Interrogation Room is a South African television drama series produced by Fremantle Media for SABC1 which explores the emotional impact that crime has on its victims and on the police themselves. Most of the drama unfolds indoors, in the tense, claustrophobic, environment of the police station.
The series premiered on SABC1 on Thursday 11 November 2004, at 21h00. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 4 premiered on SABC1 on Thursday 14 August 2008, at 20h30. There are 13 hour-long episodes in the fourth season.
Repeats
Tuesdays: 22h00
Season 1 Synopsis
The Interrogation Room is where lies are told, the truth is revealed and crimes are solved.
It's a battle of wills between cop and suspect. Did they do it? Or are they innocent? Are they lying or telling the truth? Who are they trying to protect? Why are they afraid?
Detective Thandiswa Skweyiya has the skills, the toughness and the charm to get the information she needs.
The Interrogation Room is where Thandiswa seeks the truth - no matter how awful it may be. Reconciliation is nice - but it's not Thandiswa's priority. Her singular focus is to make the streets of Cape Town safe for the honest, hard-working people of all races who call South Africa's mother city their home.
It's a new South Africa, democratic and free, and it needs a new kind of cop. Thandiswa Skweyiya is that cop.
Her skills and dedication have earned Thandiswa respect and speedy promotions and she's now second in charge at a busy downtown police station. The cops who work there are like a family - and they fight and argue and love each other like families everywhere do.
But it wasn't long ago that the police were a force divided. New recruits, like Thandiswa, who had fought against the apartheid regime and its racist police force, became police officers themselves and were an integral part of the transformation process, working side by side with their former enemy.
Tensions remain, but Thandiswa is convinced that the police force, like the nation, has a bright future ahead.
In her quest for the truth Thandiswa rejects the tactics of the past. Her interrogation room is a place of psychological insight and intellectual intrigue. It is not a place of torture and fear.
Some of the other cops, however, have different ideas, and Thandiswa must struggle to keep them under control.
But there is more to a police station than just the interrogation room...
The IR Universe
The Open Plan Office
Cops at their desks. Working the phones. Arguing the case. Getting the answers. On the Internet, searching databases, tracking information.
Detective Sami Ntshona knows computers even better than he knows the city. He'll bend the law, even break it, to see that justice is done.
Sami's heart rules his head - he has a vicious temper. He hates criminals, but he'll fall in love with Thandiswa.
Staff Room & Locker Rooms
Cops at rest. Cops at play. Heading home, starting work, eating lunch. Talking, fighting, helping, flirting.
The station's Commanding Officer, Martin Mseleku, likes to hang around joking and laughing with the other cops. Not exactly a workaholic, he relies on his number two, Thandiswa - she's the best cop he's got.
But Thandiswa's honesty will one day clash with Martin's corruption.
Public Reception Area
Victims pour in, desperate for help. Criminals are dragged in from the streets. Cops like Detective Frederick Erasmus must face the public every day as they battle to keep the city's crime wave under control.
Frederick feels a heavy burden of guilt for the racist beliefs that many of his friends and family still hold. None of them approve of his burgeoning relationship with a married black woman - Thandiswa.
The Cells
Suspects behind bars. Waiting to be interrogated, hoping to be released. Drunks recovering, cops ignoring all the anger and abuse. Lawyers like Nena Pillay fighting for justice. Guilty or innocent, her clients almost always walk free.
Nena knows the law and how to work the system. It's not about the truth, it's about winning. Thandiswa can't stand her - and the feeling is mutual.
Seasons
[All seasons consist of 13 episodes]
Season 1
Premiere: 11 November 2004 | Finale: 3 February 2005 | On: Thursdays, 21h00
Season 2
Premiere: 13 October 2005 | Finale: 5 January 2006 | On: Thursdays, 21h00
Season 3
Premiere: 11 October 2007 | Finale: 3 January 2008 | On: Thursdays, 21h00
Season 4
Premiere: 14 August 2008 | Finale: 6 November 2008 | On: Thursdays, 20h30