The arrival of the Antanopolous crime family is bound to cause a stir in BET’s first telenovela, “Isono”.
Mannie (Emmanuel Castis) runs a drug operation from his Wedding Bazaar store. Meanwhile, his long-suffering wife, Athena (Kate Liquorish), keeps the home fires burning while looking forward to the birth of their child. But a tragedy changes the course of events in her life and her path crosses with that of the feared Mary Ndlovu (Nthati Moshesh).
Interestingly, Liquorish is no stranger to playing a criminal character. She played a ballsy crime head in “Queen Sono”.
Shedding light on her character, she revealed: “She is heavily pregnant and about to pop. I had to carry a big tummy on me and wear three bras as we were trying to get a bust that was 9-months pregnant-worthy, which was hilarious.”
“The pregnancy puts Athena in a very bad mood most of the time. She runs a boutique and does the books as a façade. She is a wheeler and a dealer in a loveless marriage and I hope viewers enjoy watching her as much as I enjoyed playing her.”
As for getting to share the spotlight with Castis, who plays her husband, the actress praised: “He is a such a lovely person, a true gentleman.
“It was a pleasure working with him and getting to know him, I also enjoyed hating him in terms of our on-screen characters and it would be lovely to get a chance to do it again.”
On how she feels about Netflix deciding against making a second season of “Queen Sono”, she admitted: “Yes, we are all saddened, there have been a lot of casualties due to Covid... I enjoyed playing that character and it is sad to close a chapter.
“But I’m excited to be part of another first for BET Africa as ‘Isono’ is the first original daily drama to air on the channel. I will hold on to the many firsts and for being part of making history.”
Meanwhile, Castis weighed in on being cast in the series and revealed how he decided to play his Greek drug smuggler role, given his Greek roots.
He said: “Well I chose to shape him like many of the guys who I knew when I grew up and who I know now. Obviously, none of them are drug dealers but I wanted to capture that typical Bedfordview accent and overbearing type of character.”
Prior to being cast in the show, he also appeared in kykNET’s “Binnelanders”.
Castis offered: “I was lucky to fall into two jobs after the lockdown.”
Working with Clive Morris is a dream for any actor.
The seasoned actor added: “I have worked with Clive Morris before on the previously most-talked-about telenovela ‘Broken Vows.’ Its great being on ‘Isono’, I love this story!”
He was equally praiseworthy of his co-star, too.
“Yeah, Kate is fun to work with. It’s the first time I worked with her. I’ve had a lot of fun, throwing some improv moments at each other,” he recalled.
Although his character’s criminal activity paints him in a bad light, Castis added: “I think he’s just a product of his environment like the other baddies in the story.
“They’ll do what they need to survive and make money. But essentially he’s a drug dealer and doesn’t value other people’s lives. Not much is redeemable about him.”
“Isono” airs on BET (DStv channel 129) from Mondays to Thursdays at 9.30pm.