'Isidingo' gets a 15-year rewind

Fifteen years after soapie Isidingo premiered, SABC3 has delved deep into the archives and will air the debut episode again on July 19.

The channel is hosting an hour-long special to celebrate the milestone, and producers Endemol SA are planning other celebrations with the cast.

Safta-winning Robert Whitehead (who plays Barker Haines), commended his co-stars' ability to "rally" together through the ups and downs.

Arguably the toughest time for him on Isidingo was after the death of Ashley Callie (then his screen daughter, Leonie) in a car accident in February 2008.

"That was the most terrible time, which I will never get over," Whitehead said yesterday. "It's never been the same for me and the other members of the team who were here then because it was someone who was irreplaceable."

Haines said he had stuck around on the soapie for so long because his was "a great role".

With the soapie signed for future seasons, Whitehead said he hoped for three things: "That I should stay alive, that they should keep Barker Haines alive, and that I get more days off."

The soapie's executive producer, Pumla Hopa, who has been with the show since its inception, said isidingo.co.za would carry throwback videos and features, including 15 weddings and deaths, to celebrate its anniversary.

"The biggest highlight for me is how we have managed to change story-telling. We're also character-driven and so our audience relates to the characters and their stories - they see a friend, whom they aspire to be, and their mothers, in these characters," said Hopa.

Remember the psycho Mike O'Reilly (played by Jamie Bartlett)?

Or Nandipha and Parson's romance? Or the klutzy but lovable Maggie Webster (Karin van der Laag)?

Hopa said she was proud that "we've been an institution for the industry. People came [to us] and got some skills and are now feeding the industry".

One young gun who until recently was part of the Isidingo writing team, Sipho Tshapu, reflected on his favourite story, the Matabanes discovering that Sechaba was Zeb's son.

"That was a very good story and it put together brilliant actors who delivered what we wrote with great panache and ease," he said.

"From that story so many stories were born; the relationship between father and son, between Ma Agnes and Zeb, who have been through so much together.

"But it also gave birth to one of TV's beloved couples, Lerato and Sechaba, who are just a joy to watch."

SABC3 breakfast show Expresso will cross live to the Isidingo set this morning and feature interviews with the cast and crew.

THE HIGHS AND LOWS

• The first interracial wedding on local TV was that of Derek Nyathi (played by Hlomla Dandala) and Philippa de Villiers (Bianca Amato), in 2001.
• The first gay marriage on local TV, of Steve (Emmanuel Castis) and Luke (Gary D'Alessandro), was aired in the week that same-sex marriages were made legal, in December 2006.
• On World Aids Day, December 1, in 2011, Lesego Motsepe (who played Letti Matabane for a decade) revealed that she had been living with HIV for 13 years.
• In June last year the show's set was destroyed by a massive fire at the SABC in Johannesburg. The producers created a mini series and filmed at a warehouse in Kyalami while a new set was built.