Arendsvlei

Arendsvlei (lit. 'Eagle Valley') is a South African soap opera. Featuring an almost all-Coloured cast, it premiered on 1 October 2018 as kykNET & Kie's first telenovela. It was originally intended to be a limited series spanning one year, its first season picking up two SAFTAs. Due to popular demand, Arendsvlei was renewed for a second season in August 2019 and a third in August 2020.^[1]

Arendsvlei
Genre	Drama
Created by	Theltom Masimila
Directed by	Denny Y. Miller
Composer	Murray C. Anderson
Country of origin	South Africa
Original language	Afrikaans
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	1096
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Penguin Films
Original release
Network	kykNET & Kie
Release	1 October 2018 (2018-10-01) – 27 June 2024 (2024-06-27)

The series hit 500 episodes in August 2021.^[2]

Premise

The series centres on a prestigious school, its administration, and the families associated with it in a fictional community of the Cape Flats called Arendsvlei.^[3]

Cast

Main

• Jolene Martin as Beatrice Abrahams, Arendsvlei High vice-principal
• Oscar Petersen as David Abrahams, Arendsvlei High principal
• Maria Valente de Almeida as Samantha Abrahams, Beatrice and David's daughter and school captain
• Sherman Pharo as Thys Cupido, Beatrice's brother and co-founder of Arendsvlei High
• Crystal-Donna Roberts as Janice Cupido, Thys' wife
• Celeste Matthews as Aunty Gertie Cupido, matriarch of the Cupidos
• Ann Juries-May as Claudia Cupido, Thys and Janice's daughter
• Rehane Abrahams as Wendy Newman, the Cupidos' adversary who runs the WendyHouse restaurant
• Kay Smith as Debra Newman, Wendy's daughter
• Melanie du Bois as Ronel Foster, Beatrice's friend and an aspiring actress
• Roberto Kyle as Lee-Roy Foster, Ronel's son who transfers to Arendsvlei High to escape bullying
• Jody Abrahams as Lionel Foster, Lee-Roy's negligent father with ulterior motives for moving to Arendsvlei

Supporting

• Ernest St Clair as Christopher February, teacher at Arendsvlei High
• Dillon Windvogel as Vernon Booysen, an ambitious student who gets in an accident
• Christian Bennett as Emile February, a gardener who helps out at WendyHouse
• Craig Adriaanse as Wesley Roussow, a student with a troubled past^[4]
• Gerwen Simon as Valdonia Lee Matthews
• Menicia Sass as Chantel Williams
• Gretchen Ramsden as Nicolene
• Joseph Mitchell as Uncle Johnny
• Ceagan Arendse as Woelag (seasons 1–2)
• Elton Landrew as Steve Mortlock (seasons 1–2), Janice's brother
• Danny Ross as Nathan Koopman (seasons 2–3)
• Maurice Carpede as Ridwaan "Waanie" Matthews (season 2), Chantel's father
• Shaleen Surtie-Richards as Muriel Foster (seasons 2–4), Lionel's mother^[a]
• Zenobia Kloppers as Aunty Emily (season 2)
• Quanita Adams as Mother Laetitia (seasons 2–3)
• Jarrid Geduld as Gavin "Bompie" Galant (seasons 2–3)
• Cantona James as Daniel Lafras (season 2)
• Antoinette Louw as Advocate Rina Botha (seasons 2–3)
• Ilse Klink as Dorothy Galant (season 3), matriarch of the Galants
• Chelsea Thomas as Angelique Galant (season 3), Dorothy's daughter
• Nancia Dorland as Candice Burger (season 3), Angelique's friend
• Carmen Maarman as Natalie Burger (season 3), Candice's stepmother
• Chad Baai as Kaleb Jakobs (season 3)
• Brendon Daniels as Constable Krige (season 3), detective and Lionel's friend
• Inge Isaacs as Emmie Langeveld (season 3), new student at Arendsvlei
• Clayton Evertson as Jake Sylvester (season 3)^[6]

Production

Arendsvlei is based on a concept Theltom Masimila brainstormed and originally penned as a short story. He serves as its head writer and co-producer. Masimila makes a point of the Afrikaans dialect used in the series being "authentically Cape-based".^[7] Also in the writers' room are Wilmien Rossouw, the head storyliner, as well as Ilse Oppelt, Margaret Goldsmid, Henry Cloete, Quanita Adams, Johann Davis and Retief Scholtz. The series is directed by Denny Y. Miller and produced by Penguin Films. Roberta Durrant was the creative director for season 2.^{[citation needed]}

It is filmed at Atlantic Studios in Milnerton.^[8][9]

Reception

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
2020	South African Film and Television Awards	Best Telenovela	Arendsvlei	Nominated	[10]
		Best Director – Telenovela	Denny Y. Miller	Nominated
		Best Art Direction – Telenovela	Beatrice van Zyl	Won
		Best Actor – Telenovela	Roberto Kyle	Won
		Best Actress – Telenovela	Crystal-Donna Roberts	Nominated
	Royalty Soapie Awards	Outstanding Editing Team	Arendsvlei	Nominated	[11]
		Outstanding Lighting	Arendsvlei	Nominated
		Outstanding Writing	Arendsvlei	Nominated
		Outstanding Lead Actor	Jody Abrahams	Nominated
		Outstanding Couple	Roberto Kyle and Craig Adriaanse	Nominated
		Outstanding Newcomer	Cantona James	Nominated
2021	South African Film and Television Awards	Best Actress – Telenovela	Crystal-Donna Roberts	Nominated	[12]
		Best Supporting Actress – Telenovela	Quanita Adams	Nominated
	Royalty Soapie Awards	Outstanding Directing Team	Arendsvlei	Nominated	[13]
		Outstanding Lighting Direction	Arendsvlei	Nominated
		Outstanding Cinematography	Arendsvlei	Nominated
		Outstanding Sound Mixing & Editing	Arendsvlei	Nominated
		Outstanding Supporting Actress	Quanita Adams	Nominated
		Outstanding Onscreen Couple	Clayton Evertson and Jolene Martin	Nominated
		Outstanding Newcomer	Chad Baai	Nominated
		Outstanding Female Villain	Ilse Klink	Nominated

Notes

1. Her final episodes aired posthumously.^[5]