While you can expect it to come to Showmax eventually, one of this month’s most highly anticipated new series – Taylor Sheridan’s Montana-set The Madison, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell – is actually locked to DStv, screening on M-Net on Mondays from 16 March, express from the US.
Still, Showmax has some entertainment cards up its sleeve, like Ted Season 2 (Binge from Wednesday, 18 March), and a glut of intriguing documentaries. We’ve cherry picked our recommendations for the month, but you can find the whole Showmax schedule here.
Series
From the creative team behind 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, comes new mockumentary sports comedy The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins. Tracy Morgan plays a disgraced former football player on a mission to rehabilitate his image with the help of Oscar-winning filmmaker Arthur Tobin (Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe).
Watch the 10-episode first season of The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins on Wednesdays from 4 March.
For true crime fans, there’s acclaimed homegrown crime drama Niggies. This Afrikaans-language dramatisation of a true story explores the 1965 kidnapping and murder of girls Issie Fourie and Petro Nel in the Free State town of Odendaalsrus. Issie’s brother, André, swore to bring the perpetrator to justice – a quest that would take almost two decades to complete. With English subtitles.
Binge all nine episodes of Niggies from Wednesday, 25 March.
Film
2021’s Nobody was a surprise action hit, with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk playing a mild-mannered husband and father who actually works as a brutally efficient hitman. In the sequel, Nobody 2, Hutch Mansell decides to take his family on holiday to a waterpark to reconnect – but then he makes the mistake of putting some local bullies in their place. The cast of Nobody 2 includes Connie Nielsen, Sharon Stone and Colin Hanks.
Watch Nobody 2 on Showmax from Monday, 9 March.
Still on matters of sequels to surprise action hits, animated film The Bad Guys 2 also arrives on Showmax this month. In this anthropomorphic animal heist tale, the now-reformed Bad Guys are trying to be good but instead find themselves recruited by a new team of criminals: the Bad Girls. Returning Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Anthony Ramos, Marc Maron and Craig Robinson are joined by Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova and Natasha Lyonne.
Watch The Bad Guys 2 from Friday, 20 March.
P.S. If you love DreamWorks Animation, Showmax is dropping a huge chunk of the studio’s back catalogue as of 1 March, with The Croods: New Age, Trolls World Tour, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, Rise of the Guardians, Puss in Boots, How to Train Your Dragon, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron, Antz, and Shrek Forever After all hitting the streaming service.
Documentaries
True crime girlies, rise up. Four-part miniseries The Yoghurt Shop Murders dives into the mystifying 1991 murder of four teenage girls at a frozen yoghurt shop in Austin, Texas. Sporting a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the docuseries was nominated for two awards at the 10th Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.
Binge The Yoghurt Shop Murders from Thursday, 12 March.
Less mystifying and more shocking is three-part The Mortician. In Southern California in the 1980s, the family-run Lamb Funeral Home was accused of engaging in years of unethical practices, betraying public trust. Corpse mutilation, mass cremations, theft from the deceased, and hits on rival morticians were all part of a grand scheme to maximise profits.
Binge The Mortician from Thursday, 19 March.