The best TV of 2025 so far

Local drama series: Shaka iLembe

Sundays at 8PM on Mzansi Magic Channel 161 

Season 2 picks up as Shaka arrives at KwaNobamba with Nandi to claim his throne as the new Zulu king. Lemogang Tsipa and Nomzamo Mbatha co-star as Shaka and Nandi, fresh from their nomination and win respectively at the 2024 Septimius Awards in Amsterdam. The all-star cast includes Thembinkosi Mthembu in a SAFTA-winning performance as Dingiswayo and Wiseman Mncube in a National Film and TV Awards-winning performance as Zwide. The first season of Shaka iLembe became the most watched DStv drama series ever, was the most searched TV series on Google in 2023, and went on to become the most awarded drama series ever at the SAFTAs.

Special mention: Cobrizi (Mzansi Magic), Recipes for Love & Murder Season 2 (M-Net)

Afrikaans drama series: Niggies

Binge the kykNET series now on DStv Stream, with English subtitles

In 1966, Issie Fourie and Petro Nel were kidnapped and murdered in the peaceful town of Odendaalsrus in the Free State. Issie's brother, André, swore to throw everything into the fight to have the culprit apprehended. It would take him nearly 20 years. SAFTA winner Jaco Bouwer (Spinners) directs, with Wolflight Films producing. Wolflight were behind Koek, the most-awarded series at last year’s Silwerskerm Film & TV Awards. Silwerskerm winner Beer Adriaanse (Hotel, Wonderlus) and newcomer Janru Steenkamp co-star as the older and younger André respectively, leading an all-star cast.

Companion podcast Niggies: Die true-crime potgooi, is also available on DStv Stream and Spotify.

Special mention: Die Nuusmakers (kykNET)

International series: Landman

Mondays at 9PM on M-Net Channel 101)

The most streamed show in the world for the first quarter of 2025 was Landman, the latest smash hit from Taylor Sheridan, the man behind Yellowstone, 1923, Special Ops: Lioness, Tulsa King and more. Landman is a modern-day tale of fortune-seeking, set within the West Texas oilfields where roughnecks and wildcat billionaires are fuelling a boom so big it’s reshaping the climate, the economy and the geopolitics of the region.

Special mentions: Ludwig Season 1 (BBC Brit) and Matlock Season 1, The Day of The Jackal  Season 1, The Last of Us Season 2, The White Lotus Season 3 (all M-Net)

Reality series: Big Brother Mzansi

Binge the Mzansi Magic series now on DStv Stream

With a finale that had the whole nation on the edge of their seats, Big Brother Mzansi cemented its place as South Africa’s ultimate reality show this year.

The most-watched show on DStv Stream in southern Africa, Big Brother Mzansi generated over 302 million mentions and 1.1 billion impressions on X, while fans voted 293m times in the finale week - a 330% increase from Season 4.

Special mentions: Uthando Nes’thembu S8 and its spinoff, Izingane Zes’thembu S3 (both Mzansi Magic), as well as S2 of International Emmy nominee Die Brug (kykNET) and dating formats The Catch S1 and Makoti Are You The One? S3 (both Mzansi Magic).

Movie: Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Stream on DStv Stream

23 years after her Oscar nomination for Bridget Jones’s Diary, Renée Zellweger is back in the fourth instalment of the beloved romcom series based on Helen Fielding’s bestselling books.

Now in her 50s and single again after the untimely death of her husband, Bridget finds herself grappling with solo parenting and the challenges of re-entering the dating world.

Hugh Grant returns as Daniel Cleaver, with Leo Woodall (Jack in The White Lotus Season 2) as Bridget’s much younger love interest and Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor as her son’s teacher.

Special mentions: Dune: Part Two, Gladiator II, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Telenovela: Genesis

Weekdays at 7:30PM on Mzansi Magic Channel 161

Felicia Thabethe, once the queen of gospel, thought she had built an unshakable legacy with her husband, Gabriel. But when shocking secrets surface, everything she has worked for is thrown into chaos. Now, with Genesis Records at risk, Felicia must fight to protect her family’s name before it all crumbles.

Produced by Singavision Productions, Mzansi Magic’s new telenovela stars four-time SAFTA nominee Baby Cele (Sibongile & The Dlaminis, Shaka Ilembe, Uzalo), Buyile Mdladla (Gomora), Nay Maps (Umkhokha: The Curse, The Queen), Gaosi Raditholo (The River), KB Motsilanyane (Law, Love and Betrayal), and Kealeboga Masango, nominated as Best Newcomer at the 2024 National Film & TV Awards South Africa, for her role as Buhle in Youngins.

Special mentions: Inimba and Ithonga (both Mzansi Magic)

Helderberg

Stream the M-Net documentary on DStv Stream

Just after midnight on 28 November 1987, Mauritian air traffic control lost contact with South African Airways Flight SA 295, shortly after it had started its approach to the island’s Plaisance Airport, en route from Taipei to Johannesburg. Almost four decades later, mystery still surrounds the exact cause of the fire that saw the Boeing 747, named Helderberg, crash into the Indian Ocean and claim the lives of all 159 passengers and crew aboard. Was it simply an accident - or an act of treachery?

The companion podcast is also available on DStv Stream and M-Net's YouTube channel.

Special mentions: Breaking Records: The Gerda Steyn Story (SuperSport), Ocean With David Attenborough (National Geographic), The Americas, narrated by Tom Hanks (M-Net); Secrets of the Penguin, narrated by Blake Lively (National Geographic Wild);  Underdogs, narrated by Ryan Reynolds (National Geographic Wild)