SBS Lures Pure and Jane the Virgin

Next month Sky Box Sets will premiere an acclaimed Canadian drama series about drug-trafficking Mennonites and season three of Jane the Virgin.

The six-episode Pure, which will screen October 26, was inspired by a true story about a Mennonite pastor who discovers hell hath no fury like a Mexican cartel that’s using his North American church a cover for drug distribution.

“CBC has promoted Pure as an ‘eyebrow-raising premise’ about Mennonites trafficking in drugs,” said The Globe and Mail when it went to air in January.

“And yes, it has a lurid quality, involving murder, sex, drugs and terrible danger.

“But the series transcends the lurid ‘eyebrow-raising’ element to become a taut, well-fashioned drama about morals, ethics, an unlikely partnership and the impossibility of evading the evil and greed that permeates any society, no matter how pure.”

But according to the Winnipeg Free Press, the chair in Mennonite studies at the University of Winnipeg thought it “sloppily researched and … a caricature of what it purports to be a real community”.

Next month’s only other premiere is season three of Jane the Virgin, a series that previously aired on Prime. It will screen in two halves, on October 20 and 27.

Otherwise, the rest of SBS’ October schedule largely comprises SoHo re-runs, including Fargo, The Bastard Executioner and Intruders.

Screening in order of their appearance are:

• Big Love S1
• Queen of the South S2
• Togetherness S1
• Entourage S6 & 7
• Fargo S1
• The Bastard Executioner
• Entourage S8
• Big Love S2
• Fargo S1
• Togetherness S2
• Entourage S8
• Fargo S2
• Band of Brothers
• The Pacific
• Big Love S3
• Fargo S2
• Fringe S1 (Eps 1-10)
• The Pacific
• Intruders S1
• Jane the Virgin S3 (Eps 1-10)
• Rome S1
• Big Love S4
• Intruders S1
• Fringe S1 (Eps 11-20)
• Rome S1
• Pure S1
• Jane the Virgin S3 (Eps 11-20)
• Rome S2
• Big Love S5
• Pure S1
• Fringe S2 (Eps 1-11).