SABC3 will call back the past at 8pm on Friday with a special broadcast of Isidingo that will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the groundbreaking soap that focuses on the lives of the people of Horizon Deep.

 

Viewers will be treated to a repeat screening of the very first episode of the show which, created by Gray Hofmeyr, first aired in 1998 and has had more than 3 000 episodes.

 

The first series on South African television to feature a mixed-race couple, the first to offer a storyline involving HIV and Aids, and the first to feature a gay couple kissing on screen, Isidingo has won numerous awards over the years, including being voted best TV soap at last year’s South African Film and Television Awards.

 

The series has boosted the careers of actors including Rapulana Seiphemo, Jamie Bartlett, Akin Omotoso and Hlomla Dandala. Omotoso, Seiphemo and Bartlett all featured in the show’s first episode.

 

“A review of that first episode will reveal some interesting details. For instance, people may not have known that Don Mlangeni, who plays Zeb Matabane, has been on the soap since the very first scene of the very first episode,” said SABC3 marketing manager Risuna Mayimele.