The award is one of the biggest accolades in Asia and the Showmax Original will pit itself against:

• The BAFTA-nominated All Creatures Great and Small S4
• La Storia, named 2024 Series of the Year by The Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
• Aspergirl, winner of Best Actor for Carel Brown at last year’s Series Mania in the French competition

At the start of this week, the acclaimed Showmax Original was also released on CANAL+ in France, with two episodes every Monday. 

Reviews in France are as glowing as they were in South Africa. Le Figaro says Spinners “happily explores new fictional territories and allows you to discover an astonishing motorsport”; Diverto uses phrases like “absolutely captivating”, “breathtaking” and “both spectacular and full of suspense”; Allociné calls it “a gripping thriller… somewhere between Fast and Furious and Gomorra with a little hint of Moonlight”; Le Journal DuManche says, “If we put the film City of God, the Fast and Furious franchise and the Gomorrah series in a shaker… the final cocktail could look like this production!”; and Télé-Loisirs says, “Forget Fast and Furious, the Spinners series has a lot more under the hood than the saga with Vin Diesel and it will make you buzz with pleasure!”

The first African series ever selected for CanneSeries, Spinners follows Ethan (breakout star Cantona James), a 17-year-old driver working for a local gang. Needing to support his younger brother but increasingly disgusted with gang life, Ethan discovers a possible way out via spinning, an extreme motorsport where he can put his driving skills to better use. With a gang war looming, can he turn his life around fast enough? 

Fresh out of jail with a trail of broken dreams behind him, EZ needs a place to belong. Mayans M.C. seems to offer that, if EZ’s ready for everything that comes with it – navigating the club hierarchy, turf wars, extreme violence, shifting allegiances and a dangerous emotional link to the head of the deadly Galinda cartel, just for starters.

HARLOTS S3 | PERIOD DRAMA
First on Showmax. Binge now

The first two seasons of Harlots revolved around rival brothel owners, Margaret Wells (Oscar nominee Samantha Morton) and Lydia Quigley (Oscar nominee Lesley Manville), in 18^th century London – an era when one in five women earned a living as a prostitute in the city.  At the start of Season 3, it seems the Wells girls can finally free themselves of their mother’s feud, helped by allies such as Lady Fitz (Liv Tyler). But Charlotte Wells (Jessica Brown Findlay from Downton Abbey) soon learns that running a lucrative brothel brings enemies as well as friends, including the new pimp in town, Isaac Pincher (2019 Emmy nominee Alfie Allen from Game of Thrones).

PEN15 S1 | MIDDLE SCHOOL COMEDY
First on Showmax. Binge now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLkEpO3k514

PEN15 follows 13-year-old besties Maya and Anna as they navigate – and try to survive – seventh grade and puberty. 32-year-old co-creators Maya Erskine (Plus One) and Anna Konkle (Rosewood; the first episode of Ramy) play their 13-year-old selves, while Maya’s real-life mom, Matsuko Erskine, plays her character’s mother, Yuki. The rest of the cast are genuine teenagers.

STRANGE ANGEL S2 | OCCULT DRAMA
First on Showmax. Binge now

Created by BAFTA nominee Mark Heyman (Black Swan), Strange Angel explores the bizarre true story of Jack Parsons (Sundance winner Jack Reynor from Sing Street), who pioneered America’s rocketry program in the 1940s while simultaneously practicing sex magick rituals as a devotee to Aleister Crowley’s religion, Thelema. At the end of Season 1, Jack and his team from Caltech made a scientific breakthrough that secured the military’s interest as the country neared the brink of war. In Season 2, the U.S. is fighting World War II, transforming Jack’s rocketry work into a lucrative business. Bella Heathcote (Neon Demon) and Emmy nominee Rupert Friend (Homeland) co-star.

SWEETBITTER S2 | RESTAURANT DRAMA
First on Showmax. Binge now

Based on Stephanie Danler’s New York Times’ bestseller, Sweetbitter follows 22-year-old Tess (Ellen Purnell from Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children) who, shortly after arriving in New York City, lands a job at a celebrated downtown restaurant. Swiftly introduced to the world of drugs, alcohol, love, lust, dive bars, and fine dining, she learns to navigate the alluring yet punishing life she has stumbled upon. This is the story of a young woman’s coming-of-age, set against the rich and grimy backdrop of exclusive restaurants, conjuring a nonstop, high-adrenaline world evoking the possibility, beauty, and fragility of being young and adrift.

KIDDING S1 | DRAMA
Binge from 11 October

Jeff is a famous children’s television icon who helps kids name their feelings, but isn’t allowed to publicly admit his family is falling apart. Mostly directed by Oscar winner Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind), Kidding stars two-time Golden Globe winner Jim Carrey; Oscar nominees Frank Langella and Catherine Keener; and Judy Greer (Ant-Man). 

THE TWILIGHT ZONE S1 | SCI-FI ANTHOLOGY
Same time as M-Net. Weekly episodes at 10pm every Friday from 11 October

The godfather of sci-fi series, the original The Twilight Zone premiered 60 years ago on CBS. The series became a worldwide phenomenon as it used socially conscious storytelling to explore humanity’s hopes, despairs, prides and prejudices in metaphoric ways conventional dramas could not.

SUCCESSION S2 | DRAMA
First on Showmax. Binge from 14 October

In Season 2, the dysfunctional Roy family is struggling to retain control of their global media empire. But while the future looks increasingly uncertain, it is the past that threatens to ultimately destroy them.

SOUTH PARK S23 | ANIMATED COMEDY
New episodes every Monday, from 21 October

It’s hard being a kid growing up in South Park, Colorado, what with all the insane adults, deranged celebrities and occasional talking turd…

Season 23 starts as Cartman sends an anonymous tipoff that Kyle is an illegal immigrant, leading ICE to detain and separate his entire family after Kyle’s dad can’t find their passports. So yes, South Park is as topical as ever, or as Forbes puts it, “Reality has never resembled South Park as much as it does today.”

BALLERS S5 – THE FINAL SEASON | SPORTS COMEDY
Binge from 14 October 

Exploring the glamorous and often cutthroat world of pro football through a group of past and present players striving to stay in the game, Ballers stars Dwayne Johnson (Jumanji) as ex-superstar Spencer Strasmore, who has reinvented himself as a financial manager for today’s players. 

To see everything on Showmax this month, click here. Please note this release schedule is subject to change.