It's as harrowing to watch as it's good; it a seldom reported topic as it's sadly hidden away by society; it's pale, unvarnished and brutal television and it's well told - but eNCA's (DStv 403) short form documentary Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI by Annika Larsen is wholly inappropriately scheduled and is shockingly shown on South African television at completely unsuitable times - despite a "graphic visuals" warning.
eNCA and e.tv couldn't be bothered to do 1% publicity or marketing around Annika Larsen's latest documentary on the 24-hour TV news channel and as usual for eNCA programming, failed to tell the press or TV critics anything about it.
What it means is that less people who might have been interested and could or would have watched, will even know about it to tune in.
Yet Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI is well done hard news reporting done documentary style in which Annika Larsen ventured inside one of the world's busiest mortuaries for a 20 minute programme.
The programme makes for excruciatingly painful television as she uncovers and shows a side to South African life which the majority of society blissfully choose to ignore.
Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI follows the women like dr. Linda Liebenberg, forensic pathologist and prof. Lorna Martin, the head of forensic pathology who work in the Salt River State Mortuary. The documentary body is well done and structured, with exceptional interviews with all the key players.
It's a story which could perfectly play on M-Net's Carte Blanche and if this is the calibre of programming eNCA will include when the channel launches its own new investigative magazine show before the end of the year, it will make for absolutely perfect and terrific current affairs television with gravitas.
However... The scheduling on eNCA is shocking and leaves a lot to be desired.
How eNCA can show this level of gruesome and gory, real-life death and cold end-of-life dissection during the morning, afternoon, mid-afternoon and late afternoon when those who still watch Pokemon can also see this, is shocking, quite unprofessional and disappointing.
Due to the nature of the subject - for mature audiences and definitely not for children and due to the graphic nature of the images (which yes, in a documentary or story such as this needs to be shown and is integral to the story) - it is completely wrong for the eNCA to show it beyond late evening and late night timeslot - for instance anything after 20:00.
It is unconscionable for the eNCA to show Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI while children are still likely to possibly tune in and see it.
Why the eNCA cannot keep a mature, cold and clinical subject with dead bodies, brains on a stainless steel basin and other horrors confined to after the watershed time period on South African television is mind-boggling. It's news yes, but its not breaking news.
Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI (let me do e.tv and the eNCA's publicity work for them since they clearly can't care less) can still be seen on Friday at 21:40 (a more appropriate time), Saturday at 08:40 (insanity!), 12:40, 16:40, 23:10 and on Sunday at 07:40, 14:40 and 19:40.
