Betoch

Betoch ([bé to chə]; Amharic: ቤቶች, lit. 'Houses') is an Ethiopian family sitcom starring Tilahun Gugsa airs on EBC (formerly ETV) since 2013. The series airs every Saturday and focuses on a middle class family living in Addis Ababa.^[1]

Betoch
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Tilahun Gugsa
Starring	Tilahun Gugsa Yalemwork Animut Nitsu Haile Maekda Haile Fikadu Fasil Ashenafi Mehalet Melat Tesfaye Nibret Gelaw
Theme music composer	Tilahun Gugsa Productions
Opening theme	"Betoch" voiced by Tilahun Gugsa
Country of origin	Ethiopia
Original language	Amharic
No. of episodes	409
Production
Executive producer	Tilahun Gugsa
Production locations	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	20–30 minutes
Production company	Tilahun Gugsa Productions
Original release
Network	EBC
Release	12 January 2013 (2013-01-12) – present

It gained wide popularity among the broader Ethiopian public as it was the first sitcom ever aired in the country.^[2]

Premise

Character Zeru (Tilahun Gugsa) is a patriarch who manages his whole family from financial problems and crisis, trying to make his family in the appropriate situation that is necessary to their life. His wife Azalu (Makda Haile) has knowledge about law, treating her children in a fair way. They live with their four children: Meraf (Gelila Raesom), Bezabe (Fikadu Fasil), Erestae (Melat Tesfaye), and Yebekal (Ashenafi Mehalet). Although the series is comedic in nature, it does touch on serious subjects from time to time, such as corruption.^[3]

Casts and characters

Actor	Character	Seasons
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Tilahun Gugsa	Zeru (ዘሩ)	Main
Makda Haile	Azalech (አዛለች)	Main
Gelila Raesom	Marfee (ማፊ)	Main
Ashenafi Mehalet	Yebekal (ይበቃል)	Main
Fikadu Fasil	Bezabeh (በዛብህ)	Main
Melat Tesfaye	Erestae (እርስቴ)	Main
Nitsu Haile	Shashe (ሻሼ)	Main
Nibret Gelaw	Eke (እከ)	Main
Seble Tefera*	Tirfe (ትርፌ)* Deceased	Main					No Appearance
Assefa Tegegn	Basha (ባሻ)	Recurring
Bisrat Gebretsadek	Na (ና)	No Appearance						Main

Death of Seble Tefera

Seble Tefera, who was known for playing the role of "Terfe", and was killed in a car crash while she was travelling to Bahir Dar with her husband in the Ethiopian New Year. According to her husband, the car accident was caused by his distraction from increasing radio volume while driving and collapsed into stationed truck in area commonly called Saris.^[4] Seble was dead on arrival at a hospital hours later, and her burial took place at the Holy Trinity Cathedral with notable people and her relatives presented. Betoch suspended its broadcasting for months, the cast expressed its condolences, and commemorated her by rewinding previous episodes.