October 2025 on SBS on Demand – highlights include The Old Man, Blue Lights, Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, King & Conqueror, Tell Me What You Really Think, The Idea of Australia, The Outlaw Doctor, The Change and Kabul.
Thriller series
The Old Man S2
Stream Free Box Set Drop
Wednesday, 1 October 2025 on SBS On Demand (Eight episodes)
In The Old Man S2, former CIA agent Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) and former FBI Assistant Director Harold Harper (John Lithgow) set off to recover Emily Chase (Alia Shawkat) after she is kidnapped.
As the stakes rise and secrets are uncovered, Emily finds herself in an identity crisis with dire implications and Zoe McDonald (Amy Brenneman) makes surprising moves into Chase’s world.
The Old Man S1 is available now on SBS On Demand,
BAFTA-winning police drama
Blue Lights S3
Australian Premiere Weekly Drop
Thursday, 9 October 2025 on SBS On Demand (Six episodes)
Blue Lights, the BAFTA-winning Belfast-based series returns for a third season.
As Grace, Annie and Tommy complete their probationary period, they face emotional and professional challenges within a complex world where moral lines are blurred. Grace grows exasperated by the limits of the job. But when she encounters a former social work client enslaved by a criminal gang, she discovers a web of exploitation.
Annie has settled into her role – but at the cost of her family and faces the prospect of a lonely future. Meanwhile, Tommy excels professionally but his relationships with partner Shane and girlfriend Aisling threaten his career. As the recruits confront a world of drug dealing, child abuse and white-collar crime, the trio must reconcile themselves with the realities of modern-day policing.
Starring Sian Brooke as Grace, Martin McCann as Stevie, Katherine Devlin as Annie, Nathan Braniff as Tommy, Joanne Crawford as Helen, Andi Osho as Sandra, Frank Blake as Shane, Abigail McGibbon as Tina, Dearbháile McKinney as Aisling and Andrea Irving as Nicola. Joining this season are Cathy Tyson as private members club owner Dana Morgan and Michael Smiley as intelligence officer Paul “Colly” Collins.
Blue Lights S1 and 2 are available now on SBS On Demand.
Blue Lights S3 will be available on SBS On Demand from 9 October with new episodes added weekly and airing on SBS Thursdays at 9.30pm,
Ancient engineering and travel bucket list series
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Australian Premiere Weekly Drop
Sunday 12 October September 2025 on SBS On Demand (Three episodes)
Based on her latest international bestseller, Seven Wonders of the Ancient World follows historian and adventurer Bettany Hughes on an exhilarating journey across three continents to investigate the world’s first travel bucket list. Written over 2,000 years ago, this list celebrated the boldest engineering marvels of the ancient world.
From the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Colossus of Rhodes to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Bettany embarks on a mission to rediscover and rebuild these extraordinary monuments. Packed with stunning visuals and groundbreaking research, this is an unforgettable journey through time, uncovering humanity’s greatest architectural and cultural masterpieces.
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World will be available on SBS On Demand from 12 October with new episodes added weekly and airing on SBS Sundays at 7.30pm.
More programs from Bettany Hughes available on SBS On Demand:
Bettany Hughes’ Lost Worlds: The Nabataeans, Treasures of India with Bettany Hughes and Treasures of the World with Bettany Hughes.
Epic historical drama
King & Conqueror
Australian Premiere Double episode weekly drop
Sunday, 12 October 2025 on SBS On Demand (Eight episodes)
A thousand years ago, a new King of England is crowned, triggering a series of events that will change the course of English and European history forever. Two men, Harold of Wessex and Duke William of Normandy, find themselves locked in a fight for that same crown, which they never wanted nor expected. They start as allies but end as foes at the Battle of Hastings, where one of them must die.
King & Conqueror stars James Norton (Happy Valley, Playing Nice) as Harold, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) as William, Emily Beecham as Edith Swan-neck, and Clémence Poésy as Matilda.
The ensemble cast also features Eddie Marsan as King Edward, Juliet Stevenson as Lady Emma, Jean-Marc Barr as King Henry, Luther Ford as Tostig, Geoff Bell as Godwin, Elliott Cowan as Sweyn, Bo Bragason as Queen Gunhild, Bjarne Henriksen as Earl Siward, Oliver Masucci as Baldwin, Clare Holman as Gytha, Elander Moore as Morcar, Indy Lewis as Margaret, Jason Forbes as Thane Thomas, Ingvar Sigurdsson as Fitzosbern, Ines Asserson as Judith, Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson as Hardrada and Léo Legrand as Odo.
King & Conqueror will be available on SBS On Demand from 12 October, with double episode weekly drops on Sundays. The series will air on SBS as single episodes on Sundays and Mondays at 8.30pm.
Episode 1: Invitation
King Edward’s coronation is looming. William of Normandy and Harold of Wessex meet on the road to London, where Harold saves William’s life from an apparent bandit attack. As Harold battles with his father, and then the King, to preserve Wessex’s position & reputation, William discovers his ally, the King of France, murdered his father and now wants him dead. Harold and William now have their own battles, not knowing that together they are about to change the course of history.
Episode 2: The Sins of the Father
The Godwins are found guilty of breaking the King’s peace and exiled from England. As they flee, Mercians attack them and Edith is separated from Harold and taken captive. Harold has to choose whether to risk death to save his wife, or to stay with his children and keep them safe. William and Matilda are also on the run now that Normandy has been taken by King Henry.
Sunday, 19 October Episode 3: Brothers | Episode 4: So Be It
Sunday, 26 October Episode 5: The Beast in The Mirror | Episode 6: Damage
Sunday, 2 November Episode 7: The Cost of War | Episode 8: The Hand of God
Episodes will be available to stream free on SBS On Demand in English, with subtitles available in Arabic, Simplified Chines, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.
Did you know? The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October, 1066.
Looking for more
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau?
An Optimist’s Guide To the Planet S1 (six episodes) will be available to stream free on SBS On Demand on Wednesday, 1 October. Nikolaj travels the world on a quest for the people, concepts and traditions that will transform environmental pessimism into hope.
More great drama starring
James Norton
Playing Nice is available to stream now on SBS On Demand. Two couples discover their toddlers were switched at birth in a hospital mix – up and face a horrifying dilemma: do they keep the sons they have raised and loved, or reclaim their biological children?
Talk about hot topics
Tell Me What You Really Think
Australian Premiere Box Set Drop
Tuesday, 14 October 2025 on SBS On Demand (Four episodes)
Tell Me What You Really Think is a provocative new SBS series in which Marc Fennell invites Australians to have the real conversations we’re often too afraid, or too polite, to start. The episode titles are ADHD, FAT, OLD and Menopause.
In each episode Marc invites five diverse Australians to a dinner party to dismantle assumptions and debunk myths about some of the most debated health issues of our time and nothing is off limits. He is asking them to say what they really think.
Across, the series the guests are athletes, drag performers, artists, doctors and everyday, yet extraordinary, people, with little in common except the one health condition that binds them. The dinner party becomes a space for empathy, disagreement, laughter and catharsis – where brain fog, body image, libido and late-age diagnosis are discussed as easily as wine is poured.
Throughout the series, Marc undergoes his own assessments and the big issues get personal as he gets officially diagnosed with ADHD, submits his body to a longevity lab, lifts weights with seniors and tries to make sense of his own fluctuating body size.
Across the series the 20 dinner guests include author Kathy Lette, artist Lindy Lee and Alone Australia S2 winner Krzysztof Wojtkowski. (Full guest list on the SBS Screening Room page.)
Tell Me What You Really Think will be available on SBS On Demand on 14 October as a box set and episodes will air on SBS on Tuesdays at 8.30pm.
Subtitling will be available on SBS On Demand in Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. Tell Me What You Really Think will also be available with audio description.
Exploring the myths of our nation
The Idea of Australia
Australian Premiere Weekly Drop
Wednesday, 15 October 2025 on SBS On Demand (Four episodes)
Australia’s identity is shaped by lore – the ‘fair go,’ a multicultural haven, a sporting nation, and the values of mateship, sacrifice, and the larrikin spirit.
But how much of this is reality, and how much is a story we’ve told ourselves? Presented by Academy Award nominee Rachel Griffiths AM (Total Control, Muriel’s Wedding, Hacksaw Ridge, Brothers & Sisters), the landmark documentary event The Idea of Australia isn’t a retelling of history; it’s a reimagining of the future. What does it really mean to be Australian, and where do we go from here?
The Idea of Australia will be available on SBS On Demand from 15 October with new episodes added weekly and airing on SBS Wednesdays at 7.30pm.
Subtitling will be available on SBS On Demand in Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. The Idea of Australia will also be available with audio description.
Taiwanese crime and medical drama
The Outlaw Doctor
Australian Premiere Box Set Drop
Thursday, 16 October 2025 on SBS On Demand (Eleven episodes)
The Outlaw Doctor is the first Taiwanese series acquisition for SBS On Demand. The series spans the genres of crime and medical drama. Reflecting the cross-border plot and international cast, the drama is scripted as a mix of Mandarin, English, Vietnamese and Indonesian dialogue, with English subtitles.
Vietnamese doctor Fan Wen-ning (Lien Binh Phat) comes to Taiwan for illegal work to pay for the hospital care of his severely injured mother. While working as a janitor in the hospital morgue, he first encounters neurosurgeon Zheng Wan-ping (Ning Chang), intertwining their fates.
Away from the hospital, Fan is working as an underground physician, providing medical care to ‘migrant fugitives’ on the streets but one day, a gas explosion results in a deluge of critically injured patients causing a major breakdown in the hospital’s system. Fan steps in to assist with the rescue work but is caught up in a chain of events forcing him to become a fugitive and facing threats from both the law and the underworld. Will he ever be able to take his mother back to their home country?
The series is produced by the Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation, Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd and GrX studio.
The Outlaw Doctor has 15 nominations – including Best Series, Best Directing, Best Writing, Best Actor and Best Actress – for Taiwan’s Golden Bell Awards for television. The awards will be held in Taipei on 17 and 18 October.
Lifechanging comedy series
The Change S2
Australian Premiere Box Set Drop**
Sunday, 26 October 2025 on SBS On Demand (10 episodes)
The BAFTA-nominated comedy created, written by, and starring the multi-award-winning stand-up comedian, actor, and writer Bridget Christie returns for a second season.
The series began with Linda (Christie), a working-class married mother of two turning 50 and becoming convinced she had early onset dementia until her GP told her it was the menopause. Linda decided to claw back some of the time she’s spent doing ‘invisible work’ over the years and do something for herself for a change. Dusting off her old Triumph motorbike, she headed to the Forest of Dean and moved into a caravan owned by the Eel Sisters, Carmel (Monica Dolan) and Agnes (Susan Lynch).
At the start of the new season, faced with the repercussions of the lies she’s told, Linda has some explaining to do. And in true Forest tradition, there are unorthodox hoops she has to jump through which mean she finds herself on trial, defending her actions in front of the townsfolk.
The Change S1 returns to stream on SBS On Demand from 1 October.
The Change S2 will be available to stream as a box set on SBS On Demand on 26 October and episodes will air on SBS Viceland on Sundays at 11.00pm.
Thriller series inspired by real events
Kabul
Australian Premiere Box Set Drop
Thursday, 30 October 2025 on SBS On Demand (Six episodes)
Kabul is a complex, compelling multi-perspective drama series that plunges into the real-life madness that was the evacuation of Kabul. It weaves personal and political, local and international stories into an urgent, breathless narrative.
When the Taliban march into Kabul before Western withdrawal is complete, panic breaks out across the city. In 15 short days between the Taliban arrival on 15 August 2021 and American departure on the 30th so many lives change forever. And so many are lost. The Afghan Nazany family, each in their own way
a Taliban target, is split apart by conflicting responses to the emergency. Their father makes it his mission to pull them together and get them all to safety. Meanwhile various European agents with widely differing priorities try to manage the chaos – a security chief at the French Embassy by negotiating a safe passage for Paris bound refugees; a junior Italian attaché at the airport by fighting to get all his Afghan protégés on an American plane; a German soldier by running a perilous race to rescue an Afghan general who saved her life in an earlier operation.
The large international cast includes Darina Al Joundi (Skies of Lebanon), Shervin Alenabi (Tehran), Vassilis Koukalani (Kandahar), Jonathan Zaccaï (The Bureau), Jeanne Goursaud (Exterritorial), Eric Dane (Euphoria) and Hannah Abdoh.
Kabul is produced by France’s Cinétévé and 24 25 Films in collaboration with production and broadcast partners across Europe. The series was filmed in 70/30 mix of English and Dari dialogue.
October 2025 on SBS on Demand
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October 2025 on SBS on Demand
