The cool evening of Monday, September 1, 2008 is one evening viewers of African Magic will not forget in a hurry. It was the day Tinsel, Africa’s most-watched soap opera, aired for the first time on DStv Channel 102.
The cast and production were beyond the Nigerian scene, yet the soap is 90 percent Nigerian. There lies the intrigue till date.
With the near impossible love story between Telema Duke, a beauty queen and budding actress, and Soji Bankole, a struggling photographer, that was aired twice weekly in the first season, the soap opera opened the door for more intriguing episodes.
From Season One to Season Five, it has been an affair with excitement for viewers. Yet, M-Net, the right owner and producer of Tinsel, is coming up with more excitement, especially with its 1,000 episode milestone. It is a milestone worth celebrating because putting together a hit soap opera that is complete with a star cast, hooked audiences and a complete set of the back-end hands that help to make the movie tick over nicely a thousand times is one task only the determined can accomplish.
The special ‘1000 Episodes’ which airs from May 23, 2013 unveils more intrigues, fun, suspense and real drama. However, the just concluded Season Five that ushers in the 1000 Episodes had some remarkable highlights.
Top among them is Chuks and Ene. After Ene graduates from university, Chuks feels pressured to prove himself a man and an able partner to his wife and intensifies his efforts to become a success as a fashion designer. Then Ene gets a job at Odyssey and essentially becomes the breadwinner of the family. Ziggy’s death has a huge impact on Chuks as his nephew, but it also creates a leadership vacuum at Ziggy’s due to Ziggy’s co-owner Dan being in jail. Chuks finds himself in a struggle with Titi, who has made herself Dan’s representative, over who is in charge and which direction the bar should go.
There is also Black Ananse in Season Five featuring Kwame, a recent divorcee, who is determined to put past mistakes behind him and move forward. Unfortunately, some of his past mistakes are not so easy to relegate to the background, like ‘Black Ananse’. When Brenda returns from her period of rehabilitation from alcoholism in Ghana, her driving motivation is to find out just exactly what Kwame has been up to as she is still reeling from disapproval over his sudden marriage to Telema Duke, the star actress and Kwame’s long time obsession.
The Saga of Bimpe and Soji easily comes to mind. By the time Brenda gets Black Ananse back, Telema has left both her home and the country and Brenda is frustrated to find out that Kwame just doesn’t want to talk about it. She agrees to a transition period suggested by Kwame for him to tie up things he has been working on before she returns full time to Odyssey. To occupy her time, she throws herself into her post-rehab 12-step programme which includes making peace with people she has offended in the past. To this end, she visits Angela and also has (to all intents and purposes) a proper reconciliation with Fred, which annoys Kwame to no end.
Fred and Sheila thrilled the audience as well. Fred comes to the decision to break things off completely with Laide, baby or no baby; but before he does so, Laide tells Sheila about their engagement. Weary from battle fatigue, Sheila leaves her home in the middle of a party that Fred is throwing for her and moves in with Amaka before she can find out that Fred really did break up with Laide.
Angela, Masters and Dan were also visible. At the top of the season Angela breaks up with Emil after his mother, her boss, tells her he is 17. However, after he sees her at her worst and nurses her through a manic episode while she is off her medication, the two agree to revisit their relationship as soon as he is of legal age.
It is shortly after this that tremors rock through town when Ziggy is assassinated while catering a wedding. Detective Sankey loses her husband in the same event. The known criminal element, Alhaji Abubakar aka “Masters”, who before the incident was missing and presumed dead, makes a shocking appearance at the funeral and is arrested there, after being identified by Angela on the charge of his last attempt on her life.
