Hard Copy (South African TV series)

Hard Copy is a South African television drama series created by Anton Harber, Malcolm Purkey and Jann Turner which follows the fortunes of the staff of a fictional newspaper which - due to the economic pressures of the times - finds itself on the media cusp between delivering news and sensationalism, before changing identity completely in Season 3 and becoming a tabloid.^[1][2]

Hard Copy
title card
Genre	Drama
Created by	Anton Harber Malcolm Purkey Jann Turner
Written by	Darrel Bristow-Bovey (seasons 1–3)
Country of origin	South Africa
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
Production
Production location	South Africa
Running time	45 minutes
Production company	Quizzical Pictures
Original release
Network	SABC3
Release	23 February 2005 (2005-02-23) – 3 October 2016 (2016-10-03)

Plot

This is the life of the staff and owners of The Bulletin, a South African newspaper that finds itself on the media cusp between delivering news and sensationalism. When editors and their journalists find themselves publishing hard copy the dilemmas, intrigues and moments of hysteria they face are varied, vast and inevitable.^[1]

Cast

Character	Portrayed by	Appearances
		Season 1[3]	Season 2[4]	Season 3[5]	Season 4[2][6] Netflix Season 1[1]
Main characters
Joe Dlamini	James Ngcobo	Main	Does not appear
Dorothy Wilcox	Fiona Ramsay	Main			Does not appear
Thabane "Cyril" Mkwane	Lindelani Buthelezi	Main		Does not appear
Ivan Ferris	Martin Le Maitre	Main			Does not appear
Benny Jacobs	Jody Abrahams	Main
Rocky Coetzee	Neels van Jaarsveld	Main	Does not appear
Mandy le Roux	Kira Wilkinson	Main		Does not appear
Dinki Dube	Portia Gumede	Main	Does not appear
Grant Fletcher	Darren Maule	Main		Does not appear
Xolani Modise	John Matshikiza	Does not appear	Main		Does not appear
Kim Smollen	Shannon Esra	Does not appear		Main	Does not appear
Prince Modise	Buyile Mdladlaas	Does not appear		Main	Does not appear
Khanya Langa	Masasa Mbangeni	Does not appear			Main
Jana Brink	Nicola Hanekom	Does not appear			Main
Leah Gumede	Nokuthula Ledwaba	Does not appear			Main
Steven Mhlanga	Dini Nondumo	Does not appear			Main
C.J. Swart	Armand Aucamp	Does not appear			Main
Trevor "Biggy T" Dlamini	Denzel Edgar	Does not appear			Main
Tebogo Ramolang	Thabo Rametsi	Does not appear			Main

Episodes

Series	Episodes		Originally released
1	13		3 February 2005 (2005-02-03)
2	13		12 October 2005 (2005-10-12)
3	13		20 September 2006 (2006-09-20)
4	13		3 October 2016 (2016-10-03)

Production

Broadcast

The series was added to SABC3 streaming service Netflix season 1, 24 November 2020.^[1]