Top new series in May 2023

New international crime drama, returning favourites, and an SBS Original. May’s days are looking very good indeed.

(L-R) 'Safe Home', 'The Night Logan Woke Up', 'Blue Lights', 'Who Do You Think You Are?' Source: SBS

Who Do You Think You Are? – season 14

Barry Humphries, Rhonda Burchmore and Stephen Page in the new season. Source: SBS

We cannot get enough of this genealogy series in which a group of prominent Australians each delve into their ancestry. For some, mysteries are finally resolved, for others, they find out secrets long covered up. In this fourteenth season, join Barry Humphries (vale), Jenny Brockie, Derryn Hinch, Rhonda Burchmore, Stephen Page, Peter Helliar, Kerry Armstrong and John Waters as they explore their family trees.

Season 14 of Who Do You Think You Are? premieres exclusively at 7.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand, Tuesday 2 May. Episodes air weekly. The late Barry Humphries starts off the season:

Fight The Power: How Hip-Hop Changed The World

Tony Tone and Kool Herc backstage at T Connection, 1979, as seen in ‘Fight The Power: How Hip-Hop Changed The World’. Source: BBC Studios

“Hip hop became my voice that was, for so long, silenced.” Chuck D created and narrates this untold story of Black America, through the lens of rap. We hear from superstars including Ice-T and Eminem, cultural experts and historians, who reveal the way rap has spoken truth to power over the decades since its inception. Over four episodes, we move from 1970s The Bronx to the present day, following the birth and growth of this movement that changed the world.

Four-part docu-series Fight The Power: How Hip-Hop Changed The World is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

Love/Hate – seasons 1–5

‘Love/Hate’. Source: Distributor

From Ireland, award-winning film/TV maker David Caffrey (Pure Grit, The Alienist) directed five seasons of this crime drama centring on Darren (Robert Sheehan), who can’t seem to keep away from his old gang, despite his desire to leave trouble behind. The 2010–14 series kept viewers glued to the screen in those pre-streaming days when it first aired. From writer Stuart Carolan (Taken Down, The Alienist) Love/Hate also stars Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (who is also in Dublin Murders now streaming at SBS On Demand), Chris Newman, Killian Scott, Charlie Murphy, Aidan Gillen and Aoibhinn McGinnity.

All five seasons of Love/Hate are now streaming at SBS On Demand.

SurrealEstate

‘SurrealEstate’. Source: Distributor

The unseen realm provides the ‘surreal’ in this all-one-word titled real estate ten-part drama series with a twist. The Roman Agency specialises in properties that are ‘metaphysically engaged’ (in other words, haunted) and Luke Roman is able to not only sense but communicate with the ghostly inhabitants of these houses that nobody else is willing to take on. Things get even more interesting when he enters into negotiations with the spirit dwellers. The Canadian paranormal series also stars Schitt’s Creek’s Sarah Levy.

SurrealEstate is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

Heridas

‘Heridas’. Source: Distributor

Translating to ‘wounded person’, Spanish series Heridas centres on Manuela, who lives alone in the Andalusian wetlands and has devoted herself to the study of birds. Having left behind her adoptive family, she is nursing the trauma of being abandoned. When she meets 7-year-old Alba, being neglectfully raised by her mother and her boyfriend, she’s thrown onto a fresh journey of confronting her demons. Stars Adriana Ugarte, María León, Javier Collado and Cosette Silguero as Alba.

Heridas is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

Safe Home

Aisha Dee in ‘Safe Home’. Source: SBS

An SBS Original drama series, Safe Home follows Phoebe (Aisha Dee), a twenty-something professional, who leaves her job at a prominent law firm to work at a struggling family violence legal centre. Interweaving stories unfold and relationships are tested as pressure mounts to save the centre. With so much at stake, Phoebe must navigate a path that isn’t always clear, and people aren’t always what they seem. The brilliant cast also includes Virginia Gay, Mabel Li, Thomas Cocquerel, Antonia Prebble and David Roberts, plus plenty more talented Australians.

Safe Home premieres exclusively in Australia with a double episode at 8.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand, Thursday 11 May. Episodes continue weekly on SBS. The full season is now streaming at SBS On Demand:

Eurovision Song Contest 2023

It’s back, and sure to be shinier than ever. Broadcast live from Liverpool, UK, in place of Ukraine this year, both semi-finals and the grand final will air live or on replay on SBS and SBS On Demand. The effervescent Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey return to host. Here’s the breakdown:

Semi Final 1

Live: 5am – 7.10am AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand, Wednesday 10 May

Replay: 7.30pm – 10pm AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand, Friday 12 May

Semi Final 2 – Australia is competing in this one!

Live: 5am – 7.10am AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand, Friday 12 May

Replay: 7.30pm – 10pm AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand, Saturday 13 May

Australia’s entry is the song “Promise” performed by Voyager.

Grand Final – Sunday 14 May

Live: 5am – 8.50am AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand, Sunday 14 May

Replay: 7.30pm – 11.30pm AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand, Sunday 14 May

Catch all the latest updates here. Watch Australia’s Voyager perform “Promise”:

Catch all the action from both Semis and the Grand Final, now streaming at SBS On Demand.

Blue Lights

‘Blue Lights’. Source: Gallagher Films/Two Cities Television, Steffan Hill

From the writers of The Salisbury Poisonings, Blue Lights takes us to Belfast where three rookie cops – young Annie (Katherine Devlin), midlife career-changer Grace (Sian Brooke) and dedicated if socially awkward Tommy (Nathan Braniff) ­– are hoping to be selected once their probation ends in two months. It’s unlikely all three will make it. Meanwhile, a large-scale investigation into a local gang has been suddenly shut down, begging the question, who is protecting them?  

The Guardian gave this “well-crafted, fantastically tense, thrilling” crime drama 5 stars, as the daily confrontations of first responding tests the rookies’ mettle, and the canned investigation gets things cooking as well. A second season has been green-lit.

Blue Lights is now streaming at SBS On Demand. Episodes also air weekly at 9.30pm Wednesdays on SBS from 24 May.

Alone – season 9

‘Alone’. Source: Distributor

This truly solitary survivalist show has gripped the world, with Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Australian versions now available. But this time, we go back to where it all began: the USA. Now onto their ninth season, a fresh batch of ten American hopefuls will land in the wilderness of Canada’s Labrador region, in an attempt to survive the harsh conditions longest, and take out $500,000 prize. It’s not only the physical conditions, but the emotional and mental, and the social isolation that causes immense challenges for participants. Who will have the grit to out-stay the rest?  

Season 9 of Alone is now streaming at SBS On Demand. Episodes will also air on SBS VICELAND weekly from Tuesday 30 May.

The Night Logan Woke Up

‘The Night Logan Woke Up’. Source: Distributor

This gripping French-language Canadian drama travels back to the 1990s, to the teenage lives of brother and sister Mimi and Jules and their best friend Logan. Inseparable, the trio are torn apart when Logan rapes Mimi. Both families are shattered, and the entire small town soon finds out. Cut to the present day and Mimi is now a renowned thanatologist and travels home to tend to her mother on her death, as she requested. Reuniting with her estranged brothers, the secrets of the past inevitably resurface, inviting reconciliation although not without a great deal of pain.

Five-part series The Night Logan Woke Up is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

Normal People

‘Normal People’. Source: Element Pictures / Enda Bowe

Based on the best-selling 2018 novel by Sally Rooney, this TV adaptation took the world by storm. Starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal as Marianne and Connell, teens from different backgrounds growing up in the same small town in Ireland, the series follows the pair as they move into adult life and weave in and out of each other’s romantic lives. If you missed it the first time round, now’s your chance to catch the compelling six-part series.

Normal People premieres at 8.30pm on SBS, Thursday 25 May. Episodes will be available at SBS On Demand straight after they go to air, but be quick. Each episode will only be streaming for 31 days.