Hard Copy returns to SABC3 tonight (3 October) at 21h00 in what has to be the most notable series comeback in South African TV history.
The first run of Seasons 1 to 3 aired between 2005 and 2006 so it's a full
10 years since the show first aired. Hands-up anyone who wasn't born yet!
SABC3 and Quizzical Pictures have revived it for Season 4 with an all new cast, except for one: Jody Abrahams, who returns as Benny Jacobs. Benny, who used to be a crime reporter, is now editor of The Bulletin, the newspaper at the centre of the series.
The action picks up eight years after Season 3 and The Bulletin has seen changing times. It went from an investigative Mail & Guardian type paper to a tabloid in Season 3 and now it's back to its investigative roots with Benny at the helm.
He's crusty round the edges, he has a boep that tells the tales of the stories he's reported over the years and now he's determined to revive The Bulletin to its former gutsiness. The paper has its independence back with no dictatorial influences telling it what to do editorially, which takes it back to its origins in Season 1.
The series was co-created by former Mail & Guardian editor Anton Harber so this battle for independence has always been pivotal to the show's storylines. No-one else besides Benny stuck with The Bulletin throughout the eight years, which is where the new cast comes in.
Newcomers include Nokuthula Ledwaba (Umlilo, Rhythm City, Roots), Nicola Hanekom (Heartlines, Isidingo), Armand Aucamp (Sterlopers, Bloedbroers) and Masasa Mbangeni (Scandal!, Thola).
This is The Bulletin staff:
Leah Gumede - I.T. / Webcast Contractor (Nokuthula)
Jana Brink - Staff Photographer (Nicola)
C.J. Swart - Columnist / ARTS (Armand)
Khanya Langa - News Editor (Masasa)
Trevor "Biggy T" Dlamini- Sports Editor (Denzel Edgar)
Tebogo Ramolang - Investigative Reporter (Thabo Rametsi)
Another dramatic change this season is that the show has been extended to an hour, which gives it time to cover multiple storylines that look at the issues facing journalism today.
The whole season is framed by a serial killer storyline which puts a fun spin on things when the current journalists discover that a series of murders are linked by the fact that all the victims appeared in the old edition of The Bulletin.
Other storylines include a photographer who digitally alters a photo and comes to regret it, a sports journo who befriends a top athlete only to discover he's a dope cheat, a news editor who buries a story which involves a family member, and the battle for dominance between print and digital media.
For more about it, including the first three seasons, see:
TVSA's Hard Copy Show Page.