‘Die oord’ coming to kykNET this April

kykNET has announced an exciting new drama set to premiere on 14 April. The 10-part series, Die oord, boasts a star-studded cast featuring big names such as Jana Kruger, Erica Wessels, Melissa de Vries, Dawid Minnaar, Jacques Bessenger, Nicole Holm, Zane Meas, Antoinette Kellermann, Laudo Liebenberg, Liam Bosman, Clayton Evertson and Amalia Uys.

A holiday town on the coast. Families who have been pitching their tents at the same caravan park for generations. Children playing on the beach. Braais under the trees. Everything is idyllic – until a body washes up on the beach.

“The idea for Die oord has been brewing in me for a long time,” says the award- winning Christiaan Olwagen, creator of the series, who wrote the scripts together with Lorraine Burger and Igna Botha. “As a child, my mother dragged us to the Swartvlei caravan park every December – to the sea. A caravan park has its own ecology: small hierarchies, unwritten rules, allegiances and friction that builds up over days. It felt to me like the perfect locked-room space for a murder series: a remote place, a bunch of people who can’t avoid each other, and then a shock that derails everything. I wanted to delve into recognisable types and my emotional memory of that world; a kind of shared heritage.”

In Die oord, Martie Pretorius (Jana Kruger) is a criminologist going on holiday for the first time in years. Her son, Paul (Liam Bosman), is at university, and they see little of each other. Martie is convinced this holiday at the Seerust campsite in the fictional Kalfiebaai with her sister, Elsabé (Erica Wessels), and her family can only do them good. The holiday takes a dark turn, however, when a teenage boy’s body is found on the beach. Suddenly everyone is a suspect.

Brandi Jacobs (Melissa de Vries) of the local police thinks it is the Cape gangs sinking their claws into the small community, but Martie has another theory. The wounds. The plastic bag. The Bible verse. She has seen it before. Fifteen years ago. A serial killer called Prediker. Martie is drawn into the investigation against her will while trying to hide a devastating secret from her son, Paul.

The director of Die oord is Eva du Preez, and the series was filmed in and around the Cape Peninsula, from Kommetjie to Melkbosstrand, as well as in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. The producers are Wolflight Films, led by Roelof Storm, who was also responsible for the SAFTA-nominated drama series Niggies. Die oord starts on 14 April on kykNET (DStv channel 144) and will also be available onDStv Stream and Catch Up.

More about the characters and players

• Martie Pretorius (Jana Kruger) is a criminologist and her son, Paul (Liam Bosman), is a student.
• The Cilliers family consists of Elsabé (Erica Wessels), Drikus (Laudo Liebenberg) and their son, Stefan (Heinrich Wentzel). Martie and Elsabé are sisters.
• Brandi Jacobus (Melissa de Vries) and Stoffel Cupido (Clayton Evertson) are police officers. Brandi’s uncle, Eddie (Zane Meas), is head of the SAPS station at Kalfiebaai.
• The Groenewalds, who have also been holidaying at Seerust campsite for years, are Juanita (Amalia Uys) and Braam (Zak Hendrikz) and their two children, Joshua (Angelo Johnson) and Marioli (Luandri Reynders).
• Lukas du Preez (Jacques Bessenger) is a widowed reverend living in Kalfiebaai with his daughter, Mia (Minke Marais).
• Miems Louw (Nicole Holm) is the owner of the shop at Seerust campsite and has two children, Jacomien (Christie van Niekerk) and JP (Damian de Villiers).
• Hester Bruwer (Antoinette Kellermann) is the mayor of Kalfiebaai. Her husband is Thys (Chris van Niekerk).
• Witblits (Carel Nel) is the town’s homeless person who has eyes and ears everywhere.