Abandoned Engineering Season 2, Hi$tory with Peter Sagal, Released To Kill, Inside The Mind of a Serial Killer & more fascinating factual series on DStv Compact Plus this February
Get ready for a sizzling summer of hot button topics on DStv Compact Plus – your prime DStv destination for true crime, documentaries, nature and history.
Huff and puff, nature fans, because Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) is bringing us special documentaries on both wolves and pigs in Wolves: Power of The Pack and Meet The Pigs. Nature also takes the spotlight in Tundra, and Little Dogs, Big Personalities, which is all about the wolves’ cousins like foxes and wild dogs.
Travel buffs can get their fix of excitement, adventure, culture and history in Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown Season 9, This Is Greece Season 1 and The Enigma of The Celtic Tomb. For a touch of eerie travel and exploration, Secrets In The Ice Season 2 and Abandoned Engineering Season 2 both take us around the world to show us our forgotten past through structures lost in jungles, buried in ice or just lost through neglect. And if you like your history off the beaten track, Hi$tory with Peter Sagal and Digits Season 1 provide fascinating perspectives on US history through the lens of financial decisions and the growth of the internet, respectively.
In the brand-new true-crime series Released To Kill, journalist Donal MacIntyre asks why 1 in 5 murders in the UK has now been committed by an ex-prisoner. And Green River Killer: Hunting For The Monster explores how Gary Ridgeway was able to target, assault and murder over 49 young women without being caught – even after being brought to the police’s attention. Criminal psychologists might have the answers you’re looking for in another new series, Inside The Mind of a Serial Killer. How I Caught The Killer and Cold Justice both return for third seasons.
Need a breather from all the serious stuff? Comedy Central (DStv Channel) has your back with the rerun of sitcom South Side, and stand-up comedians giving their perspective on the ongoing pandemic in Ilana Glazer Presents Comedy Earth.
1 in 5 murders in the UK are committed by an ex-prisoner. Investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre asks how their victims’ lives could have been saved. Featuring interviews with the victims’ and the murderers’ families, witnesses, and a panel of experts, including a forensic psychiatrist, a former prison officer and a retired probation officer.
Watch Released To Kill Season 1 from Sunday, 13 February on CBS Justice (DStv Channel 170) at 19:00
Green River Killer: Hunting For The Monster Season 1
The bodies of 5 women were discovered near Washington’s Green River in 1982. They were just 5 of serial killer Gary Ridgway’s confirmed 49 victims, mostly vulnerable women and runaways under the age of 22. In a twist in the case, police turned to Ted Bundy for help.
Watch Green River Killer: Hunting For The Monster Season 1 from Saturday, 5 February on CBS Justice (DStv Channel 170) at 19:00
True-crime documentary. Criminal psychologists talk about the beliefs that led killers like US Army Soldier Eddie Leonski to murder Australian women, Angus Robertson Sinclair to kill 2 teenage girls, and far-right Norwegian bigot and terrorist Anders Breivik to massacre 77 people at a Workers' Youth League summer camp.
Watch Inside The Mind of a Serial Killer Season 1 from Thursday, 3 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 22:00
Find out what it’s like to work on tough-to-crack cases in the US and UK – including the cases of Garry Malone, Ben Blakeley, and Colin Pitchfork, with insight from detectives, CSIs and family liaison officers, and footage and photographs from the case files, illustrative recreations, and footage and dynamic graphics that unpick the crime scene.
Watch How I Caught The Killer Season 3 from Monday, 7 February on CBS Justice (DStv Channel 170) at 20:00
This true-crime series follows veteran prosecutor Kelly Siegler and her team of detectives, including Steve Spingola, Tonya Rider and Abbey Abbondandolo, as they dig into unsolved small town homicide cases like the murders of Nori Jones, Deborah Bailey, and Gwen Bewley. The “Cold Justice” team has helped bring about 21 convictions and 49 arrests.
Watch Cold Justice Season 3 from Monday, 14 February on CBS Justice (DStv Channel 170) at 19:00
Pigs are 1 of the animal kingdom’s most surprisingly intelligent animals, and almost all of our sayings about them are wrong. Spend a year with wild boars and their relatives as this documentary reveals a tender and dedicated matriarchal society, playful youngsters, wily escape artists and powerful warriors.
Watch Meet The Pigs on Wednesday, 16 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 20:00
By following canine families from across the world like red foxes, arctic and fennec foxes, jackals and African Hunting Dogs, we’ll see the similarities and differences between them and their bigger relatives, the wolves, from how they live, to how they interact and defend themselves, and how they find food.
Watch Little Dogs, Big Personalities on Wednesday, 23 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 20:00
The kingdom of the wolf extends across the entire northern hemisphere, despite culls now escalating across the globe. Forget all that macho “alpha man” posturing and explore the true dynamic of the wolf pack’s social bonds and how that structure helps them to hunt and to raise their young.
Watch Wolves: Power of The Pack on Wednesday, 2 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 21:00
As you travel toward the North Pole, beyond the tree line you’ll find a land too harsh and cold for any but the most specially adapted life. This is tundra. See how life in the tundra ebbs and flows according to seasonal changes, and how animals and plants are able to exploit this niche.
Watch Tundra on Wednesday, 9 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 20:00
Buildings and structures become even more fascinating in neglect and decay. Find out about the construction and abandonment of projects like an underground Arctic facility, the tragedy of Italy’s Vajont Dam, a Cold War concrete pyramid, a rotting American town and a lost highway in the Amazonian rainforest, Ellis Island’s hospital buildings and more.
Watch Abandoned Engineering Season 2 from Tuesday 1 February on History (DStv Channel 186) at 20:15
CGI re-creations, scanning technology and scientific research reveal places, people and objects frozen in Earth’s coldest locations. See a shipwreck in the Canadian Arctic, the lost mummies of the Alps, Mexico’s ice mountain mummy in a business suit, and bodies from an ancient log cabin under Russian permafrost.
Watch Secrets In The Ice Season 2 from Friday, 4 February on History (DStv Channel 186) at 19:25
Neuroscientist Dr. Jack Lewis talks to people whose unusual neurological conditions give us insight into how our brains work. Meet the World Memory Champion, a man who can’t recognise faces, amputees who can feel their missing limbs, a woman whose sense of time is out of order, people with synaesthesia, and more.
Watch Secrets of The Brain Season 1 from Monday, 7 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 19:00
Host Derek Muller takes us inside the internet to expose its hidden past and startling present, from the very first online message sent by UCLA professor Leonard Kleinrock to web advertising, 24/7 surveillance, hackers and the US Secret Service Cyber Crime Division. Featuring interviews with Vint Cerf, Steve Case and Edward Snowden.
Watch Digits Season 1 from Monday, 14 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 20:00
Start rebuilding your travel fantasies. Historian Michael Scott brings ancient and modern Greece to life, from Athens to Rhodes in the Dodecanese Islands, in this 5-part documentary series. See the monuments and ruins, then meet the people and explore their daily lives.
Watch This Is Greece Season 1 from Tuesday, 1 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 21:00
Explore Celtic history and culture 2,500 years ago as we get exclusive access to the Celtic Tomb in Lavau (France) to examine the exceptionally rich and well-preserved collection of objects found on the gravesite. This Celtic Golden Age find holds clues to the trade and cross-influences between Celtic, Greek and Etruscan cultures.
Watch The Enigma of The Celtic Tomb on Tuesday, 8 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 21:00
National Public Radio game host Peter Sagal takes us on a romp through the history of the USA to reveal how money makes the world go around, and how it has been the unseen force behind everything from the original Watergate scandal to the Cold War, the Wild West, to the Civil War.
Watch Hi$tory with Peter Sagal on Tuesday, 22 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 21:00
Filmed before his death, the late Anthony Bourdain travels the world uncovering lesser-known places and exploring their cultures and cuisine. Take an alternative tour of Los Angeles’ Latino communities, San Sebastian in the Basque Country, the Sultanate of Oman, Trinidad and even Antarctica this season.
Watch Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown Season 9 from Wednesday, 9 February on Curiosity Channel (DStv channel 185) at 21:00 Channel (DStv Channel 185) at 22:00
Following their community college graduation, 2 mischievous friends named Simon and K work at a rent-to-own shop while fantasising about starting their own businesses and making a fortune. This season, their plans are thwarted by everyone from Officer Goodnight to Uncle Spike, and K works on his sci-fi novel.
Watch South Side Season 2 from Saturday, 12 February on Comedy Central (DStv Channel 122) at 22:00
Ilana Glazer put together this special, which captures New York City in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, through the lens of some of the finest comics working today (including Petey Debreu, Alison Leiby, Larry Owen and Sydnee Washington, as they perform virtual stand-up sets and more.
Watch Ilana Glazer Presents Comedy Earth on Sunday, 13 February on Comedy Central (DStv Channel 122) at 22:00
Get the DStv app (Apple, Android or Huawei) and download episodes to watch on your phone or tablet – just remember to connect to the Wi-Fi first so there are no surprise data costs.
