Throw off the winter warmers, (but stay indoors because it’s not too warm just yet) and get settled on the couch. As well as the footy finals, there’s a long list of new shows coming to TV in the next few months. Here’s a guide to the highlights.

The Code
ABC1
To air: September

The Code on ABC has already been sold to the US. Photo: Supplied

Two brothers – one an aspiring journalist, the other a troubled hacker – become embroiled in a world of government secrecy and intrigue when an explosive phone video of an accident in the outback implicating some very powerful figures shows up in their email. Now the two must risk everything and become unlikely crusaders for democracy. The Code stretches from the remote outback to the corridors of power in Canberra to tell a contemporary story of government secrecy, journalistic integrity and the dogged pursuit of the truth, whatever the cost.

Brilliant Creatures
ABC1
To air: September

Brilliant Creatures – Germaine from Mint Pictures Pty Limited on Vimeo.

A two-part series from Booker Prize winning novelist Howard Jacobson. Brilliant Creatures is a profile of four world famous Australians – Barry Humphries, Germaine Greer, Robert Hughes and Clive James – who left our shores in the early 1960s to become iconoclasts in their respective fields of satire, political theory, art and culture. Each member of the quartet rose to prominence in the cultural scenes of London and New York by challenging the global elite with their Australian brand of irreverence, wit and pugnacity.

Mental As
ABC TV, Radio, Digital and Mobile
To air: From October 5 – 12

Todd Sampson is one of the Mental Health Week ambassadors. Photo: ABC

In October, as part of Mental Health Week, ABC is having an entire week dedicated to programming that focusses on mental health. Mental As will look at all angles and perspectives of mental health: from comedy and documentaries to entertainment and debate, and will culminate in a live two-hour live event called The Friday Night Crack Up, featuring high profile sportspeople, actors, politicians, comedians and musicians.

The Sixties
SBS One
To air: Sunday, September 14 at 8:30pm and then continuing Tuesday September 16 at 7:30 pm

Produced by Oscar-winning actor and director Tom Hanks and acclaimed producer Gary Goetzman comes the 10-part Emmy Nominated documentary series The Sixties, which explores the most transformative decade of the modern era. And what a dramatic time it was – the Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, the moon landing, and the assassinations of JFK and civil rights legend Martin Luther King. The Sixties is a bold and provocative series that examines the lingering fascination of this most explosive decade.

Living with the Enemy
SBS One
To air: Wednesday, September 3 at 8:30pm

In the spirit of Go Back to Where You Came From comes this provocative series that asks people to live 24/7 with strangers whose lifestyles and beliefs directly contradict their own. Each pairing has never met and must spend 10 days living together. The series hinges on fiery confrontations between strangers on hot button issues like same sex marriage, immigration, detention centres, animal rights and Islam.

Bringing Sexy Back
Seven
To air: Starts Tuesdays in August and continues through September and October

Samantha Armytage hosts Bringing Sexy Back on Seven. Photo: Seven Network

Hosted by Samantha Armytage, Bringing Sexy Back will take Australians from all walks of life and try to bring their confidence back by challenging them to dramatically overhaul their lifestyles. Aided by celebrity trainer Cameron Byrnes and stylist Jules Sebastian, contestants are pushed to the limit as they break bad habits and embrace a new life philosophy that is fun, healthy and exciting.

Party Tricks
Network Ten
To air: September

Featuring the one-two punch of gold and silver Logie Winners Asher Keddie and Roger Corser, Party Tricks is a new, home-grown series set in the shadowy world of state politics. Keddie stars as Kate Ballard, a committed Labour politician whose plans to become the Premier are railroaded when popular radio and television personality David McLeod (Corser) is selected as the new Opposition Leader. Complicating the drama is that the two share a steamy, secret past. Let the games begin.

Wonderland
Network Ten
To air: Wonderland returned to Ten on August 13

Season two of Wonderland started on August 13. Photo: Ten Network

Returning for a second season, Wonderland is set in an apartment building at Bondi’s doorstep. A comedy/drama that follows four very different couples as they navigate the sometimes funny, sometimes serious, always very complicated business of love and relationships in 2014. With an eclectic bunch of residents featuring Brooke Satchwell, Tom Wilcox and Peter Phelps, Wonderland is a big-hearted look at love across the generations.

Boardwalk Empire
Showcase
To air: Fast tracked from the US from Monday September 8th

Steve Buscemi is back for the final season of Boardwalk Empire. Photo: Supplied

Fast tracked from the US for its fifth and final season is the HBO Series Boardwalk Empire. Set seven years after the finale of season four, the action picks up in 1931 when the US was in the heart of the Great Depression, with Nucky (Steve Buscemi) wanting out of the gangster and liquor business. Crucially, 1931 was the year Al Capone would be indicted on tax evasion charges and Lucky Luciano would rise to form the five families organised crime syndicate in New York. With a tag line promising that “no one goes quietly” season five promises to bring a stunning conclusion to the prohibition-era drama.

Penny Dreadful
Showcase
To air: October

Eva Green and Reeve Carney star in Penny Dreadful. Photo: Supplied

Helmed by the powerhouse team of John Logan (Gladiator, Skyfall) and Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall) and featuring an all-star cast (Josh Hartnett, Eva Green and Billie Piper) Penny Dreadful is a gothic horror drama set in 1890s London. The series takes its name from the sensational newspaper serials from the day and draws from legendary characters of gothic literature (Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, Van Helsing) to create a haunting, mind bending universe that delves in the deep, dark and supernatural.