African television is at its prime, with more ambitious concepts and high-quality production that can only get better with more investments as streamers scramble for their share of the continent. It can be a tricky preoccupation penciling down what exactly a Netflix Original means.
In any case, television shows tagged as Netflix Originals are usually branded with the streamer’s logo and distributed exclusively on the platform. It can be a project commissioned and executive produced in house by the world’s biggest streaming giant, but it can also be applied to films funded independently and picked up later by Netflix - or licensed exclusively through other sources.
Scene from the How to Ruin Christmas trailer
Top South African Series on Netflix
1. How to Ruin Christmas
The competition isn’t exactly tight but How to Ruin Christmas is the rare Netflix property to get even better with a second outing. Funny, messy but retaining an emotional core that grounds the chaotic energy, the two-season series (so far) has become somewhat of a yuletide tradition in many households.
A divine comedy of errors-and manners-How to Ruin Christmas introduces two families separated by social class yet united by love and tradition. The series gathers the members of both families in a space and trusts them to create madness and magic out of their tensions. The Sellos and the Twalas already ruined a wedding and a funeral. We wonder what social event is next.
Read also: Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority
2. Savage Beauty
Sex, lies and secrets are plentiful in this soapy revenge drama that follows a mysterious young woman, Zinhle (Rosemary Zimu) infiltrating a powerful business family and taking them on for size. Created by Lebogang Mogashoa, Savage Beauty has enough interesting characters, plot turns and coincidences to keep audiences invested in its six-episode arc.
3. Young, Famous & African
A welcome addition to Netflix’s ballooning content library of reality television series, Young, Famous & African has the good sense to make a surface level celebration of extravagance and celebrity instantly arresting. Executive produced by Forbes Africa correspondent, Peace Hyde, the streamer’s first reality show on the continent assembles a group of wealthy young Africans with some claim to fame and gives them reasons to bond, scheme, fight, gossip and in one instance, renew marital vows. Impeccably produced, Young, Famous & African doesn’t say anything new but it brings on the drama thick and fast.
4. Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star
This five-part true-crime docuseries about the shocking 2014 murder of beloved South African football star Senzo Meyiwa is directed by Sara Blecher (Otelo Burning). Meyiwa, captain of the South African national soccer team, was shot and killed in the home belonging to the mother of his girlfriend, pop singer Kelly Khumalo. There were six eyewitnesses at the scene.
5. Queen Sono
Truth be told, the Pearl Thusi-fronted Queen Sono did not get a fair shake. Cancelled in the wave of pandemic influenced decision making, this lavish set spy thriller did not arrive fully made. But it was promising and could have used some more room to grow into itself. Thusi’s titular superspy is a field agent in the secretive Special Operations Group. Between hunting bad guys, dodging bombs and bullets, nursing her mommy issues and juggling a weird situationship, she has got her hands pretty full.
6. Blood Sisters
Billed as the "first Nigerian Original Series" (don’t ask us, ask Netflix), Blood Sisters is a thoroughly entertaining yarn that gathers a cast of Nollywood royalty, some in minor roles, to unspool a Thelma & Louise style caper about the bonds that women adopt in the wake of oppression from both men and privilege.
Read also: Discover Thula Thula
7. Blood & Water
If the second season of Blood & Water wasn’t so determined to stretch every nerve of credulity via plot gaps and eye-rolling coincidences, it might have ranked higher on this list. Still there is plenty to be excited about this soapy drama about a young cast of high schoolers growing up, solving mysteries and being silly. Showrunner and director Nosipho Dumisa alongside her team of co-writers and directors Daryne Joshua and Travis Taute, in two uneven seasons unspool an often-intriguing story of love, loss and the ties that bind.
Blood & Water is a South African teen crime drama television series developed by Gambit Films for Netflix starring Ama Qamata, Khosi Ngema and Gail Mabalane. The initial season, comprising six episodes, premiered on Netflix on May 20, 2020. Following its release, Netflix announced the renewal of the series for a second season in June 2020, which debuted on September 24, 2021. A third season, announced in April 2022, premiered on 25 November 2022. A fourth season premiered on 1 March 2024.
The series revolves around Puleng, a high school girl whose sister Phume was kidnapped as part of a human trafficking network shortly after birth. On the same day of Phume's birthday Puleng was invited to a party of Fikile Bhele a popular athlete studying at Parkhurst College, a prestigious school in Cape Town. After Wade a new acquaintance points out their resemblance, Puleng starts to suspect that Frikkie is Phume. She has lived in the shadow of her sister all her life so she decides to get to the bottom of things.
Principal photography for the first season began on location in and around Cape Town in June 2019. Parts of the University of Cape Town made up the fictional Parkhurst College, such as Smuts Hall and Sarah Baartman Hall.
In February 2019, it was announced Netflix had picked up their second South African original production after Queen Sono with a new teen drama from Gambit Films directed by Nosipho Dumisa and written by Daryne Joshua and Travis Taute. The cast was reported when filming for season 1 began, with a line-up of Ama Qamata, Khosi Ngema, Thabang Molaba, Dillon Windvogel, and Natasha Thahane.
Read also: Traditional South African Bread
In August 2021, Netflix announced the season 2 release date with a teaser trailer as part of their September 2021 slate. On 5 September 2023, it was revealed season 4 would be released in the first quarter of 2024.
Cast:
- Ama Qamata as Puleng
- Khosi Ngema as Fikile Bhele
- Mekaila Mathys as Tahira Kahn, Wendy's friend
- Laura Bosman as Mrs.
- Andre Lombaard as Mr.
- Masasa Mbangeni as Ms.
8. Jiva!
Netflix shows aren’t famous for expressing joy. Jiva! Is the happy exception. Created by Busisiwe Ntintili and Bakang Sebatjane and set in Durban’s townships, Jiva! Is a colorful celebration of South African street dance culture. Noxolo Dlamini plays Ntombi, a talented dancer forced to give up her artistic dreams in the wake of a family tragedy. Can her passion for dance be reignited in time to train and compete for a contest promising a million rands in prize money? Mixing flamboyant dancers with performing actors, Jiva!
9. Shadow
Before Queen Sono, there was Shadow. This short-lived action drama anchored by Pallance Dladla as a mysterious ex-detective working as a vigilante for hire has a shaky start. The acting is not exactly promising, the tropes are well worn, and the Hollywood style framing threatens to bleach out local context. But stick with it and there is some mindless fun to be had watching Dladla’s often shirtless titular hero punch his way through Johannesburg on a vengeance mission.
10. King of Boys: The Return of the King
Kemi Adetiba’s 2018 box office hit, King of Boys was identified by Netflix as a franchise starter and plans for a feature sequel were immediately put forward. Color us surprised when the project was eventually announced as a 7-part limited series. The Return of the King picks up five years after the events of the original, with antiheroine Eniola Salami (Sola Sobowale) returning to her familiar haunts in the underworld as well as the corridors of power.
Художник Владимир Третчиков Южная Африка история картины успех известный соотечественник ЮАР Россия
Other Notable South African Series
In May 2022, Netflix made quite a splash with this South African series offering oozing Revenge vibes. The Wife is inspired by Dudu Busani-Dube’s bestselling Hlomu Series novels. Season 1 (based on Hlomu The Wife) follows a journalist (Mbalenhle Mavimbela) who falls in love with a taxi driver (Bonko Khoza), not realising that when you marry a man, you marry his secrets. The second season (based on Book 2, Zandile the Resolute) follows Khanyi Mbau as Zandile, a woman who tries to establish herself as the matriarch of the Zulu family fresh out of a 10-year prison sentence. Season 3, based on Naledi, His Love, centres around the star-crossed love between the doctor Naledi Montsho (Gaisang K.
Kemi Adetiba has become a force in Nollywood in such a short time, making her mark with her 2018 film King of Boys, before launching it as a 7-part sequel with King of Boys: The Return of the King in 2021. The series picks up from where the film left off as the kingpin Eniola Salami (Sola Sobowale) returns to Nigeria after 5 years in exile, battered by the past, and yet not out of the game.
A 2022 International Emmy nominee for Best TV Drama and Best Actress (for lead Kim Engelbrecht), South African crime drama Reyka is the first African drama series to be nominated for the award in more than a decade. The story follows a band of freedom fighters - the Namoor, led by their commander Azania Maqoma (Hlomla Dandala), hijacks a courtroom to serve their own brand of justice to a white police officer who’s accused of shooting a black man.
Showmax Reality Shows
Showmax has tonnes of local reality shows and there’s one thing they’ve got in common: drama! The following are a few examples:
- The Real Housewives of Durban
- The Mommy Club
- The Catch
- Uthanda Bani?
- Our Perfect Wedding South Africa
- Sports Wives
- Shebeen Queens
Hidden Gems on Streaming Platforms
There is a steady rise in the number of film and series productions taking place in Africa. This competition has led to a saturation in the African film production space, with streaming services commissioning numerous films and producing original content.
Here are a few series that may have been overlooked:
- Unseen (Netflix)
- Spinners (Showmax)
- African Queens: Njinga (Netflix)
- Jay Jay: The Chosen One (Showmax)
- When Are We Getting Married? (YouTube)
- Crime and Justice Lagos (Showmax)
- Grind (Prime Video)
- Beyond the Veil (Prime Video)
- Supastrikas: Rookie Season (YouTube)
| Title | Platform | Genre | Notable Aspects |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to Ruin Christmas | Netflix | Comedy | Yuletide tradition, family dynamics |
| Savage Beauty | Netflix | Drama | Revenge, secrets, plot twists |
| Young, Famous & African | Netflix | Reality | Extravagance, celebrity life |
| Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star | Netflix | Documentary | True crime, sports, mystery |
| Queen Sono | Netflix | Thriller | Spy thriller, action |
| Blood Sisters | Netflix | Drama | Crime caper, female bonds |
| Blood & Water | Netflix | Teen Drama | Mystery, high school life |
| Jiva! | Netflix | Drama | Dance, street culture |
| Shadow | Netflix | Action | Vigilante, crime |
| King of Boys: The Return of the King | Netflix | Drama | Crime, politics |
