Best South African drama series

After crossing paths at a party, a Cape Town teen sets out to prove whether a private-school swimming star is her sister who was abducted at birth.

A house cleaner desperately searches for her husband as a dreaded criminal syndicate dredges up past tragedies and ultimately drives her to violence.

Jumping back and forth between modern and medieval France, the lives of two women separated by centuries, are united in their search for an ancient artifact.

A married professor is pulled into a passionate affair with a younger man that uncovers a path of tragedy and betrayal from those closest to her.

A highly trained South African spy must face changing relationships in her personal life while taking on her most dangerous mission yet.

Three story strands are interwoven into a sophisticated action-packed thriller that covers the length and breadth of South Africa, explosively colliding in Cape Town in a violent conspiracy involving organized crime, smuggled diamonds, state security, Black Rhinos, the CIA and an international terrorist plot.

Seeking revenge for her tragic past, a mysterious woman embeds herself in a powerful family who possess a global beauty empire — and dark secrets.

In 1994 South Africa, the daughter of a multiracial couple is kidnapped. She escapes and as an adult becomes a detective. Continuing to deal with her past trauma, Reyka Gama uses her skills to raise her child and solve mysteries that have challenged others.

Desperate to pay for her daughter's life-saving surgery, devout ex-cop Babalwa turns to an unholy savior to help her stage a daring heist.

South Africa, 1823. The Zulu Empire, headed by King Shaka, a brilliant but ruthless military strategist, begin to encroach on the British colony of Cape Town. A volunteer cadre of explorers, mercenaries and professional soldiers are sent to Zululand to try to make contact with Shaka and assess the real threat of his army.

Set in the wealthy neighbourhood of Bishopscourt, Cape Town, investigative journalist Edie Hansen gets caught up in the ugly underbelly that lies beneath the picturesque beauty of the city, dragging her back to a turbulent past.

Tannie Maria sees food as "medicine for the body and heart". She envies romance as much as she enjoys cooking and eating. But it's death that shakes up Tannie Maria's life, when one of the correspondents to her column is brutally murdered.

To save a kidnapped family member, an enterprising furniture tycoon must use his secret diamond smuggling operation to transport guns across the border.

After a series of misfortunes, Fleur — mourning a deep loss — takes her daughter and returns to her hometown in search of a renewed sense of purpose.

Prodigal daughter Tumi tries to make things right after completely ruining what should have been her sister's picture-perfect Christmas wedding.

An all-mighty goddess reincarnated as a young woman must harness her divine powers to avenge her sister's death and protect her family from destruction.

After years of estrangement, Khanyi Adesina returns home to fight for her family's business empire as it threatens to collapse under corruption.

An author who has dedicated his career to solving paranormal cases, returns home to South Africa to investigate the biggest mystery of his life: His sister's death in a water canal 20 years ago.

A woman is wrongly convicted of fraud and in the process losses her children. She emerges from prison eight years later intending to reunite with her children and clear her name.

Single, 30 and under pressure, Thando lies to her family that she has a boyfriend. Now she has 24 days to bring one home for Christmas. Can she do it?

After a public humiliation, a wannabe influencer enrolls in a small-town university, where she aspires to regain her social status.

JIVA! is a fun and energy-packed drama series that follows the life of the talented street dancer Ntombi, who while juggling the demands of a dead end job, family responsibility and a rocky love life realises that her dance moves could be her ticket out of her working class neighbourhood in Durban. But first, she must overcome her fears, beat her rivals and sort out the chaos that is her family.

When Luna, a talented gymnast, is awarded a bursary to a prestigious private school, she is thrust into the cut-throat world of drum majorettes, aka "trompoppies". After a hazing ritual goes badly wrong, cheerleaders start turning up dead.

Konings is 'n Suid-Afrikaanse drama-televisiereeks wat deur Paul C. Venter geskep en geskryf is en wat oor 'n tydperk van 45 jaar afspeel wat die titaniese stryd tussen twee gesinne dokumenteer om beheer oor 'n "Superspaar"-winkel, 'n winkel "so groot soos 'n sokkerveld, waar 'n mens alles kan koop".

Set in the 1700s, Shaka iLembe tells the story of the making of the iconic African king, with iterations from his early childhood through to adulthood.

The story of marine biologist and father of two children, Martin Field, who moves to the False Bay area to get away from a big secret - the death of his wife. There he starts a marine conservation trust for False Bay - but life isn't as simple as it seems.

A hard-hitting teen telenovela set at a boarding school in Johannesburg. When a teen flees from a family tragedy in rural KwaZulu Natal to a boarding school in Jozi, she finds herself entangled in a scandal of epic proportions.

Over the course of a year, the Van Wyk's mourn the loss of a loved one and struggle with divorce, illness, forgiveness, high school and secrets as they heal and find each other again.

A teacher at a struggling school is devastated by the death of her star pupil at the hands of a criminal ex-boyfriend. She accidentally avenges the murder and quickly finds herself in the gray area of vigilantism, and surrounded by the challenges of today's youth.

Set in the heart of a KwaZulu Natal’s KwaMashu Township, eHostela tackles the story of two sons whose bond is bound in secrets and sealed by guns. Can a family stay loyal when not tied by blood? Exploring the underground society of inkabi (hitmen) which remains masked in mystery and hearsay.

The show revolves around the Khoza family, drug lords who hide their dealings behind their logistics company, and their conflicts with their competitors and the Tembisa Police Service. Connie Ferguson plays the role of Harriet Khoza, the widow of a drug lord and a drug lord known as "The Queen" while Shona Ferguson plays the police officer Jerry Maake.

Metal Tears is a South African musical drama adventure limited series created by and starring rapper and singer Youngboi OG. The series serves as a visual interpretation of his second studio album, also titled Metal Tears.

Cape Town. Police captain Mat Joubert used to be the best, solved every crime, got every killer. But that was a year ago, before his wife Lara was murdered while working undercover. Mat's been on a downward spiral ever since, haunted by a blurred past, uncertain which role he played in the murder of his wife. Now Mat is an out of shape chain smoker who is ambivalent about the crime-ridden world around him. Gradually, Mat begins to overcome the ghosts of his past. But in order to stop the violence of his current cases he must relive the nightmare of his wife's murder.

Based on Deon Meyer's 2004 best-selling novel of the same name - centres on Detective Benny Grissel, tasked with tracking down a righteous vigilante killer whose crimes capture the city's imagination.

A young runner is given a second chance at life when he is offered a track scholarship, but can he chase his dreams without tripping on his lies?

Ethan is a 17-year-old driver working for a local gang. Disgusted with gang life, Ethan discovers a possible way out via spinning, an extreme motorsport. But the looming gang war jeopardises that hope.

Four varsity friends, whose strong bond has held them together even as their journeys in life have taken them in very different directions. As they try to find love and success in Johannesburg after university.

A South African Afrikaans series about broken families and the lies and deceit within them and how sins committed to do good can come back to haunt families when they least expect it.

When the bodies of six children are found in the backwater forests of Donkerbos, Limpopo, an ostracised detective must wrestle with her dark past, her family and a distrustful community to catch the killer before another child is taken.

Dark secrets are revealed after a tragic event at an elite boarding school sets off a search for the truth.

Based on the book with the same name; meet Mart Vermaak, the disillusionment of her growing up takes place against the political backdrop of the turbulent late 1970s, while an older Mart finds herself in a disillusionment of a different kind.

Two families, the Dlamini's and the Mokoena's, with different backgrounds that are brought together and divided by the discovery of a diamond in Cullinan, just a stone’s throw away from Pretoria.

An Afrikaans drama series based on the double murders in 1965 of Issie Fourie and Petro Nel in the Free State province town of Odendaalsrus who were both abducted and murdered. Issie's brother, André decided to bring the perpetrator to justice - something that took 18 years.

The drama series moves between the present and the nineties in Langkloof where Lisa and Henriëtte share their close teenage friendship and dreams, but a series of dark secrets ultimately drive the two apart.

Suddenly forced to leave her mother in the US to join her father's stepfamily in South Africa, Ella is swept up in a whole new reality as an expat.

The Greyling siblings reunite at their family home in the Namaqualand desert in the Northern Cape after one of them reneges on a decade-long deal to settle the debts they took on when their father abandoned them and disappeared.

Six beloved African folktales are boldly reimagined in this multilingual anthology series exploring themes of grief, love, and mysticism.

Epic drama follows a group of Boers during significant events in South African history. The first series is primarily set on St. Helena and follows the lives of Boer prisoners-of-war at Deadwood Camp. Among them is Sloet Steenkamp, a Cape Rebel whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on the island. The second series shifts to post-war mainland South Africa, where the Boers, though returned, still struggle for freedom. New characters are introduced, including Meisie, who is mute due to trauma, and her mother Cornelia, who seeks revenge. In the third series, Sloet and his friends, yearning to escape British rule, embark on the Dorsland Trek, a perilous journey across the Kalahari Desert in search of freedom beyond South Africa's borders.

"Is'thunzi" is a South African teen drama television series created by Amanda Lane and set in the fast-paced world of South Africa's born-frees and in an age of wireless headphones, "dabbin" and memes, which follows the exploits of four girls who call themselves Ninjas..

Set in an Eastern Cape farming community, the story follows Yola who returns home from Chile for her father's funeral, only to be met by the ghosts of her past.

Four friends head off for a boozy weekend that spirals out of control when the lover of one of them turns up unexpectedly for the party.

Getroud met Rugby is a drama revolving around four stars of a Johannesburg rugby team and their wives as they become involved in various interconnected scandals.

An angel named Josephine arrives in a rural town to help residents find faith and their truest selves.

Epic drama follows a group of Boers during significant events in South African history. The first series is primarily set on St. Helena and follows the lives of Boer prisoners-of-war at Deadwood Camp. Among them is Sloet Steenkamp, a Cape Rebel whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on the island. The second series shifts to post-war mainland South Africa, where the Boers, though returned, still struggle for freedom. New characters are introduced, including Meisie, who is mute due to trauma, and her mother Cornelia, who seeks revenge. In the third series, Sloet and his friends, yearning to escape British rule, embark on the Dorsland Trek, a perilous journey across the Kalahari Desert in search of freedom beyond South Africa's borders.

Die Sonkring is a South African, Afrikaans-language television drama series which revolves around a woman who seems to bring tragedy and misfortune to those close to her.

The fact that they are living in the house belonging to the Master - may rest in peace - some residents of Breipaal raise the armor, make others uncomfortable and then there are those who predict that nothing can be done here Not especially after the murder of one of the residents. When Master appeared in the Haasbroek daughter inexplicably one night, things began to take a path that nobody could provide. All four tensions sometimes high and sometimes they sometimes make them sleepy, all at 'The Paal' - Brown and White, Incommers and old residents - are just people who have to overcome many obstacles in order to realize their dreams and ideals and to fear their fears overcome.

In a dusty small South African town, a man in search of forgiveness tries to rebuild a relationship with the son he abandoned when he was a child, while renovating a run-down outdoor swimming pool. A feel-good series with biting humor that reflects both the ills of South African society and its resilience.

Agter Elke Man is 'n televisiedramareeks wat op 5 September 1985 op die SAUK se TV1 begin het en op 10 November 1988 geëindig het. Die reeks fokus op die lewens van die vroue agter 'n aantal suksesvolle mans. Twee reekse is uitgesaai, en die tweede reeks is opgevolg deur 'n fliek, getiteld Agter Elke Man, wat op 28 September 1990 vrygestel is.

Prodigal daughter Tumi tries to make things right after completely ruining what should have been her sister's picture-perfect Christmas wedding.

The series follows Marietjie Barnhoorn, the estranged wife of a successful businessman; Leana Steyn, the private secretary of an elderly business tycoon, who is ruthless in her ambitions to overcome her impoverished past; and aging ballerina Mercia Meyer, who returns to South Africa after living and working abroad and has to deal with the hostility of her fellow South Africans.

Drama series about a woman who seems to bring tragedy and misfortune to those close to her. At the end of their matric year, three school friends - Maryna, Karen and Dina - visit a fortuneteller. What starts as good fun takes an ominous turn when the seer fortells tragedy in all three their lives - and all caused by Maryna, "the dark one". While Dina doesn't hold much stock to the prophecy, it threatens to ruin Maryna's friendship with Karen. In the years that follow, it indeed seems that misfortune surrounds Maryna as her and her friends' lives are beset by accidents, suicide, betrayal, revenge and even murder. There is also a good dose political intrigue as Maryna's husband (Karen's former fiancé Neil MacDonald) gets involved with the influential and corrupt steel magnate Alwyn Dressler. In the second series, Maryna goes to jail after taking revenge on Dressler for Neil's death. Will she ever escape the fortune teller's prophecy and will she find love and happiness?

The unit specializes in the investigation of serial murders and is led by Van der Bijl, a former murder and robbery detective who gained fame for his handling of several high-profile cases. Each episode focuses on a serial killer. The main character, Colonel Piet van der Bijl, also known as Die Byl, is loosely modeled on the famous ex-detective Piet Byleveld.

'The business end' of soccer as seen through the eyes of a fierce, mercurial football agent, wrestling with a fatal secret he buried six years ago, on the brink of breaking big or losing everything.

A television series set in an alternate Pan-African world, where evil thrives and darkness rules. Here, a specialized Police Occult Unit led by ambitious young detective Alice Kunene together with seasoned veteran Harkness and their high-tech detective team, hunts down the perpetrators of evil, both in the world of the living and of the dead.