (i.e. who gets rescued over others).
In addition, the acclaimed feature documentary Mayor from Emmy-winning director, editor and composer David Osit, will be available exclusively on SBS Viceland as part of Vice World News’ The Short List with Suroosh Alvi, a collection of the world’s best documentaries curated by VICE founder Suroosh Alvi.
VICE World News’ six-part documentary Border to Border, is a unique series that explores life along the lines drawn between countries where tension, trafficking, migration, and environmental issues collide. Fringe Nation: Extremists in America considers whether the actions of those at the fringes have a disproportionate - and irreversible - impact on the United States.
The channel will also offer a string of new international true crime documentaries covering everything from suburban crime to murder in the professional wrestling industry. From Vice TV comes the third season of pro wrestling documentary series Dark Side of the Ring alongside the newly announced expansion of the franchise, Dark Side of The 90s, which will explore the decade’s most captivating pop-culture moments. Also airing next year is documentary strand VICE VERSA, a new series of independent documentary specials that serve as a hub for compelling storytelling that challenges the status quo, as well as the hotly anticipated third season of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia.
VICE Studios’ new upcoming three-part series, Jack the Ripper: Hidden Victims, which provides a new take on historical crime documentaries and debunks the myths and mistruths around the infamous murderer Jack the Ripper, will also premiere in 2021.
Fringe Nation Source: SBS
Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia season 3 Source: SBS
SBS VICELAND is not only the home of bold dramas and documentaries, but also the free-to-air home of basketball in Australia, bringing audiences the 2021 National Basketball League (NBL) season, and the 2021 National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) seasons.
All of this and more will feature alongside SBS VICELAND favourites including the cult hit show 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Taskmaster, brand-new comedy panel show Patriot Brains, and new seasons of Wellington Paranormal and The Casketeers.
