Johannesburg - This past week saw Botswana's leading urban drama series, Colours, make its debut broadcast at 7.30 p.m.
This made Colours the first ever original local drama series from Botswana to be licensed by the public broadcaster.
The series is a collaboration between South African filmmaker Bonginhlanhla Ncube, affectionately known in the industry as "Mr. B," and Botswana’s Samuel Ngwenya (Swanky Arrays).
Commissioned in 2018, Colours tells the story of a young man whose problems become his greatest strength, spiralling him onto a journey of discovery and change.
After the sad passing of his mother, who happens to be the breadwinner in the family, Tirelo, played by Tulani Tau, must quickly find ways to assume parenthood and save his teenage brother and sister from a myriad of challenges.
Colours, as an urban drama series, features a predominantly brilliant young cast and has, in the past two years, become Botswana's fan favourite drama series.
Some of the issues tackled by the series include drugs, peer pressure, greed, dysfunctional families, HIV/AIDS, and teaching viewers about the honour of hard work in the hustle and bustle of Gaborone, Botswana's thriving metropolitan centre.
Much like Johannesburg, Gaborone is a city of many layers and brings people from all walks of life together; therefore, Colours brings all these stories of love, hope, ambition, and backstabbing to the fore, hence the title.
Leading the cast are actors such as Kegopotswe Kgomotso Ratsie, who plays the role of Amanda Kulube, a powerful and ambitious executive of a fictional "ideas-generating" company. Kgomotso is featured from time to time on South Africa's Scandal. Tirelo's arch rival, Mpho Sekitla, is portrayed by an engineer-turned-actor, then turned back again, Fitzgerald Sebolao. The main character's love interest is portrayed by Girlie, played by Sharon Seno. Sharon has ultimately landed a call role on South Africa's Muvhango.
The series was created and conceptualised by the talented Bonginhlanhla Ncube and Samuel Ngwenya and was originally commissioned by Botswana TV in 2018.
It was further licenced to Moja Love straight after Botswana, but the licencing by SABC 1 will see the series get its largest exposure ever with SABC's over 20 million viewership stats. Colours has become Botswana's first ever original series to travel and reach South Africa with back-to-back licencing deals.
In a recent interview, Ngwenya said they have always envisioned the series as an international production.
"When we produced Colours, we produced it with an international appeal, and this vision is bearing fruit even though Colours is a 100% local and Botswana-based production," Ngwenya says.
"We are proud to bring such a brilliant series to our shores. It has performed well in Botswana, and I think it's the first ever series from Botswana to be broadcast in our country. We believe the support from SABC 1's viewers will be even higher because the controlling idea is totally relatable to South Africans and possibly the entire African continent," he said.
The Star