It's the end of the road for Isidingo! While the channel has made the announcement, I have to ask: Is there more to be explored with the soap?
After all, every show has an expiry date. When I was growing up, I remember everyone in the family and community being glued to Loving, Capitol and Santa Barbara?
Back then, options were limited, mind you.
As much as these shows used to be everyone’s daily fix, they moved on when it ended. In South Africa, they started tuning in to Isidingo, Egoli and Generations.
Perhaps, like Egoli, the time has come for Isidingo to bow out to allow for a new show to bask in the spotlight. After all, there is no dearth of talented writers, actors and producers in our industry.
So a compelling replacement isn’t a big ask. Besides, change is good and epoch-making for those channel ratings.
Moving on, if you are a crime drama buff, Dublin Murders on BBC First is a must-see.
This eight-part series is based on Tana French’s novels In the Woods and The Likeness.
When it comes to crime dramas, by the first episode you can tell if you will be left on tenterhooks or not.
Dublin Murders is similar to Secrets & Lies, Broadchurch, The Missing and True Detective - you are addicted from the first few frames.
The series opened on an intensely poignant note. Rob Reilly (Killian Scott), nursing a fair amount of regret, and his partner Cassie Maddox (Sarah Greene) are saying their goodbyes.
This is clearly on the back of a recent case. The two were assigned to look into the murder of a young teenage girl, positioned on a stone altar. It becomes a trigger for the homicide detectives, albeit for different reasons.
Rob and Cassie share a wonderful close-knit bond.
They are completely in sync with each other’s thoughts and feelings. There are no secrets between the two.
Cassie has concerns about the case. More so, after it triggers questions linked to a past case, where three kids went into the woods and only one of them returned without any recollection of what happened to his friends. That kid was Adam.
Speculation becomes rife in the small town that there must be some kind of connection between the recent homicide and the 1985 case.
Cassie is keen on extricating herself and her partner from the case as it is a conflict of interest for Rob. Turns out, he is Adam - the only survivor in the missing children’s case. It is something that haunts him to this day.
All he has to remember that fateful day is a T-shirt with claw tears on the back. He wasn’t hurt, though.
The more the two detectives look into the case, especially when interviewing her family, the more questions they are left with.
Dublin Murders is a cleverly written and marvellously cast series.
The lead actors have the unwavering support of the viewers, who become as invested in learning the truth about the murder as they are in understanding what makes the protagonists tick and tremble.
The picturesque setting offsets the darkness the tale, which is laden with deception and danger.
* Dublin Murders airs on BBC First (DStv channel 119) on Sunday at 9.11pm.