Isidingo

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Isidingo
Multi-camera
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesEndemol Shine Africa
Pomegranate Media
Original release
NetworkSABC 3
Release7 July 1998 (1998-07-07)[1] –
12 March 2020 (2020-03-12)
Related
The Villagers

Isidingo was a South African soap opera, with dialogue mostly in English and isiXhosa.[2] The series premiered on SABC 3 in July 1998 and was broadcast evenings on SABC 3 from Monday to Friday at 19:00. Until 2001 it was titled Isidingo: The Need.[3]

Created by Gray Hofmeyr, the story is loosely based on another popular soap opera created by Hofmeyr, The Villagers, that was broadcast during the apartheid era in South Africa.[3] Former series Head Writers include Neil McCarthy, Mitzi Booysen, Ilse van Hermert, Christian Blomkamp, Busisiwe Ntintili, Loyiso Maqoma, Liam J Stratton, Rosalind Butler, Rohan Dickson, Bongi Ndaba, and Duduzile Zamantungwa Mabaso.

On 29 November 2019 the SABC announced that the production had been cancelled,[4] with the final broadcast being aired on 12 March 2020.

Premise

The main characters include the Haines family, the Matabanes, Vusi Moletsane the mine manager and the various residents of the boarding house owned by Maggie Webster. Barker Haines, owner of ON TV, is a high-living billionaire who often schemes his way into the lives of various people in and out of the mining town Horizon Deep, notably his daughter Leone.[3] The Matabanes are a close-knit family who comprise a stronghold, of sorts, in the populace of Horizon Deep, with Zebedee as the patriarch. Other central characters are Lolly De Klerk, Frank Xavier, Parsons Matibane, Georgie Zamdela and Calvin Xavier.

List of characters

Notable former characters

Major character exits

Actress Michelle Botes, who had played villainess Cherel De Villiers since Isidingo's 1998 debut, announced her imminent departure from the series in October 2006, a week after being "snubbed" by The South African Television Awards (though Isidingo had taken home the most awards).[citation needed] Botes next portrayed Ingrid in the rival soap Binnelanders, which directly competed with Isidingo on the pay-channel M-Net.[5] She returned to Isidingo from 2010 to 2013.

Soon after winning the Best Actress Award at the South African Film and Television Awards for her portrayal of Leone "Lee" Haines, 32-year-old actress Ashley Callie died following a car accident in February 2008.[6] The role was not recast, and the character was written out by having Lee gone missing as she didn't show up for work, and later revealed she had died in a deserted field without specifying her cause of death.[7]

Six months after Callie's death, the series killed off original character Letti Matabane (played by actress Lesego Motsepe) in a similar car accident, prompting a "nationwide outpouring of grief".[8]

Legacy

Isidingo was the first South African TV show to feature a gay kiss, which saw the characters Steve and Len kiss. It also made history when it screened the first gay wedding on South African television when the characters Steve and Luke wed. This episode was broadcast just days after

mixed marriages and HIV-Aids. We introduced a different style of storytelling".[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Isidingo". TVSA.co.za. The South African TV Authority. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  2. ^ According to anonymous donor https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/868233340543713310/869745339035430964/image0.gif
  3. ^
    Independent News & Media. Archived from the original
    on 20 October 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Final episode of Isidingo to air on SABC 3 in March 2020 | IOL News". iol.co.za. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  5. ^ Engelbrecht, Gerda (19 October 2009). "Michelle Botes: Elegant and charming". Channel24.co.za. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Isidingo actress Ashley Callie dies". Mail & Guardian. 15 February 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  7. The Times
    . Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  8. ^ Kennedy, Christina (23 January 2014). "OBITUARY: Lesego Motsepe". Financial Mail. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  9. ^ Staff writer (18 July 2013). "Gay friendly Isidingo celebrates 15 years". Mamba Online. Retrieved 15 April 2020.

External links

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