Season 1
G.I.L, short for Grobbies Internasionale Lughawe (Grobbies International Airport), is a South African, Afrikaans-language mockumentary comedy series which revolves around the new boss and incompetent staff of a small airport in the middle of nowhere.
Meet Barry Wiese (Bennie Fourie), an eager beaver who is thrilled when he gets a job managing an "international airport".
His enthusiasm takes a dive when he realises it is less international and more municipal and on the arse-end of South Africa.
He is saddled with a staff whose horizons don't extend far beyond their own shadows, but he is determined to make it work.
It has always been Barry's dream to be a successful businessman - like Richard Branson.
Although ambitious, he doesn't need to be the CEO of a large corporation - general manager of a small airport slap bang in the middle of nowhere is more than enough for him.
On his first day, he meets his new team, including Rietjie du Toit (Ashley de Lange), information officer and all-round fixer who is leaving in a few months to teach English in the East.
Rietjie can think on her feet and quickly solves any problem.
When she was in matric she was in a relationship with Clive Grobler (Hendrik Cronje), the manager at the airport's lodge.
His father is also the owner of the airport and not a day goes by in which he doesn't remind people of this fact.
Prof (Gershwin Mias) and Tips (Ruan Wessels) are the baggage handlers of G.I.L. They work together, but aren't that mad about working when they are together.
They entertain each other and often get into trouble. Even though the rest of the 'adults' who work at the airport are very serious about life, Prof and Tips choose to be the naughty ones for just a while longer before they grow up.
Princess Mohandi (Vele Manenje) is the boss of security. She takes her job very seriously and does not allow any man to tell her what to do.
Letricia Duvenhage (Michelle Burgers) and Kreef Kreef (Frank Opperman) have been working at the airport since Day One.
Letricia works on the soundboard and Kreef is in charge of the takeoff, flight patterns and landings of the planes at G.I.L.
The series stars Bennie Fourie as Barry, Ashley de Lange as Rietjie, Frank Opperman as Kreef, Michele Burgers as Letricia, Vele Manenje as Princess, Hendrik Cronje as Clive, Gershwin Mias as Prof and Ruan Wessels as Tips.
G.I.L is an M-Net Original Production created by Paw Paw Films, based on the original characters and concept "Grounded" by Thomas Hall, Raffaela Della Donne, David Isaacs, Mandilakhe Yengo, Bongi Ndaba and Neo Sibiya.
The series is co-produced by kyKNET and Paw Paw Films.
The writing team include Thomas Hall, Retief Scholtz, Wilmien Rossouw and Roberta Durrant. The director is Quentin Krog.
Season 1 Cast
(scroll to bottom for available actor bios)
Starring
Bennie Fourie ... Barry Wiese
Ashley de Lange ... Rietjie du Toit
Frank Opperman ... Kreef Kreef
Michele Burgers ... Letricia Duvenhage (as Michelle Burgers)
Vele Manenje ... Princess Mohandi
Hendrik Cronje ... Clive Grobler
Gershwin Mias ... Prof
Ruan Wessels ... Tips
Recurring / Guests
Jandre le Roux ... Guest 1
Khadija Heeger ... Prof Ma
Kenley Swart ... Dorette
Elsabé Daneel ... Esmeralda
Fanie Schoeman ... Hannes
James van Helsdingen ... Mr A
Estelle Terblanche ... Mrs B
Karen Arends ... Mrs C
Clayton Evertson ... Denver