SBS's blog

AS IT HAPPENED:
TRY EVOLUTION

Friday 19 October
8.30pm

Screening on SBS Television in the As It Happened timeslot, Friday, October 19 is Try Evolution.

Try Revolution tells the story of how the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand impacted on South Africa. In this one-hour documentary South Africans from Archbishop Desmond Tutu through to ordinary rugby fans talk about how the games, the images, the reports and the conversations that surrounded “The Tour” affected them personally and helped to change the apartheid system.

The 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand had been greatly anticipated by the rugby-mad white community of South Africa. New Zealand was their most cherished rival and this tour was going to be live on television, a first for South Africa. So when they tuned into the first broadcast, the Hamilton match, and saw hundreds of protestors standing on the field, they went into a kind of collective shock.

Try Revolution explores what happened over the ensuing months and indeed years as the impact of the “The Tour” was fully realised.

DOCUMENTARY SERIES

A new seven-part reality series
Begins October 17, 7.30pm

Screening on SBS television, Wednesday, October 17 at 8.30pm, Is Your House Killing You? is an entertaining scientific makeover show about toxics in the home. It once and for all separates the facts from the filth and provides valuable tips and tricks for the viewer.

In this era of cocooning, creating a retreat from the world has become an intense focus of our lives. We spend most of our time indoors. But in creating this haven, little do we know that there is a parallel universe within that is more toxic than the one we’re trying to escape. Government and media focus has shifted to indoor air pollution. And the main culprits are right under your nose – mould, pesticides, solvents, deodorizers, cleansers, dusty carpets, paint, particleboards, adhesives, fumes from gas heating…

The focus of the show is to bring the invisible dangers to light, and provide guidance for the viewers. Recent studies confirm that the wider community is concerned about toxins but most people don’t understand the issues and desperately want information about the hidden health and environmental risks indoors. Research is indicating that 21st Century disease, Sick Building Syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivities and other chronic diseases such as asthma and eczema are on the rise. The ongoing value of this show is that it is not only fun to watch the experts track down the culprits and find solutions, but it also interprets science for household use.

DOCUMENTARY
IN SEARCH OF GANDHI

Tuesday 16 October
11.00pm

Screening on SBS Television in the Why Democracy? timeslot, Tuesday October 16 at 11.00pm is In Search Of Gandhi.

In the early decades of the twentieth century Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy of non-violent revolution, or Satyagraha, inspired a mass movement of millions of Indians to rise up against the British colonial state, and successfully agitate for the establishment of a democratic and free India.

In 2007, the country is preparing to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of its existence as an independent nation. But what kind of a democracy does India have today? What does it actually mean to live in the world’s largest democracy?

In road-movie style the film crew travels down the famous trail of Gandhi’s salt march, the remarkable mass campaign that galvanized ordinary Indians to join the non-violent struggle for democracy and freedom almost a century ago.

Stopping at the same villages and cities, where Gandhi and his followers had raised their call for independence, the film documents the stories of ordinary citizens in India today.

why democracy?
Dinner with the President

Tuesday 16 October
10.00pm

Screening on SBS Television Tuesday, 16 October at 10pm in the Why Democracy series timeslot is Dinner with the President.

What are the implications for democracy in Pakistan when secular political parties have succumbed to the Islamic agenda? What does it mean when the army appears to be the only force able to contain the opponents of democracy, the armed Islamists? President Musharraf agrees to explore this apparent contradiction over dinner at his official residence, the Army House. As the discussion moves in and out of the different worlds in Pakistan a complex tapestry emerges revealing a society unique yet universal.

The filmmaker talks to diverse individuals, from labourers to intellectuals, from street vendors to religious right wing political party members, and from journalists to industrialists. What is their idea of democracy in Pakistan? What is their idea of President Musharraf’s vision of a modern Pakistan? Dinner with the President questions the role a military leader can play in guiding a state towards modern democracy.

why democracy?

8.30pm

Screening on SBS Television Tuesday, 16 October at 8.30pm in the Why Democracy timeslot is Taxi to the Dark Side.

Over one hundred prisoners have died in suspicious circumstances in U.S. custody during the "war on terror". Taxi to the Dark Side takes an in-depth look at one case: an Afghan taxi driver called Dilawar who was considered an honest and kind man by the people of his rustic village. So when he was detained by the U.S military one afternoon, after picking up three passengers, the villagers wondered why this man was randomly chosen to be held in prison, and, especially, without trial? Five days after his arrest, Dilawar died in his Bagram prison cell. His death came within a week of another death of a Bagram detainee. The conclusion, with autopsy evidence, was that the former taxi driver and the detainee died due to sustained injuries inflicted at the prison by U.S. soldiers.

SHOWCASE

9.30pm

In 1998, General Pinochet, the former dictator of Chile was arrested in Britain whilst holidaying there, courtesy of British Aerospace. He was enjoying the sights, shopping for clothes and planning back surgery. Pinochet was detained for 500 days.

On Sunday October 7 at 9.30pm, SBS Television will screen Pinochet in Suburbia in the Showcase timeslot. The program tells the remarkable story of General Pinochet’s arrest and his fight to avoid extradition to Spain.

Pinochet in Suburbia delicately weaves several narrative strands, including a tense and intricate legal battle that twisted and turned it way through the courts whilst the whole world watched and waited to see what fate awaited the once powerful dictator.

Not since the Nuremburg trials had there been such a significant test of the power of international law. The whole case was given further prominence by the tireless campaigning of former UK Prime Minister, Lady Margaret Thatcher, for General Pinochet’s release.

SCIENCE

8.30pm

Palaeontologists claim that 65 million years ago a massive meteorite emerged from space, and ploughed into the Earth. This catastrophic event is what most scientists believe wiped out the dinosaurs. But what would have happened if it missed? How would it affect the way we live today?

On Sunday October 14 at 8.30pm in the Science timeslot, SBS Television will screen My Pet Dinosaur where a panel of experts are asked to re-run the tape of evolution.

Many scientists have debated that the dinosaur was a doomed species in every sense of the word. If not the meteorite, then the ice age would have certainly sealed its fate! However, recent fossil discoveries have led some experts to believe that these animals were far more adaptable then given credit for and could have comfortably adjusted to a variety of environments, from polar conditions, to regions of rivers and forests, jungle and deserts.

Had the dinosaur avoided death by meteorite and lived through the Ice Age, the world as we know it would be very different. If humans managed to survive alongside the dinosaur, we would be one of very few mammals left roaming the earth.