Romance scams are now one of the fastest-growing and most devastating forms of financial crime. The rise of generative AI, which is capable of convincingly imitating celebrities and public figures, is only making these scams more sophisticated and harder to spot. An estimated one in seven adults has lost money to this form of deception, and in 2025 alone, romance scammers stole more than $1 billion from American victims.

After years of reporting on the scam industry, Mariana enters one of her most immersive investigations to date in SUPER SCAM ME. In a real-life social experiment, she builds a new online dating persona and goes undercover as the target of a romance scam to understand and expose the tactics, technologies, and psychological manipulations these criminals utilize to deceive their victims.

What begins as an online investigation becomes an extraordinary real-world pursuit, as Mariana begins to focus on one scammer, posing as a four-star general, who is growing increasingly persistent and manipulative. She teams up with a white-hat cyber hacker to try to uncover her scammer’s true identity and location and sets out to confront him face-to-face.

Mariana also meets victims whose lives have been upended by romance scams, including a woman who was duped into believing she was in a relationship with Jon Bon Jovi. What she thought was a genuine connection left her facing foreclosure on her home, exposing the devastating real-world consequences of these crimes.

“I’ve spent years reporting on scams, and the reaction I hear most is ‘How could anyone be so stupid? That would never happen to me.’ But it can, and it does happen to anyone,” said van Zeller. “So this time, I made myself the target.”

In an innovative collaboration between National Geographic and Muck Media, Mariana’s podcast, “The Hidden Third,” will feature special episodes dedicated to SUPER SCAM ME, airing the week of 12 October. The episodes will include exclusive interviews with the white-hat cyber hacker and victim featured in the special.

As the host and executive producer of National Geographic’s Emmy-winning series “Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller,” Mariana has spent years investigating the world’s most dangerous underground economies, earning a record-setting 88 Emmy nominations and 16 wins.

SUPER SCAM ME is produced by Muck Media for National Geographic and executive produced by Jeff Plunkett and Mariana van Zeller. Plunkett also directs. Bengt Anderson serves as executive producer for National Geographic.

The post Inside the Billion-Dollar Business of Romance Scams appeared first on Stage and Screen.

CHILEAN MINE RESCUE: RACE AGAINST TIME tells the story of endurance, ingenuity, and improbable unity behind one of history’s most challenging rescues ever attempted. It features never-before-seen cell phone footage filmed in the mine and includes powerful interviews with survivors, families and rescuers – some speaking publicly outside of local Chilean press for the first time – to tell the definitive story of the 69 days rescuers raced to save the trapped miners while the men underground fought to survive. Among those featured is Jeff Kofman, then ABC’s International Correspondent and the first international journalist on the scene, who reported from Chile as the rescue unfolded.

The series follows the miners from the moment of the collapse through the improvised order that took hold in the days underground to the engineering gamble that made the rescue possible and the fame and lasting toll that followed.

On 5 August 2010, a catastrophic collapse at the San José copper-gold mine in Chile sealed 33 miners underground. For 17 days, they were presumed dead. For 52 more, they waited while Chilean engineers and rescue teams, joined by drillers and specialists from around the world, attempted something that had never been done, as families above ground refused to leave. When the rescue capsule first surfaced, an estimated one billion people were watching – one of the largest live audiences in television history and a rare moment of shared hope across the world.

CHILEAN MINE RESCUE: RACE AGAINST TIME is the next installment in National Geographic’s Emmy®-winning “Race Against Time” franchise. Previous series include the winner of the Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Historical Documentary “Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time” and the winner of the Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary “Tsunami: Race Against Time.”

The series is produced by Blast Films for National Geographic. For Blast Films, Tanya Winston, Shona Thompson, and Danny Horan executive produce. Luke Sewell is the series editor. Chloe Campbell and James Parris direct the series. For National Geographic, Tom McDonald is executive vice president of Content, Bengt Anderson is senior vice president of Unscripted Production and Development, and Carolyn Payne serves as executive producer.

The post The 69-Day Race To Bring 33 Trapped Miners Home appeared first on Stage and Screen.

Step aboard luxury superyacht M/Y Valor as Captain Lee Rosbach returns alongside Chief Stewardess Kate Chastain and newly promoted Bosun Ashton Pienaar for a charter season in the exotic waters of Thailand. Joined by a new crop of yachties, the crew must work around the clock to deliver five-star service to demanding charter guests while navigating the pressures of life at sea.

As the season unfolds, tensions rise in both the interior and on deck. High-stakes dinners, challenging charter guests, and the realities of managing a crew test relationships and loyalties, while romances begin to bloom and personalities clash. From the galley to the wheelhouse, every department faces its own set of obstacles as the crew attempts to keep the charter season on course.

Set against the stunning backdrop of Thailand, Season 7 delivers the luxury lifestyles and workplace drama that have made Below Deck a global fan favourite. Between unforgettable guests, crew rivalries, and life aboard one of the world’s most luxurious yachts, keeping the waters calm proves easier said than done.

Will the crew be able to meet the demands of an intense charter season, or will the pressure become too much to handle?

Below Deck is produced by 51 Minds, with Mark Cronin, Courtland Cox, and Lauren Simms serving as executive producers. Daniel Volpe, Cristina Lopez, and Rebecca Henning are co-executive producers.

 Below Deck Season 7 premieres on Bravo Africa (DStv 124) on 20 September at 18:10, with new episodes every Sunday until the season finale on 17 January 2027.

The post New Faces Stir the Waters in Below Deck Season 7 appeared first on Stage and Screen.

From DreamWorks Animation, the studio behind memorable friendships in How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek, and The Wild Robot, Forgotten Island follows lifelong best friends Jo and Raissa as they prepare to head down separate paths after graduating from high school. On their last night together, the pair stumble upon a mysterious portal that transports them to the fantastical island of Nakali, a world filled with magical and mythological creatures from the stories they grew up hearing from their Filipino families.

But their biggest challenge comes when they discover that the memories of their entire friendship are the price they must pay to return home. Jo and Raissa must find a way off the island before they forget each other forever.

Inspired by the new DreamWorks Animation adventure Forgotten Island, releasing in cinemas nationwide on 24 September, the free experience will invite visitors to step into the world of the movie, capture their own Forgotten Island-inspired moments and celebrate the friendships that matter most at Gateway.

Running daily from 11 AM to 6 PM, the activation will coincide with the school holidays and the film’s release at Nu Metro Gateway.

Bring Your Bestie to the Island

At the heart of Forgotten Island is the idea that your best friendship is worth fighting for, and Gateway’s activation will bring that theme to life.

Visitors can strike a pose against the themed photo wall, add their own contribution to a special memory wall, or head to the Sketchbot experience to have their photo taken with their bestie and transformed into Forgotten Island style.

There is no cost to participate, so grab your bestie, bring your crew, and make a few new memories together before heading to the cinema.

A Friendship Worth Fighting For…

Written and directed by Academy Award® and BAFTA nominee Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado, Forgotten Island features an all-star voice cast led by Grammy and Academy Award® winner H.E.R. and Liza Soberano, alongside Dave Franco, Lea Salonga, Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy and Ronny Chieng.

Forgotten Island releases in cinemas nationwide, including Nu Metro Gateway, on 24 September 2026.

For more information about Gateway, its stores, experiences, and promotions, visit gatewayworld.co.za or follow the centre on Instagram.com.

The post Step Into Forgotten Island at Gateway This School Holiday appeared first on Stage and Screen.

The fourth film in the popular Tad the Lost Explorer franchise sees Tad facing a very different challenge. He and Sara are now parents to fearless two-year-old Oli, who has inherited her parents’ appetite for archaeology and adventure. Tad, however, has become an overprotective dad, while his old friend Mummy is struggling with no longer being the centre of attention.

Things take a spectacular turn when the gang discovers the Magic Lamp in Buckingham Palace, and Mummy uses it to travel back to Paititi, Peru, in 1502. Tad, Sara, and their friends must follow him into the past before his actions change history forever. What follows is a globe-spanning race through time, taking them from Peru across the Atlantic to Greece and deep into the Middle East, all the way to the legendary cave of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

At its heart, the new film combines the franchise’s trademark archaeology, fantasy, comedy, and action with a story about family, friendship, and parenthood. Screenwriters Josep Gatell and Manuel Burque describe the adventure as a quest packed with mysteries, chases, ancient traps, and iconic locations, with the Magic Lamp introducing time travel into Tad’s world for the first time. Director Enrique Gato returns to the character he first brought to the screen in a short film two decades ago. The franchise has since become an international animation success, with the first feature released in more than 35 countries and later instalments setting new records for Spanish animation.

Tad and The Magic Lamp is directed by Enrique Gato, written by Josep Gatell and Manuel Burque, and produced by Ghislain Barrois, Álvaro Augustin, Nico Matji, Edmon Roch, Marc Sabé, and Javier Ugarte.

The post Adventure Awaits as Tad Returns To the Big Screen appeared first on Stage and Screen.

Created in collaboration with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and from the Emmy ^® Award-winning team at 72 Films, the series revisits the deadliest terrorist attacks in U.S. history through the extraordinary human connections formed amid the chaos, courage, and heartbreak of that day. Across the episodes, survivors, first responders, and witnesses reunite with the strangers, rescuers, and everyday heroes who changed, and in many cases saved, their lives on September 11. Many of these emotional reunions take place for the first time in 25 years, providing a rare opportunity to ask long-held questions, express gratitude, and reflect on how those moments have stayed with them for decades.

9/11 Reunited is executive produced by David Glover and Mark Raphael of 72 Films, along with Academy Award ^® winners Dan Lindsay and TJ Martin. Louis Lee Ray produces, and Julian Jones directs the series for 72 Films. For National Geographic, Cate Hall and Carolyn Payne serve as executive producers.

Extending the storytelling beyond the docuseries, National Geographic will debut a groundbreaking digital experience in early September featuring an expansive video archive of never-before-seen footage, exclusive interviews, and original source material drawn from its acclaimed catalog of 9/11 documentaries. Available on NatGeo.com, the searchable archive invites audiences to explore eyewitness testimony and the lasting aftermath of September 11 through an immersive, multi-perspective experience that brings together firsthand accounts and historical context. Complementing the interactive archive, National Geographic will also publish a companion digital feature by 9/11 historian Garrett M. Graff examining the pivotal 17 minutes between the first and second plane impacts at the World Trade Center. Through a detailed, minute-by-minute narrative, the feature provides additional context and insight, enriching the broader interactive experience.

Rounding out the digital experience, National Geographic, in conjunction with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, will publish an original reportage on the annual “Tribute in Light” public art installation on September 11. The feature will include exclusive photography of this year’s installation by renowned architectural photographer Christopher Payne.

The post The Bonds That Survived 9/11 appeared first on Stage and Screen.

Johannesburg, 12 August 2026: National Geographic has unveiled the official trailer for LION, an emotional, real-life drama that chronicles the remarkable four-year journey of a tiny lion cub named Kio as he becomes a king. LION is executive produced by Disney Legend and “The Lion King” live-action director Jon Favreau and BBC Studios Natural History Unit’s Creative director Mike Gunton (“Planet Earth II,” “Dynasties”), with the score by legendary Academy Award^®-winning composer Hans Zimmer (“Dune” parts one and two, “Interstellar,” “The Dark Knight” trilogy, “Inception”), Niccolò Pacella and George Huston Warren for Bleeding Fingers Music.

The four-part event series debuts on National Geographic (DStv 181 and StarTimes 220) and National Geographic Wild (DStv 182, StarTimes 221), on Sundays at 18:00 from Sunday 23 August, across Africa, with a double bill each week, and will also be available on Disney+ in South Africa.

With narration by O.J. Lynch (Mufasa, “The Lion King” stage production), LION brings to life the extraordinary true story of the Maasai Mara’s lion kings, queens, and a new hero named Kio. Blending Favreau’s distinctive storytelling and passion with Gunton’s world-class natural history expertise, the ambitious series goes beyond traditional wildlife documentaries to deliver a gripping, blockbuster drama rooted in documentary truth.

Zimmer leads the score alongside Bleeding Fingers Music’s Niccolò Pacella and George Hutson Warren, with additional vocals from the Nairobi Chamber Chorus. Drawing on recordings captured in the Maasai Mara, including local singers, instruments, and even lion roars, the music blends the scale of a cinematic adventure with the emotional texture of the wild, while subtly weaving in rerecorded musical nods to “The Lion King.” The original series soundtrack will be released through Hollywood Records on 21 August and will be available wherever music is streamed.

Four years in the making and filmed in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, this is the first natural history production to document a lion’s complete journey from vulnerable cub to king. The crew, including local Kenyan filmmakers, logged nearly 1,400 filming days across 52 shoots, the most time ever spent in the field exclusively following a single pride.

“After tracking the lions in the field for four years, the pride never ceased to surprise us – what Kio endures and eventually becomes is extraordinary. Watching the hero’s journey against the backdrop of nature was incredible to witness,” says Favreau.

Echoing the themes that made the beloved animated film a classic, the series is a sweeping coming-of-age saga of family, hope, and courage that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats. Filled with drama, heart, and high-stakes adventure, it offers a powerful co-viewing experience for animal lovers, families, and anyone drawn to epic storytelling.

In celebration of National Geographic’s LION, Disney is continuing the “Protect the Pride” campaign, supporting the Wildlife Conservation Network’s Lion Recovery Fund (LRF) and its partners working across Africa. The campaign shares the LRF’s vision to help double the number of lions in the wild by 2050. Since the launch of “Protect the Pride” in 2019, Disney has invested more than $5 million in LRF, whose network has helped support more than 400 conservation projects across 26 countries focused on stabilizing and recovering lion populations through locally led solutions.

LION is produced by BBC Studios Natural History Unit for National Geographic. Jon Favreau and Mike Gunton executive produce the series. Jane Atkins is a series producer, and Simon Blakeney is a co-executive producer. For National Geographic, Janet Han Vissering and Tom McDonald executive produce.

The post Meet Kio: The Tiny Lion Cub on His Journey to Becoming King appeared first on Stage and Screen.

In the new movie, the pups find themselves far from Adventure Bay after their ship is caught in a mysterious storm and crash-lands on an uncharted tropical island filled with dinosaurs. There they meet Rex, a pup who has lived on the island for years and knows everything there is to know about its prehistoric inhabitants.

But adventure quickly turns to danger when Mayor Humdinger begins recklessly mining the island in search of its natural resources, inadvertently causing a huge dormant volcano to erupt. It is then up to the PAW Patrol and their new friend Rex to tackle a series of dino-sized rescues and save the island and its inhabitants from disaster.

The Adventure Comes to Malls Across SA

To celebrate the cinema release, PAW PATROL: THE DINO MOVIE activations are bringing Adventure Bay to shopping centres across South Africa. Young fans can enjoy hands-on toy demonstrations with Prima Toys, shop the latest PAW Patrol toys from Toy Kingdom, discover paw-some character clothing from Woolworths, and treat their furry friends with goodies from Montego. Packed with fun activities and exciting products, the activations offer families the perfect way to celebrate the arrival of the film in cinemas.

Of course, no Paw Patrol experience would be complete without one of its best-known pups. Chase will make special appearances for meet-and-greets, giving fans the chance to meet the police pup in person and snap a photo with him.

Chase will be at Mall of Africa from Friday 14 to Sunday 16 August, with appearances between 11:00 and 16:30 each day. He will then move to Menlyn Park Shopping Centre from Friday 21 to Sunday 23 August, where he will also be appearing from 11:00 to 16:30 daily, before heading to The Pavilion in Durban from Friday 28 to Sunday 30 August, from 11:00 to 16:30 each day.

PAW PATROL: THE DINO MOVIE is now showing in cinemas nationwide.

The post PAW Patrol Pups Go Dino-Sized In New Big-Screen Adventure appeared first on Stage and Screen.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the coastal town of Gibsons, Season 2 sees Detective Karl Alberg tackling a fresh wave of perplexing cases while navigating the complexities of his personal life. Alongside his brilliant protégé Edwina Yen, old-hand Sid Sokolowski, and roguish rookie Andy Kendrick, Alberg faces an array of unexpected challenges as secrets stir just beneath the beauty of the small town’s surface. As each new investigation unfolds, the line between friend and suspect becomes increasingly blurred.

Away from the police station, Alberg’s life is equally complicated. Recently divorced and adjusting to life in a new community, he finds himself falling for Cassandra Lee, a librarian whose deep ties in the community complicate both his role as Chief of Police and his relationship with his teenage daughter, who has followed him across the country. Despite these challenges, Alberg and Cassandra embark on a quirky and heartfelt mid-life love story that forms the heart of the series.

The cast includes Aaron Douglas (The Bridge, My Christmas Hero), Bethany Brown (The 100, A Safe Distance), Marcia Gay Harden (Into the Wild, Margo’s Got Money Troubles), Savonna Spracklin (Wildhood, Hold the Dark), Fiona Vroom (Altered Carbon, Three Wise Men and a Baby), Marci T. House (Godzilla, Lou), Joshua Close (Wayward, Fargo).

Murder in a Small Town is produced by Sepia Films in association with Fox Entertainment and Future Shack Entertainment. Ian Weir, Amanda Tapping, Morris Ruskin and Sharon Wisnia (Mojo Global Arts), Tina Pehme and Kim Roberts (Sepia Films) and Jeff Wachtel and Jared Berenholz (Future Shack Entertainment) are executive producers. Nick Orchard of Soapbox Productions also serves as producer.

Murder in a Small Town Season 2 premieres on Universal TV on 5 August at 8 PM, with new episodes every Wednesday until the series finale on 7 October 2026.

The post Murder in a Small Town Season 2 Premieres on Universal TV appeared first on Stage and Screen.

In the film, in the epic fantasy world of Orïsha, a young woman goes on a quest to reclaim the magic that was violently stolen from her people. She and her brother ally with the daughter and son of the king to fight back against his brutal rule. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE features a stellar cast including Thuso Mbedu, Damson Idris, Amandla Stenberg, Tosin Cole, featuring Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo, Lashana Lynch, Zackary Momoh, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Academy Award® nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, Academy Award® winner Regina King, with Idris Elba and Academy Award® winner Viola Davis.

Children of Blood and Bone releases in cinemas on 15 January 2027.

The post Children of Blood and Bone Unveils Epic First Trailer appeared first on Stage and Screen.