Welcome to what to watch, where we take you through what’s on the box during March.

This month is chock full of new-season premieres, from gritty true crime-esque drama to easy hangout comedy, to an epic big-budget nature documentary.

Here’s what we’re watching this month.

HomebodiesA man and a woman sit at a pub table holding hands.

Claudia Karvan and Luke Wiltshire play mother and son in Homebodies. (Supplied: SBS)

What’s it about? Trans man Darcy (Luke Wiltshire) is already dreading going home to care for his estranged mum Nora (Claudia Karvan). 

He hasn’t been back to his childhood house since coming out to Nora, and the tension between mother and her new son is still high. The atmosphere in the country abode becomes more oppressive once Darcy learns Nora has been covertly living with Dee (Jazi Hall), the teenage ghost of Darcy’s pre-transition self.

The first half of Homebodies feels almost like the most sentimental episodes of Round The Twist, where the supernatural is used as a vessel for pathos. But as the short-form series continues, Karvan and Wiltshire carve out meaningful, dramatic performances punctuated by Hall’s petulant teenage antics.

You can see how Homebodies could easily be pulled out into a full-length film or television series, but as an hour-long story sectioned into 10-minute episodes, it remains a neat and innovative piece of Australian storytelling.

Perfect for: Those who like a little whimsy with their drama.

Where to watch: Homebodies is streaming on SBSonDemand from March 28.

Louis Theroux: Inside the ManosphereTwo men stare each other down outside

Louis Theroux faces down “red pilled” figureheads in Inside the Manosphere. (Supplied: Netflix)

What’s it about? Neo-nazis, Scientologists, the Westboro Baptist Church; name a factional group and you can bet documentarian Louis Theroux has been there, supplying members with just enough metaphorical rope to hang themselves with their own extreme beliefs.

After staging a comeback and ruffling some feathers with his 2025 documentary on ultra-nationalist Israeli settlers, Theroux focuses on the slippery world of the “manosphere” in his first collaboration with Netflix.

Led by subculture prophets like Andrew Tate, the nebulous manosphere has been the bogeyman for everything from rising levels of misogyny to the male loneliness crisis. Inside the Manosphere sees Theroux travel to the US to interview the movement’s figureheads like Fit & Fresh’s Myron Gaines and Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy (AKA Sneako).

While some of the material can feel like a retread for those who have spent any time on X (formerly Twitter) since it became monosyllabic, it’s still fascinating to see one of the most skilled media-makers of the 21st century interact with the chronically online red pill set.

Perfect for: People who want to look beyond headlines.

Where to watch: Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere is streaming on Netflix from March 11.

RoosterTwo men stand in an office.

Many of creator Bill Lawrence’s former collaborators like Scrubs’ John C McGinley (right) pop up in Rooster. (Supplied: HBO Max)

What’s it about? It’s an excellent time to be a fan of Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence; between Ted Lasso, Shrinking and, well, the Scrubs reboot, you don’t have to look far to encounter Lawrence’s trademark blend of sentimentality and joke-a-minute writing style.

Now, Lawrence has teamed up with former Scrubs producer Matt Tarses and The Office alum Steve Carell to deliver a new half-hour comedy, Rooster. 

Carrell plays Greg Russo, a successful author who basically writes the male equivalent to romantasy, featuring a machismo main character called Rooster who is light-years away from Russo’s awkward self. Russo is lured to the liberal arts college where his daughter Katie (Charly Clive) teaches after her academic husband Archie (Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster) leaves her for a grad student.

After an unfortunate incident involving Katie, Archie’s first edition of War and Peace and a house fire, Greg is cajoled by the college’s peacocking president (John C McGinley) into staying to teach for the term. Ostensibly a hangout comedy about dads and daughters, Rooster is a fine addition to the Lawrence-verse.

Perfect for: Anyone after a low-effort comedy to watch while eating dinner.

Where to watch: Rooster is streaming on HBO Max from March 9.

ScarpettaA woman in a white lab coat conducts work in a morgue

Nicole Kidman pulls down double duty in Scarpetta, playing the title character and acting as executive producer. (Supplied: Prime Video)

What’s it about? In a media climate near buckling under the weight of dramatised true crime content, it’s impressive that it’s taken 36 years for someone to throw Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta onto a screen. But it’s better late than never, with Australian icon Nicole Kidman playing the steely medical examiner returning to her job only to be confronted with a grisly series of murders that closely resemble a decades-old case that defined her early career.

The story is told partly in flashback, necessitating an entire younger cast for its team of regular players, which includes Jamie Lee Curtis as Kay’s sister, as well as Bobby Cannevale and Australia’s Simon Baker as orbiting police figures.

The performances are a little over the top and the show takes itself a tad too seriously for a plot that sometimes borders on goofy, but director David Gordon Green (Vice Principals, The Righteous Gemstones) is more than capable at contextualising the chaos.

Perfect for: Those who want true crime stories without the true crime exploitation.

Where to watch: Scarpetta is streaming on Prime Video from March 11.

The DinosaursA winged dinosaur

Netflix’s latest nature documentary chronicles the rise and demise of dinosaurs on Earth. (Supplied: Netflix)

What’s it about? Calling all Life on Planet Earth fans, a “spiritual successor” to the documentary series can be found in Netflix’s newest venture, The Dinosaurs.

Produced by Stephen Spielberg and narrated by Morgan Freeman, The Dinosaurs covers more than 170 million years of natural history — from the rise of proto-dinosaurs Marasuchus to giant apex predators Tyrannosaurus rex and the whole species’ eventual downfall — in its four episodes.

With legendary special effects company Industrial Light and Sound (responsible for everything from Star Wars to Avatar) at the helm, incredible CGI brings Earth’s previous inhabitants to stunning life.

Scary, thrilling and inspiring all at once, The Dinosaurs is an awe-inspiring peek into the past.

Perfect for: Anyone who has a favourite dinosaur or is in the market for a new one.

Where to watch: The Dinosaurs is streaming on Netflix from March 6.