SBS unveils 2018 lineup

SBS unveils 2018 lineup

Tuesday, 14th November 2017

Media Release

Five new Australian commissioned dramas across SBS, SBS On Demand and NITV

Expanded sports catalogue with The 2018 French Open, and return of The World Cup, live from Russia

29 Australian factual commissions across documentary, food, entertainment and news and current affairs including the ground breaking Go Back Live'

SBS VICELAND local commissions to air in Australia and across the world

**Links to videos and images for media use below**

SBS has today unveiled its 2018 line-up, revealing a slate of programs across multiple platforms cementing SBS's position as Australia's most distinctive media organisation.

These new programs will entertain, inspire, challenge and, at times, shift the dial on attitudes. The network's 2018 schedule explores diversity in culture, gender, sexuality, age, and lifestyle, with the objective of contributing to a healthier and more united Australian society.

SBS Managing Director, Michael Ebeid; said: SBS is delivering its strongest year yet, with differentiated programs and services that set it apart in an increasingly homogenous and competitive media market.

Through a defined strategic direction, an innovative approach to scheduling and acceleration of our digital services, and as our nation becomes more culturally complex, we're proud that SBS is engaging more Australians with our important programming across more platforms than ever before.

Director of TV and Online Content, Marshall Heald, said: At SBS, we want to play a constructive role in helping Australians understand who we are. We want to encourage Australians to seek out different perspectives, to feel a sense of connection, belonging and empowerment. We want to tell stories that make people think, stories that make people feel, stories that challenge us, stories that inspire us.

For more than 40 years, promoting diversity has been at the heart of SBS. We want to tell stories with underlying thematics that help Australians understand that this country's greatest asset is the diversity of our people. Our differences make us strong.

In 2018, SBS will bring Australian audiences five new commissioned Australian drama series across the network.

Safe Harbour is a gripping psychological thriller filmed and set in Brisbane, exploring how a single action has a ripple effect building to tsunami proportions. Dead Lucky is a crime drama with a difference starring Rachel Griffiths, revealing the complexities and tensions in cross-cultural relationships.

Benjamin Law's coming-of-age series The Family Law returns for a third and final season, as the Asian Australian family navigates the world of adult romance and defines what it means to become a man.

NITV's first foray into scripted drama, Grace Beside Me, is a children's series adapted from the award-winning novel by Sue McPherson, and Homecoming Queens is the first local commission for SBS On Demand - a semi-autobiographical sad-com' from an all-female creative team following twenty-something best friends as they reinvent themselves after chronic illnesses.

SBS believes sport is a unifying force - where people from all over the world come together to laugh, cry and cheer on common ground. The network will again deliver the world's biggest sporting event in 2018 with the FIFA World Cup live from Russia with 25 premium games completely live, free and in HD with the analysis and coverage SBS is renowned for. The network will deliver nearly 400 hours of football content to every home in Australia next year, including exclusive free to air English Premier League, UEFA Champions League and W-League coverage.

But it's not just football - SBS maintains its position as Australia's home of Cycling, with over 100 hours of live coverage from the world's biggest annual sporting event, the Tour De France and the refreshed National Basketball League will return. After adding tennis to its slate this year, the US Open will return with the finals in 2018, and SBS proudly announced today that it will also add the spectacle of the French Open to its growing sports catalogue.

SBS is a market leader for brave and innovative documentaries, which aim to tell stories that inform, entertain and challenge perspectives - and, where possible, shift the dial on attitudes.

After sparking a national discussion on the homelessness crisis this year, Filthy Rich and Homeless will be back for a second series in 2018, set in a new city. It will raise the bar higher by tackling the policies and potential solutions to a crisis that shows little sign of improving.

The most awarded Australian documentary series of all time - Go Back to Where You Came From - will return for a fourth season with a difference. Go Back Live will be one of the most ambitious live television events in Australian broadcasting history. Over three nights, it will use the latest technology to give a snapshot of the global refugee crisis by presenting stories from the front line, as they happen in real time.

Currently, Australia ranks 46th on the Global Gender Gap Index, down 10 places in the last year alone. Is Australia Sexist? will explore an issue dominating global headlines and contribute to a national debate.

In Muslims Like Us, ten Australian Muslims with contrasting world views will move into a house together for eight days. Their passionate debates, honest disagreements, humour and insights will reveal what it is like to be an Australian Muslim today.

SBS will also dive headfirst into issues and stories impacting individuals and society with new commissioned titles like Marry Me, Marry My Family; the return of the Untold Australia series and the beloved Who Do You Think You Are? which will reveal the fascinating pasts of Charlie Teo, Natalie Imbruglia, Joh

LINK:	http://www.sbs.com.au/aboutus/news-media-releases/index/id/50/h/Speech...
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