Beep, beep, beep.
The heart beat of life.
A flatline of silence without it.
This is the situation the doctors in kykNET's new hospital drama Hartklop need to avoid.
The 13-episode series premieres next Tuesday 18 July at 20h00 with episodes on Catch Up afterwards.
This is the need-to-know before it starts:
It's set at the Beyers Naudé Academic Hospital, a fictional state hospital in Joziburg, described as the top training hospital in the country.
The hospital scenes were filmed at the Solomon Stix Morewa Memorial Hospital in Selby, and at Wits University. The hospital wasn't in use while the filming took place but has since re-opened.
There are nine lead characters played by:
Simoné Pretorius as Dr Elani Breytenbach
Carla Classen as Dr Karima Salie
Oros Mampofu as Dr Fezile Nodada
Renate Stuurman as Dr Veronica Pietersen
David Louw as Dr Louw van Onselen
Leandie du Randt as Dr Jolene Joubert
Marlee van der Merwe as Dr Suzanne de Jongh
Jacques Bessenger as Dr Daniel Strydom
Dawid Minnaar as Prof. Gustav Coetzee
Other cast includes Christel van den Bergh, Arno Marais, Susan Coetzer, Christo Davids, Esmeralda Bihl, Elma Postma, Vusi Thanda, Bouwer Bosch, Francois Jacobs, Rika Sennett and Franci Swanepoel.
It was Franci’s last role before her untimely death in 2022.
There are 178 speaking parts in total.
This is kykNET’s first medical procedural series. Binnelanders, which started as a drama series in 2005 and became a soap in 2011, differs from Hartklop in that medical cases were handled over various episodes.
In Hartklop, most cases are only seen in one episode - a problem is introduced, treated and solved in the same episode.
It was written by Zoë Laband. She's the writer-director of the short horror movie Pinky Pinky and won a scholarship to York University in Toronto, Canada, where she received a master’s degree (cum laude) in screenwriting.
She's also co-writer of The Girl from St. Agnes.
The script was written in English and translated into Afrikaans by translator Kobus Geldenhuys. His other Afrikaans translations include the works of J. K. Rowling, Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis and David Walliams.
There are English subtitles.
Zoë spoke to several doctors and medical students while doing her research: “I got so many fascinating and heart-breaking stories, but we also needed to find some humorous stories to balance it out.
"Because our South African health care system is so challenged, and the doctors and nurses really work against all odds to perform miracles daily - funny stories were quite hard to come by!
"So I did cheat a little and looked on the internet on international forums for the real but hilarious stories of doctors and nurses worldwide.
"Luckily, posting on Twitter about all the stupid things you did in med school is quite popular, so I found quite a few things there - and then obviously changed them a little to make them feel local.”
The directors are Harold Hölscher and Christo Davids, who also plays Sollie, Dr Veronica Pietersen’s husband. He was a director on Spoorloos: Die Eiland which aired in 2022.
The medical cases that are part of the storylines are all based on actual cases.
Each episode had a medical adviser, and the Afrikaans translations were fact-checked by an Afrikaans-speaking doctor. Trained nursing staff were part of the filming of the operating room scenes and helped with the medical equipment when needed.
According to Zoë, they chose to set it in a government hospital because "We thought it was a better representation of South Africa - but also because that is where all our trainee doctors and nurses are trained.
“We have some of the best medical schools in the world, and even though training in an SA hospital is gruelling, it is still a world class education, and we wanted to reflect that."
The music for the series was written by Dawie de Jager of the Afrikaans folk-rock band Klopjag. He was also a contestant on Season 2 of The Voice South Africa - in Bobby van Jaarsveld's team.
Dawid Louw and Christel van den Bergh (Anke Dempsey) have an affair in Hartklop, but they are married in real life. They are parents to two boys, Daniel and Laudo, and live on a farm in the Free State.
This isn't the first time that Carla Classen and Simoné Pretorius appear on screen together. They both starred in the 2018 romcom Stroomop.
Jacques Bessenger made his TV debut in 2003 as Mossie in kykNET’s first original drama series Song vir Katryn. His résumé includes roles on Erfsondes, Fynskrif and Lioness.
The series is produced by JP Potgieter for Quizzical Pictures (Swartwater, Rhythm City, Reyka).
The storylines are mostly set in the trauma unit so the make-up team was a very important part of the production. Hair and make-up artist Ronwyn Jarret created all of the prosthetics including skulls, chests and hearts.
Here's a sneak peek at the premiere, followed by the trailer: