Hartklop: kykNET’s first medical procedural series promises to be a hit

kykNET (DStv Channel 144) is proud to announce their first medical procedural series, Hartklop, which starts on Tuesday, 18 July at 20:00. If you enjoyed shows like Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Doctor, Chicago Med or New Amsterdam, you should not miss this proudly South African and Afrikaans, locally produced show.

The star-studded main cast includes Simoné Pretorius, Renate Stuurman, Dawid Minnaar, Leandie du Randt, David Louw, Jacques Bessenger, Oros Mampofu, Carla Classen and Marlee van der Merwe.

The hospital scenes were filmed at the Solomon Stix Morewa Memorial Hospital and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The medical cases that are part of the storylines, are all based on actual cases, and a team of doctors acted as advisers. Trained theatre sisters helped with the filming of the operating scenes to make it as realistic as possible.

The series was written by Zoë Laband (The Girl from St. Agnes), and the directors are Harold Hölscher (Ludik) and Christo Davids (Spoorloos).

“We decided to set the series in a government hospital as it is not only more representative of the bigger South Africa, but also where all our young doctors and nurses are trained,” says Zoë. “Our local doctors are more than just doctors – they are superheroes. International military doctors come to South Africa to train in our hospitals as it is equivalent to working in a war zone. Being a doctor here is not easy, and it has major consequences for your personal life. It involves a lot of sacrifice and hardship, and we wanted to reflect that in our stories and create characters who are both extraordinary and flawed.”

Viewers can look forward to storylines about medical cases that will leave them gasping in disbelief about the fact that it is based on actual events. Some of the stories will make you laugh; others will bring a tear to your eye, and some will move you deeply with life-and-death situations.

But there are also stories of hope and of patients making miraculous recoveries against all odds. Then there are the personal lives of the doctors and how it impacts their work – work that confronts them with the age-old question: Are doctors allowed to play God?

· Hartklop starts on Tuesday, 18 July at 20:00 on kykNET (DStv Channel 144) and will be available on Catch Up.

Hope you are as excited as me….

Love

Shai_Quan xx