Isidingo

Isidingo: The Need is a South African soap opera, with dialogue mostly in English. Isidingo premiered on SABC 3 in July 1998 and is broadcast evenings on SABC 3 from Monday to Friday. It now uses the title Isidingo, dropping "The Need" in 2001.

The story follows vaguely from a popular soap opera during apartheid South Africa named The Villagers, although none of the current actors are from the older series.

Several famous actors and actresses appeared on Isidingo, including Michelle Botes, who left the show in 2007.

Locations are divided between the fictional ON TV studios in Johannesburg and the mining town of Horizon Deep. The main characters include the Haines family, the Matabanes, the mine manager, Vusi Moletsane, and the various residents of the boarding house now owned by Maggie Wilson. Barker Haines is the character everyone loves to hate. Billionaire in the living, he often schemes his way into the lives of various people in and out of Horizon Deep, notably his daughter Leone Haines who used to run ON TV (which Barker happens to own), along with Rajesh Kumar. Leone now owns and runs a hotel called The Duncan in Horizon Deep, in memory of her dead brother, Duncan.

The Matabanes are a stronghold in the make up of Horizon Deep, with Zebedi as the patriarch of the closely-knit family. Vusi, the mine manager is married to the Matabane daughter and lives with them in their family house. Other characters central to this family are Nandipa, wife to the Matabane son, and is currently living with HIV, but has a somewhat celebrity status as she is a presenter at ON TV where she presents a current news programme along with Lolly and Len Cooper

In 2008, Leone Haines was found dead, after leaving home to go on a walking trip, trying to clear her head after her mother's death. In reality, Ashley Callie (the actress playing Lee)had recently been killed in a car accident. Ashley was one of South Africa's best loved actresses and the funeral on Isidingo was complete with real tears from the cast members. Source