The M-Net Original series Trackers goes global as it starts its global broadcast window on HBO's Cinemax.

by Thinus Ferreira

South African television and an M-Net Original is going to global with the big-budget local series Trackers that was on M-Net last year that is getting its debut on HBO's Cinemax channel.

Trackers, an adaptation of the internationally acclaimed author Deon Meyer's crime novel that was filmed entirely in South Africa, will make its debut on WarnerMedia's Cinemax today, 5 June 2020.

Trackers, an international co-production between M-Net, Cinemax and Germany's ZDF, and produced by Three River Fiction and Scene23, was adapted for television by Robert Thorogood with cinematography by Ivan Strasburg and was broadcast on M-Net (DStv 101) since October 2020.

Mzansi Magic (Dstv 161) followed since April 2020, and now Trackers is making its debut on Cinemax.

The 6-episode Trackers interweaves three different story strands into an 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.

In Trackers agents of the Presidential Bureau of Intelligence (PBI) are doing surveillance of a small group of Islamic radicals known as "the Committee" who are suspected of trying to secretly import a weapon of mass destruction into South Africa.

To pay for their operation, the Committee has hired a local mob boss to steal a cache of diamonds being smuggled in from Zimbabwe, but all hell breaks loose when the would-be hijackers find more - and less - than what they had expected.

The Trackers cast includes James Gracie, Rolanda Marais, Ed Stoppard, Sandi Schultz, Brendon Daniels, Trix Vivier, Thapelo Mokoena, and Sisanda Henna and is executive produced by Cobus van den Berg, Tim Theron, Jonathan Drake, Robert Thorogood and Deon Meyer; with Steve Maher as executive creative producer, Rebecca Fuller-Campbell as series producer and directed by the Finnish director Jyri Kähönen.

HBO's Cinemax has joined the Cape Town filmed co-production of Deon Meyer's Trackers drama series done by M-Net and Germany's ZDF.

HBO's Cinemax TV channel has also joined South Africa's M-Net and Germany's ZDF in their co-production of the Cape Town filmed drama series based on Deon Meyer's crime-and-spy book Trackers.

M-Net announced Trackers in February 2018, based on Deon Meyer's 7th book.

While M-Net will show Trackers in South Africa and across sub-Saharan African on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service, ZDF will show it in Germany while Cinemax gets the remaining worldwide rights for the United States and areas beyond Africa and Germany.

The 6-episode Trackers, produced by Three River Studios in the United Kingdom and Studio 23, will start on M-Net (DStv 101) in October 2019 and will also be available on MultiChoice's subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, Showmax.

Trackers as an action-thriller revolves around an international terrorist plot in Cape Town, South Africa and an extended conspiracy involving organized crime, smuggled diamonds, state security, Black Rhinos, and the CIA.

The British writer Robert Thorogood is the showrunner with Deon Meyer as supervising screenwriter and co-producer. Jyri Kähönen is the director of all Trackers episodes with Ivan Strasburg as director of photography.

The team of South African writers on Trackers includes the screenwriter and director Amy Jephta as well as writer-directors Kelsey Egen and Jozua Malherbe.

The Trackers cast includes Ed Stoppard, Rolanda Marais, James Alexander, Thapelo Mokoena and James Gracie, among others.

James Alexander plays the character of Lemmer, a man seeking revenge while rebuilding his life in a small town after his career was destroyed during an operation for the Presidential Bureau of Intelligence (PBI).

Rolanda Marais is the "unlikely heroine" Milla Strachan, an abused Cape Town housewife who becomes a data analyst for the PBI and finds herself at the centre of the conspiracy.

Ed Stoppard is Lukas Becker, an alleged CIA operative.

"The trailblazing and massively exciting co-production of Trackers illustrates M–Net's vision and commitment to shine the spotlight on the African film and television industry and provide fresh, proudly African narratives to our viewers as well as global audiences," says Yolisa Phahle, MultiChoice CEO of general entertainment.

"It is also taking our longstanding relationship with Cinemax to the next level, allowing local and international talent to combine their world-class story-telling and production skills."

"Trackers is an unprecedented scripted television venture and MultiChoice and M-Net are proud to chart out new territory with all the game-changing players involved in this co-production."

Len Amato, president of HBO films, miniseries and Cinemax, says "Cinemax is delighted to partner with M-Net and ZDF in bringing Deon Meyer's unforgettable characters and storytelling - all so richly rooted in the people and spectacular geography of South Africa - to screens around the world".

Besides Cape Town, M-Net says filming for Trackers has already started in "exotic locations" across South Africa and that M-Net, ZDF and Cinemax have been working together on all aspects of production – from developing and casting, to assembling the crew and approving the final content.