Botswana’s leading urban drama series, Colours, recently made its debut on South Africa’s public broadcast.
This made Colours the first original local drama series from Botswana to be licensed by the public broadcaster.
BMA understands that the series is a collaboration between South African filmmaker Bonginhlanhla Ncube and Botswana’s Samuel Ngwenya.
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.
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.
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. Tirelo’s arch-rival, Mpho Sekitla, is portrayed by an engineer-turned-actor, Fitzgerald Sebolao. Girlie, played by Sharon Seno, portray the main character’s love interest.
The talented Bonginhlanhla Ncube and Samuel Ngwenya created and conceptualised the series initially commissioned by Botswana TV in 2018.
It was further licenced to DStv’s Moja Love straight after Botswana, but the licencing by SABC 1 will see the series get its most extensive 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.
