MultiChoice powers ahead with localised content including slum-set Kenya drama Pepeta, a funeral reality series in Ghana, Crime & Justice spinoff for Nigeria and a Nollywood psychothriller miniseries.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice is powering up its investment in pan-African TV content with the pay-TV company's M-Net and Showmax divisions producing a new funeral reality show from Ghana, a Nollywood psychothriller miniseries, a Crime & Justice spinoff crime procedural for Nigeria, as well as a slum-set Kenyan crime series about an aspiring football player for DStv subscribers.

As it faces more competition from primarily global streaming rivals like Netflix Africa, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, all rapidly expanding across the continent, MultiChoice is pouring millions into the production of localised content for its three biggest African markets - South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya - where the traditional pay-TV operator is experimenting with new formats and continuing to do more localised spinoffs of existing series for different sub-Saharan countries.

"We are increasing our investment in local content and have new shows across the board in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and our Portuguese markets to look forward to," says Yolisa Phahle, MultiChoice CEO of general entertainment and connected video.

"In Kenya, we have a new crime series called Pepeta which captures the dreams and realities of the youth in Kibera which is one of the largest slums in Africa but also known for creating top football players in Kenya."

Pepeta, which translates as "bounce" and which is produced by CJ3 Entertainment, follows the 17-year-old talented footballer Junior torn between crime and soccer, the unforgiving cop Musa, and Biki an ambitious football coach. Pepeta is loosely based on the real-life story of Harun "Rio" Wathari. 

"We also have a movie, it's called A Familiar Christmas and it's our first-ever Christmas movie for Kenya, produced by the award-winning filmmaker of our telenovela Selina."

"New content coming to Nigeria include Ditche - it is our first limited drama series," says Yolisa Phahle.

"It's a psychological thriller about a young Nollywood actress who discovers her fiancé murdered. We also have Showmax's first and exclusive Nigerian telenovela. This story is set against the backdrop of the gold-mining industry and we're launching it in the last quarter of this fiscal."

"Learning from the success of Crime & Justice in Nairobi, we're making a new series of Crime & Justice but this time it's based in Lagos where two detectives investigate cases that have been ripped from the local news headlines."

"Coming soon for Ghana is a 5-part reality show called My Perfect Funeral. It follows 5 families in Ghana as they prepare to bury their loved-ones."

ALSO READ: MultiChoice's next Big Brother in Africa on DStv will be an all-stars face off in January 2023 between former housemates of Big Brother Mzansi and Big Brother Naija.

MultiChoice's Showmax and Canal+ teams up for first Kenyan Showmax Original with gritty crime drama Crime & Justice set in modern-day Nairobi starring Alfred Munyua and Sarah Hassan.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice's Showmax and France's pay-TV service CANAL+ are doing the video streaming service's first Kenyan-set Showmax Original series, with production that has started on the gritty crime drama series Crime & Justice.

The co-produced Crime & Justice is set in modern-day Nairobi and will be released later in 2021 on Showmax while CANAL+ will distribute Crime & Justice to its French-speaking base.

The Crime & Justice includes Alfred Munyua as Silas and Sarah Hassan as Makena, two detectives working for the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), who try and solve "ripped-from-the-headlines" case per episode that are tracked all the way through to the courtroom verdict. 

The rest of the Crime & Justice cast includes Maqbul Mohammed as DCI Boss Kebo, Paul Ogola as Prosecutor Sokoro Brian Ogola as Caleb, the resident pathologist; as well as John Sibi-Okumu, Muhugu Theuri, Brian Abajah, Martin Githinji and Justin Mirichii in guest roles.

Crime & Justice is produced by Live Eye TV, with Adam Neutzsky-Wulff as director and producer.

Other production crew includes Maureen Wanjiku as co-producer, lighting technician Walter Odhiambo, cinematographer Sammy Maina who will take over from Helge Gerull after the second episode, art director Eugene Oyoo, and casting director Lorella Jowi.

In a prepared casting quote, Alfred Munyua says "When I first read the script, I loved the delivery and realness of Silas as a character. It’s not exaggerated and he’s no Rambo hero; he just tackles his cases the normal way. I found a very real edge with this script, and I hope I’ll do justice to the role".

Sarah Hassan says "This is a very different character; I’ve never played anything like Makena before. It’s very exciting to get a character that makes me grow as an actor."

Yolisa Phahle, CEO of MultiChoice Connected Video, says "We are fundamentally an African business and are invested in telling African stories that reflect the lives, languages and cultures of the continent".

"We believe in African talent and look forward to shining the international spotlight on not only Kenyan stars, but the Kenyan technical industry’s capabilities. We believe that streaming video is a powerful way to deliver these shared stories. This is one of many more Showmax Originals we have in the pipeline across Africa."

The Crime & Justice production follows the announcement of the first CANAL+ and MultiChoice co-production Blood Psalms that was filmed in South Africa in 2020 and that will be released on Showmax in 2021.

Fabrice Faux, CANAL+ International chief content officer, says "As part of our strategy of providing our subscribers with the best original content from the continent, we are proud to partner with Showmax and enrich myCanal as well as CANAL+ channels with such premium series".