Noughts vs crosses

Noughts + Crosses is a British drama television series based on the Noughts & Crosses novel series by Malorie Blackman. The series is set in an alternative history where black “Cross” people rule over white “Noughts”.

The series will start on M-Net att 22:35 on Youth Day June 16.

The series differs from the book in several respects. Callum and Sephy are older than in the novels, and Callum and Jude’s sister Lynette McGregor does not feature in the series.

The series takes place in present-day London in an alternative history where 700 years prior, several nations in (what is in our world known as) West Africa combined to form the powerful Aprican Empire and went on to colonise Europe.

After a conflict known as the Great World War, control of Europe is split between different Aprican factions, with mainland Europe under control of the Malian Empire and the Moors, whereas Albion (comprising Great Britain and Ireland) and parts of Scandinavia remain under the thumb of the Aprican Empire.

Russia and the Balkans remain in active conflict with the Aprican colonisers, although since the Great World War their national borders have been pushed back. The Ottoman Empire also exists, controlling parts of East Asia.

Albion appears to be a self-governing colony with its own (Cross) Prime Minister and executive leadership, an exclusively Cross police force, and a military only just opened up to a small number of Nought high-achievers. However, it is still accountable to the Aprican Empire based on the African continent.

As of 1950, racial segregation is rigidly enforced in the colony between those of wealthy Aprican descent (known as Crosses or daggers) and the poorer native Europeans (known as Noughts or blankers).

Couch Potato by Danie Jacobs

Friday June 10: Pig stars Nicholas Cage as a truffle hunter who has to look for his beloved foraging pig after she is kidnapped. M-Net Movies 2, 20:00.

Saturday June 11: The Goldbergs are back for a ninth series. The first episode is a tribute to Pops (George Segal). M-Net, 18:00.

Sunday June 12: Starring Alison Janney from Mom-fame, Breaking News in Yuba Country is a comedy about a missing husband and a massive search for him. M-Net, 20:05.

Monday June 13: Sheldon runs away to a comic convention in Young Sheldon. M-Net, 19:00.

Tuesday June 14: David Schwimmer stars as a secret agent in Intelligence. BBC Brit on DStv, 22:45.

Wednesday June 15: Firefighting drama 9-1-1: Lone Star is back for a third series. M-Net, 20:30.

Thursday June 16: Sarafina!, set during the Soweto uprising, is the perfect film for Youth Day. etv, 15:05.

Friday June 17: Kim’s Convenience is a sitcom set in a convenience store in Canada, run by a Korean family. SABC3, 21:00.

Saturday June 18: Hansie is a film about an unprecedented rise to glory and a most horrific fall. SABC3, 21:30.

Sunday June 19: An assassin looks for the killer of her mentor in The Protégé. M-Net, 20:05.

Family drama filled with intrigue

Neil Sandilands stars in M-Net’s intriguing new drama Desert Rose.

Set on a remote farm in the Northern Cape, it is an evocative, emotional, quirky and cinematic new family-centred drama premiering on M-Net on June 2.

The eight-part drama mixes black comedy, suspense, crime, romance, and music while focusing on the unlikely reconnecting of a father and his children.

Sandilands plays Freddie ‘Fingers’ Greyling, a music star and the absent father of Eben Greyling. Sandilands also wrote and performs much of the music in the series, accompanied by Theo Crous and Georgio Frazer Barry.

When Eben refuses a request from the family’s benefactor Van As to go fishing, it breaks the shackles of a long-time agreement - but the debt will not disappear. Someone has to pay.

Desert Rose tells the story of the disenfranchised and the forgotten in a desert town through the Greyling family. Emotional and rooted in character, it is a love letter to the misfit; to loss, loneliness and eccentricity; to broken relationships, and South Africa itself. Inspired by Americana - highways, diners and gas stations – and thorny family drama with a quirky heart, prepare to explore the crossroads where the ordinary meets the extraordinary.

Couch potato by Danie Jacobs

Friday May 20: Unites States of Al shows the friendship between a Marine and an interpreter in Afghanistan. M-Net, 19:00.

Saturday May 21: A surrogate mom becomes obsessed with the new father in When the bow breaks. SABC3, 21:30.

Sunday May 22: Recipes for love and murder reaches its climax with Maria trying to escape the killer. M-Net, 20:00.

Monday May 23: In The List an accountant becomes the prime suspect in a woman’s disappearance. SABC2, 22:00.

Tuesday May 24: Death and the maiden is classic cinema! A political activist is convinced her guest once tortured her for the government. SABC3, 23:00.

Wednesday May 25: The Rocky Marciano Story shows the boxer as a champion in and out of the ring. SABC3, 21:00.

Thursday May 26: Chris tests the latest Porsche in Top Gear. BBC Brit on DStv, 23:05.

Friday May 27: An MP falls in love with his son’s fiancée in Damage. etv, 22:05.

Saturday May 28: Deon Lotz can be seen as Skyfies van der Schyff in Halwe Ton Dinamiet. He is an explosives specialist on a gold-mine. KykNet on DStv, 20:00.

Sunday May 29: A diamond mine collapses in The Ice Road. M-Net, 20:05.

Love and time travel meet

New drama series The Time Traveler’s Wife was adapted by Steven Moffat from the beloved novel of the same name. This new series can be seen on M-Net.

The series follows the spellbinding and intricately out-of-order love story between Clare (Game of Thrones), and Henry (Divergent), and a marriage with a problem...time travel.

At six years old, Clare meets Henry, the future love of her life - and who, as a time traveler, is actually visiting from the future. Fourteen years later, when a beautiful redhead wanders into the library where Henry works claiming not only to have known him all her life but to be his future wife, a magical romance ensues that is as sprawling and complicated as Henry’s attempts to explain his “condition.” Over six hour long episodes, the genre-bending drama series expertly weaves themes of love, loss, marriage, and survival - in a story that defies the laws and logic of time. 

Couch potato by Danie Jacobs

Friday May 13: WW1 comes alive in the award-winning 1917. M-Net Movies 2 on DStv, 16:25.

Saturday May 14: The Nazis made a database of German witches. Find out more in Secret Nazi Expeditions. History on DStv, 21:05.

Sunday May 15: Two Sides is a sports documentary about the British Lions rugby tour to SA. M-Net, 18:00.

Monday May 16: The Bisexual is a new drama series about a woman who breaks it off with her girlfriend and ventures into the straight world. SABC3, 22:00.

Tuesday May 17: A girl falls in love with a drug dealer in Babyteeth. SABC3, 23:00.

Wednesday May 18: Jo-Ann Strauss dives into fresh seafood in Homegrown Tastes SA. BBC Lifestyle on DStv, 20:00.

Thursday May 19: Venrap is a documentary about rap artists from Venda. etv, 22:30.

Friday May 20: Al is still trying to adapt to American life in Unites States of Al. M-Net, 19:00.

Saturday May 21: A man hooks up with his dream girl from school in There’s something about Mary. SABC3, 19:30.

Sunday May 22: Bric n brac can be worth a fortune. Find out in Antiques Roadshow. BBC Lifestyle on Dstv, 20:00.

Dinge van ‘n kind nou ‘n dramareeks 

Gewilde boek Die dinge van 'n kind is omskep in TV-reeks. Die nuwe dramareeks op Kyknet op DStv gaan kykers voor hul TV’s hou.

Dinge van ’n kind word vanaf Dinsdag 10 Mei om 20:00 uitgesaai. Dit is uit die pen van die bekroonde skrywer Marita van der Vyver.

In dié reeks van tien episodes ontmoet kykers vir Mart Vermaak. Die ontnugtering van haar grootwordjare vind plaas teen die politiese agtergrond van die onstuimige laat 1970’s, terwyl ’n ouer Mart haarself in ’n ontnugtering van ’n ander aard bevind.

In die roman leer lesers Mart sowel as tiener en as ’n vrou in haar dertigs ken wat as ’n expat in Londen woon. In die TV-reeks ontmoet kykers egter ook ’n heelwat ouer Mart wat haar weer in Suid-Afrika gevestig het.

Die boek het in 1994 verskyn. Daar was reeds twee oplae van die eerste hardebanddruk en daarna ongeveer drie oplaes van die sagtebanddruk tussen 2005 en 2011, en ’n nuwe sagtebanddruk in 2016. Dit is ook al in Engels, Nederlands en Duits vertaal.

Die dramaturg Harry Kalmer het in die 1990’s die boek in ’n gelyknamige opvoering vir die KKNK verwerk. Dit is ook in 2019 in ’n eenvrouvertoning omskep met Cintaine Schutte wat die rol van Mart vertolk. Die teks vir hierdie weergawe is deur Francois Toerien geskryf en Alexa Strachan was die vervaardiger.

Die temas wat fyn deur die boek en teaterstuk verweef is, vorm ook die ruggraat van die TV-reeks.

Volgens Schutte is dit steeds relevant al speel dit af in die 1970’s. Dit vang temas van tienerskap, hormone en grootwordjare, asook vriendskap vas. Ek dink die grootste vraag wat almal vir hulleself vra en wat ook in die boek en teaterproduksie voorkom, is: ‘Wie is ek en waar hoort ek?’  

“Ek het nie in die 1970’s grootgeword nie; ek was nog ’n kind in die 1990’s, maar nadat ek die boek gelees het, het ek besef dit maak nie saak of jy ’n tiener in die 1970’s was nie en of jy eendag in 2085 ’n tiener is nie – jy gaan deur dieselfde goed.”

Couch potato by Danie Jacobs

Friday April 29: It’s guest bedroom week on The Block. M-Net, 18:00.

Saturday April 30: Joanna Lumley visits Paris in Great Cities of the World. BBC Earth on DStv, 18:00.

Sunday May 1: Wedding planners plan perfect weddings while their lives fall apart in Love, weddings and other disasters. M-Net Movies 1 on DStv, 21:40.

Monday May 2: The Offer takes viewers behind the scenes during the making of the movie The Godfather. M-Net, 22:30. 

Tuesday May 3: A dancer is looking for her estranged father in Break. M-Net Movies 2 on DStv, 22:20.

Wednesday May 4: Truth and fantasy clash in the finale of Landscapers. M-Net, 22:30.

Thursday May 5: British legal series The Split features a family of fearless female divorce lawyers. M-Net, 22:30.

Friday May 6: The Top 20 perform on American Idol. M-Net, 19:30.

Saturday May 7: A streaker must find a way to bear his soul rather than his buttocks in Kaalgat Karel. Kyknet on DStv, 20:00.

Sunday May 8: Maria helps a letter writer with her faith on Recipes for love and murder. M-Net, 20:00.