Isidingo fire, one year later

Written by makisto from the blog Frankly Speaking on 12 Jun 2013
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A year ago on 13 June, darkness fell on the Isidingo set; a devastating fire engulfed the Isidingo sets at SABC’s Henley Studios in Auckland Park and completely destroyed the studios housed in Studio 6. As they say in showbiz, "show must go on" and Isidingo needed to go on as well.

sibeko_love_triangle

The writers immediately took a 180° turn to continue with telling stories in one of the country’s most popular TV soap. They looked at how mines can have an impact on the lives of its communities. The residents of Horizon Deep were forced into one space to deal with life and death together as their social standing had no value in the face of the disaster. The extended storyline which focused on one particular issue was filmed entirely on location.

nikiwe_and_frank

A year on and the journey of Isidingo continues with telling the stories that get people talking; stories that are relevant and that the audiences can identify with. Recent stories such as the mine disaster that brought the community of Horizon Deep together as they face devastation of mine rock falls with some miners losing their lives and Nikiwe Sibeko and Frank Xavier losing their child. A devastation that will have terrible effect on Frank as he tries to move on with his life. As Barker will learn that all that glitters is not gold.

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Executive Producer for Isidingo, Pumla Hopa, says “It has been quite a year and a challenging journey as the team tried to find their feet and continued working tirelessly to get back on track by producing a number one Soap in the country.” She added, “Today we are celebrating and are proud of where we are and what we have in store for our viewers, as the channel and production are in preparation of the 15th anniversary of Isidingo coming up in July”.

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12 Comments

Tashi
12 Jun 2013 12:28

I saw a fire on the mountain on Monday - when I see one I'm always struck by what an extreme dichotomy fire is - so full of life and warmth on one hand but so devastating on another. I reckon the show handled it all well - besides the physical loss it's also such an emotional thing to go through on many levels?

makisto
12 Jun 2013 12:38

It's just sad how life is. This can be likened to water Tashi, if not careful, it can kill you yet it is a basic necessity of life. We need fire to go on daily yet the very same thing destroyed a soapie set.

Considering the loss they suffered, they really came out of it a stronger than they were before and hopefully learnt some major lessons out of it. As they say, every cloud has a silver lining

CHA CHA CHA
12 Jun 2013 13:08

But it was too emotional to see what happened yesterday on the soap. Nikiwe losing the baby. Uhhh I cried.

carino
12 Jun 2013 14:04

We need fire to go on daily yet the very same thing destroyed a soapie set.

May i please be allowed to laugh at this part.

makisto
12 Jun 2013 14:58

May i please be allowed to laugh at this part.
No Carino, you are not allowed to laugh, lol!

mbulela
13 Jun 2013 02:08

Pumla Hopa is the 2nd wife of that clown,Peter Sephuma? I remember Bra Peter talking a load of rubbish in Drum magazine a few years ago. On the issue of the fire,I salute Isidingo's resilience in the face of adversity. Well done to the whole team.

purhase
14 Jun 2013 07:16

Hi Makisto,is it true Meikie is leaving Muhvango,we always hear things first from this site,this time i heard from another source and it got me confused.

makisto
14 Jun 2013 08:52

Purhase, yes Meiki is leaving her role as Meiki as she is now very crazy and everyone is fed up with her. The actress who plays Meiki, Nthabi Tau, ne Mphahlele (yes she just married her sweetheart Dennis Tau), is not lost to Muvhango at all as she will be focusing all her energies on being a director of the soapie.

I wrote a cover story about her departure from the show for the TVPlus magazine which is currently on the shelves now. Obviously I couldn't write about it here on TVSA as well as that would have been conflict of interest. I will try and find a way to do a Q&A with her though and bring in the exit angle while referencing the TVplus cover so my bosses there are not angry with me

lejazz
14 Jun 2013 10:34

@mbulela Pumla Hopa is the 2nd wife of that clown,Peter Sephuma Mara why would a brialliant woman settle to be second best to a man eish. I will never understand women Lord.

Mmmm Duma ka Ndlovu is on fire with hiring young lasses to his directing team. First it was Brenda Mukwevho now ke Nthabi. I wonder what criteria he is using to promote them.

makisto
14 Jun 2013 10:42

@Lejazz, lol kwaaaaaaaaaa, lol, you are so funny.

When I interviewed Brenda Mukwevho after she was promoted, she told me Duma probably saw something in her and asked her to sit in on auditions for new roles and he asked her to advise auditionees on how to improve their performance.

Then when the soapie had workshops, I think she also told me he asked her to help with that and obvioously Duma knew what he was doing, i.e channeling her to think like a director. Then as they say, the rest is history as she is today a director of a number of local productions.

I suspect with Nthabi the same could have applied

purhase
14 Jun 2013 14:33

Thanks Makisto

mbulela
14 Jun 2013 20:30

@lejazz, women are not often as intelligent as we tend to assume. There is no other reason to explain such. Not just any man but that clown of a man who does not understand the meaning of the word 'responsibility'. I lost every respect for that woman.

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