There's always something trippy about seeing a South African city portrayed as if it's New York or London or Japan or other flashy cities that star in so many TV shows and movies. Tonight (7 September) it's the Mother City's turn to take centre stage in the new miniseries Cape Town, which starts on Universal at 20h50.
It's based on the book Dead Before Dying by South African writer Deon Meyer and follows the investigations and personal demons of two incompatible detectives who are forced to work together to find a serial killer on the loose in the city.
As you'll see from the trailer below, the city looks awesome and it's crammed with South African actors who make up the majority of the cast. Those in the line-up include veteran actor Ian Roberts (Tsotsi, The Wild), Hard Copy's Jody Abrahams, Irshaad Ally (Survivor South Africa, Pasella, Suidooster), Home Affairs star Jessica Haines, Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) and... blast to the past: former Idols presenter Colin Moss.
None of them play the two lead detective roles though because the show bussed in the foreigns to play them. Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim plays the tormented Joubert and Resident Evil and Soul Food star Boris Kodjoe plays his partner, Sanctus Snook.
This is something you need to get your head around because it's difficult to lose yourself in a show or movie when foreign actors take on South African accents.
I've been thinking about it a lot... wondering if Americans and other nationalities feel it when South Africans, Brits or Australians take on their accents and I imagine they must feel an element of it too. The trouble is it can break the fourth wall so if you can get your head around this, you'll be able to enjoy the other aspects.
Here's a description of the two detectives and their mission:
Mat Joubert (Trond) used to be the best in the business, until his wife was murdered while on the job. Now an overweight, disillusioned Joubert - with a drinking problem to boot - is faced with an ultimatum from his new chief, to shape up or ship out.
Additionally, Mat is assigned a new partner, Sanctus Snook (Boris), who is a graduate of the elite unit HAWKS and former colleague of his wife Lara. Mat instinctively does not like the sleek ex-elite cop and has a hard time believing the pairing up is a coincidence.
The duo are assigned two major cases: a series of brutal murders involving men wearing masks of famous people and the deaths and disappearances of young European women. Is there a link? Their hunt for the culprits forces Joubert to confront his darkest fears - will he be able to exorcise the ghost of his wife’s murder? Or will his hunt for murderers unlike any other drive him over the edge of sanity?
Stylistically, there's close attention to detail which extends to the title cards that change with each episode, except for one. These are the titles for each eps, followed by the trailer: