NV Studios partners with Uzalo producers, Stained Glass TV, to try and develop a slate of international scripted and non-scripted co-productions.

NV Studios, producers of international broadcast content, is partnering with Stained Glass TV, producers of the weekday prime time soap, Uzalo, on SABC1, to develop a slate of international scripted and non-scripted co-productions.

NV Studios is headed up by CEO Damien Brown with Stained Glass TV run by Gugulethu Zuma-Ncube and Pepsi Pokane.

The partnership between NV Studios and Stained Glass TV will try to create content with both a local South African and international flavour, including a reimagining of one of South Africa’s historical tales.

This will includes an examination of America’s politically-charged figures from the 1970s and the story of one of the world’s largest manufacturers of MDMA, set in Los Angeles and Australia.

Damien Brown says that the partnership between NV Studios and Stained Glass TV will give the series the gravitas they deserve. "Pepsi and his team produce the country's biggest show – and that's just one item on their slate."

"Their production nous and the ability to draw from a pool of immensely talented local actors and crew will be invaluable in ensuring that the shows we'll be creating together will meet global standards," says Damien Brown.

Pepsi Pokane says that NV Studios' international network of distributors, broadcasters and partners will play a pivotal role in showcasing these stories to the world.

"Damien Brown and his team have achieved phenomenal success on the global stage, with nearly 80 seasons of shows currently available in more than 150 countries."

"Pairing the scale of our production operation with their network of partners will ensure that these shows take their rightful place on the global stage."

SABC1's weekday drama Uzalo continues its ratings rise; tops 9.18 million viewers in August as South Africa's most watched show.

SABC1's weekday drama Uzalo nears the end of its third season with an ongoing ratings rise and has now topped 9.18 million viewers as it keeps adding viewers and widening the gap between any other competitors as South Africa's most watched TV show.

Uzalo, produced by Stained Glass TV, grabbed 9.18 million viewers for its most watched episode in August on SABC1, streaks ahead of competitors like Generations - The Legacy, and has continued its steady, massive ratings rise.

The 9 186 516 viewers makes Uzalo the SABC, SABC1, and South Africa's most watched TV programme by far.

Uzalo's viewership is actually even slightly more but not currently quantifiable: Besides the 9.1 million viewers on the linear SABC1 channel which is used to compile South Africa's official TV ratings, thousands more are watching the episodes on YouTube.

MultiChoice has also added Uzalo to its DStv Catch Up service that makes on-demand and delayed viewing possible with Uzalo episodes that can be watched in the high definition (HD) standard that it was filmed in and that is something that's impossible for the SABC, that is still transmitting analogue TV signals, to show.

The steady viewership growth of the isiZulu show with subtitles the past year, created by Duma Ndlovu and executive produced by Gugulethu Zuma-Ncube, is largely due to a massive increase by the writers in the amount of melodrama, incredible tension and eye-popping characters without fully going over-the-top.

Uzalo manages to cleverly skirt the very fine line between being realistic and outrageous - something it shares with only one other drama on TV, The Queen on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) that is a weekday series only accessible to a pay-TV audience on DStv.

Along with the characters, viewers love to hate the evil Innocentia and revel in delicious one-liner put-downs like this week's "That trashy bitch with horse-tail hair will see a different side to me!"

Since 2017 viewership of the KwaMashu set drama kept surging with Uzalo that dominated South Africa's TV ratings with gasp-inducing story lines that Mmamitse Thibedi, Uzalo's creative director credits to the gripping writing, cast and relatable plots.

In August, with an audience share of over 72%, almost three quarters of all South African TV sets that were turned on between 20:30 and 21:00 on weekdays, were tuned to Uzalo on SABC1.

In July and August millions of South Africans watched the jaw-dropping plot twists of Pastor Mdletshe's marriage unraveling due to the revelation of his secret love child, Mumsy.

Viewers likewise buzzed over actor Khaya Dladla, portraying Uzalo's character GC, who was forced to choose between family, tradition and love after he was revealed to be leading a shocking double existence - the out-and-loud hairdresser in KwaMashu on the one hand, and the macho, heterosexual heir to the royal house deep in rural KwaMashu on the other.

"We're really focused on creating story lines that get South Africans talking," says Mmamitse Thibedi.

"Our inspiration is South African society, and the amazing stories that our country has to share."

"It is our privilege to be able to bring the various issues to screen-life, and create a platform to entertain, educate and generate dialogue and debate. We're grateful that they resonate, and will continue to deliver plots that keep our audiences enthralled," says Mmamitse Thibedi.

It's not clear if Uzalo's 4th season will follow seamlessly after the third season but as one of the last remaining revenue drivers for the struggling public broadcaster, the SABC can ill-afford to lose the viewership that the drama series is drawing to the 20:30 timeslot.

At the beginning of September South Africa's parliament was told that while its the down-and-out and ratings-challenged SABC3, the broadcaster's only commercial TV channel, that is supposed to bring in the revenue to support the public broadcasting services side, it has become SABC1 that is now supporting the struggling SABC3.

SABC1's new telenovela, Uzalo, set to take on Mzansi Magic's Isibaya from 9 February in the same timeslot of 20:30 for 3 days a week.

The SABC first rejected the pitch for the show and forced the producers to retool it, but now, 3 years later, the new Zulu telenovela Uzalo from Stained Glass Productions will finally make it to TV.

The ambitiously filmed KwaZulu-Natal local drama Uzalo will starts on 9 February at 20:30 on SABC1 - trying to win back some audience share and viewers for the SABC against the Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) telenovela-turned-soap soap juggernaut Isibaya in the same timeslot.

Each half hour episode which SABC1 will broadcast from Mondays to Wednesdays from 9 February, revolves around the Mdletshe and the Xulu families, straddling the world's of crime and church.

Uzalo is set in KwaMashu in Durban and also filmed on location in the township's F-section since December 2014.

Despite several production and writing challenges SABC1 and the production company believe that the new telenovela following after Generations - The Legacy in the 20:30 timeslot will keep viewers tuning in.

SABC2 plans to have its own telenovela on the air this year, and told TV critics in 2014 that it is looking at July 2015 to start its own local telenovela - the South African public broadcaster's second one.

One of president Jacob Zuma's daughters, Gugulethu Zuma-Ncube is the producer of Uzalo, together with Pepsi Pokane, with the playwright-producer Duma Ndlovu now writing the scripts after several other writers were initially tasked with producing scripts but left.

SABC1 describes Uzalo as "a provocative, bold and authentic narrative that tells the story of two family dynasties and the two young men who carry their hopes and legacies as they face the complexities of money, family and love".

What is means is that Uzalo will revolve around two sons of two families - one "good" and one "bad" and the conflict and friendship between them and their families.

The KwaMashu-born Bheki Mkwane from Isibaya on DStv's Mzansi Magic channel supplied by M-Net, will now appear in the rival localdrama Uzalo as patriarch pastor Melusi Mdletshe. Leleti Khumalo plays the pastor wife Zandile Zulu.

Other Uzalo stars include Khumbulani 'Kay' Sibiya, Naymaps Maphala and Mpumelelo Bhulose and Dawn Thandeka-King.