eMedia's upping the ante on their Afrikaans telenovelas with the addition of their first locally produced daily show Kelders van Geheime (Cellars of Secrets) which debuts on e.tv in May, with new episodes Mondays to Fridays.
It makes sense that this is their next step considering the fact that e.tv has a permanent 17h30 timeslot for Afrikaans-dubbed Turkish series, and eExtra's primetime has been packed with them for a long time now.
This from Helga Palmer, Group Head of Content Development at e.tv:
"The eMedia dubbed Afrikaans content has been very well received by a wide variety of audiences across South Africa, and we are excited to be able to offer our audience something authentically South African that they can relate and resonate with.
"There is a huge demand for local Afrikaans content and eMedia has listened to the Afrikaans-speaking audience, and in response we offer them Kelders van Geheime, e.tv’s very first original locally produced daily drama.
"The show will bring nostalgia with the Afrikaans legends we have as part of our cast, but it also brings fresh faces, new talent, and a different world that has never been explored in our local daily."
This is what we know about it so far:
It's set on a wine farm near Franschhoek, Cape Town and follows three families who earn their livelihoods from the farm.
It's produced by Kfilms and it's a joint venture between Karen Meiring, who used to be Director of Afrikaans channels at M-Net, and Theltom Masimila, who conceptualised Arendsvlei, which ends on kykNET & Kie in June this year. He's also head writer for it.
According to Theltom:
"This new daily drama is a story for everyone. The focus of the show is on the farming community and the nature of wine farming - and is filmed on an existing working farm where things get really hot, literally and figuratively speaking!”
Filming started in January this year and the cast haven't been revealed yet. They say it includes Afrikaans legends - who would you like to see?
There are 260 episodes in Season 1.
This is the second Afrikaans novela to be filmed in Cape Town and set on a farm in 2024.
Skemergrond premieres on kykNET & Kie in July once Arendsvlei ends and it centres round the Louw family who own a flower farm in the fictional town of Gemoedsdrif.
It's produced by Penguin Films - who did Arendsvlei with Theltom, so the realpolitik of things could make a series of its own.
It's going to air at 18h00, same time as 7de Laan used to air.