Innholdsfortegnelse for 15 Jul 2021 i TV Plus English

Here are your marching orders straight to streaming service Showmax to enjoy biographical military movies that involve the United States army and its wars on everything from terror to dictators. And the scary thing – whether it’s soldiers fighting for their lives or the powers that be being exposed for ignorance – is that everything you’re seeing is real! THE OUTPOST (2020) Combat Outpost Keating is the setting for this biographical war drama. It’s on the northern Afghanistan border in a remote village at the base of a mountain range… and more importantly, it makes the US troops stationed there sitting ducks. It’s set in 2006 during Operation Enduring Freedom, an engagement between 55 US soldiers and 400 armed enemies. The fight – dubbed Battle Of Kamdesh – sees the…

The Longest Date Season 2 Mondays (from 26 July) SABC3 (*193) 21:00 The thought of being set up on a dinner date with a stranger can be daunting. There’s a possibility that the conversation might turn awkward and both parties won’t get along. On the contrary, sparks might fly throughout the evening and the couple might leave the restaurant with their soulmate in hand. Bearing the pros and cons in mind, season 2 of reality show The Longest Date (2019-now) takes blind dating up a notch: 16 attractive singles are paired in eight couples according to their compatibility. In each episode, they’ll compete in extreme challenges that test their romance, such as abseiling, shark diving and rock-climbing in the mountains of KwaZulu-Natal. “The lowest scoring couples are eliminated from the…

In keeping with exciting and fresh content, e.tv (*194) announced in November 2020 that soapie Rhythm City (2007-now) was not to be renewed for another season after a 14-year run. The final episode will air on Friday 16 July, with new fashion-industry telenovela House Of Zwide replacing it from Monday 19 July (see more on p22). Initially, Rhythm City was centred around the struggles, feuds and shady dealings in the music industry. Over the years, the writers shifted the focus to the rise, fall and clash between business rival families the Ndlovus and Genaros, as well as those who are connected to them. “We were just as shocked when we learnt that Rhythm City was coming to an end,” says creative producer Eric Mogale. “We would have liked to continue…

In case you haven’t heard: the honourable John Maputla (Africa Tsoai) is Kwaito’s (Clement Maosa) biological father. Yes, the man many Skeem fans have pinned as the absent dad finally owned up to his role, leaving Turf residents stunned and the Seakamela household shattered. “Kwaito is more than shocked! He can’t believe that his father has been next door all this time!” says Clement. Sadly, if you’re expecting a wholesome father-son reunion, think again, because bullets are about to fly! TRUTH STINGS With John and MaNtuli’s (Dieketseng Mnisi) names on everyone’s lips, Turf-loop is buzzing as residents struggle with the shattering news. But gossiping locals are the least of the families’ worries – they have a mess to clean up. “It affects both families in a massive way,” reveals Clement.…

Zethu ( Nonsindiso Gcaba) breaks out of her psychiatric facility and there is only one thing she wants: revenge against her ex-lover Nkululeko (Nkanyiso Mchunu) and Fikile (Phindile Gwala). She’s got the pair at gunpoint on the roof of a building, ready to force Nkulu to come back to her so that they can be a happy family. “Fikile is hysterical and thinks that she is going to be shot,” says Phindile, whose character realises that Zethu has nothing to lose and the possibility of shooting Fikile is very real. “Fikile is secretly hoping that Nkululeko will calm Zethu, defuse the situation and save them.” Zethu would never shoot her babydaddy, so the only thing on Fikile’s mind is trying to save herself. DERANGED DRAMA Zethu hasn’t been well for…

Ty’s (Maurice Paige) life has changed dramatically since he found out at the beginning of July that he is a father. Initially, Ty didn’t want to disrupt his tween-age son Carlo’s (Jadon Booysen) life, but in time he came to his senses and now Ty wants to be a part of the boy’s life. But that’s easier said than done. “Ty doesn’t want to be the guy who only provides monthly maintenance to a child,” says Maurice. “He realised that he wants to be involved in Carlo’s life – Ty wants to be his father.” But when Ty finally musters the courage to tell Carlo who he really is, the boy’s guardian Jolene (Chante Strydom), who has cared for him after Carlo’s mother died offscreen, stops him in his tracks.…

Aesthetic and reconstructive surgery reality show Botched (2014-now) is back for a seventh season on Sundays on E! Entertainment (*124) at 20:00, as surgery BFFs Dr Terry Dubrow and Dr Paul Nassif have a flood of new cases on their hands, and a little bit of “don’t Panic, Pandemic” chaos behind the scenes. “We started filming season 7 about two months before the pandemic. The pandemic made the season very long and very difficult, the most challenging season by far because of that. We were getting into the swing when the pandemic hit. So we paused production for a couple of months,” reveals Terry. “Once we got the green light, we did basically most of it. It dramatically affected us. We had to do different protocols, obviously, to be safe.…

Reyka Season 1 Sundays (from 25 July) M-Net (*101) 20:00 “I can tell you things, Reyka, things you have forgotten… things that you want to hear,” says prisoner Angus Speelman (Iain Glen, Ser Jorah Mormont in fantasy series Game Of Thrones, 2011-2019). He’s speaking to criminal profiler Reyka Gama (Kim Engelbrecht, Marlize Devoe aka The Mechanic, 2017-2018 in sci-fi series The Flash, 2014-now) as tears well up in her eyes. This is the start of brand-new local thriller series Reyka and the creepiness is only just beginning. Speelman’s speech becomes even more intense when you uncover his strange connection to Reyka. Speelman kidnapped Reyka when she was a young girl of 12, and he kept her captive for four years – until something happened and she escaped. The now-adult Reyka…

Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 1 Wednesdays (from 14 July) M-Net (*101) 21:30 It’s been a decade since Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni, Commander Winslow in 2019 in drama series The Handmaid’s Tale, 2017-now) abruptly retired from his job in New York and relocated to Rome with his family in the season 12 finale (2011) of drama show Law & Order: SVU (1999-now). He briefly returns to The Big Apple to attend a ceremony honouring the illustrious career of his former partner Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay, Cynthia in 1997-1998 in medical drama series ER, 1994-2009), but the trip quickly turns into tragedy as Stabler’s wife Kathy (Isabel Gillies, Elaine in 1998 in comedy series Sex And The City, 1998-2004) was killed in a car explosion – in which the…

There are sketches and assorted fabric neatly placed across a desk in one room, models are fitting garments in another, and interns are running around while the team awaits their boisterous fashion designer boss Funani Zwide (Vusi Kunene, villain Jack Mabaso until May this year on soapie Generations: The Legacy, 2014-now, see p23) in new telenovela House Of Zwide, which replaces Rhythm City (2007-2021, see p20) from Monday 19 July. “Funani isn’t just a fashion designer,” says Vusi. “Funani lives and breathes the craft. He constantly pushes himself and his employees, which is the reason behind his successful fashion empire House of Zwide,” adds the actor. With Funani and the team preparing for Fashion Week, the stakes are high. Everyone puts their best foot forward but there’s a secret looming,…

Moving dead bodies is hard work and no one knows this better than Simo (Sandile Mahlangu) following the murder of his sassy lover Violetta (Cindy Mahlangu). After he shot and buried her in January this year on an open piece of land, Simo found himself having to dig up her body months later to move her. “He heard that Thebe-Langa would be building on the land where she was buried, so he needed to move her body to another place,” explains Sandile. I SPY But hidden things – especially rotting corpses – have a tendency to come to the surface. In this case, someone close to Simo’s arch-rival Mamba (Simo Magwaza) stumbles across Violetta’s bones. Having tailed Simo for weeks, Mamba’s trusty henchman Gorbachev (Khulu Skenjana) immediately knew Simo was…

It’s going to take much more than a heartfelt apology – and a diamond ring – from womanising surgeon Thabo Dlamini (Meshack Mavuso) to salvage his marriage with his gynaecologist wife Precious (Lihle Dhlomo) after she recently walked in on him in bed with her jealous bestie Zandile (Sthandwa Nzuza). The ordeal was too much for pregnant Precious to bear and she went into shock and premature labour, giving birth to their son Mvelo at home. “Nothing could’ve prepared Precious for the level of devastation and humiliation. Thabo and Zandile betrayed her in the worst way,” explains Lihle, whose character is still disturbed by the matter. Precious emotionally shuts down and distances herself from Thabo this fortnight. “Thabo visits Precious at the hospital. He gifts her a diamond ring in…

The road to love is long and treacherous, and both Connie (Quinne Brown) and André (Marcus Muller) can attest to that. With personal traumas constantly creeping up, ready to ruin any prospect of happiness, the couple have had to fight tooth and nail to keep their relationship alive. But all their hard work finally paid off when, after months of waiting, André popped the big question – again. MAGNETIC Despite the on-off relationship, Quinne admits that Connie never really had any doubts about her love for André. “I can only call it unconditional love personified. He is the man she wants to be with,” the actress says matter-of-factly. Despite the bizarre challenges – from Connie faking a pregnancy and leaving André devastated, to wild flings over the years – the…

Karen and Deon Derrico are super-parents. During the first season of Doubling Down With The Derricos (2020-now), Karen gave birth to triplets Dawsyn, De’Aren and Dyver. They joined the 11 other Derrico kids – Darian (15), Derrick (10), twins Dallas and Denver (9), quintuplets Deniko, Dariz, Deonee, Daiten and Daician (7), and twins Diez and Dior (4, originally triplets but the third baby Carter died shortly after birth). If you ran out of fingers, that’s 14 children in total for season 2, Wednesdays on TLC (*135) at 21:00. Estate agent Deon Derrico is the family breadwinner and cook, while Karen has a full-time, never-ending job at home raising all the children, homeschooling and running the household with breath-taking efficiency. Everything is organised and labelled, down to the children’s toothbrushes, but…

Family Karma Season 1 Fridays SABC3 (*193) 17:30 In the past, Southeast Asians have been subjected to misleading tropes in Hollywood movies and TV shows. If the character isn’t a cab driver or a corner-store owner whose accent is used as a punchline for jokes, they are the quintessential nerd with a miserable love life. In essence, the community is under-represented, which is the reason behind reality series Family Karma (2019-now): the cast are trying to dismantle preconceived notions and stereotypes of the Indian-American experience by offering a varied range of real perspectives. Season 1 follows a group of seven childhood friends as they navigate and balance their heritage, complicated romances and thriving careers in the heart of Miami, Florida. “We’re the first reality show in the US to feature…

She is a former drug addict and prostitute on top of being the daughter of KwaMashu’s biggest gangster. He is the handsome young man of God who has come to save KwaMashu Kingdom Church (KKC). On paper, Zekhethelo (Nyaleng Thibedi) and Pastor Gwala (Menzi Biyela) sound like a match made in hell, but in the real world, they’re in seventh heaven. THE FIRST DATE “He’s a humble guy, down to earth and chilled,” says Nyaleng when asked what Zekhethelo finds attractive about Pastor Gwala. “He is not the traditional Christian. He wears sneakers and a beanie as his signature look.” He, on the other hand, is taken by Zekhethelo’s beauty. “Her looks attracts him to her first. But then also the fact that she doesn’t have a good history but…

Locals recently took note of a new lady in town and it wasn’t long for them to realise that she is nothing but trouble. Meet Oby Phakade, played by the equally formidable Khabonina Qubeka (gangster Nina Zamdela, 2017-2019 on soapie Isidingo, 1998-2019). And while neither the actress nor the production team are willing to give away too much, Khabonina has one simple warning: “Oby is very dirty. She is morally repulsive.” MAN EATER Having recently made her dramatic appearance, a few individuals are less than thrilled that Oby is in town. The usually unshakeable politician Walter Nkaba (Nimrod Nkosi) for one battles to stand his ground. “Nkaba is one of the politicians that Oby helped gain power many years ago,” reveals Khabonina. What exactly Oby hopes to squeeze out of…

Grieving Tenda and Mpho (Nat Ramabulana and Azwi Rambuda) are doing TV interviews asking for help, exhuming bodies, appealing to the ancestors for direction and even turning on each other in an effort to find their son who was stolen after Mpho gave birth recently. “Mpho is devastated, she is torn apart,” says Azwi. “She had a hard journey and struggled to fall pregnant. She never thought she could have a baby. Now that she had her son and he was taken from her, she will do anything to make sure she gets him back.” Tenda is feeling guilty and blames himself. “This child is a boy and would make sure that his lineage is carried on,” explains Nat. “He feels guilty that Mpho fell ill because of the decision…

If there’s one thing Kgomotso Christopher has no doubts about, it’s her character Dineo Price’s integrity, saying that “there’s not a single corrupt bone in her body”. The first half of July has been tough for the CEO of billion-rand business empire Legacy Investments after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) raided Legacy’s offices, knocked on Dineo’s front door demanding everyone’s phones and laptops, and revealed that Legacy is under investigation for tender fraud. It’s so intense that it has even united Dineo and her frenemy stepdaughter Felicity (Mary-anne Barlow), who came running to save the company. “I was CEO when this deal went through,” said Felicity. “I made certain that there were no payoffs.” But that hasn’t stopped gossip-mongers and Dineo is under fire again. HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY…

PREVIOUSLY David Abrahams was finally laid to rest, there was good news for the dance group, and Wendy tried to reach out to her daughter Debra. 14 – 15 JULY Debra discusses the possibility of moving in with Langes, and Solly is jealous of the dance group’s success in the competition. The koeksuster stall is a success, and Debra reconsiders Sam’s exciting offer. Parra realists that Tally is in pain and has been suffering in silence, and the dancers are nervous about the final dance performance. 19 – 22 JULY Tiffany makes a confession about her sister but her friends may not fully understand the situation, and Debra tries to put distance between herself and her mother but there’s a problem: the pastor has given Wendy advice too. Wendy offers…