The hauntological weirdness of Apartheid-era South African telly

[George White]

Lads, I have a new obsession. Watching old 80s SABC broadcasts (TV started in South Africa in 1976). A strange thing. A mix of Afrikaans broadcasts and English broadcasts (with British announcers), but due to the ban by Equity, almost no British content (bar films, i.e. That'll be the Day, and a few ITC/Euston shows in the early days and docuseries like the World at War. Because of this, it's mostly wall to wall American content including short lived shows like the Fanelli Boys, the Houston Knights, The Four Seasons, Tales of the Gold Monkey, plus a lot of Commonwealth stuff (ITV filler from TVNZ, the Adventure World of Sir Edmund Hillary, numerous Aussie and Canadian stuff)

Note the prominence of German comic Loriot. TV1 and TV4 were the services that used both English and Afrikaans, TV2 and TV3 were in native languages.

One is struck by the overall cheapness. Even RTE looked more expensive.

1992 -  Moomins and the Raccoons plus Thomas the Tank Engine (somehow, Ringo /Michael Angelis gets by the ban, lifted in 1993) and Neighbours and Home and Away

Fame and Sledge Hammer, Kate and Allie, Trauma Center -

the sheer deso-ness of broadcasting a Sarth Ifrikan cover band doing pub level covers of 60s British hits.


The Fiddly Foodle Bird got shown in Africa. I know some English language cartoons were dubbed back into English with other actors (Adventures of Rupert Bear), or into Afrikaans. Was Brucie kept?

Chateauvallon also got shown on SABC.


South African ads pretty weird too

Now and Forever (1983) -Aussie Danielle Steel drama where Cheryl Ladd fights for her husband Robert Coleby's innocence when Jean off Prisoner accuses him of rape.

The irony of Glenda Jackson, one of the main people who instigated the Equity ban dubbed in Afrikaans.

A rare British show on in the 80s - the independently made but BBC-aired compilation series Best of British, narrated by John Mills, about Rank (same production company also did series under the same name on ITC and Korda, and the World of Hammer).

[MrMealDeal]

The second to last one is post-communist Hungarian TV

[George White]

In god  it was part of a sabc playlist.

[Enzo]

Apartheid Namibia (South West Africa) made South African TV look top class.

[Tilt Araiza]

I'm aware that there was a comedy show called The Knicky Knacky Knoo Show. The title makes me want to see an edition, but I've never found one. Admittedly, my efforts are restricted to googling.

[George White]

There was also a comedy show called the Billtong and Potroast Show in the 70s, which was a panel show between Afrikaans comedians and British ex-pat comics. All that exists is a record LP.

We've already talked about Kenny Cantor moving to Rhodesia and having his own show on RBC but another Comedians alumni, Scotsman Tony Stewart went to SA, and was on the Potroast team.  Another Brit comic on the show, Alan Field had already made his side clear, having previously written for the Black and White Minstrel Show.

AFAIK 4 South African TV series got shown on UKTV during apartheid.
The Heart of the Matter, a Graham Greene adap starring Jack Hedley from 1983 was a coproduction between C4, RAI of Italy, ZDF and Tele-Munchen of West Germany, FR2 of France, ORF of Austria, SRG of Switzerland, C4,  and as disguised in the international release, SABC. It was set and passed off as being made in West Africa despite a mostly SA-based cast.
Shaka Zulu (1986), the all-star multi-million SABC coproduction with US company Harmony Gold went initially direct to video in Britain, after much kerfuffle about how a ton of British actors (Edward Fox - no surprise there, Christopher Lee, Trevor Howard, Robert Powell, Fiona Fullerton, Gordon Jackson, Roy Dotrice and Kenneth Griffith who served as co-writer being a big aul expert on the Boer War and Afrikaans supporter) went over to appear. International broadcasts removed the SABC name, going out as say a ZDF programme in Germany. Eventually, in 1992, ITV broadcast Shaka and another Europud made with the SABC, the French drama Reap the Whirlwind, made in 1987 but not shown in SA until 1992 either, featuring Annette Crosbie.

The other drama was Children's Island (1984), from the commercial cable channel M-Net (the sole competition to the SABC). A Mid-Atlantic seeming CBBC staple in the 80s, about a group of BRITISH kids heading to Canada during the war a la City of Benares who get stranded on a Caribbean island and only the weirdly unspecified President of the US' bratty grandson  can save them.

A bunch of British kids some of whom are clearly south African, modern airplanes in a supposedly 40s airfield, former 40s Hollywood cowboy George Montgomery's 'President' isn't quite Roosevelt. And there's annoying songs sung by Sarth Ifrikan stage school brats to the tune of the Red Flag/O Tannenbaum.It's very odd, feels more like a continental show than a British or American show, despite trying to be both. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrX3lTRWzw4

[George White]

Derrick got shown on SABC


God, Afrikaans kids TV is creepy.

Mumfie was shown in SABC, as Moemfie and dubbed into Afrikaans.

Tour of Duty was shown as Sending Vietnaam.

Tropical Heat was partly an SABC copro.  See the still running German staple Tatort is on. With that funky as hell theme tune.

[Glebe]

Who remembers The Eugène Terre'Blanche Show?

[druss]

Was recently looking into visiting South Africa but apparently it is pretty much irrevocably fucked and doesn't look like getting better in my lifetime. Shame after things looked like they were getting better in the 90s.

[dissolute ocelot]

What is up with those times? 6.14 Pop Shop? 6.33 Sportsview? 7.06 Gunsmoke? Apartheid South Africa is not a nation renowned for punctual timekeeping in the way the Swiss were, but clearly everything was planned to the second. Or is it just the British who think "nearest five minutes is good enough"?

[thr0b]

What is up with those times? 6.14 Pop Shop? 6.33 Sportsview? 7.06 Gunsmoke? Apartheid South Africa is not a nation renowned for punctual timekeeping in the way the Swiss were, but clearly everything was planned to the second. Or is it just the British who think "nearest five minutes is good enough"?

It's only in the last thirty years or so that we went to "good enough" timing. Look back at old listings, and you'd see far more of the random timings. Still fairly common on other countries as well.

[Epic Bisto]

Disappointed by the lack of NEWS HEADLINES TONIGHT! FACKING GENGBENGERS ROUND THE BACK OF THE STUDIO SMOKING POOFY! FACKING SHAMBLES BUT YOU GOTTA LUV EM!