by Thinus Ferreira
Amidst the global Covid-19 pandemic South Africa's SABC and e.tv are both launching competing new locally-produced hospital dramas with SABC2 that will ventilate Vutha on Thursday nights at 21:30 from 3 September and with e.tv that will resperate Durban Gen from Monday 5 October at 18:30.
Vutha produced by Clive Morris Productions - eerily similar in name to the devastating and fictitious Vutha virus that caused chaos in SABC1's Generations in mid-2019 - as well as Durban Gen produced by Stained Glass TV, marks South African terrestrial television's first return to hospital drama series since SABC2's Hillside, SABC3's Jozi-H and M-Net's Binnelanders.
Both Vutha and Durban Gen have been filming and impacted by the real-world circumstances and changes to life and lockdown of the Covid-19 coronavirus in South Africa.
Besides production schedule and operational changes, crews working behind-the-scenes at Vutha and Durban Gen suddenly had to don marks just like the on-screen talent after the threat of a real virus became as big a concern as the fictional medical dramas captured on screen.
Vutha, set within the Daveyton community and inside the corridors of the Edward Dondolo Hospital, will go "beyond the world of medicine where there is a world of love, friendship, betrayal, hope, desperation, corruption, greed and crime" according to SABC2 which didn't pre-screen the show ahead of its broadcast debut to TV critics and the media.
Created by TV producer and presenter Ntokozo Mbuli, Vutha stars Kabelo Moalusi as Dr Kgopotso Moabe and Dumisani Mbebe as Mzwakhe Masilela as it explores the journeys of medical professionals within the South African landscape and looks at the challenging lives that form the backdrop of their career successes.
Other cast members include Busisiswa Lurayi as specialist obstetrician Lungile Asumadu, Ayanda Bandla as Anelisa Moabe, Leroy Gopal as Ayitey Asumadu and Siya Raymond Sepotokele as Tumelo. Vutha's cast list also stars Mmarona Motshegoa, Lebohang Motaung, Miranda Ntshangase, Moditle Pholo, Molobane Maja and Sipho Mbele.
Clive Morris Productions describes the Edward Dondolo Hospital as "a furtive breeding ground for colourful characters, high stakes and great drama" with the heroic clinical manager, Dr Kgopotso Moabe, rushes to save a mother giving birth on the pavement outside the hospital.
Matron Mologadi arrives home from the United Kingdom to fix her fractured family and hospital CEO Mzwakhe is terrorised by a loan shark for outstanding debts.
"With a star-studded cast, viewers are in for a real treat and will no doubt emotionally connect with the characters and this intriguing story from the first episode," says Jacqui Hlongwane, SABC2 programme manager.
Durban drama
e.tv's Durban Gen is from the Grey's Anatomy mold, following, like Meredith, the life of the main protagonist Mbali Mthethwa, "a newly qualified doctor who moves to the big city, away from her fiancé and the small town they grew up in, to serve her final year of community service".
Durban Gen is filmed in Durban and set in the Durban township of Newlands East and the corridors of the Durban General academic public hospital.
On her arrival at Durban General Hospital, Mbali assists in a surgery that goes horribly wrong and that leads to the death of a politician.
That plummets the hospital, Mbali, and Dr Lindelani Zulu into the middle of an investigation that threatens to derail her career.
The Durban Gen cast includes Meshack Mavuso as Dr Thabo Dlamini and Durban Gen's head of surgery, and Duduzile Ngcobo, who as Dr Nomalanga Qwabe.
According to e.tv Durban Gen "follows the trials, tribulations, triumphs, betrayals and bonds experienced by Mbali, the staff of Durban General, and the patients who come through its doors looking for help, refuge, and health".
"KwaZulu-Natal has progressively become the quintessential pulse of local productions, not only from a storyline perspective but for its ability to provide fertile soil from which to grow and build new talent," says Helga Palmer, e.tv's new head of local productions.
