Cape Town - Mrs Jacobs stirs her tomato stew
and Mymoena Samsodien folds the perfect samoosa while villains plot their next move in the fictitious Cape Town suburb of Ruiterbosch, as popular soapie Suidooster is set to air
its 1 000th episode.
Debuting on November 16, 2015, the show will mark the milestone
on Tuesday.
Suidooster was the first Afrikaans-language soapie based in
Cape Town, and its leading lady, screen and stage veteran Denise Newman, has starred since day one as Bridget October.
Screen and stage veteran Denise Newman stars as Bridget October in Suidooster.
“As soon as people started saying, ‘Wow, this is amazing’, it’s telling a story from a different angle and it’s showing that South Africa is a lot
more complex than we often only get and you knew it was a success,” Newman said.
“Anything television and soapie-wise was always Joburg-based so I was always flying up and being a travelling actor, so for me, I didn’t want to take a permanent role in an ongoing series or soap because I’d be away from my family all of the time.”
Marco Spaumer, who plays the devious Tim du Plooy,
said he knew the show wouldn’t be a one-hit wonder: “Every single time we’ve had a guest artist on the show, someone who comes in to stir up trouble, it’s been great because it’s actors I grew up watching, like Waldemar Schultz and Ilse Roos, who played my mother.
“I would definitely hope that there is some redemptive episode or redeeming storyline for Tim, because as much as he’s this dark, villainous character at the moment, he didn’t start out like that.”
Marco Spaumer, who plays the devious Tim du Plooy.
Irshaad Ally, who plays the
lovable Rhafiek Samsodien, added: “After a year I could see us making a million episodes.
“My character, a Muslim guy married to a white blonde girl, saw the Afrikaner world and the Muslim world come together in a sort of bobotie, and I wanted that - I wanted them to break stereotypes.”
Even after 1 000 episodes, Ally said he was still learning about what it takes to act in and produce a soapie.
“If there’s a cameraman that insists that he wants you to drop your shoulder so that he can shoot the camera over your shoulder onto the other person’s face while you’re delivering the performance where you must cry your heart out, it takes some doing.”
Bradley Joshua, one of the executive producers, added: “The greatest challenge was when we were confirmed by the channel to produce Suidooster and we had three months to start rolling cameras and four months before we had to be on air.
“At that stage we never had a studio, and we never had a team and we never had a full cast. Needless to say, we jumped straight in and worked day and night to get things in place.”
However, production is on a hiatus due to the lockdown.
* Tune in on Tuesday at 6.30pm on kykNET (DStv 144) and kykNET&Kie (DStv 145) for the milestone episode.