If you ever needed a hero (or 'Heroes'), bow down to the god that is SABC3. Do so now. Get off your flipping chair and bow down. Right now.

After months and months of speculation, we can finally reveal that SABC3 has bought the best television show on Earth (possibly ever), 'Heroes', and will start airing it from Tuesday 1 May, 2007, in its primetime drama slot at 20h31.

'Heroes' is an epic drama that chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities – and a destiny to save the world.

They include a genetics professor (Sendhil Ramamurthy) in India who is led by his father's disappearance to uncover a secret theory – that there are people with super powers living among us.

Also featured are a young dreamer (Milo Ventimiglia) who tries to convince his politician brother (Adrian Pasdar) that he can fly.

A high school cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) learns that she is totally indestructible while trying to relate to her father (Jack Coleman) who has a keen interest in people with special abilities.

A Las Vegas single mother (Ali Larter) struggles to make ends meet to support her young son (Noah Gray-Cabey) and discovers that her mirror image has a secret.

A gifted artist (Santiago Cabrera), whose drug addiction is destroying his life and relationship with his girlfriend (Tawny Cypress), can paint the future.

A down-on-his-luck Los Angeles beat cop (Greg Grunberg) can hear people's thoughts, which puts him on the trail of an elusive serial killer.

In Japan, a young man (Masi Oka) develops a way to stop time through sheer will power.

The show has received rave reviews from just about every significant television critic in the US, and has already received 14 nominations for major awards, including two 2007 Golden Globe nominations (for Best Actor and Best Drama Series, winning neither).

It won the 2007 People's Choice award for Favourite New TV Drama.

When the series premiered in the United States on 25 September 2006, it was the night's most-watched programme among adults aged 18-49, attracting 14.3-million viewers overall and receiving the highest rating for any NBC drama premiere in five years.

To date 18 episodes of the first season have aired in the US, and the show is currently on hiatus until 23 April. South Africa will be 19 episodes behind the US once it premieres here.

A second season has already been announced by NBC, which is hardly surprising - the show is averaging 15.3-million viewers in the US.

TVSA has been hot on the trail of 'Heroes' ever since we acquired the first seven episodes of the show last year. We watched all seven without taking a breath, and were left convinced that we were watching a genuine challenger for Best TV Show Ever.

We feverishly phoned and emailed around, trying to find out if any South African broadcasters had purchased it, but met dead ends wherever we went.

We were told by a mole at M-Net that the SABC had purchased it, but when we asked them they denied all knowledge of the show.

SABC3 Scheduling Manager Ruby Kandier told TVSA on 13 December 2006 via email that "the SABC have not bought the programme called 'Heroes'."

We're still not sure whether they were hiding it from us or whether they genuinely didn't have the show at the time, but whatever the case we can assure you - they've got it now.

The channel hasn't officially announced the show yet, but a 100 percent reliable source told us on condition of anonymity that the show is already scheduled to go on 1 May.

This is the official information they sent us, exactly as we got it (a screenshot of the email we received):

This was taken from official SABC3 documentation.

A TVSA forum member (shadow80) made a post on Sunday evening (11 March) in which they claimed a source had told them SABC3 had bought 'Heroes' and has it scheduled for a premiere date of Wednesday 23 May, so although the premiere dates of our sources differ they both have two things in common: 'Heroes', and SABC3.

We will clear up the premiere date as soon as we have word from SABC3.

We have no idea why the SABC isn't trumpeting this show to all corners of the land already, because it is surely the biggest scoop in South African television history.

No matter - we'll do it for them. You hear that annoying trumpeter outside? That's us, just reaching your corner of the land.