Skeem Saam is a South African soap opera created by Winnie Serite, broadcast on SABC1 since 2011.The show is set in Johannesburg and Turfloop. It rose to fame since it arrived, competing with Generations. A majority youth-centered show, Skeem Saam is an SABC Education production.
The story follows the lives of the residents of , who face daily trials and tribulations as they climb the ladder to success. It also follows the lives of the rich in Johannesburg and how they handle the challenges they face in their businesses. It also follows the lives of the rich and poor staying in Turfloop.
Skeem Saam covers a variety of topics, including sexual harassment, homosexuality, toxic work environments, incompetent police forces, black tax, etc. The show touches on everything that South Africans go through as realistically as possible, and it works and shows in the storylines.
The show might not have the best cast, but it beats other shows in terms of educating and informing viewers hands-down. It’s also a family show; there are hardly any, actually never any sex-scenes or kissing moments and you never feel bored from watching it because the storylines keep you captivated every time
They have a great scriptwriting department that thoroughly researches topics and assigns those topics to characters that would best deliver the stories we see on our screens. They have also cleverly managed to retain 90% of the cast through great character development throughout the years.
For example, before Clement came out that he was gay, there were signs of him being gay from when he was a little boy on the show. He did ballet, liked pink, and never had a girlfriend. Even when the viewer misses these kinds of clues, they’ll remind us by going back in time.
The creator of the show, Winnie Seriti herself, was a scriptwriter for years for other shows before she created Skeem Saam. So, you can bet that she’s heavily involved and knows her actor’s lines before they