In honour of Emancipation Day on August 1, the BLACK STORIES COLLECTION recognizes the abolition of slavery in the British Empire with the CBC Arts original program FREEUP! EMANCIPATION DAY 2021 (August 1), the mythological examination of an iconic black cowboy in JOHN WARE RECLAIMED (August 1), and a closer look at a Haitian artist and activist who returns home to reunite with a community that remains unshaken despite the lingering aftermath of an earthquake and political instability in KENBE LA: UNTIL WE WIN (August 1)
New series include Australian drama EDEN (August 20) which tells the story of the disappearance of a young woman that triggers a devastating chain of events; and Season 2 of popular Radio-Canada original crime drama FAITS DIVERS
The exclusive Canadian TV and streaming premiere of award-winning animated series THE BRAVEST KNIGHT (August 14), one of the first children’s programs to feature an openly gay lead character
The exclusive Canadian premieres of Season 11 of the wildly popular THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW (August 6) for Premium subscribers, available to all viewers with weekly beginning August 15 and Season 9 of the award-winning series GRAND DESIGNS AUSTRALIA
The CANADIAN CLASSICS collection expands with new seasons of war-time drama BOMB GIRLS (August 6), DUE SOUTH (August 6) and DURHAM COUNTY (August 13)
BLACK STORIES COLLECTION
- FREEUP! EMANCIPATION DAY 2021 (1×60, CBC Arts Original, Canada, 2021)
Begins streaming Sunday, August 1
FREEUP! EMANCIPATION DAY 2021 is a one-hour variety special of arts and activism, led by young people, to mark Emancipation Day on August 1st – the historic day when slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire in 1834. Hosted and created by Ngozi Paul (Da Kink in My Hair), the special will feature Black Canadian artists who express what freedom means to them through music, poetry, performance and dance. Performances will include Canadian hip hop legend Michie Miee, Polaris Prize winner Haviah Mighty, and celebrated mono-dramatist d’bi.young anitafrika, with young artist-activists such as Anyika Mark, poet laureates Randell Adjei and Peace Akintade, and Juno-nominated artists Silla + Rise to share what freedom means to them through their chosen artistic expression.
- JOHN WARE RECLAIMED (1×90, Documentary, directed by Cheryl Foggo, Canada, 2020)
Begins streaming Sunday, August 1
JOHN WARE RECLAIMED follows filmmaker Cheryl Foggo (Kicking Up A Fuss: The Charles Daniels Story), on her quest to re-examine the mythology surrounding John Ware, the Black cowboy who settled in Alberta before the turn of the 20th century. Foggo’s research uncovers who this iconic figure might have been, and what his legacy means in terms of anti-Black racism, both past and present.
- KENBE LA: UNTIL WE WIN (1×80, Documentary, directed by Will Prosper, Canada, 2019)
Begins streaming Sunday, August 1
Some dreamers have the power to inspire us, bring us together, and help us reconnect with our humanity. Alain Philoctète, a Haitian artist and activist who settled in Quebec, returns to the country of his birth to develop a permaculture project with local farmers. There, he has an emotional reunion with family members and his former comrades in arms, whose ideals remain unshaken despite the lingering aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and political instability. However, Alain, who is suffering from cancer, has to undergo treatment in Montreal, where his loved ones provide the same degree of affection and solidarity as he receives in Haiti. KENBE LA: UNTIL WE WIN offers a cinematic journey that will move viewers to ponder the importance of embracing ideals and passing them on.
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NEW DRAMA SERIES
- EDEN (8×60, Drama, Every Cloud Productions, Australia)
Begins streaming Friday, August 20
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
Written and created by Vanessa Gazy (Highway), EDEN takes you to an idyllic coastal town in Australia, where the disappearance of a young woman triggers a devastating chain of events and lays bare the dark heart of the community and long buried secrets that are dragged into the open.
- FAITS DIVERS Season 2 (10×60, Drama, Les Productions Sovimage)
Radio-Canada Original
Begins streaming Friday, August 13
An Italian cook is preparing a simple meal of ham and eggs when a masked gunman bursts into Caffé Firenze, a meeting spot for the Italian mafia of the North Shore. The Godfather’s nephew falls under a hail of bullets. The key witness? A member of the Lauzon crime family, whose leader, Maurice (Roger Léger, Catch Me If You Can), mysteriously disappears that same evening. Is it a coincidence?
- ANNE+ Season 2 (8×30, Drama, Millstreet Films, Netherlands)
Begins streaming Friday, August 20
Your 20s can be tricky, especially when you’re easily distracted like Anne. But if she can navigate her turbulent love life and balance girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, friends, and career, she might be able to master adulthood.
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KIDS SERIES
- THE BRAVEST KNIGHT (13×11, Age 6-11 + Family, Big Bad Boo Productions, Canada)
Begins streaming Saturday, August 14 on CBC Gem and broadcast on CBC Kids
*Exclusive Canadian TV Premiere*
THE BRAVEST KNIGHT is the story of a young pumpkin farmer, named Cedric, as he attempts to become the greatest knight who ever lived. Now grown and married to the prince of his dreams, Sir Cedric recounts his fairytale adventures to his adopted daughter Nia, showing her the paths and pitfalls that await her on the way to knighthood. Accompanied by his best friend, a bridge-less troll named Grunt, Cedric’s lifelong quest to fulfill his destiny takes him through a world of witches and giants, and ends with the toughest challenge of all: teaching his daughter to do the same. From Canadian Big Bad Boo Productions, the animated series ranks among the first kids’ programs to feature an openly gay lead character; and features a star-studded cast including T.R. Knight (Grey’s Anatomy), Wilson Cruz (Star Trek Discovery), Storm Reid (Wrinkle in Time), Wanda Sykes, Christine Baranski, Bobby Moynihan, AJ McLean (The Backstreet Boys), RuPaul, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim’s Convenience, The Mandalorian) and more.
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CANADIAN CLASSICS
- BOMB GIRLS Season 2 (12×60, Drama, Muse Entertainment)
Begins streaming Friday, August 6
Even though the United States has now joined World War II, Germany and Japan are still in the ascendant, and the prospects for the Allies are bleak. For the “bomb girls” working at Victory Munitions, struggles continue on many fronts. As the personal dramas play out, suspicions and intelligence gathering put relationships to the test in this “satisfying” (AV Club) series. Starring Meg Tilly (Agnes of God, The Big Chill) and Jodi Balfour (Rellik, The Rest of Us).
- DUE SOUTH Season 4 (13×60, Drama, Alliance)
Begins streaming Friday, August 6
An upright Mountie (Paul Gross) cracks cases alongside a savvy Chicago detective (David Marciano) in a wry cult series that playfully deconstructs American and Canadian stereotypes, while providing enough cast chemistry and plot surprises to make this one of the more fondly remembered ’90s crime dramas.
- DURHAM COUNTY Season 3 (Drama, 6×60, Back Alley Film Productions)
Begins streaming Friday, August 13
When two young drug runners are found murdered along Highway 401, newly promoted Superintendent Mike Sweeney (Hugh Dillon, Flashpoint) is assigned the case with his new partner Ivan Sujic (Michael Nardone, Traces). Mike also suspects foul play in the disappearance of Sujic’s wife and that Sujic himself may know more than he claims. With Mike’s wife Audrey (Helene Joy, ReGenesis) pregnant and his daughter Sadie (Laurence Leboeuf, Transplant) a rookie on the police force, things may be looking up, but one thing that remains the same is that in Durham County, nothing is as it seems and secrets never stay buried.
- IRON ROAD (Feature film, Drama, Mainland Productions Ltd., 2009)
Begins streaming Friday, August 13
A tale of forbidden love set against the building of the Canadian railway in the 1880s, Iron Road tells the story of a Chinese woman (Li) who disguises herself as a man and persuades the son of a railroad tycoon (Macfarlane) to hire her onto the explosives crew.
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DOCUMENTARY
- CORAL GHOSTS (1×60, Documentary, Take Action Films, 2020)
Begins streaming Friday, August 13
CORAL GHOSTS is a story like no other, and the future of our world demands it be told. Dr. Tom Goreau has come from a long line of scientific photographers and marine life specialists, his grandfather having taken the first-ever underwater photos. This heritage has left him with a massive inheritance of archival photos that have been sitting, hidden in boxes, in a house in Boston for decades. Goreau has inherited not only this extensive collection but also the family legacy of protecting the world’s coral reefs at a time when they have never faced greater threats. This enormous task has been placed on his shoulders his entire life, but time is running out for this scientist, and for our planet. Told through never seen before archival film and photographs, and stunning underwater photography, this character-driven film brings viewers from a dusty attic in Cambridge to the shores of Jamaica, Australia, Bikini Atoll and Bali on one man’s journey to protect the coral that his father died documenting.
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FACTUAL ENTERTAINMENT/LIFESTYLE
- THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW Season 11 (12×60, Love Productions, UK)
Begins streaming Friday, August 6
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
Keep calm and bake on. The competition heats up as a fresh batch of bakers — and a crispy new presenter — put their sweet spin on delectable edibles. Fresh off a 10th season which was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming at the 2019 Television Critics Association Awards.
- GRAND DESIGNS AUSTRALIA SEASON 9 (8×60, Fremantle Australia, Australia)
Begins streaming Friday, August 6
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
Renowned architect Peter Maddison is back to present the latest series of Grand Designs Australia, meeting a new set of driven visionaries, all looking to change their lives by creating their dream home. Won the Astra Award for Most Outstanding Lifestyle Program in 2011and has been nominated for several Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards including Best Lifestyle Television Program and Best Male Presenter.
- ESCAPE TO THE CHATEAU DIY Season 3 (b) (10×60, Kindling Media, UK)
Begins streaming Friday, August 13
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
ESCAPE TO THE CHATEAU: DIY tracks a number of British families who have made or who are in the process of making the monumental decision to leave home and chase the French dream. Chateau renovation veterans Dick and Angel also share their expertise with these people who are following in their footsteps. But life in an elegant chateau can have its downsides. There is the language barrier, meanwhile everything seems to be expensive, from water bills to astronomical heating costs, not to mention the long and sometimes lonely winters. To put it bluntly, maintaining a building that’s falling apart at the seams is not for the faint-hearted.
- THE ISLAND DIARIES Season 1 (13×60, DBcom Media, Canada)
Begins streaming Friday, August 13
THE ISLAND DIARIES is a Canadian lifestyle series that explores island life around the world. Each episode focuses on a different island and features interviews with locals about what makes their island unique. The show aims to scratch the surface of daily life to explore themes such as food access, transportation, identity, culture and environment to name a few. From the Faroe Islands to Hawaii, or Okinawa to Cape Verde, we visit islanders who are making a life for themselves in many well known corners of the world and also in some of the most remote.
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THE BEST OF CBC:
- Past and current seasons of CBC series including BURDEN OF TRUTH, THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW, FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES, HEARTLAND, MURDOCH MYSTERIES, STILL STANDING, TALLBOYZ, KIM’S CONVENIENCE, BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW, and SCHITT’S CREEK; and classic CBC hits like BEING ERICA.
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COMING IN SEPTEMBER
- Stath Lets Flats Season 1
- Ghosts Season 2
- Sherlock Season 1
- The Hummingbird Project
- The Story of Late Night
