7de Laan

7delaan is quite simply the most entertaining soap I have ever watched this side of Britain's Coronation Street.

The show combines broad slapstick with melodrama with lashings of musical comedy and guest appearances by major South African writers (Andre Brink inter alia) and musical artists (Karen Zoid inter alia).

The only time I can remember the show touched upon tragedy was when the character Aubrey was killed off. As the audience was well aware, the actor playing Aubrey, Randall de Jager, had been killed senselessly during a break in at fellow actor's Helene Lombard's house which he had been house sitting.

This calamity provided a rare social realistic aspect to 7delaan. For the most part, 7delaan steers clear of race issues and concentrates on the diverse cultural lives of its characters to reflect the rich diversity of South African life. The leading hunk is the congenial Nico Panagiotopoulos, a swarthy Greek. Another non typical Boer is the charismatic Pedro C a m a r a, a Portuguese Namibian, speaking perfect Afrikaans. Much is made in the scripts of inter racial socializing but which rarely occurs in broad South African society; inter racial dating remains off limits.

Now the punch : the show is nominally performed in Afrikaans, the lingua franca of much of South Africa but only spoken as a home language by a fraction of South Africa's population. Yet it is sub titled in English which has paved the way for the show to be popular among all language groups. Even the occasional English dialogue is subtitled in English, making this show accessible to the hard of hearing, in a country yet to realise the need for closed captioning.

Initially the producers were reluctant to show black characters in other than an upwardly mobile light, casting them as entrepreneurs and professional people. A long standing running joke was the invisibility of Evelina the oft referred to but never seen domestic worker of the Terreblanches.

More recently, the show has introduced more socially realistic characters in the form of domestic workers Maria (Themsi Times) and Aggie (Mimi Mahlasela). Together with a low paid white shop assistant, Marko Greyling played by Francois Lemsley, they often indulge in exclusively Basotho conversation for which even the Afrikaners watching need to resort to reading the English sub titles.

Most of the younger cast members speak in a mixed English Afrikaans patois. Only older members of the cast strive to keep their Afrikaans language "pure". At any one time, there will generally be one cast member delivering their lines in English whilst others in the conversation speak Afrikaans. There will be other times when the English speaking world intrudes and the normally Afrikaans speaking actor will display their chops in English, with unpredictable results.

Whilst the younger actors tend to be cast for their looks, particularly the men, the women are generally cast for acting ability. Viewers of American soaps would be startled at the large girth of many of the ingénues. There is an emphasis on not showing large bosoms, with an exception for comedic effect. Flat chested actresses may apply.

There is a tendency to cast professional musicians. Francois Rautenbach, Fiks Mahola, Vuyelwa Booi and Waldemar Schultz among others.

There are world class talents in the cast. Anna Mart v.d. Merwe who has appeared as Christelle is the "go to" actress on the South African stage. When not directing episodes,as part of a 4 member team, actors Chris Vorster and Pierre van Pletzen are clearly brilliant in their acting. Vorster tends to underplay, whilst van Pletzen is a wonderfully gifted comedic actor whose physical comedy skills are best seen in his stage work. Van Pletzen never breaks character as the geriatric Oubass. Probably responsible for the best dramatic moments in the series is Wilna Snyman playing matriarch Madel Terreblanche. Snyman has remarkable dramatic timing and control.

Vinette Ebrahim is another wonderful talent and provides leadership to the young(er) actors working with her.

The recurring guest star Terrence Bridgett would be a star in any country. Only 7delaan could manage to have the outrageously camp character Jerome establish his "boudoir" under the kitchen table in church elder's Oubass apartment. The old and new South Africa in a head on crash.

Also worth applauding is the director Henry Mylne, known for keeping his actors moving.

7de Laan is my guilty pleasure. It's basically Neighbours, but South African. Same looking sets, same plots, more or less identical characters. If it wasn't in Afrikaans, I might easily believe it is Neighbours. Dialogue often slips in and out of Afrikaans and into English or an African language, which can be very funny to hear.

Unfortunately, we in the UK can't watch it anymore since the South African channel stopped being available on Sky. But I enjoyed it thoroughly while it was on. It's light-hearted, harmless.... pure escapism.

I won't pretend it's groundbreaking television. I won't even pretend it's particularly good television. But it has what Neighbours has: the ability to focus on the happier things in life and not to get tied up in anguish and melodrama all the time. It's truly easy to watch, and it was my guilty pleasure.

7de Laan has always been a dumb show, with dumb plots and an unrealistic representation of South African society, but at least the show was wholesome with characters leading conservative, conventional lives.

Unfortunately, now the show is getting increasingly "woke". It is promoting interracial relationships and the white parents of those whites in relationships with non-whites seem to be OK with it and do not threaten their children with disinheritance, which is what would have happened in all but the most pinko, white-guilt ridden communist households. The interracial couples are unrealistic and over represented, considering those relationships don't even make up 1% of all relationships involving white people in South Africa. Whites are only 7% of South Africa's population, and encouraging race mixing in a popular TV show can lead to the extinction of whites and European beauty in the country.

I wish 7de Laan could change course from being dumb, woke, anti-white garbage to being dumb, wholesome and conservative again. Before you could let your kids watch it and know they would not be exposed to degenerate, woke values, but now that has changed.

7de laan may be the only soap (from around the world) that doesn't include sex. Even children can watch it without "learning". 7de laan is suitable for any age, and believe me, EVEN MEN fancy this show. 7de laan also isn't a copy of Days of our life's, Bold and the Beautiful, etc. It is truly SOUTH African, with a lot of laughs, tears, suspension. It is also based on ordinary people, and ordinary days. There is a rich family, a troubled family, couples with normal problems, and guess what, it also shows the world that you don't need sex or half naked scenes to attrack viewers. And there isn't something like this man slept with that mans' wife or vice versa. If you ask most of the South Africans which program they watch, their awnser will be: 7 DE LAAN!

There is never a dull moment and always someone to wonder about, talk about and cry about! 7de Laan is suitable for any age, and it isn't a copy of Days of our life's, Bold and the Beautiful or any other soap.

It is based on ordinary people, and ordinary days. There is a rich family, a troubled family, couples with normal problems. It is truly SOUTH African, with a lot of laughs, tears, suspension. With very talented actors.

There is a reason why this successful show has been airing 5 days a week since 2000!!! This is how the show came about : Once upon a time Danie Odendaal (the creator) sat in a Melville coffee shop waiting for a friend to join him for breakfast. His friend was running late and, having nothing to do he whiled away the time by looking at the people around him.

A funky young waitress in a micro mini was ignoring her customers and flirting with her boyfriend on the phone. The stern manageress was about to confront her when a formidable lady walked in as though she owned the place. The manageress quickly escorted her to the nicest table available, and then they started chatting like old friends about their children.

Through the window of the coffee shop he saw a young girl and her friend come out of a dress shop, arms laden with bags. They were soon met by a young guy in a chef's jacket, who'd been eyeing them from the corner bakery. You could hear their giggles and laughs in the coffee shop.

Across the way from Danie sat a spinster in a floral dress with a scarf around her neck, eating a slice of anchovy toast, ad writing a shopping list. The waiter serving her addressed her by name, she was obviously a regular and familiar face.

Danie began to make up stories around each person he saw. Imagine if the formidable lady went home tonight to find out her young son was engaged to the girl she was hoping was just a fling, what if that guy the waitress is talking to is just one of many guys she keeps on string. And what about the spinster in the scarf? Maybe she is writing up a list of ingredients she needs for a banana loaf she plans to make for her boss. The only trouble is, she's a terrible cook! And so began the idea of 7de Laan… Since episode one was screened on SABC 2 in April 2000, there have been many reasons to make 7de Laan our favourite soap. Wonderful moments on screen that made us smile, giggle, chuckle and even laugh out loud. Unforgettable moments where we were glued to our seats and we raced home to make sure we did not miss what happened next. Romantic moments which gave us goose bumps and then of course, the moments that made us cry.

Even though some of the residents come and go, there can be little doubt that Hillside is everyone's favourite community and when that familiar tune starts to play we'll all be glued to our television screens for endless hours to come!