Mzansi Magic's crime drama Housekeepers back for a third season from 4 April.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) drama series Housekeepers with Thando Thabethe will return for a third season from Monday 4 April at 20:00.

Starring Thando Thabethe as Linda and Paballo Koza as her brother Mtho, the series produced by Ochre Moving Pictures follows an agent solving criminal cases while undercover as the house help.

While Linda has a new big crime to uncover in the third season's 13 episodes, her biggest fight is her desperate attempt to save Mtho's life.

Attending university and adjusting to his and his sister's new financially secure reality, Mtho is accused of a shocking crime with Linda who has to try and prove his innocence while keeping her true identity hidden from her dangerous new employers.

Having made a promise to their mother to keep Mtho safe, Linda is wracked with guilt and, since she couldn't save June, she wants to save her brother by any means necessary - something that leads her down increasingly morally ambiguous paths

The Housekeepers season 3 cast includes Gabriel Simphiwe Mini, Ernest Ndlovu, Andile Mxakaza, Noxolo Dlamini, Fezile Makhanya and Zandi Nhlapho.

The supporting cast includes Kenneth Nkosi, Connie Chiume and Chichi Letswalo.

"We're happy to keep giving viewers shows they love and Housekeepers is one of the series that has kept our audience enthralled since its premiere," says Shirley Adonisi, M-Net director of local entertainment channels.

"It's a very South African twist on the classic detective show, and it's so much more than a crime series. It's relevant and features social commentary and a lot of heart, while still being entertaining. The show is as multifaceted and as intelligent as our audience."

Coronavirus: Lockdown in South Africa brings Lockdown and Trackers to Mzansi Magic as the M-Net-packaged channel on DStv scrambles to plug scheduling holes left by unfinished seasons of Housekeepers and eHostela.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's national lockdown period has forced M-Net to use Lockdown and other shows to plug sudden holes on its Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) schedule.

The spreading global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic also affecting South Africa's struggling TV industry, caused a vast number of locally-produced TV series on public television and pay-TV to abruptly shutter in late-March.

M-Net is now replacing schedule gaps left by incomplete shows on its Mzansi Magic channel, packaged for MultiChoice's DStv channel, with various library series.

After broadcasting new promos throughout March for the second season of Housekeepers, produced by Oche Moving Pictures with Portia Gumede as showrunner and starring Thando Thabethe, Mzansi Magic has pulled the season that was scheduled to debut on Monday 6 April at 20:00.

In its place because of the national lockdown, Mzansi Magic is now showing a borrowed "lockdown": the 5th season the local prison series Lockdown, produced by Black Brain Productions, that was moved to MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax last year and that made its debut in January 2020 on the streamer.

Since filming hasn't yet finished on all of the episodes of Housekeepers with the production that only started filming at the beginning of March, M-Net decided to remove the series for the time being and to postpone its launch.

It has now been replaced with the prison-wall set series starring Dawn Thandeka King, Connie Chuime, Zola Nombona, Linda Sokhulu and Lorcia Cooper.

The second season of Housekeepers will now start at a date that is still to be determined later in 2020 with insiders who told TVwithThinus that the production was affected and shuttered due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

In another stopgap measure Mzansi Magic also replaced the second season of the KwaMashu-set series eHostela.

The Stained Glass TV produced series was also forced to shutter causing unplanned production delays, with Mzansi Magic that replaced it this past Sunday in the 20:00 timeslot with the locally-produced drama series Trackers that made its debut in October 2019 on the M-Net (DStv 101) channel.

Since 17 March MultiChoice, and individually the various M-Net-packaged channel sets, have all been asked numerous times which TV series specifically have been impacted or shut down because of the virus issue and the national lockdown but so far there's been no response.

Mzansi Magic's new local drama series, Housekeepers, with Thando Thabethe and showrunner Portia Gumede is cleaning house to right a wrong.

Mzansi Magic's (DStv 161) new local drama series will revolve around Johannesburg's champagne crowd but while Housekeepers will show those sipping it and living the high life, the focus is squarely on those bringing it to them and plotting to bring them to a fall.

Housekeepers, produced by Oche Moving Pictures with Portia Gumede as showrunner, peeks behind the high walls of Fourways mansions to explore the lives and the drama of the rich as seen through the eyes of those who serve on them and see and know all.

In Housekeepers starting on Monday 8 October at 20:00 on Mzansi Magic, a devoted daughter goes to look for the truth when Linda Ndlovu (Thando Thabethe) who hides her identity behind an apron, assumes the role of housekeeper in an attempt to bring the Zwide family to justice after one of her loved ones are framed for murder.

"Viewers are taken on a journey of discovery. They learn about the secrets that bind the Zwide family and the people that hold the keys to their freedom as they make their beds every morning; keep their homes clean and are the invisible souls that know their employers’ sins," says Mzansi Magic in a statement.

"We are excited to be able to tell a story of the voiceless and sometimes overlooked beings, yet they run the households of those with financial power and social stature," says Reneilwe Sema, the director of local entertainment channels at M-Net.

"Housekeepers is an exploration of the class dynamics that exist in our society. As Mzansi Magic, we wanted to go into the unfamiliar territory which is not foreign to our audiences."

Housekeepers stars an ensemble cast led by Mangaliso Ngema as Peter Zwide, Zikhona Sodlaka as Boniswa Mzobe, Clementine Mosimane as June Ndlovu, Matsepo Maleme as Eunice Khotso, Connie Chuime as Maria Motsepe, Linda Sokhulu as Pru Yeni, Zodwa Nkosi as Phindi Molefe, Mike Mvelase as Max, Masasa Mbangeni as Nomhlubi, Bohang Moeko as Kabelo, and Gabriel Mini as Conway.