After zero new Down Under TV shows in July, August brings us the premieres of four new Aussie series and seasons, plus the local linear debut of a popular Kiwi series.
For updates about shows from Australia and New Zealand added to US linear TV and streaming channels throughout the month, see the Down Under TV Viewing Guide.
(For details about the premieres of shows from the UK, Canada, Ireland, and countries in Europe and elsewhere, visit The British TV Place, The Euro TV Place, and The Global TV Place.)
Programs and dates are subject to change without prior notice.
Videos below may contain content that is not suitable for everyone.
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NATIONAL PREMIERES
Limitless: Live Better Now (US-AU)
Following the success of Limitless with Chris Hemsworth, in which movie star Chris Hemsworth (“Thor” and “Avengers” films) explored how to live longer, the second season of series, titled Limitless: Live Better Now, sees him take on three epic challenges to investigate science-backed ways we can use to improve our health and live better, starting now.
In the episode “Brain Power,” he learns a new skill, drumming, which aids memory and cognitive function. For “Risk,” he breaks out of his comfort zone and pushes his limits by climbing a 600-foot dam in the Swiss Alps. And the episode “Pain” finds Chris confronting his chronic pain through engaging in brutal, Special Forces pain training in South Korea, as well as exploring ancient healing traditions.
Limitless: Live Better Now premieres in the US as a three-episode binge on Friday, August 15, on Disney+ and Hulu, with its linear debut happening on August 25 on National Geographic.
High Country (AU)
Leah Purcell (Wentworth, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) stars in this mystery drama series as Sergeant Andrea Whitford, a detective who is transferred to the town of Brokenridge in the Victorian High Country. After realizing that the cases of five people who mysteriously went missing in the wilderness might be linked, she begins to uncover a complex web of murder, deceit and revenge.
Costarring Ian McElhinney (Derry Girls, The Split), Sara Wiseman (A Place to Call Home, Territory), and Aaron Pedersen (Mystery Road, City Homicide), High Country premieres in the US on Tuesday, August 19, on Hulu.
Fisk: Season 3 (AU)
Finally! This hilarious comedy series is returning to our screens with its third season. Lawyer Helen Tudor-Fisk (Kitty Flanagan, Dreamland), now a partner at the rebranded suburban law firm of Gruber & Fisk in Melbourne, continues to wear her trademark brown pantsuit and deal with all manner of dysfunction and oddball clients at the office while navigating awkward situations with her father and his partner in her off hours.
In other goings-on, Roz (Julia Zemiro, An Accidental Soldier) is still doing mediation work, while Ray (Marty Sheargold, The Librarians) has a new romantic interest in fashion psychologist Melissa (Justine Clarke, RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service), and George (Aaron Chen, Rosehaven) is doing side hustles with his grandmother (Gabrielle Chan, The Secrets She Keeps).
Featuring John Gaden (Bump) and Glenn Butcher (Packed to the Rafters), Fisk: Season 3 premieres in the US and other territories on Wednesday, August 20, on Netflix.
Shipwreck Hunters Australia: Season 2 (AU)
In the new season of this popular docuseries, ocean adventurers Ryan Chatfield, Johnny Debnam, Nush Freedman, Andre Rerekura, and Ash Sutton embark on six new missions to uncover rich history hidden within the seabed of Australia’s wildly beautiful treasure coast. With support from maritime archaeologists at the Western Australian Museum, this highly-skilled crew travels to some of the most breathtaking and heart-stopping locations on the planet, exploring maritime stories of our past and making unbelievable, breakthrough discoveries. (Trailer is from Season 1)
Shipwreck Hunters Australia: Season 2 premieres in the US as a six-episode binge on Wednesday, August 27, exclusively on Disney+.
LOCAL/REGIONAL PREMIERES
Under the Vines: Season 1 (NZ)
In the first season of this popular comedy-drama series, Sydney socialite Daisy Munroe (Rebecca Gibney, Wanted, Halifax: Retribution) heads to New Zealand for a vacation at her recently-deceased stepfather’s winery, which she intends to sell. Little does she know that the vineyard is actually co-owned by grumpy British lawyer Louis Oakley (Charles Edwards, The Crown, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), who also travels there to escape a spiraling series of unfortunate events in his life. Despite both of them having never done a hard day’s work in their lives, not to mention despising the other, they must somehow work together to make the vineyard successful so they can sell up, split up, and get out of there.
Under the Vines: Season 1 is confirmed for airing on or after Friday, August 1, on the following public TV stations and state/regional networks: Idaho Public Television, KNPB, KPBS, KQEH, KSPS, KTCA, KTWU, KWSU, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Maryland Public Television, Nebraska Public Media, NJ PBS (New Jersey) PBS North Carolina, PBS Wisconsin, South Carolina ETV, WETA, WFYI, WLIW, WLRN, WNED, WPBS, WPTO, WSKG, WTTW, WXXI, and Wyoming PBS.
NON-PREMIERE PROGRAMS BEING ADDED TO STREAMING SERVICES
The Secrets She Keeps: Seasons 1 & 2 (AU)
Based on the eponymous novel by Michael Robotham, the first season of this noir thriller follows two women — Meghan (Jessica De Gouw, The Survivors, The Crown), a married, upwardly mobile social media influencer, and Agatha (Laura Carmichael, Downton Abbey, Marcella), who’s struggling with a low-wage job and a non-support-paying baby daddy — who have a chance encounter in a supermarket in an affluent Sydney suburb. Both women have secrets and both will risk everything to conceal the truth, but their worlds are about to collide in one shocking act that cannot be undone.
In Season 2, which opens two years after the events in Season 1, explosive secrets spin Meghan onto a catastrophic and ultimately fatal course, while Agatha’s new obsession sees them collide in a way that no one will anticipate. (Video is from Season 1)
The Secrets She Keeps: Seasons 1 & 2 begin streaming Monday, August 18, on Acorn TV and its digital channels, including Acorn TV on Prime Channels.
The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham
The Secrets She Keeps Season 1 DVD
The Secrets She Keeps Season 2 DVD
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