15 best series on DStv this April, from The Last of Us to Inimba to Secrets of the Penguin

kykNET (DStv Channel 144) | 18:00 weekdays

kykNET & kie (DStv channel 145) | 18:30 weekdays

Suidooster is a small shopping and business centre in the fictional Cape Town suburb of Ruiterbosch. Here the Octobers, the Samsodiens and the du Plooys live and work together, sharing in each other’s joys and sorrows.

In the S11 premiere, Carlo takes chances with his new job, but will Lee-Ann or Nazeem realise it? Riaan feels guilty about Kate, while Bianca feels increasingly lonely.

A previous SAFTA winner for Best TV Soap, Suidooster picked up the Best Actress: Telenovela or Soap award at Silwerskerm last year for Jill Levenberg’s performance as Mymoena Samsodien, the first Muslim matriarch in a South African soapie. Portia Joel and Irvine van der Merwe are back this season in their SAFTA-nominated roles as Lee-Ann and Nazeem.

Also look out for 2024 SAFTA Best Actress winner Antoinette Louw and Sean Aucamp-Van Noordwyk from Getroud Met Rugby as new faces this season, joining other recent new additions like 2024 Silwerskerm Best Newcomer winner Mienke Ehlers (Wyfie).

Watch the trailer:

TLC SA (DStv Channel 135) | 21:00 on Wednesdays

“When I came to Ghana, I stopped being a black man, and I was just a man.”

In Coming From America, four African-American families pack up all their belongings, risking everything to move to the new land of opportunity: Africa. It’s become a trend: blaxit.

Enticed by their ancestral roots, these families travel 5 000 miles to find love, jobs and a better life. They’ll have to survive the inevitable culture shock but if they can endure the first 60 days, their lives could be changed forever.

The Smiley family heads from New York to Lusaka, Zambia, while the Kelly and Davis families relocate from New York and Los Angeles respectively to Accra, Ghana, where they connect with the Jones family, who have come from Texas.

Watch the trailer:

M-Net (DStv Channel 101) | 18:00 on Sundays from 6 April

Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks narrates The Americas, an epic 10-part television event from the Emmy-winning producers of Planet Earth and Blue Planet, exploring the worlds and wildlife of North and South America.

Scored by two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer, the documentary series employs revolutionary filmmaking technology to showcase the wonders, secrets and fragilities of the Americas – Earth’s largest landmass and the only one to stretch between both poles.

Filmed over five years, The Americas has an 8.1/10 rating on IMDb and a 83% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As The Hollywood Reporter says, “The photography is astonishing. You’re bound to learn something… And provided you root for the cute, baby animals over the gnarly predators, your heart is likely to be lifted three to five times per episode.”

Watch the trailer:

E! (DStv Channel 124) | 18:10 on Sundays from 6 April

The hit franchise charts a new course with its latest iteration, Below Deck: Sailing Yacht.

Captain Glenn Shephard and his luxury yacht crew are taking over Ibiza, where there are plenty of boatmances, competitive co-workers, and tense personal dynamics waiting! Keen an eye and an ear out for South African first mate Gary King.

Below Deck: Sailing Yacht has been nominated for The Reality Show of the Year at the People’s Choice Awards and Best Unstructured Series at the Critics Choice Real TV Awards.

Watch the trailer:

M-Net (DStv Channel 101) | 22:00 on Wednesdays from 16 April

South African auteur Oliver Hermanus (Living, Moffie, Skoonheid) helms the first three episodes of Emmy-nominated series Mary & George, Rotten Tomatoes’ fifth best anthology or limited series of 2024.

Based on a scandalous true story, the historical drama stars Oscar winner Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine (The Idea of You) as Mary Villers and her son George, who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England… via the bed of King James I.

Giving it a rare 5/5-star review, The Guardian headlined, “Julianne Moore has ludicrously good fun in 17th-century raunchfest,” saying, “This audacious drama has poisonings by prune, lesbian affairs, murders, orgies – and a family so monstrous they make the Borgias look like the Waltons. It is magnificent… [and] more fun than I can possibly tell you.”

Watch the trailer, which has over 1.5m views:

Moja Love (DStv Channel 157) | 22:00 on Wednesdays from 16 April

Blast from the Past looks back at celebrities that were famous in the past, whether as actors, musicians, comedians or sports stars.

The reality show explores how they have managed to re-invent themselves into new career ventures, showing how you should never give up in life.

Blast from the Past is hosted by actor Simphiwe Mtshali (One Weeks, Generations, Tsha Tsha).

M-Net (DStv Channel 101) | 18:00 on weekdays from Tuesday, 8 April

Four years after the Brains won, brains and brawn battle it out again in the 12th season of Survivor Australia.

This season, 24 contestants, including Olympian Morgan Mitchell, are stranded in Samoa and divided into two teams: one known for their strength, the other for their brains.

Survivor Australia was up for Best Reality Program for the second year in a row at the 2025 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.

Watch the trailer:

M-Net (DStv Channel 101) | 21:00 on Mondays from 14 April

Last year, The Last of Us won seven Critics Choice Super Awards, including Best Horror and Best Superhero, as well as Best Actor (Pedro Pascal), Actress (Bella Ramsey) and Villain (Melanie Lynskey). The post-apocalyptic drama also collected eight Emmys, including Guest Actor and Actress prizes for Murray Bartlett and Storm Reid.

Five years after the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie are drawn into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.

New cast members include Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Emmy nominees Kaitlyn Dever (Unbelievable) and Young Mazino (Beef), and Ariela Barer, Danny Ramirez, Isabela Merced and Tati Gabrielle, four of IMDb’s Top Stars to Watch in 2025.

Watch the trailer, which has over 25m views:

Mzansi Magic (DStv Channel 161) | 21:00 weekdays from 14 April

Zoleka Mabandla had it all: a new family, a promising career, and a dream job offer she found difficult to refuse. But when her husband, Hlathi, forces her to choose between her ambition and their family, she makes the ultimate sacrifice.

Fast forward 20 years and Zoleka is now a tech mogul. She’s here to reclaim her life and Qhawe, the daughter she lost. But she soon learns that the past doesn’t let go that easily.

SAFTA nominee Lunathi Mampofu (1802: Love Defies Time) and Sisa Hewana (Unmarried) co-star as Zoleka and Hlathi. The fire cast also includes SAFTA nominee Siyabonga Shibe (Sibongile & The Dlaminis), SAFTA winner Andrea Dondolo (The Queen), and Ayakha Ntunja (Amo in Youngins), Zenande Mfenyana (The Queen), Prince Grootboom (1802: Love Defies Time), and Nkanyiso Makhanya (Umkhokha: The Curse).

Watch the trailer:

TLC SA (DStv Channel 135) | 19:05 on Sundays from 20 April

James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter films) bring their exceptional charm and behind-the-scenes anecdotes as hosts of this most magical series, where pairs of professional bakers create spellbinding edible showpieces on the sets where the Harry Potter films were made.

James and Oliver will be joined by culinary judges Carla Hall and Jozef Youssef – and special guests Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick), Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) and Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), who will help in evaluating the competitors’ showpieces and also share their own film stories.

In their four-star review, The Guardian says, “This Hogwarts-themed cake show is sheer magic … A chocolate stallion-head Patronus anyone? Gryffindor scarf knitted out of icing? Or popcorn and mousse-filled snitches? These contestants’ culinary feats are utter wizardry.”

Warner Bros. Discovery has already ordered seconds.

Watch the trailer:

Universal TV (DStv Channel 117) | 20:00 on Mondays from 21 April

Wild Cards stars Giacomo Gianniotti (Dr Andrew DeLuca in Grey’s Anatomy) and Teen Choice winner Vanessa Morgan (Riverdale) as a cop and a con artist forced to work together. In Season 2, Ellis must set aside his sense of hurt at Max’s betrayal to work with her on a new case involving the dangerous, adrenaline-fuelled world of high-speed street racing.

Season 1 was nominated for the Venice TV Award for Best Comedy, earned a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and was up for four Leo Awards, including Best Actress for Morgan.

This season, also look out for Emmy winner Martin Sheen and Golden Globe nominee Jason Priestley.

Watch the trailer:

Mzansi Magic (DStv Channel 161) | 19:30 weekdays from Monday, 21 April

Felicia Thabethe, once the queen of gospel, thought she had built an unshakable legacy with her husband, Gabriel. But when shocking secrets surface, everything she has worked for is thrown into chaos. Now, with Genesis Records at risk, Felicia must fight to protect her family’s name before it all crumbles.

Produced by Singavision Productions, Mzansi Magic’s new telenovela stars four-time SAFTA nominee Baby Cele (Sibongile & The Dlaminis, Shaka Ilembe, Uzalo), Buyile Mdladla (Gomora), Nay Maps (Umkhokha: The Curse, The Queen), Gaosi Raditholo (The River), KB Motsilanyane (Law, Love and Betrayal), and Kealeboga Masango, nominated as Best Newcomer at the 2024 National Film & TV Awards South Africa for her role as Buhle in Youngins.

Watch a clip:

National Geographic Wild (DStv channel 182) | 18:00, Tuesday, 22 April

On the 20th anniversary of National Geographic’s Oscar-winning March of The Penguins, Secrets of the Penguins changes everything we ever believed to be true.

From the Emperor Penguins’ revelatory bonds of friendship to the gritty resolve of Gentoos and Rockhoppers, and the astonishing ingenuity of the migrant penguins that reached deserts and far beyond, their incredible traditions and societies echo ours in ways we never dreamt possible – until now.

Executive produced by Oscar winner James Cameron and narrated by Blake Lively, Secrets of the Penguins was filmed over two extraordinary years by National Geographic Explorer Bertie Gregory, a BAFTA- and Emmy-winning wildlife cinematographer.

Watch the trailer:

Watch an excerpt, with over 7m views, here:

BBC Brit (DStv channel 120) | 20:00 on Mondays from 28 April

There’s a stranger in paradise – a new detective with a dazzling assortment of outlandish puzzles to solve.

Don Gilet (Lucas in EastEnders) joins the sun-soaked crime drama this season as DI Wilson, a detective with a very personal reason for being on Saint Marie but a serious lack of interpersonal skills.

His sleuthing is quickly put to the test in the case of the three Santa Clauses found dead under almost impossible circumstances, a murder on a zipline and a “rum” case of poisoning. But Wilson also has a mystery of his own to solve – one that’s very close to home.

Credited with helping to kickstart the cosy crime trend, Death In Paradise was nominated for a 2024 TV Times Award for Favourite Returning Drama.

Watch the trailer:

HGTV (DStv Channel 177) | 21:00 on Wednesdays from 30 April

In Season 6 of Fixer To Fabulous, Dave and Jenny Marrs continue their journey of bringing old houses back to life.

With a little love and a lot of talent, the husband-wife duo restores timeworn homes into contemporary living spaces in their hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Fixer to Fabulous was nominated for a 2024 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Instructional and How-To Program.

Watch the trailer:

• Extreme Makeover Home Edition S11 | M-Net (DStv Channel 101) | 21:00, Saturday, 5 April

• Snoop Dogg’s Fatherhood: Cori And Wayne’s Story | E! (DStv Channel 124) | 19:05, Sunday, 6 April

• The White Lotus S3 | M-Net (DStv Channel 101) | 21:00, Wednesday, 9 April

• The Neighborhood S6 | M-Net (DStv Channel 101) | 18:30, Saturday, 12 April

• NCIS S20 | Universal TV (DStv Channel 117) | 20:00, Monday, 14 April

• Lamb Champs S1 | kykNET (DStv Channel 144) | 20:00 Sunday, 20 April

• Parish S1 | Universal TV (DStv Channel 117) | 20:00, Thursday, 24 April

• Extended Family S1 | M-Net (DStv Channel 101) | 18:30, Saturday, 26 April

• Kyk Wie Praat S4 | kykNET (DStv Channel 144) | 20:00, Wednesday, 30 April

See the full schedule:

• Coming From America

• The Americas

• Below Deck Sailing Yacht

• Mary & George

• Blast From The Past

• The Last of Us

• Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking

• Wild Cards

• Genesis

• Secrets of the Penguin

• Death in Paradise

• Fixer to Fabulous