African television is at its prime, with more ambitious concepts and high-quality production that can only get better with more investments as streamers scramble for their share of the continent. And while there are definitely stories and genres yet to be explored, in only three years, Africa has witnessed a content revolution like no other – from Netflix premiering its first African Original title with Queen Sono to South African series Blood & Water making it to Netflix’s Top 10 global list to the first African series premiering at Canneseries (Showmax’s Spinners) to Kenya launching its first military drama series (Mpakani) – the milestones are limitless.
If you’re looking for some good television, here are some gems to check out from around the continent:
Donkerbos
A criminally underrated gem, Donkerbos is a South African murder mystery that follows an ostracised detective (Erica Wessels) who must wrestle with her dark past, her family and a distrustful community to solve a horrific multiple murder case in the small town of Donkerbos, Limpopo.
Where to stream: Showmax
Blood & Water
Perhaps Netflix’s best African series yet, Blood & Water went where no African series had gone before Unseen: the Netflix Global Top 10 List.
Now in its third season, the series follows Puleng (Ama Qamata) as she navigates the complicated world of South Africa’s elite Parkhurst High in search of answers that start with finding her sister who was kidnapped as a baby, and morphs into something even more mysterious and darker by the third season as she tries to bring down a dangerous human trafficking syndicate.
Read our review of Blood & Water here.
Where to stream: Netflix
Pepeta
Perhaps Kenya’s best TV series yet, Pepeta follows three intertwining stories of Junior (Brahim Ouma), a 17-year-old talented footballer torn between the thrills of crime and the promises of soccer; Kepha (George Mo), an unforgiving cop with a personal vendetta, determined to rid the streets of criminals; and Biki (Lwanda Jawar), an ambitious football coach determined to get Junior and his friends scouted before the barrel of the gun cuts short their dreams.
Read our review of Pepeta here.
Where to stream: Showmax
Savage Beauty
In May 2022, Netflix made quite a splash with this South African series offering oozing Revenge vibes. Melodramatic and soapy but still quite intriguing and beautiful to look at, Savage Beauty follows Zinhle (Rosemary Zimu), a young woman who, seeking revenge for her tragic past, embeds herself into the lives of the wealthy and powerful family that caused her harm.
Where to stream: Netflix
The Wife
The Wife may have ended on a lower momentum than it began but the South African telenovela was one of the biggest shows on the continent when it debuted in November 2021, carrying this excitement into the first half of 2022.
The Wife is inspired by Dudu Busani-Dube’s bestselling Hlomu Series novels. Season 1 (based on Hlomu The Wife) follows a journalist (Mbalenhle Mavimbela) who falls in love with a taxi driver (Bonko Khoza), not realising that when you marry a man, you marry his secrets. The second season (based on Book 2, Zandile the Resolute) follows Khanyi Mbau as Zandile, a woman who tries to establish herself as the matriarch of the Zulu family fresh out of a 10-year prison sentence. Season 3, based on Naledi, His Love, centres around the star-crossed love between the doctor Naledi Montsho (Gaisang K. Noge) and Zulu brother Qhawe (Kwenzo Ngcobo).
Where to stream: Showmax
Igiza
Like Pepeta, Igiza is one of the best series to come out of Kenya in 2022. Boasting Serah Ndanu as a lead in a dual role of feuding twins, and the underrated Eddie Mbugua as a deranged money laundering boss, Igiza is a story of a sister stealing her twin’s life set against the backdrop of Nairobi’s fashion industry and the infamous wash wash.
Read our review of Igiza here.
Where to stream: Showmax
Blood Sisters
Like Savage Beauty, Nigeria’s Blood Sisters hurtled into 2022 with such pomp and force, boasting a star-studded cast and lesser-known faces like the scene-stealing Genoveva Umeh who has first risen to become Nollywood’s new It Girl after this role.
The Mo-Abudu project follows two best friends (played by Ini Dima-Okojia and Nancy Isime) on the run after a wealthy groom from a dangerous and complicated family disappears during his engagement party.
Where to stream: Netflix
King of Boys: The Return of the King
Kemi Adetiba has become a force in Nollywood in such a short time, making her mark with her 2018 film King of Boys, before launching it as a 7-part sequel with King of Boys: The Return of the King in 2021. Adetiba has since announced that she’s working on another instalment of the series.
The series picks up from where the film left off as the kingpin Eniola Salami (Sola Sobowale) returns to Nigeria after 5 years in exile, battered by the past, and yet not out of the game. She sets her claim on the highest political office in Lagos, fighting both old and new enemies.
Where to stream: Netflix
Reyka
A 2022 International Emmy nominee for Best TV Drama and Best Actress (for lead Kim Engelbrecht), South African crime drama Reyka is the first African drama series to be nominated for the award in more than a decade. And only the third ever, after Home Affairs in 2007 and 2008, and Sokhulu and Partners in 2009.
The series follows criminal profiler Reyka Gama (Engelbrecht) as she investigates a string of brutal murders committed by a serial killer in the sugar cane fields of KwaZulu-Natal.
Where to stream: Showmax
Justice Served
Politically–charged and ambitious, South African series Justice Served, released in 2022, makes for good and entertaining TV.
The story follows a band of freedom fighters – the Namoor, led by their commander Azania Maqoma (Hlomla Dandala), hijacks a courtroom to serve their own brand of justice to a white police officer who’s accused of shooting a black man. As the Namoor broadcasts the courtroom via live broadcast, the nation is allowed to watch and vote to decide the fate of the accused.
Read our review of Justice Served here.
Where to stream: Netflix
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