I have the news to break that Connie Ferguson who ditched the SABC1's soap Generations after 16 years earlier this year and the former Isidingo soap star Tumisho Masha are the ''big characters'' in the new half hour weekday soap that will debut on 4 April at 18:00 on M-Net. I can reveal that the new M-Net soap - set on a South African game farm where its also being filmed - have the working title of Landmark. (I gave you a little clue before Christmas RIGHT HERE.)
I can also tell you that Connie Ferguson's real-life husband Shona Ferguson who left e.tv's Scandal a short while ago will also be seen in Landmark, most probably according to industry insiders as the brother of Tumisho Masha's character.
Although M-Net is filming Landmark on location I can tell you that sources close to the set is whispering to me that the game farm where production started is not yet the real one, with props and set pieces being used as stand-ins to make it look ''like the other place'' until the Magic Factory production is moved to the game farm that M-Net actually wants for use the show - apparently somewhere around Magaliesburg. I'm told there is still some administrative zoning and filming requirements that needs to be sorted out before the game farm production move in 2011.
''The big fish is Connie Ferguson,'' another source tells me. ''She's simply wonderful and this is going to be huge for Landmark.'' ''Although the soapie's name could still change, this is a big, big production for M-Net,'' says another. Lots of people are clamouring to get jobs on this show as well as in this show.''
Officially M-Net revealed only the bare minimum about Landmark, not even giving the working title yet. ''Instead of being studio-based, the new soap which has not been named yet will be filmed entirely on location, in a manner similar to the hugely successful South American telenovellas,'' said M-Net in a press release when it confirmed that the show is set on a game farm which I knew months ago, but was told isn't the case.
''The main backdrop to the story will be a stretch of land that is home to a five-star game lodge, presenting the opportunity to make the best of the breathtaking beauty of the African wild. Viewers can look forward to a high-end production shot in high definition which will be filled with drama, passion, feisty characters, wild animals and magnificent South African scenery.''
