Global TV is bringing its documentary series Global Currents back to air this week, putting newsman Kevin Newman in the host spot for a run of eight one-hour episodes made by indie producers and addressing various social issues.

Currents kicks off Saturday at 7 p.m. with Homefront, from Edmonton filmmaker Ava Karvonen (Out of the West), about the challenges facing military families while their loved ones are off to war in Afghanistan.

Other documentaries in the weekly series include: Thin Ice, about the political battle between Canada and Denmark over remote Hans Island, by director and Global National veteran George Browne; a rerun of the doc Polygamy’s Lost Boys; and Corporations in the Classroom, an examination of the aggressive marketing campaigns targeted at school-age children, by Jill Sharpe (Weird Sex and Snowshoes).

Currents, which first aired in September 2006, is pinned opposite CTV’s award-winning news information series W-Five, hosted by Sandie Rinaldo and Lloyd Robertson, and CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.